Friday Five: Koala Tea Time

There was another one in the Koala Tea Time set, which had a cute koala and a cup of tea image. The idea was that it spelled out, 'I love spending koala-tea-time with you'. I guess you just had to be there. I gave it to my friend as a gift before I remembered to take a photo of it, so you'll have to take my word for it. 

This next one is from the Absolutely Fabulous set (one of which was featured in a previous Friday Five). All of these designs are from Elise Ross at Spruce Craft Co.

This last one is from the book Feminist Cross Stitch by Stephanie Rohr. I stitched it for International Women's Day and asked on my Facebook page if anyone wanted it. A friend who teaches history in New Zealand requested it, thinking it would be a welcome additional aid to her classes on female suffrage, so I framed it and sent it to her. I'm happy to share any of my cross stitch pieces if you would be prepared to give them a good home. Just let me know.

"The idea that women's rights and human rights are one and the same was first put into writing in the 1830s by female abolitionists. The concept has since been used by many feminist leaders, but perhaps one of the best-known uses of this particular phrase came during Hillary Rodham Clinton's speech at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. This quote is still relevant today, especially when many rights, such as access to education, reproductive rights, and freedom from gender-related violence, are considered up for debate. It seems like a lot of people could still use this reminder." - Stephanie Rohr

My Newest Favourite Thing: Diagonal Lifts

When I was a child and I tried to envisage the future, my mind was full of social and technical achievements. I saw driverless cars; phones on which you could see the person as well as talk to them; and lifts that went in all directions rather than strictly up and down. I also dreamed of equal rights and pay for women in a world where women's sport was taken as seriously as the men's equivalent; where women had the right to drive cars and not be accused of witchcraft and beaten to death; where a woman had the right to decide what she did and did not want to do with her body and was valued for more than her ability to reproduce. Clearly that last one is a bit too far-fetched. 

But the new incline lifts on London's Elizabeth Line run proudly parallel to the escalators, rather than vertically. Apparently this is a cost-effective exercise with additional ecological benefits. The diagonal design is cheaper to build as it 'negates the need for the costly excavation of a lift shaft and will reduce power consumption by nearly 50 per cent'.

I'm sure that some nerdy lift electrician (now, where can I find me one of them?) could explain all the practicalities to me if I really cared, but I just think they look cool and can't wait for them to do loop the loops and fly off into space. That's totally possible, right? 

Original artwork for Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Incidentally, the new Elizabeth Line will slightly redress the gender imbalance of nomenclature. There are currently only three stations named after women: Seven Sisters; Victoria and Lancaster Gate - this latter being so-called in honour of Queen Victoria in her guise as the Duke of Lancaster, as the monarch is styled, regardless of gender.

Aware of this injustice, Londoners Reni Endo-Lodge and Emma Watson created a City of Women tube map for International Women's Day this year. The map is available to buy and there's also an interactive version on-line where you can look up more details about the women featured.

"The usual names of London's 272 Underground stations are switched out for pioneering female figures across every genre - the arts, sport, politics, activism... the list goes on. Among them are household names like Audrey Hepburn, Adele, Mary Seacole, Madhur Jaffrey, Michaela Coel, Boudica and the Ford sewing machinists, as featured in the film Made in Dagenham. Even Holloway - the erstwhile women's prison - gets a namecheck."

As for my childhood vision of the future? Well, I guess three out of four ain't bad.