Matthew Cox is an artist from Philadelphia who works in a range of media, and is gaining attention for his embroidered x-rays.

“About ten years ago I began to respond to x-rays and Medieval tapestry as objects of beauty at about the same time. Because I had been thinking about redefinition of materials that have an expected purpose for some time it seemed natural to lay these two items over one another.

“The x-ray decides the outcome. Often x-rays have areas that are crisper, lighter or just more interesting than another area so I choose to leave that area exposed and improve the other space with embroidery. And, yes, there is a clear idea of the final design from the beginning.

“Until this past year the embroidery was about decorative embellishment of a material that has a somewhat dark presence. But in May I began to use iconic imagery, characters and symbols and the Heartthrobs and Avatars were born. This gives me an opportunity to not only redefine materials but also imagery that comes loaded with preconceptions. Also, prior to this group I had worked within the confines of the rectangle but these new pieces extend the body part outside of the box and extends the possibilities for imagination.”

I think Matthew’s work is great. It’s colourful and playful – there is no guessing who the x-rays will belong to and Matthew surprises us with his choices. The use of satin stitch adds texture to the pieces and it’s great to look through his site and see how this concept has evolved. Great stuff!

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The Cutting & Stitching Edge is brought to you in association with PUSH: Stitchery!

A teddy bear is a girl’s best friend.

This sweet stitch was made by Bustle & Sew.

Too Cute Tuesdays are brought to you in association with our friends over at Feeling Stitchy!

Hi everybody! It’s Saturday, and you know what that means – so scroll past the puppy and let’s get to it!

WARNING!

NSFW SATURDAYS WILL CONTAIN CONTENT THAT IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

IF YOU READ THESE POSTS, AND ARE OFFENDED, WE’RE SORRY BUT WE DID WARN YOU!

We’ve all felt this way every once and awhile.

See more from Nimble & Quick here.

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NSFW Saturdays are brought to you in association with Subversive Cross Stitch, the original snarky stitching site!

Adriana takes beautiful pictures.

She stitches lovely little things as well.

I really love her odd little animal creations.

She’s created some interesting characters, to be sure.

I bet you’ll like them, too.

See more at her lovely blog.

A new work by Bren Ahearn is an instant stitchgasm for me. This one is rather chilling and is a colossal 42″ high by 60″ wide.

Welcome to eMbroidery, a series of interviews with male embroiderers. This month, Stewart Easton.

Name:

Stewart Easton

Location:

Coventry, West Midlands, UK

Main embroidery medium:

Hand embroidery

Noteworthy projects or pieces:

Four Tragic Tales

How did you come to be an embroiderer?

Whilst studying MA Illustration and Animation at Coventry University I had an experimental module where I could work/ experiment in any medium as long as it fit my research. At the time I was researching Folk Art so embroidery kind of fit my brief at the time.

What does it mean to you?

Embroidery allows me to make work which is unexpected (for a gent) and adds a certain dynamism and angle to the work.

Where do you like to work?

I have a couple of cushions which are placed in front of my record player in the back room. Once a record is on and I’m all set up time tends to stop.

How do people respond to you as a male embroiderer?

On the whole it’s a positive bag. People tend to tell you that they think more men should sew and how great it is that I sew. Though to me it’s nothing strange it’s no different to using pen and ink.

Who inspires you?

Wow! Clare Rojas is a massive influence I absolutely adore her work. I love Grandma Moses, Henry Darger, Grayson Perry. Man, I could write a massive list here….

How or where did you learn you learn how to stitch or sew?

I taught myself how to sew out of a tiny little book with 32 stitches in it. Though I only use 3 and really don’t want to learn anymore.

Are your current images new ones or have you used them before?

A lot of my stitch works are reworks of my pen illustrations. I tend to go over old drawings I have made and transfer them in stitch due to this my embroidery is very illustrative.

How has your life shaped or influenced your work?

I always wanted to be different and not thought of as a typical ‘Boy’.  This wanting to be different has subconsciously fed into my desire to use embroidery as a medium for making art.

What are or were some of the strongest currents from your influences you had to absorb before you understood your own work?

This is an on-going process and really depends on the project I am working on. For instance with my Four Tragic Tales project it wasn’t until almost a month after the work was installed in the space that I realised that I had wanted to make a concept album in stitch. It’s the time away from the work that I get to see the different strands and links to other works be it links to my own or to others. The previous smaller projects tended to be projects where I was teaching myself the craft of stitch and storytelling.

Do formal concerns, such as perspective and art history, interest you?

Not as much as tradition interests me. I’m more concerned with the feelings which tradition evokes within me. The maker sat stitching by the fireside; work songs and communities rituals interest me more than the social history which fed into a certain piece of work. I know that the social history is all of the above but it’s the dirt more than the learned which gets me going.

What do your choice of images mean to you?

They mean everything really. I try to make work which I would like to see myself.  Doesn’t always work that way though!

Do you look at your work with an eye toward it like what can and can’t be visually quoted? In other words what you will or won’t cut out?

With each piece of work which I have usually made one or two attempts which I am not happy with. It will usually be something as daft as the weight of a line or the angle of a hand. To others these inadequacies are not there but I know that they are. Due to this the pieces shown I’m happy with.

Do you have any secrets in your work you will tell us?

As I said a lot of my stitch work comes from old illustrations. These Illustrations usually stem from my times of freaking out with worry about some lame obstacle….. I won’t tell more I’ll let the folk who see the work try and figure what’s been worrying me ha ha ha!

How do you hope history treats your work?

As a tidy stitcher who looked like a tramp!

…..or he was bloody good

…..or the dude could sew and draw!

Where can we find you and your work?

I’m currently showing in two shows at present. The first is a solo show of large scale contemporary style tapestries. It’s called Four Tragic Tales and is as the title suggests four rather sad stories, each spanning across three meters.

The second is part of a group show in the Lake District UK called “WOW: Wonder of Wool and the Art of Knit and Stitch“. It’s part of a show based around wool. I have one piece in the show a hand embroidery using wool. It has some super cool wool artists there.

Here’s the link.

http://www.rheged.com/wow-wonder-wool-and-art-knit-and-stitch-0

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eMbroidery was created with the support and wisdom of the magnificent Bascom Hogue.

We’ve featured anatomical stitchery a few times on here and Judy Plum’s ligation of deep palmar arch of radial artery is another great example!

Cate Anevski has created a new series called Animal Expressions.

You can buy one of the finished pieces OR buy the pattern for them at Cate’s etsy store. Check it out!

Time for another look at some of the great work featured in the forums at Craftster.

Note: Although they’re the pick of this week, they may have appeared before this week.

This week’s pick was created by pugwash.

When pugwash found out that she was swapping with someone who was a Terry Pratchett fan, she decided to make something from the Discworld series.

What better to represent Discworld then the actual world itself, carried through space by the Great A’Tuin?

See the original Craftster post here, and be sure to come back next week for another great pick from the forums!

Who doesn’t love a princess?

You can make one of your own with a free pattern from LiliPopo.

Too Cute Tuesdays are brought to you in association with our friends over at Feeling Stitchy!