Untitled Red/Pink/Orange Thing

 This project has been on my mind for years. I'm using the techniques in Effie Mitrofanis's gorgeous Threadwork: Silks, Stitches, Beads & Cords. 

The first step was gathering fabrics and threads.

 Four years ago I mounted linen gauze (from some expensive curtains my cats wrecked 🙄) into a frame, tacked on a base of sheer rose fabric from an old camisole, and layered on rectangles of dupioni silks. I used a running stitch in matching pearl cottons to hold the silks in place.

 

Last year I tacked on a rose motif from a fancy scrap of polyester fabric. I couched Japan gold around the edges, filled in background sections with chipwork, and stitched the center spaces between petals with metallic ribbon. 

 Initially, I was disappointed that I didn't have any gold purl for the chipwork (this project is purely from my stash), but I like the way the silver looks.

 A couple of weeks ago I twisted silk scraps into ropes and coiled those ropes into spirals, twisting, coiling, and couching them down as I worked. What a pain in the ass that was! It made me realize I really need a proper stand for this frame. Or a third arm.

 

This past week I kind of went overboard beading a sun motif in the upper corner, using tiny scraps of folded silk (straight from Mitrofanis's book), sequins, bugle beads in two sizes, and lots and lots of seed beads. 

 

I'm ready for a break from this project, but I have a couple of ideas for it still -- I want to use more scraps to create a vine with more flowers and leaves along the bottom, and I think I will embellish the rest of the background with lots of tonal embroidery. But who knows where inspiration will take me!

Book Round-up

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg: I've seen the movie, of course, but I had not read the book until it was the April selection for my book club. Unlike the movie, the book follows many more characters than Ruth and Idgie (whose relationship is a lot more obvious), and the depictions of racism, poverty, and addiction in the 1920s and 30s are sometimes heartbreaking. I don't have a lot to say about it, but I enjoyed it.

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst: Durst set out to write the ultimate cozy novel, and it certainly has all the elements -- books, flying cats, talking plants, bakeries, gardens, jam, and a gentle love story. I do wish she had put as much thought into the world-building; I don't need GRRM-levels of detail, but the characters were remarkably incurious about the political revolution happening in the background. On a nit-pickier level, I also wish she had done a little more research into how libraries work (manuscripts, for example, don't have publishers, and in a world apparently without a printing press books would be much scarcer and more expensive than they are now). Props to her, though; Meep the cactus is adorable.

Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama: A cozy fantasy manga series about a little girl who accidentally turns her mother into a statue and must attend the titular atelier to learn how to undo the spell. It was cute, but I don't feel the need to read the <checks notes> … next 14 volumes.

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells: I love these novellas so much I've started buying them rather than getting them from the library. This one is as funny, thrilling, and even heartwarming as the previous ones (don't hate me, Murderbot!).

Hellboy v. 1-4 by Mike Mignola: A reread, just because. Love both the unambiguously good (despite his name and appearance) hero and the mix of folklore and horror.

Meet Me in the Moon Room by Ray Vukcevich: A collection of very short, very odd stories. Vukcevich specializes in speculative, almost absurdist fiction. The stories were hit-or-miss for me; some were quite affecting, but others were clinical, sometimes quite cold and cruel. A riff on Frankenstein ("Rejoice") was excellent.