Liz Denys

Peach tree embroidery

July 27, 2023

I got an embroidery kit for an old Nordiska apple tree by Ingegerd Hyltén-Cavallius from Studio Flax and ended up modifying it to make it a peach tree because I decided to put the finished project up in my powder room and can't resist a terrible pun:

Coronet in sunflower embroidery

February 24, 2023

I got an embroidery kit for a wreath of flowers by Studio Flax and Purl Soho and could not resist making the stitching more complicated. I ended up using additional thread in many of the colors, though I was too quick to mix the remainders into my stash to really know which ones (likely everything but the greens). Here's the finished piece:

An embroidered wreath of a variety of flowers on a natural linen background. The stems are varying shades of greens, and the flowers are stitched in a pale peach, sunflower yellow, bright orange, firey red orange, and dark brown.

Here are some photos I took while stitching that highlight new details I added:

A flower shaped like the side view of a pointed crown is done in a small backstitches with red, orange, yellow, and light peach threads so that it looks almost like it's pixellated. Small orange flowers in satin stitch blend to bright red orange near their stems. Small entire leaves are stitched in two tones of green satin stitch. Small light lime green four-petaled flowers are done in two layers of lazy daisy stitch. A four-petaled light peach flower is done in split stitch with yellow chain stitch lines through the middle, and yellow chain stitch filaments and stamens emerge from the center, too.

A six petaled flower's round petals are no longer in alternating yellow and yellow orange like the original pattern, but are threadpainted in long and shorts with the petals being more orange towards the center. The center of the flower references folk art stitches with varying greens in chain stitch and a layer of dark brown fly stitches with French knots in the center. Small light green clusters of leaves are done in closed fly stitch.

The light peachy pink is woven through the red orange warps that run from the center out to the tip of the petals. As the warp is denser near the center, that part of the petal is more coral, and the tips of the petal have a denser peachy pink since the warp lines are more spread outs.

The same type of woven flower, but with a yellow warp instead of the red orange.

An embroidered flower with a brown center, yellow tendrils, and four woven petals. The woven petals form a gradient from a light peachy pink on the outside to a coral red closer to the center.

Another folk art-inspired flower: the center has a wheel-inspired design. The very center is yellow backstitch fill in a circular shape with a red orange wheel stitched on top of it, and just outside that there is a layer of red orange with dark brown stitched on top of it. The petals are a light peach satin stitch with yellow stitching on top in a pattern.

The back is neat in some places and much messier in others - I let the stitches guide me!

The original pattern had some simpler stitches.

Blooms and roots embroidery

August 25, 2022

I got a crewel embroidery kit for a variety of flowers and their roots from Purl Soho. Like I am often wont to do, I deviated from the prescribed stitches, especially in the roots section so the different flowers had distinct roots. Here's the finished piece:

A variety of flowers and their roots are embroidered on a bright orange linen evenweave background in wool crewel yarn. The blooms are in a variety of stitch designs in shades of green, shades of yellow, a light peach, and also a bright pink. The roots are stitched in dark brown below a ground line.

Reversing the Parks Dept. Ban on E-Bikes is a Matter of Equity

June 3, 2022

Last November, signs banning e-assist bikes were tacked onto Prospect Park's rule signs:

A yellow sign saying no motorized or electric bikes, scooters, and ATVs in three languages appended to Prospect Park's regular green rules sign — The original signs announcing this ban only stated it in English.

I'm in Streetsblog today with a piece about why reversing this arbitrary ban is a matter of equity:

Over Memorial Day Weekend, an infuriating scene unfolded in Prospect Park. A now-viral tweet showed NYPD and NYC Parks officers setting up a sting in Prospect Park, stopping riders on e-assist bikes, including parents transporting toddlers:

Nypd has an ebike check point at prospect park this afternoon, apparently. stopped my husband on his pedal assist ebike from bringing our daughter into the park. Threatened him with a $150 fine and destroying his bike. #bikenyc pic.twitter.com/6ZgKqGSjLX
— Shay O'Reilly (@shaygabriel) May 29, 2022

According to the tweet, officers were even threatening to destroy the e-assist bikes, which are legal to ride on New York City streets, but have been banned in Prospect Park due to an arbitrary decree from the city Parks Department. This policy is discriminatory and ableist, and harmful to climate goals. Council Members Shahana Hanif, Rita Joseph and Crystal Hudson, whose districts border or include Prospect Park, all agree that Prospect Park needs a thoughtful policy to include e-assist bikes. I also urge Mayor Adams to right this wrong and set an e-assist policy based in fact, not fear, for Prospect Park.

You can read the rest of my opinion piece on Streetsblog.

Why I left Instagram

April 18, 2022

Content warning: discussion of fatphobia in advertising

Practically overnight, my ads on Instagram went from annoying but benign reminders of capitalism to an utterly dehumanizing nightmare. Suddenly, every third or fourth photo of my friends' latest adventures with their kids, pets, and travels near and far was punctuated with liposuction ads.

Effective immediately, I've stopped reading and posting to Instagram because I refuse to subject myself to repeated messages pushing a potentially deadly procedure because people fear my "unruly" body.

Honestly, I'm disappointed that I've held out for so long here. I've spent a painful amount of time tweaking Instagram's advertising algorithm before by "hiding" ads and blocking accounts so it would stop showing me shapewear and diet apps - something I should never have had to do in the first place. Plus, hatred of fat bodies like mine has always been rampant on Instagram: many highly successful influencers' platforms are rooted in fatphobia, often directly.

I've previously delayed leaving Instagram because I knew I would lose social connections to people I care about, and I will grieve the connections I'm sure to lose. At the end of the day, the responsibility to create a safe platform for people no matter what body they inhabit should not be overwhelmingly borne by the people it harms.