A Fireside Chat with beefranck (aka Bridget) NSFW!

*Okay! You all have been warned! there are some naughty words that are going to be flashed around here. If you don't want to read them,,,,move along. If you are up for an ass kicking good time,,,please continue.
If you never encountered Bridget, you are in for a real spicy treat. She is one sassy lady who will wow you with her mad stitching skills while shock you with her saucy brand of humor. I have to give her mad props for turning me on to Dr. Horrible's Sing a Long Blog (thanks Bridget!) and of course for making me giggle like a 12 year old every time I see her work. Be prepared to be amazed!

Who is beefranck?

My name is Bridget and I live with my husband Jim (married 11 years this October) and cat in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and moved to Chicago 13 years ago after meeting Jim online, so the internet has always been a big part of my life. I've been a Recruiter for the last 12 years. It's the perfect job for me because it allows me to talk all day and ask nosy questions, two of my favorite pastimes. That's the normal stuff. In addition to that, my friend Shane and I have a podcast called Emergency Pants and I blog about contemporary needlecraft with my brother from a European mother, Jamie, over at mrxstitch.com


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When did you get started stitching?

I started stitching when I found out about Subversive Cross Stitch ( http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com ) around Christmas in 2007. A podcast I listen to, PNSexplosion ( http://www.pnsexplosion.com ) uses the phrase "Go f**k yourself" as their sign-off statement, so I thought Julie's pattern with the same phrase would make the perfect gift for them. I bought her book, stitched everything in it, bought more patterns from her website and stitched those, and when I ran out of those I found a local cross stitch store and went shopping for patterns there. There was absolutely nothing there that interested me. I tried stitching a pattern with a cat on it just for something to stitch, but my heart just wasn't in it and I never finished it. After seeing all of the inspirational stuff in the Subversive Cross Stitch pool ( http://www.flickr.com/groups/scs/pool/ ) on flickr as well as the needlework section of craftster.org, I realized I had to start making my own patterns if I was going to continue cross stitching. I bought PC Stitch and after that, it was all over, I was hooked.

You work is pretty saucy. Why do you naughty words attract so many people?

I think a big part of the appeal of stitching saucy things is the contrast between the subject matter and the craft itself. Cross stitching has always been very traditional and has a conservative feel to it. What I try to do is make things that look beautiful and have an edge to them. Most of the time I try to avoid the classic naughty words while still getting the point across. Really, only a handful of my stitches have bad words, but they usually do have a either a naughty or sarcastic subject matter. There's something about that juxtaposition that just thrills me.


What kind of advice would you give the masses?

Make things. Don't spend time worrying about whether or not it's a good idea or if other people are going to like it. If you get an idea and you're excited about it, go for it, and if you fail, fail spectacularly. Don't be afraid to try new things, and don't be discouraged if you're not happy with the outcome at first. The more you try things, the better you get.

Look to others for inspiration. I can't tell you how many ideas I have had that have been inspired or made better by the good people at craftster.org or the Phat Quarter flickr group ( http://www.flickr.com/groups/phatquarter/ ). Seeing some of the amazing things other people make not only inspires me but also makes me want to be better than I am today. Also, being able to bounce ideas off of other creative and crafty people is priceless. Since Jamie and I have become friends we've gotten into the habit of running new ideas past each other. There have been several times that ideas I thought were just ok became excellent as a result of those conversations.

Tell me about your podcast

My best friend Shane ( http://twitter.com/sblaufuss ) and I have a podcast called Emergency Pants. ( http://www.emergency-pants.net ) It all started because I got hooked on podcasts myself and I realized that my favorite ones were the ones that seemed like you were eavesdropping on a few funny friends chatting with each other. It reminded me of the late night conversations I would have with Shane and others back when we were teenagers and had time to just sit and talk for hours. We both decided it would be fun to give it a try, and here we are a year later, still at it. Sometimes we have our old friend Tony or our new friend Jamie (Mr X Stitch himself) join us. We talk, we tell funny and/or embarrassing stories, sometimes on a theme and sometimes in a random kind of way. It's a lot of fun and we've met some lovely people doing it. At the very least it's a way for Shane and I to make sure we talk once a week, which is my favorite part of the deal. :)

Okay, so I'm gonna go all James Lipton on ya. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

It's okay. You don't have to explain anything. I get it.

Thank you Bridget for letting us not take ourselves too seriously. You are an amazing talent and I can't wait to see what's up next for ya.

Please make sure you check out Bridget's podcast and her sites-you will not be disappointed!