With over 113 hours of hand embroidery, beading and sewing, artist Lily Adelaide Upton celebrates memory and slow making. This deeply personal body of work honours the joy of childhood, while reframing craft traditions as powerful forms of expression.
The Cakes
An edible act of love. Some of my fondest childhood memories include pouring over my mum’s cakes books, absolutely enchanted by the colourful lollies and lashings of buttercream. One of my favourites was the iconic Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book. My btrother and I were lucky enough to have a mum that put tremendous amounts of effort into make these cakes for us. They were always a feast for the eyes, and delicious of course.
Backyard Cricket
The crickets are chirping, the sun nearly set. Grandma and Grandpa have spent all day cooking the most delicious meal you can imagine. As much homemade pasta and bread as you can eat. Our bellies are full, the mozzie bite risk high, but that won’t stop us from a quick round of backyard cricket. The question on everyone’s lips: is it tippy go?
Lunch Time at School
Mum’s packed lunches are hard to beat, but the thrill of a lunch order in primary school always had me giddy with excitement. The magic of writing on a paper bag, popping in your coins, and a delicious meal materialising was exciting to say the least. Not to mention the honour of being on lunch order duty, and ceremoniously collecting the wire crate full of sausage rolls, sandwiches, macaroni bakes and chocolate milks. I still remember the day there was a miscommunication, and I had submitted two separate lunch orders. I only found out when they both arrived to the classroom at once – now that was a thrill!
Dad’s Ford Falcon
Embroidered by hand with cotton onto linen.
Stitching time – 5 hours.
Cars have a way of defining eras of your life. My favourite car from my childhood was Dad’s Ford Falcon XE, purely for the fact that it was red and had faux fur tiger print seat covers (a choice by the previous owner of the car that absolutely delighted me). The Ford Falcon also had a bench seat in the front, meaning Dad, my brother Alex and I could all sit up front together. The novelty of this was thrilling, and a car is yet to delight me this much since.
Grandma’s First Fiat
Embroidered by hand with cotton onto linen.
Stitching time – 3.5 hours.
Grandma Helen wasn’t a woman of frivolity. My grandparents were both kind, nurturing, hardworking and creative, and the type of people you wouldn’t except to be into sporty cars. So it surprised me to learn that long before I was born, my grandma had developed a penchant for Fiats, and owned four in a row. Gma liked what she liked despite it being unexpected of her, and I really admire that.
Gmas Fiats
Embroidered by hand with cotton onto a handmade linen dress.
Embroidery stitching time – 12 hours.
All four of the Fiats Grandma owned. As a talented seamstress herself, I made this dress embroidered with her Fiats in honour of her.
Soupe Opéra Food Smileys
Home sick from school, watching telly. French children’s stop motion “Soupe Opéra” comes on. Am I awake? Is this a fever dream? An inspiring display of fruit and veg none the less. My food smiley series is inspired by the weird and wonderful use of fresh produce by this whacky 90s program.
Memories of Port Elliot
My Grandma Miriam built a house on stilts in Port Elliot in the 80s. She was creative, talented, and the house reminds us all of her. It’s beautiful, and full of childhood memories for me, my brother and my cousins who have all grown up holidaying there. The Port Elliot house is a place you go to slow down and do less. It’s a quite and cosy home away from home.
