Jewelry Round-Up

 These lovely beads came from Candie Cooper, and I could not resist. I stitched them up into basic earrings using brick stitch and fringe (I made so many earrings like this in the 90s).

 

The Beadshop really does have the best bead mixes. I used January's garnet mix along with bigger beads from my stash to make a bracelet inspired by Candie Cooper's recent projects.

A milagro necklace with two beaded strands, to go with a Sacred Heart resin necklace I got for Christmas from Door No. 9:

 

I also got some gorgeous agate beads from Candie Cooper, added some silver beads, and now I have a great necklace for summer:

 

More to come, if I can find the time to finish something, anything.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 Matt Haig's latest novel opens with a lonely, despairing woman who tries to commit suicide, only to be suspended between life and death in the titular library. Each book (except for one) is a different version of her life, what would have happened if she continued to swim competitively or stayed in the band or had gone through with the wedding, and she's given the choice of picking any one of those lives to live; if none appeal, she can choose to die.

Despite the high-concept plot, there are no big twists or shocking revelations. It's just an ordinary woman figuring out that there is no one path through life, and no way to avoid suffering. Nora must find meaning and value in whatever life she has, not the ones that could have been. At first she's focused on reversing the decisions she made in the past, but of course she learns that there are downsides to every life; loneliness, dissatisfaction, and grief cannot be permanently avoided. So she begins to just experience whatever her lives have to offer, and that's where her true growth comes from. The plot is predictable, but the character portraits are touching, the storytelling is gentle, and the ending is utterly satisfying.

A Riot of Azaleas

 I moved to this neighborhood in springtime a few years ago, and immediately noticed all the gorgeous azaleas my neighbors had -- pale pink, scarlet, fuchsia, mauve, ivory, magenta. I don't have the time or skill to grow my own, but I can make beaded versions:

For the flowers I modified the tiny tulip pattern from The Beaded Garden; the leaves are from the same book. I had initially planned to cover the entire background with leaves, but that was overly ambitious (plus I ran out of beads) so I added a little glamour and sparkle with sequins. 

It's not quite the same as real azaleas, but it'll last much longer.

Some Witchy Advice

 

 Just Cross Stitch's 2020 Halloween issue had a lovely design by Natalia Luneva inspired by Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic:

The original design called for black fabric, but I used a natural linen to better go with a couple other homey items I made (also, cross stitching on black is a major pain). For the writing I switched to DMC 844.

The trio:

Book Round-Up

 Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich: Reich goes over the history of the human race and its migrations, based on the latest techniques for harvesting and analyzing DNA. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, and I was especially interested to see that modern studies are confirming what 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus argued: that the Clovis culture people were not the first to settle the American continents.  The takeaway from this book is that different human populations (and almost-humans) have been mixing and remixing for hundreds of thousands of years, far more often than we thought. 

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan: Sullivan's debut novel is about a bookstore employee who witnesses a favorite customer's suicide; when she learns he left clues in a number of books for her, she starts a quest that forces her to confront her traumatic past. It's an engaging read with interesting characters, but be warned: the book is much darker than its title sounds.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne: This is the enemies-to-lovers trope on steroids, and it was lots of fun to read. Lucy in particular was an endearing character, and I greatly enjoyed watching her and Josh get to know each other.

Here by Richard McGuire: this is an expansion of McGuire's original 6-page comic, showing the history of a corner of a room over millions of years. It's an amazing feat of imagination, and an unusual demonstration of life and humanity over the ages. I adored it.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and Carson Ellis: A cute middle-grade adventure involving puzzles, bullies, and a dastardly plan to take over the world. Beadboy2 wasn't interested, but maybe Beadboy3 will be in a couple of years.