Skip to main content

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

Popular posts from this blog

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....

In praise of wool

Just a quick post today. I'm offering you a short but peaceful break from the overwhelmingness (is that a word?) of Christmas.  By now you've probably eaten your bodyweight in sweets//roast potatoes/pigs in blankets/cake/After Eights ... whatever your festive indulgences are.  You're under-exericsed, over-stimulated, feeling broke and possibly guilty about an argument with a relative or friend you've never entirely got on with.  So, here's something to take your mind off all that.   I've two videos to refresh and revive, and they both concern wool.   Interesting fact.  Well, I found it interesting.  About 1% - yup, one per cent - of the world's textiles are made of wool.  Out of curiosity, I also googled how much is made of cotton.  That's higher, but it's only about 24% and that's heading downward instead of up.  Synthetic fibres are the bulk of all textile manufacture.  Anyway, back to woolly wonders.   My firs...

Abstractuary ... no, I hadn't heard of it either

  Goodbye January, the month that feels like it's stretched out to be extra-long, the month we have to plough through to get to February and real signs of Spring.  You may know, if you've wandered by this blog before, that I'm beavering away at Ann Wood's 100 day stitchbook challenge.   That's still going strong.  Three pages done and I've started page four.  But I've also stumbled across another monthly challenge, and this one originated with Tori Chatfield, a.k.a. Kool Kooky Kreatures.  You can find her on YouTube and Facebook, and she runs something called Abstractuary.  Tori's produced a list of prompts for each day in February, and the idea is that you produce something arty or crafty based on those prompts.  You can stitch or paint or collage or use whatever kind of materials you want. I won't commit to following these prompts every single day of Feb, but I'm certainly going to use several of them.  Tori's also produced a Pinterest...