Tsundoku and slow stitching

I learnt a new word today/ Tsundoku. Apparently it's when you buy lots of books and pile 'em up with the intention that one day you'll get around to reading them. Yup, I know that feeling. I've books that've been patiently waiting their turn for ages, while others get consumed straightaway. I'm currently reading and really enjoying a bit of magical realism. 'The Thief on the Winged Horse' by Kate Mascarenhas.

Sometimes stories based around magical realism can be way too cutesy and 'ooh, look at me, aren't I quirky?!' but this author's judged the tone just right.

I spent some of this morning packaging up sari/boho style fabric for my Etsy shop - link here - then felt at a loose end. I wanted to do something crafty, but couldn't settle and get stuck into any one particular thing. I took a second look at this fabric postcard which I wasn't totally satisfied with, so I pulled the cardboard off the back and added some detail.

I'm still not 100% happy with it, but it's better than it was. I think I'll just send it to someone as a postcard and then I don't have to see it anymore! Yesterday evening I also added more stitching to this slow stitched piece.

Finally, here's the blue fabric postcard I completed yesterday, and the first I'm entirely happy with.

The silk was beautiful to stitch into, and I wish I'd more of the batik. If I was ever lucky enough to come into money - not that I ever play the Lottery or have rich relatives about to pop their clogs and leave me a massive inheritance - I wouldn't waste the cash on a flashy car or a top-of-the-range designer kitchen. I'd buy fabric. A whole roomful of it. Silk and batik and Kaffe Fassett and Liberty Tana Lawn, Anna Maria Horner and all the other material I covet. I'd hoard Chinese brocade and Indian block prints. Oh, and wool. Mohair, angora, Rowan kid silk, nubbly tweedy yarns, handspun yarn in sumptuous colours.

Oh well, we can all dream, can't we?

Comments

Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....

Another week's flown by ...

Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days. Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden. The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram. I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them. This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory. It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them. Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....

rubykittyruby

Search This Blog