Tessera

Hey! We're about halfway through our open submission period for Y2(are you o)K zine! We're looking for all things reminiscent of the 90s and early 2000s. The theme for this issue is CYBERSPACE! Give us your thoughts about browser MMOs, reading webcomics, and more! #zine #promo #writing #art

It's a banner of a blue sky with occasional clouds. There is a QR code in blue at the top that leads to our "about me" website for the zine. There are colorful bubbles throughout the blue sky. The text says, "Y2(are you o)K" in normal white text, but "ZINE" in bubbly balloon letters. Below that, it says "July 18 deadline."

As a kid, the mountains that made up the valley of my home looked like this in the deepest winters. It only snowed once every 4 years or so in the valley, but when it did, school was out briefly as every kid ran around on the blacktop-- catching snowflakes, playing with slush.

A hand holds an embroidery hoop made out of plastic. Within the hoop is a bright blue fabric. Embroidered on the fabric is a snowy mountain made up of 4 different colors. In front of it are rolling green hills of 1 dark green color. In the foreground a grass is being embroidered that is many multiples of colors. In the background a keyboard and a monitor are barely visible, as well as many knick knacks underneath the monitor.

Gemma Matthews - The Sewing Songbird@thesewingsongbird.bsky.social · last mo.

This is incredible!

I’m mentally here right now dreaming of a dip near a waterfall or a nap under cool foliage. My embroidery, The Lady of the Valley for you today. *completely freehand stitched in July 2021. Please feel free to dream away… 😊🪡🌿🌺 #stitchedart #embroidery #thesewingsongbird

Some ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE oak Gall Wasp galls spotted on my walk yesterday! Gall wasps inject eggs into plant tissues which then become these galls! Although they're a bit ugly, apparently they also support biodiversity by feeding birds and other insects that prey on the larvae.

It's a picture of a section of a tall immature oak tree. The tree looks swarmed by about a dozen galls. They are light brown in color and round, like a kiwi. They look almost like someone stuck them to the tree.

Just received this AMAZING postcard on Postcrossing! Someone (with fantastic artistic skill) noticed that I mentioned a love of cowboys and mushrooms in my bio. I'm blown away! Judging by the skirt around the stem of the mushroom, and the scales on top, he's found some sort of Amanita!

It's someone holding up a postcard to the camera. The background of the postcard is a Pantone color, "Coral Haze," which is basically some sort of skin tone. Someone has drawn over top of the beige color a handsome cowboy. He's holding up a mushroom, which looks to be some sort of amanita judging by the skirt around the stem and the scales on top. So cool!

I went for my first walk in over a year yesterday. After struggling with my weight and fighting an eating disorder, it just seemed impossible to get out of the house. But I DID IT! So excited to get out and about once again. [Photo: a Fortnight Lilly from my front yard!]

It's a close-up portrait picture of a flower, a Fortnight Lilly. There are several of the same flowers that are blurry in the background, and you can see some pavement and dirt visible from the top-down angle of the photo. The flower itself is white with 6 petals, 3 of the petals having yellow and purple accents.

Hey y'all! I know this isn't what I usually post, but I'm the editor-in-chief of a nostalgic zine all about the 90s and 2000s. We just launched open submissions for our 2nd issue, all about CYBERSPACE! We'd love to see your submissions! bit.ly/y2areyouok #zines #zinesky #art #writingcommunity

It's a gif flyer, with a zebra fish in the middle in rainbow colors. The background is very frutiger aero, with water splashing and a vibrant blue sky. The flyer describes that submissions open June 18th and end July 16th. The flyer also says that the theme is cyberspace, that there are 2 entries allowable per person (1 writing and 1 visual art), and many different genres are described (e.g. essays, photos, journal entries, comic illustrations, comics... and more!) AI descriptions are also mentioned as being automatically rejected.

I just realized I never posted an update! Here's my recently completed embroidery project! Most of my friends call me "Missy," but my birth name was actually something else. I'm not sure if Missy is what I'd like to be called forever, but I wanted to honor this little quirk of my growth journey :)

A white hand holds up an embroidery hoop in front of a background of various postcards and fake ivy on the wall. In the embroidery hoop there is white fabric with many leaves and flowers embroidered around negative space. The negative space spells out the letter "M."

A close-up of the embroidery. A tulip-like pink flower is visible, as well as several white daisies. Many leaves are visible emerging from the center of the piece.

Hey Autistic folk, how do you feel about your birthday? I used to get really depressed each birthday. I often felt like I have to do more, be more. But I turn 29 today and I feel... fine! I'm happy with what I've done so far. And there's so much more to look forward to. Cheers to another year!

Shannon Hale @shannonhale.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I finally indulged myself and bought a bundle of 10,000 stamps from the 40's and 50's! It's interesting to look back to a time when we had SO much national pride. There's a stamp for pretty much everything. Labor Day, unions, defeating polio, most national parks, centenaries for various orgs...

It's a zoomed-in photo of a sheet of vintage stamps. They each depict 2 whooping cranes with 2 of their babies. The whooping cranes are white while their babies are orange, and the green beneath them is green. It says US postage 3 cents, and at the top they each say wildlife conservation.

It's a photo of a pink desk mat with several different kinds of stamps laid out on it. The one at the top celebrates an anniversary of a railroad, while the darker blue sheet of stamps in the middle celebrates "youth month."

It's a USPS box absolutely full of vintage 3 cent stamps. A white hand reaches into the box, to illustrate just how many there are. It's a huge, heaped pile of sheets of stamps.

It's a photograph of a desktop, and there are stamp sheets laid out on every surface. Some sheets are laid out with other sheets that are identical, some are alone. It's a rainbow of color on the desk. Visible at the top of the image are a tea mug and several little sculptures of cats, along with other knick knacks.

Now more than ever, check out a physical novel from your public library and read it in long, big gulps. It's like meditating. It's like putting your bare feet on the grass. It will help heal you.

As an Autistic person the invention of the internet radically changed the course of my life. Sometimes I think about Autistic people who lived before we had a global, virtual communication network-- how did they survive? The loneliness would have been suffocating for me.

With temperatures reaching the 80s this week, it seems like spring is truly over for us Californians. I'll be dreaming of rain for the next 6 months or so. I doubt most folks would agree with me, but I honestly think winter is the best season to hike! The forests and hills come alive with rain.

It's a picture of a strawberry plant in a blue pot. The light is very intense, so the strawberry looks like it's almost glowing red. The green of its leaves are pretty vibrant too. The blue color of the pot is a calm, dark background.

FrontRangeWildflowers @frwildflowers.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I made this for a friend of mine a few months ago. She's going through some MASSIVE life changes, and I feel like she needed a reminder that she's capable, strong, and most importantly, GETTING THROUGH IT. Sending this out to all of you in case you need a reminder too!

A white hand holds up a plastic embroidery hoop. In the background you can see a bed with a pink patterned blanket and purple pillows. On the walls you can see several posters and fake ivy pinned up. On the ceiling there is a tapestry hanging. In the hoop that the person is holding is embroidered the words "you're a badass" within a wreath of flowers that look like roses.

One year ago today 🌿 Echinocereus coccineus coccineus, our Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus, blooming above Cuchara Canyon #nativeplants

Red cactus flower opening up to reveal anthers and stigma

Chelton's Mushroom Photography @mush-photos.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Here's some embroidery progress from last week! I get so excited when I get far into a project without having to undo or "frog" anything. Apparently, the term "frog" (meaning to pull out your stitches) is because you "rip it rip it" when you undo your work.

Some white fabric has multicolored stitches imitating flowers and leaves on it. The leaves are various shades of green, while there is one white daisy-looking flower and several pink and red petals that look similar to tulips. The guide on the fabric outlines an M, and the flowers surround that shape.

This little pink mushroom is so cool! Loved the way the blurry moss gave this guy a dreamy surrounding. Possibly Laccaria trichodermophora, or is it L. bicolor? #mushroom #fungifriends #mushrooms #nature #naturephotography #photographersofbluesky #mushroomsofbluesky #laccaria 🍄📷 📸🎞 🌿🌱 🟢 🍄 🍄‍🟫

A young pink mushroom grows in the center of the frame. Surrounded by entirely blurred green moss all around it, its two inch tall stipe is slightly curved to the right, fibrous, and pink. Its small, perfectly round pink cap is about a third of an inch in diameter.

📷 Canon R5
Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM
M, f/4, 1/2, ISO 400
Stack of 25 images
11/17/24
Northern Oregon Coast

Becket@embroideredbeing.bsky.social · last yr.

So cute! Love the rainbow gills on the bottom!

A new patch for my swim gear bag! From a pattern by @badstitch.bsky.social. I tried a different finishing/edging technique, and while it looks a little wonky, I think that only adds to the charm. #crossstitch #embroidery #needlework #stitchsky

Close-up of a round patch made of white aida fabric and featuring a stylized mushroom design with a rainbow stripes for the gills and stars on the cap.

Christian Gajewski@christian-gajewski.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The hoops I have to jump through to get my Autistic self to do anything are similar. Sometimes I just do "pomodoro" sessions, sometimes I roll a random task, other times I try to mix challenging tasks and easy tasks. Fighting my own brain every step of the way!

My AuDHD mornings run on dice now. Six tasks, a 1d6 for priority, a 1d20 for minutes per task, a 60-second primer timer. The system that has finally aligned the autistic architecture with the ADHD activation. New piece today on Invisible Illness. medium.com/invisible-il... #audhd #adhd #autism

The danger of following Autistic people on social media is that our hyperfocus can change at any time. You followed me for mushrooms? It's alllll fabric arts now!

Naomi Mittet@naolimit.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This looks so great. Undiagnosed Autistic girlhood is such a lonely experience.

"A raw and empathetic illustrated memoir tracing the hidden cost of masking, the depth of autistic girlhood, and the quiet resilience demanded for survival in a world that never seems to notice you're struggling and where you always feel just out of step." guardianbookshop.com/could-try-ha...

Just finished a huge writing project I've been working on (in some form or another) since July of last year. Whew! It's not quite done yet, still has to be illustrated, but man am I excited! I'll tell you guys all about it as soon as I can :) It's all about Autistic community!

One of my recent embroidery projects! I've really been leaning into crafts recently. I thought for most of my life that the only art I could do was writing. It was just what I was good at. But it's SO nice to take steps out of your comfort zone and explore challenging things. It's worth it!

A white hand holds up an embroidery hoop, and within the hoop is a depiction of a landscape with rolling green and teal hills, trees, and mountains in the distance. Birds are seen flying over the center mountain, and a sun and a cloud are visible. Outside of the embroidery, the background is a plant with long glossy green leaves.

Dropped off some more Postcrossing postcards today! My partner has joked that I'm turning into a bit of an Autistic stereotype-- I've fallen in love with stamps, cards, and all things stationery! It's so fun to decorate things and send them off across the world.

A white hand holds an array of decorated postcards. The top two are Pantone postcards, each displaying a different color. The top postcard is called "Sunshine" as Pantone 12-0727, and I have decorated it with various stickers matching its bright yellow color. There is a cat on a pool floatie, a yellow butterfly, kiwis, etc. I am holding the postcards over a USPS postal box. Grass is visible in the lower left corner.