Books, Crafts, and Other Procrastinations

Ooh, Just Ki . . .

2012-02-13T13:20:00.000-05:00

Eh, I got nothing.

The latest on the Daisy Chain ABCs sampler:
As per Alicia's instructions, the long-and-short stitch I used for K had me needle going into the same holes as the stitches before, rather than into the previous stitches themselves (like split stitch), which resulted in a cool, brick-like effect. I could not bear to do more satin stitch, especially on a curve, so I did the O with two layers of blanket stitch.

Impromptu Heart Sampler

2012-02-10T15:35:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday I had to teach Beadboy2's kindergarten class a craft, so of course I chose embroidery. Like embroidery I've done with Beadboy2, I used plastic needles (ordered really cheap online!), burlap, and wool thread. To save time and frustration I threaded and knotted the needles beforehand, and even knotted the thread to the needles to avoid having to rethread them. The demonstration was a success, in that the kids had a lot of fun, and the results were varied and tangled and crumpled and cute.

On the train ride into the city after, I realized I had a scrap of burlap and some wool thread left, so right on the train I started a little sampler:
I used a variety of techniques: cross stitch, couching, fly stitch (hat tip to Wild Olive), detached chain stitch, queen stitch (it forms a blunt diamond, and three nested together make a pointy heart), rhodes stitch, back stitch, french knots (a miniature version of a french knot heart I made ages ago and which I will blog about at some point), and satin stitch.

36 Squares Done!

2012-02-09T19:28:00.000-05:00

I've been working on this quilt for, ahem, about 15 years. The problem was that, although I had learned as a child how to do patchwork by hand and with templates, these squares were the first time I used a sewing machine, a rotary cutter, and quarter inch seams. So by the time I got to block 30, I realized that these 9.5 inch blocks (unfinished) were really anywhere from 8.5 to 10.5 inches -- and how could I possibly put them together with sashing? Not to mention my error in choosing 9.5 inch squares, necessitating a whole lot of them for a queen size bed . . . .

So the project languished for years, until it came to me (I don't remember how) -- frame each block with a border, and cut that to 12.5 inches. This would allow me to "fix" the sizing errors and would leave me with big enough blocks to make a decent sized top once I added borders.

By the end of last year I finished the last of the blocks, so last Friday I made use of the design wall at my quilt class to figure out the layout. I even sewed the blocks into rows. I'll put the rows together, add borders, and send it off to be quilted. The end is in sight!

Pretty Pearls

2012-02-07T18:10:00.002-05:00

When Beadgrammy died, Beadmom let me choose a few pieces of jewelry to remember her by. One item I picked was this triple strand of "pearls":
I never actually wore it, though, because it wasn't really my style. Then I saw this necklace on the French General website, and I realize it would be a perfect way to redo the necklace. I took out my rosary pliers and some gold-colored wire (22 gauge dead soft rather than the half-hard I wanted, but it should hold up) and made a bead chain from some of the pearls:
I prefer the look of single beads rather than the double ones in the French General version.

The fun part was rooting through my boxes of stuff for charms. I found an unusual gold-colored milagro, because I can't get enough of milagros. I found this old cabochon from who-knows-where:
And used nail polish and my fingernail to scrape off the black paint before gluing it onto a brass base. A cute little brass cross was really a connector with two loops, so I added a ruby swarovski crystal to pick up the red in the heart above. A brass heart and key were the last touches.
Pretty, delicate, and meaningful.

I still have lots of the pearls left. I think I'll make another bead chain with the rest of the pearls from the strand I took apart, and leave the necklace with two strands to be displayed with my other grandmotherly things -- a fabric heart made by Beadmom from her Beadgrammy's hankies, and a tiny sweater and shawl crocheted for my by Beadabuelita.

A Book Review and a Carmen Miranda Necklace

2012-02-03T12:16:00.003-05:00

Miss Scarlet's School for Patternless Sewing is the second book by Kathy Cano Murillo, and like her first, it was fun and light and colorful. Miss Scarlet is a young woman who wants to be a fashion designer, and whose style is heavily influenced by the fictional Daisy de la Flora (whose designs sound awesome). She sets up the classes to raise money, and bonds with her students which include an elderly woman with a mysterious connection to Daisy. There are no surprises here, and like Cano Murillo's previous novel the point is the healing power of art and craft. Also? More typos. The publishers really need to improve their editing process. Or hire me -- I'll proofread!

Anyway, in addition to providing me an enjoyable read, the book also inspired me. Carmen Miranda and her style of accessories are mentioned more than once, including the fruity jewelry she was famous for. I had a little collection of glass fruit beads, so fun and colorful earrings seemed like a no brainer.

Unfortunately, once I had wired the beads together I realized the resulting cluster was way too heavy for an earring, so I made it a pendant instead. I strung it with some cheap green glass beads and a few flower dangles to balance the pendant, and now I have my very own "Carmen Miranda necklace":
I'll have to make some matching earrings next.

A Confederacy of Dunces

2012-02-02T15:59:00.002-05:00

John Kennedy Toole's life was short and sad, involving alienation, professional disappointment, and finally mental illness. After he committed suicide, his mother spent five years trying to get his manuscript published before she got the attention of an author, who spent another three years getting it actually published, whereupon it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (of course).

Given this background, A Confederacy of Dunces is not what many would expect, and that may be why it took so long to get it out there. It is an absurdist comic masterpiece, filled with all manner of oddball, pathetic, or just plain weird characters and lots of slapstick humor and broad satire, with little in the way of actual plot. Toole has been praised for his depiction of New Orleans and its subcultures, not to mention the dialects he faithfully records, and while I cannot opine on the accuracy of the accents, I wholeheartedly agree that he wrote a fantastically vivid description of the city and its people (although I sometimes wonder where all the normal, competent people are hiding). While Toole's satire is sharp, it is never mean-spirited, and you do end up rooting for the various characters (well some of them, the ones who have a fundamental decency in them).

The centerpiece, of course, is Ignatius J. Reilly, the "hero" of the book. He is a man in his 30s, overweight, over-educated, unemployed, living with his long-suffering mother, absolutely convinced of his own superiority and that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. My suspicions grew as I read the novel, until I finally reached this piece of advice Reilly gives another:

Begin with the late Romans, including Boethius, of course. Then you should dip rather extensively into early Medieval. You may skip the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. That is mostly dangerous propaganda. Now that I think of it, you had better skip the Romantics and the Victorians, too. For the contemporary period, you should study some selected comic books. . . . I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.

That clinched it -- Reilly is Comic Book Guy. A puritanical, more-Catholic-than-the-Pope, proto-Comic Book Guy (the book is set in the early sixties, and I can just imagine what Reilly would have had to say about Vatican II). And like Jeff Albertson, Reilly is a real ass, alternately horrid and pathetic. He has nothing but contempt for everyone around him. He has grandiose schemes but refuses to take any responsibility for their disastrous (and hilarious) consequences. He mistreats his mother, and when she stands up for herself he guilts her into backing down (one of the delights of the book is seeing Mrs. Reilly ever so slowly grow a spine). And yet, in just one heart-breaking paragraph towards the end of the book, Toole leaves you truly sympathizing with Reilly and wanting him to triumph over those that mock and bully him. It is such a small yet profound moment and a testament to Toole's skills and sensitivity, and to the humanity at the core of the novel. Fittingly, the book ends with the tiny possibility that maybe, just maybe, Reilly and his girlfriend/nemesis Myrna can smoothe each other's worst traits.

A Garden in my Jewelry Box

2012-01-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

I glued vintage cabochons into bezels, and linked them with dyed green turquoise. The chain came from a commercial necklace I took apart.

A Present for a Little Girl

2012-01-27T17:24:00.004-05:00

whose birthday party is Sunday. The party has a Wizard of Oz theme, so of course I could not buy any old present when I have lovely Wizard of Oz fabric in my stash.

A tote bag:
With a poppy field lining:

A drawing case:
(A note pad is supposed to go in the pocket to the left, but I have not bought it yet.)

The Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T13:10:00.006-05:00

The schools around here make a big deal of the Chinese New Year, which made me think of an old Piecework issue that had instructions for making a cute embroidered felt rooster for 2005. Of course, I never got around to doing it then, and subsequent years would need a different animal, but last week I decided to try my hand at designing my own pattern.

I studied the old pattern and the pictures of silk and cotton dragons in the accompanying article. I also read up on Chinese dragons, and how they are shaped like snakes, with four (usually) legs and no wings, and then sketched out the little guy. I decided the legs, tail feathers (or whatever) and head crest would be easier to manage if they were separate felt pieces attached to the body. I used the fly stitch to give the appearance of scales, and embroidered a few more details for the face and tail. The orange thingies are supposed to be flames coming out of the mouth; it didn't quite come out the way I'd intended. Otherwise, I'm quite pleased with the cutie.

Mr. Beadgirl reminded me that this is not the first Chinese dragon I've made. Years ago I made one out of beads and wire, and gave it to Mr. Beadgirl because he was so taken with it (usually he is indifferent to my work). Mr. Beadgirl christened it Edgar, and he sits on his desk at work.

Mr. Beadgirl just emailed me a picture of Edgar:

The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault

2012-01-18T19:53:00.000-05:00

The Broken Teaglass was a Christmas present from Mr. Beadgirl, and just what I needed during the Christmas season -- not too heavy, not too light, intriguing, and a quick read.

The plot starts when Billy and Mona, editors at a dictionary company, discover in the company's citation files references to a mysterious book, "The Broken Teaglass," one that does not appear to exist anywhere else. The mystery of what the book is doing there is resolved rather quickly, and in a non-surprising way, much to my disappointment. But this is the only complaint I have; the mystery as to the contents of the "Broken Teaglass" (rather than its form) is satisfying.

Of course, in a novel like this the mystery is only part of the point. The oddball characters Arsenault created are engaging, and the slow reveal of what's going on with Billy (for lack of a better way to state it) is well done. And on yet another level, this is a book about storytelling -- the stories we tell each other and ourselves, the reasons why we tell (or don't), and who "owns" the stories once told. I look forward to reading more by Arsenault.

Rose Ring

2012-01-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

A quick little pick-me-up after a rough day. The rose is an inexpensive button, and I used size 8 seed beads and fireline (run through the beads three times) to make the ring. I love it! I have another button, which I am thinking of making into another ring to sell, but what size?

Steampunk Bracelet

2012-01-15T16:00:00.006-05:00

The inspiration for this design came from some awesome zippers I found in a tiny little quilt/fabric store in Carlisle, PA, on my way to visit Beadmom and Fr. Beadbrother. Unlike the dyed plastic zippers of today, these had brass metal teeth and were nice and big. I snapped up the zippers in black, brown, beige, and burgundy and plotted what to do with them.*

The bracelet came together over several months. I first unzipped it and cut off a length from the end to wrap around my wrist, with extra to spare for finishing. I turned the teeth out so the brass would serve as a kind of picot edging. I tea-dyed some white lace and sewed it between the two strips, and then I sewed on various watch parts, using crystals to hold them in place.

The last step was to make a loop on one end from gold-painted size 6 seed beads (I hope the finish does not wear off, but if it does I can replace the loop) and attach a gold-plated button on the other. The button is quite plain, but it was the best fit for the bracelet. If I ever find a suitable charm, gear, or watch part I'll glue it on to the top.

Unfortunately it's winter, which is long-sleeve weather, which on me means sleeves to my knuckles. So I can't really show the bracelet off yet.

*While I was in the store, the proprietor and another customer, both in their 50s-60s, spent the entire time complaining about how young women today don't know how to sew a button and have no interest in sewing. Apparently they are unaware of the growing popularity of needlearts among all sorts of people -- crafty types, hipsters, green/eco types, young homemakers, artists, city people, country folks, retro and vintage lovers, people on a budget, and so on. Also, I wonder what they thought of me buying zippers. (I didn't tell them I would be "repurposing" them.) (assuming I still count as a "young woman.")

Definitely Elegant

2012-01-13T12:57:00.002-05:00

The design over all, that is. My D is not elegant, because I apparently was a little shaky when I traced it, so the lines are crooked and those shapes in the center of each side can only be called polygons, not diamonds. Plus the white thread was not great at covering all of my shaky purple permanent marks (I wish I'd known about Pretty By Hand's tip of marking the spot for a detatched chain stitch with just two dots, for the top and bottom). Once I finish the rest of the sampler I should tear out the D's stitches and redo it, perhaps . . . ah, who am I kidding? That D isn't changing.

The E came out nicely, however, which is surprising given how much I hate satin stitch. I used the weave of the linen to keep the stitches spaced evenly, so perhaps that's the secret.

Balthazar

2012-01-09T21:01:00.003-05:00

I just barely finish him in time, given that today is the last day of Christmas (the Baptism of the Lord). (Actually, I thought yesterday was, given that it was the Sunday the Church celebrates the Feast of the Epiphany, and I was really bummed that I hadn't finished by bedtime, so it was a pleasant surprise to learn I was wrong.)

I'm not doing another project like this for a while. As much as I love a lot of the cross-stitch designs out there, I find cross stitches kind of tedious. The bead embellishments on these kits are even worse -- not the size 11 beads, which are attached with a half-stitch and work up quite fast, but the size 15 beads, which are attached with a cross stitch. Which means going through the bead twice, which is very fiddly and takes quite a bit longer than a regular cross stitch. These designs had a lot of size 15s, so I'm glad to be done.

"Journey of the Magi" by T.S. Eliot

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
The the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities dirty and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wineskins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our palaces, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

A Few More Christmas Crafts

2012-01-05T13:59:00.005-05:00

As it seems to happen every year, I have a large Christmas project I struggle to finish before the end of the season. This year, whenever I took a break from cross-stitching the Magi, I worked on a gingerbread garland from Super-Cute Felt:
I made mine with only gingerbread people, using cookie cutters for the pattern. I had originally meant to change the garland a bit, to make it not so similar to the one in the book -- I considered embroidering the men and women instead of using "frosting," as I did for this guy, but that was more work than I had time for. Simpler embroidery and buttons were considered too, and then a mix of all the styles, including the frosting, but before I knew it I was following Howard's instructions, down to the little silver beads (left over from the beaded snowflakes). A testament to the success of her design.

I also tried to make an kitschy ornament by taking Christmasy fabric scraps and Mod Podging them on to a styrofoam ball, but that was not quite as successful:
The glue made the fabric dry darker than I expected, and the overall look is harsher than I wanted. I might try to coat it with a dusting of fin translucent glitter (does it exist?) to soften it and make it sparkly.

The lovely ornaments from SewFearless came out much better:
My ornaments were clear glass, not metallic, so I added a sheer wash of gold paint to the dried paper. I also covered up the ornament hanger doohickies with with gold floss, since they were silver-colored.

In a couple of places this year I have seen references to a "sewing tree," and I think I want to do that next year -- a small potted tree for my dining table. I have lots of ideas for the ornaments: these ones (thanks, Jodi!); beaded spools from my favorite mixed media maven, Kelli Perkins (thanks, Monika!); smaller versions of these guys:
(thanks, crafty people I don't have time to track down now!); this lady I apparently stitched all the way back in 1999 from who knows what designer:
a nicer version of this rather junky ornament:
plus maybe some new ribbon ornaments (the ones that weren't fiascos). And yo-yos and buttons of course, and rick rack . . . this could be a lot of fun!

The Shakespeare Wars

2012-01-01T15:50:00.000-05:00

This book was an intense and rewarding read. I picked it up as a corrective to the idiocy that was Anonymous and its hype, because it covers the real, meaty issues about Shakespeare -- the interplay of the different texts, the vicious debates over spelling and language and meaning, the arguments over why, exactly, Shakespeare's works are so compelling. Rosenbaum is ideally suited to the task -- an academic outsider (a journalist) who is highly literate and educated, he is also profoundly passionate about Shakespeare. His writing is casual, engaging, and snarky, and he has little patience for those he thinks have foolish or very wrong ideas (to his credit, he will also openly acknowledge his own mistakes).

There is so much to think about in this book that I could write a dozen essays. Rosenbaum reminded me how much I love Hamlet, and how immersed I once got in debates and discussions over Hamlet's age, costuming, the brilliance that is Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Gertrude's role, and so on. Rosenbaum also vindicated my love of love for Luhrman's movie William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, and the absolutely stunning opening monologue. (Despite the fact that I never cared too much about the play. They are too young for eternal true love. There are too many misunderstandings and stupid things in the way of love. And they are too willing to die because their passion cannot be fulfilled, when there is so much more to life. I prefer my heroines tough and strong, like Jane Eyre, who is parted from Rochester not because of misunderstandings or foolish pride, but because of her integrity and moral strength. But I digress.)

I'd also love to have lunch with Rosenbaum, and ask if he ever saw the Hamlet O-groans that appeared in Frasier, of all places (starting around 1:45). Has he read Neil Gaiman's "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" and "The Tempest", issues 19 and 75 from the Sandman comic? What does he think about the conceit of the fairies being much more capricious and amoral in "real life" than in the play, and the absolutely sinister version of Puck (something I can never not think of whenever I see any other portrayal of him)? Or the moving way Gaiman tied together Prospero and the end of Shakespeare's career with the ultimate fate of Dream? What does he really think about Oxfordians? (Snerk.)

If there could be a theme to all the disparate Shakespearean questions and puzzles Rosenbaum discusses, it would be one of ambiguity or multiplicity. Which of the two texts of King Lear is the "right" one -- the Quarto or the Folio? Which of the three Hamlets -- the "good" quarto, the "bad" quarto, or the folio? Did Shakespeare leave each play once written, or did he revise his works over time? If the latter, which then would be his final version? Did he have both literary and stage versions, or were the stage versions (shorter and with directions) products of directors and producers? What spellings and punctuations should we use (sallied/sullied/solid, shroudly/shrewdly, O/o'), and are they the result of Shakespeare's intent or decisions by later printers and typesetters? What did Shakespeare mean with particular words he chose, like "accidents/accidence" -- the primary definition (coincidence), a second one (resonance), one of his own devising, none of these, all of these at once? Are Lear's words in the Folio cause for hope or despair? How can a reader make sense of the myriad, conflicting ways one line about love in Sonnet 40 can be interpreted, let alone the rest of the poem?

The fact is, none of these questions can be answered definitively, and probably never will be. Rosenbaum repeatedly analogizes it to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, where an electron can never be pinned down precisely in both speed and location but instead occupies a penumbra of probabilities. Shakespeare's works, then, are "a wave-array of possible variations and interpretations of [] single word[s] or phrase[s]" (p. 90; see also p. 463 on). I (and many others) think this is Shakespeare's genius -- the multiplicity of meaning. The fact that you can read (or see) the plays over and over and find something new. The fact that there can be two or more perfectly valid understandings. The fact that the plays are flexible enough to allow directors and actors their own interpretations of a scene or character. What other writer can offer such sheer versatility?

I've often heard (and Rosenbaum mentions it) that we will be the last generation to be able to understand Shakespeare in its "original language"; future readers and audiences will need the works to be translated for them, much as Chaucer needs to be translated for most people, and Beowulf for everyone. Such a thing is inevitable; languages change or die, many of the great works of literature have to be translated for someone, and it certainly need not keep us from recognizing Shakespeare's genius. Yet it makes me sad to think of it, because much will inevitably be lost. Clever wordplay based on a multiplicity of meaning and similarity of sound will be gone. It will force editors to make decisions on spelling and meaning and punctuation, even more than they do now. Many of the debates Rosenbaum discusses will become available only to those few who can read "Shakespearean English" well enough to understand the stakes. That will be the true loss, not the silliness over Shakespeare's "lost" identity.

Things the Beadboys Have Used as Ornaments on the Tree

2011-12-29T17:31:00.002-05:00

Various toys
A spoon
A fork
A bowl
My car/house/office keys
Scraps of paper
Used tissues
A pair of Diego underpants

Cookies!

2011-12-23T16:25:00.002-05:00

Chocolate-Peppermint Thumbprints (the Martha Stewart website does not have the recipe yet):

Pan de polvo:

Misshapen Pepparkakor (from Prairie Moon, in 2005's Christmas Ornaments):

Mint M&M Cookies (my own "recipe," by which I mean the Tollhouse cookie recipe with m&ms instead of chocolate chips):
They'd be prettier if I'd added the m&ms in one by one after the cookies were partially cooked, but that would have been too much labor on a Monday night.

Christmas Pudding

2011-12-21T12:22:00.000-05:00

Mr. Beadgirl's father is from England, so this seemed an appropriate ornament for the Bead-in-laws:

It is made from wool felt and hand-sewn, although had I used the machine (it's in the shop) I think I would have been able to stuff it more firmly. The design is from the 2009 issue of Holiday Crafts.

Gaspar

2011-12-20T12:20:00.000-05:00

Dear Jane Part Deux

2011-12-19T18:08:00.004-05:00

Beadmom liked my Dear Jane quilt so much she hasn't stopped talking about it. I had a few squares left over so I thought I'd make some more so she could have her own Jane. But she's running out of wall space . . . what to do? Bags are always useful, so I used nine squares for each side. I used a heavyweight iron-on interface to protect the stitching and add heft to the bag. A three-inch piece of doubled fabric serves as the bottom and sides, so the squares don't get distorted when there is stuff in the bag. I lined the bag with a cheery yellow batik, Beadmom's favorite color, and I used strips of black webbing for the handles (fabric wears too easily). And just in time for Christmas!

Good thing Beadmom is skeptical of blogs, and never reads mine.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

2011-12-16T14:22:00.005-05:00

Monkeys, and in particular sock monkeys, are very popular right now. My cross-stitching allotment is being taken up by the Three Kings so I could not cross-stitch this and this (this year), but what about making the actual monkey? I don't knit, so these adorable guys were out of the question, but I do sew.

I took two pairs of this:

And turned them into this:
I added buttons for eyes, to match the eyes of the Beadboys. Astute viewers will notice that one monkey's arms are inside out; oops. I'm a little apprehensive as to how well these will hold up given the rough play the boys subject everything to, but the monkeys will look adorable peering out of the top of stockings on Christmas morning.

O, Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T19:43:00.003-05:00

The Beadboys tend to clump ornaments together on the lower third of the tree, so over the next few days I need to shift some of them around.

I Forgot!

2011-12-09T15:37:00.003-05:00

Beadmom needlepointed this for me a few a years ago. She even picked the branch it hangs from from her backyard and spray-painted it gold (she has always been one for twigs and branches in her decor, a habit that drove Beaddad crazy.)

We Three Kings

2011-12-08T22:12:00.004-05:00

As I wrote earlier, the Mill Hill kits inspired the decorations for the mantel this year:
The main pieces are my Santos from Puerto Rico. Santos are wooden carvings of saints and other Catholic figures. Originally devotionary in nature, they are now a big part of the art and culture of the island. I've loved the Three Kings ever since I was a little girl, so when I started my own Santos collection, that's whom I gravitated to.

My first set, bought by me on one of my trips to P.R.:
A triptych style Beadmom gave to Mr. Beadgirl the Christmas we got engaged:
And Beadmom's, which she gave to me when we moved:
Poor Balthasar -- his present broke off, and no matter how many times I glue it back it falls over.

I also have another cross-stitch Three Kings:
This was a pattern from the defunct British magazine Needlecraft that I made in the 90s.

I also have some of their camels. A Prairie Schooler design:

An ornament from one of those international fair-trade-type stores (made in India I think?):

And a felt camel, from I forget where:

The pillar candles to the right of the mantel are my Advent Wreath:
Pillars last a lot longer than tapers, and they are harder to knock over -- an important consideration because of the Beadboys and the Beadcats.

Once, when I was a little girl in P.R., I remember coming back late one night from a holiday outing with my family and my godfather and his wife. I was half-asleep when my godfather pointed out the car window to a house which had plastic statues of the Kings on its front yard. "Look!" he said. "Those are the Three Kings, stopping at that house to deliver presents. But they saw us driving by, so they are pretending to be statues." I spent the rest of the trip staring intently at other statues on other lawns, trying to catch a glimpse of the Kings moving and giving themselves away.

Felt Garland

2011-12-05T19:08:00.005-05:00

This idea came from the winter issue of Stitch, and was super fast to make. I freehand cut a bunch of circles between one and two inches, then ran them one after the other through the machine (chain-piecing) until I got the length I wanted. I occasionally added a smaller circle of felt on top, and afterward sewed on a few buttons by hand. I'll have to remember this -- I can easily make garlands to match any color scheme (this one, darkish but vibrant, is to go with my Three Kings).

Melchior

2011-12-02T15:05:00.004-05:00

I got all excited when I saw Mill Hill's Three Magi kits -- the Three Kings are my favorite Christmas . . . symbols? Characters? Iconography? Anyway, I snapped up the kits in the fall, and once I finished the Paisley Pumpkin Melchior became my next cross stitch project.

Behold:
Beadboy2, upon seeing him: "That's one of the kings that gave Jesus presents. Is that ice cream?"

The kits have also served as my inspiration for the mantle this year, which I will use to display my various Three Kings.

If I want to complete the trilogy by Christmas, I'd better get cracking on Gaspar.

Time to Make the Ornaments

2011-11-25T16:51:00.005-05:00

I spent most of Wednesday sewing rather than cooking (not a complete dereliction of duty, given that I had Tuesday unexpectedly off from work). The results:

The first two are from the BH&G 2011 Holiday Crafts. I changed the embroidery slightly on the two: star stitch (or couched cross stitch) for the snowflakes rather than a five-pointed eyelet, french knots for the eyes of the snowman, and turkey work stitch for the pompom on his hat, rather than a tiny circle that was too fiddly to machine applique. They will be given to Beadaunt1 and Beadmom. The bottom one is for me, and was heavily inspired (if I can even call it that) by the first two.

I also made a garland for my mantle, but that is awaiting a few buttons.

Spicecrafts

2011-11-21T21:50:00.000-05:00

I bought Spicecrafts years ago, and I love it. In addition to a brief history of spices, it has all sorts of crafty ideas for using spices, and even a few recipes.

It taught me how to dry oranges for traditional pomanders, which I keep in a bowl on the mantle with a dried pomegranate, pinecones, cinnamon sticks, acorns, and other fallish sundries:

I made a lovely little grapevine wreath decorated with chili pods, cinnamon sticks, and star anise, after many years and many moves across state borders, it finally gave up the ghost.

I made a spice sampler, but that did not work out so well (fabric issues), so I have to think about how to fix it.

I also made several modern-style pomanders, styrofoam balls covered with cloves:
red peppercorns:

and cardamom pods and star anise:

This year, I added a fourth, using beautiful indigo-colored juniper berries I got years ago (spices may go tasteless after a few months, but their craftiness lasts a lot longer):
Now I have to make a fifth, because as Beadmom says when decorating, "odd is better than even."

Do I have time to make it by Thanksgiving?

Apple Harvest

2011-11-19T18:21:00.000-05:00

I finally broke down and bought an apple peeler, and it is wicked awesome. I'm generally not interested in gadgets or unitaskers and I don't have much storage space, but the apple peeler is so fast I don't know how I got along without it.

With the peeler's help, I've worked my way through the pounds and pounds of apples we picked in October.

Apple Sauce (lots and lots of it):

Apple Butter:

Apple Pie, to be frozen now and baked later:

Apple Crisp (a great breakfast):

(For all recipes except the apple butter, I cut the sugar in half -- I don't like my fruit desserts to be too sweet, and it's healthier this way.)

The apple skin left from the peeler looks so neat, I kind of want to find a use for it:

Book Round-Up

2011-11-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull: This was one of the first books written in the sub-genre "urban fantasy," a style that incorporates fairies and magic in an urban setting (specifically amongst artists and other "alternative" people; fairies seem to have no interest in corporate types). War for the Oaks is highly regarded, so it's not surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed it. What distinguished it the most from other novels for me, however, was the description of music. The protagonist, Eddi, is a rocker who manages to put together an amazing band while dealing with the fact that she is a kind of totem for a major battle between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Bull herself was in two moderately successful bands so she knows music, and it shows in the way she describes how it feels to make music, and how that music brings out Eddi's latent magic.

Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard: For some people when they read, they "hear" the characters' voices in their head, each distinctive in its own way as if it were an actual person speaking. That's never been me; while I "hear" the words I am reading in my mind, the voice (or whatever it is) always sounds the same no matter what I am reading. Until I read Lunch in Paris, that is. It was written by a good friend of mine from high school, and while we lost touch in college, we recently found each other online and I learned that she had just written a book. Reading her words on paper brought her back to me -- her voice, her mannerisms, her love of rhubarb -- it all came back in a flood, leaving me with the odd sensation that I was listening to her catch me up on her life.

The book itself is subtitled "a Love Story, with Recipes," and while it does depict her Parisian romance to the man that would become her husband, I actually found it to be less about their relationship and more about her relationship with France as an ex-pat. Elizabeth is candid about both the wonderful and not-at-all-wonderful aspects of living in a different culture, and her writing is witty and insightful. I enjoyed the memoir and I'm glad to find out what she has been up to.

The Mathematical Traveler by Calvin C. Clawson: This book was not really about number theory as I had hoped, but it was an excellent overview of the different "kinds" of numbers, including some I had forgotten about (oh yeah, transcendentals!). Although Clawson's prose is occasionally a little clumsy, he does a very good job of explaining complex ideas in simple terms.

The Dark: New Ghost Stories, ed. by Ellen Datlow: This seemed an appropriate choice for the weekend before Halloween, and I am always a fan of the collections Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling put together. This collection I bought for the Kelly Link story (I obsessively collect all her fiction), and hers was as expected -- creepy, fragmented, pop-cultury, post-modern. Some were traditional ghost stories ("The Ghost of the Clock" by Tanith Lee), some were modern horror stories ("An Amicable Divorce" by Daniel Abraham, which had an underlying current of misogyny I hope was unintentional), some had an old-fashioned feel ("Seven Sisters" by Jack Cady and "The Gallows Necklace" by Sharyn McCrumb). "Dancing Men," about a modern Golem, stood out because it reminded me of Beloved of all things -- the ghosts that slavery and the Holocaust leave. I enjoyed the stories well enough, but reading them all together I realized why I prefer mystery to horror. Horror thrives on the unknown, on not quite understanding what is going on. Mysteries, on the other hand, are to be solved, and I love solving puzzles, putting things together, knowing as much as possible. Take "An Amicable Divorce" -- the ending, and the events that precipitated the story, are deliberately left ambiguous, but I wanted to know more. In "Dancing Men" the life of one of the characters between the relevant instances of horror is glossed over, but it was the implications of that life that I was interested in. That's why I find horror to be unsatisfying (even the brilliant and creepy House of Leaves, which I adored, left me hungering for answers).

Scary Godmother Comic Book Stories by Jill Thompson: Spooky-cute comics, created because Thompson wanted spooky but not scary stories she could read to her niece. This collection consists of all the comic issues, but not the books/graphic novels (I think). Thompson's writing is heavy on the puns and gentle satire, and her illustrations are wacky and cute (she is famous for her chibi interpretations of Neil Gaiman's Sandman characters), albeit a bit cluttered, especially when in black and white. My favorite was "Ghouls Out for Summer" (see what I mean about the puns?) which featured a great flashback to the Scary Godmother's youth, when she was an cute little girl who was too weird to be a fairy godmother and too nice to be a witch.

Here it Is

2011-11-13T10:07:00.000-05:00

A better use of pears

2011-11-12T12:15:00.000-05:00

Pear, Port, and Thyme Conserve:

Autumn Leaves

2011-11-11T17:48:00.002-05:00

This craft comes from a book I bought way back when I was still in school (the first time around). I've since given the book away, because the majority of the projects were not my thing, but I always kept this one in mind.

Earlier this fall I got a large maple leaf on the way to Beadboy2's bus stop, and traced it onto paper with a fine point sharpie. I placed very fine gauge copper wire mesh (the manufacturer calls it "mesh fabric") on top and traced it again, and then cut the shape out, resulting in a copper leaf and lots of little nicks on my hands. I then squeezed puffy fabric paint along the edge to make it less lethal, and in the center to mimic leaf vanes.

The result:
You can see that the puffy paint in the lower right is all screwed up. It got a little mussed while drying, so I reapplied the paint and laid it carefully out of the Beadboys' reach, only to have Mr. Beadgirl toss his jacket onto it five minutes later. I fixed it as best I could and laid it back down to dry, only to have one of the cats walk on top of it ten minutes after that. Sigh.

Beadmom suggested I make lots and lots of them and put them on a wreath. I'll get right on that.

Leaves made by actual metalsmiths:

Friendship Bracelets!

2011-11-07T14:12:00.000-05:00

Remember those? In early fall I got a hankering to make them again after they popped up on the blogosphere. I made three for my friend's birthday, using the three techniques I knew as a girl:
The bottom one I made too short, so to make up for it I embellished it with pearls, shells, and sea glass to make a beachy bracelet.

Halloween Costumes

2011-11-06T07:21:00.007-05:00

I really did not want to make costumes this year; instead, I thought Mr. Beadgirl could go buy the boys transformers or superhero costumes, saving valuable craft time for projects for myself. (I've come around on commercial costumes -- they are not the waste of money I thought, given that the Beadboys are still playing with the Batman and Robin costumes we got them two years ago. Their refusal to grow more than an inch a year helps.)

But then I learned at the beginning of October that Beadboy2's school wanted everyone to dress up as a literary character for Halloween. A literary character from a book, they repeatedly emphasized; Optimus Prime would not cut it. I refused to buy a second costume (and I doubted places like Ricky's had literary costumes anyway), and I still refused to make one. After much grumbling and discussing with another parent, I came up with The Man in the Yellow Hat -- perfect! Beadboy2 loves Curious George, he could wear Beadboy1's yellow jacket and carry a stuffed monkey, and I could paint yellow a plastic pith helmet from a long-ago party.

Unfortunately, Beadboy2 rejected that immediately. After explaining he had to dress as someone from a book, he started going through his books. The Lion King was out, because that was a cartoon first. A character from Dora the Explorer was out because that was a TV show. Beadboy2's next suggestion, Superman, is a literary character, and of course comics are a valid literary form. But I suspected that Beadboy2's principal and teachers would not agree -- they struck me as the type to dismiss comics as juvenile cartoons, and I was not interested in a fight. Beadboy2 then grabbed a children's religious book given by Beadmom (we call them "Grammy books" in our house) and declared he would dress up as God. But that's a fight I'm even less interested in having with the principal of a public school.

That's when I came up with the idea of a lion. Beadboy2 loves lions, and his favorite books, in addition to the aforementioned Lion King, are Aesop's fable of The Lion and the Mouse, and a beautiful Narnia pop-up book Mr. Beadgirl's parents gave him. Beadboy2 was thrilled with the idea of being Aslan, and I had something to work with (having now resigned myself to making something). And hey! Aslan is God, so two costumes in one!

I bought a mustardy sweatshirt hoodie at Target and lots of golden yellow, beige, and tan felt at Jo-Ann's. I cut the yellow and tan felt into inch wide strips and folded them in half, then sewed them in three rows along the edge of the hood. I covered up the logo on the front (why must inexpensive kids' clothes have logos and slogans?) with the beige felt. Finally, I made a tail from a narrow tube of yellow felt, added tan fringe to the end, and sewed it onto the back hem of the shirt. Voila:
As for Beadboy1, he's an easy-going guy, so he was happy to wear his dragon costume from last year (once I made a few repairs and spot-cleanings).

Next year I really truly am not making costumes.

El dia de los muertos

2011-10-28T18:11:00.003-04:00

A monsterbubbles design, from Just Cross Stitch's 2010 Halloween issue:
I made a few changes, however. For one, it was to be stitched on metal mesh, but that process is so slow and painful I switched it to linen. I also made a thread color change, since I misplaced the original color, and while I was at it, I slightly re-designed the swirls on the chin. Once the cross stitching was done I appliqued it onto wool felt, and used a running stitch to attach it to a second piece of felt for stability.

Beadboy2's Party

2011-10-24T13:56:00.004-04:00

Because Beadboy2 was born a week before Halloween, we have a ready-made theme for him every year. Our parties are pretty simple; we invite a bunch of local families and serve pizza (the really good kind), sort of healthy/sort of sophisticated snacks, juice for the kids and wine and beer for the adults, and cupcakes. I plan an activity for the kids (last year it was painting pumpkins, this year a ring toss game involving a witch's hat), but mostly they entertain themselves by running amok through the house while the adults hang out and are just as noisy as the kids. Poor Beadboy1, not a fan of big noisy parties, often retreats to his room, venturing out only for food and a little quiet play with one of the more reticent children.

For the cupcakes this year I got the idea of topping them with ghosts from a Halloween magazine put out by Gooseberry Patch (I knew the name from cookbooks but otherwise I am unfamiliar with the company). My plan was to top chocolate cupcakes with large marshmallows, cover them with white frosting, and add mini chocolate chips as eyes, but apparently, marshmallows are a summer food and my local markets no longer carry them. Instead I had to use lots and lots of "whipped" frosting, which resulted in rather squat ghosts:
Mr. Beadgirl says they remind him of wampas.

The favors came from the same magazine -- "Trash Mix with Worms," a bowl of dried fruit, pretzels, candy, and popcorn with gummy worms. I put some into little muslin bags to hand out:

Finally, I managed to finish just in time a growth chart from the kids. I got the pattern from a 2010 issue of Stitch Magazine, with the intention of starting a new tradition where we measure the kids and mark their heights each birthday. With almost a year to plan, of course I did not start cutting fabric until the middle of October and I finished the sewing Sunday morning (the day after his birthday, oops), but that's pretty good for me.
The fabric is linen, plus scraps with a gear/robot motif I originally used for a bag for myself.

Not ForGotten

2011-10-20T18:16:00.002-04:00

Cross Stitch Pumpkin

2011-10-17T13:28:00.003-04:00

I got the idea from Elsie Marley, who stitched a neat-o skull on a white plastic pumpkin. I had a black one, and orange yarn, so I opted for a reverse jack o' lantern:
I did lightly trace the design first, but it is nonetheless lopsided. Were I a more patient crafter, I would have used a ruler to make the grid of holes precise. The uneven stitching gives it that, homey, retro look . . . yeah, that's the ticket.

Pumpkin Paisley Part Deux

2011-10-15T16:52:00.003-04:00

I surrounded the cross stitch pumpkin with crazy patchwork in autumnal colors, to make a square roughly twelve inches across:
(I'm having colors problems with my camera, again, some more, so the actual piece is not as blue).

Now comes the fun part -- embellishing the square with embroidery, beading, lace, ribbons, buttons, charms, and other assorted doohickeys.

Douglaston Arts Festival

2011-10-06T18:55:00.004-04:00

The Douglaston Arts Festival was last Sunday, which meant I spent the previous weeks in a flurry of jewelry making. Most of what I had for sale falls into three groups.

Button and fiber jewelry:

Halloween/Day of the Dead jewelry:
(New this year are smaller calaveritas with just one flower on each skull, and the marigold flowers made out of wool felt.)

Bottle cap earrings:
(Much less involved [and less expensive] than my previous bottle cap earrings.)

I did pretty well again this year given the size of my "business," which makes me happy. Most of what is left I've put up in my etsy store (except the bottle cap earrings, I forgot about those). I sold all of spiderweb earrings I made, but I still have two spider charms left so I can make another pair upon request.

Now back to crafting for me and the Beadboys.

Paisley Pumpkin

2011-10-01T19:37:00.003-04:00

The second I saw this gorgeous Mill Hill beading and cross stitch kit I had to make it:
I made some changes, however. I was not crazy about the plaid border, so I eliminated it, saving me lots of boring stitching time. And instead of stitching it onto the navy perforated paper, I found a bit of navy linen in my stash that was perfect.

The stitching result:
I plan to center this in a small crazy quilt square, and embellish the piece with the threads and beads remaining from the kit. Rooting through my stash of fabric scraps for the right colors will be fun.

Book Meme

2011-09-30T14:39:00.005-04:00

It would take a meme about books to get me to jump on the meme bandwagon. I found it on DarwinCatholic's blog.

1. Favorite childhood book?
I don't think I could narrow it down. The ones that have stayed with me the most are the Anne of Green Gables series, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, the Belgariad books, and all the myths, folktales, and fairy tales I could get my hands on.

2. What are you reading right now?
The Stories of English by David Crystal.
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull.
Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard.
McSweeney's no. 13.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
Moneyball by Michael Lewis.

4. Bad book habit?
Buying too many.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
None, at the moment.

6. Do you have an e-reader?
No. I prefer paper books.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
Several at once, to suit my mood and interests. Also, because I am lazy and I don't want to go downstairs at 11 at night to get the book in my bag, so I pull another from my yet-to-read bookshelf.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
No, but it has allowed me to articulate more precisely what I liked and didn't like about a book, which was part of the reason why I started the blog.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Love and Rockets, New Stories no. 1 by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez. Specifically the superhero tale by Jaime.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Rarely. I don't have enough time to read all the books I want to read, and at this stage of my life I really want to enjoy what I am reading.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Well, almost everything, as long as it is 1) interesting to me and 2) not going to depress me or make me feel miserable.

13. Can you read on the bus?
I can read anywhere.

14. Favorite place to read?
Anywhere I won't be interrupted by children wanting snacks or the answers to a gazillion questions.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I lend whenever I am asked. But I should probably be more careful, because I've lost a couple of out-of-print books that way.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Yup, when I forget to use one of the many lovely bookmarks I have made or had made for me.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
I used to, but now I only do it on the rare occasion I have actual scholarly comments I want to remember.

18. Not even with text books?
Law school killed my desire to learn from text books.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English. I used to read quite fluently in Spanish, but I am very out of practice. I keep meaning to start up again with poems or short stories, but somehow I never get around to it.

20. What makes you love a book?
The sheer pleasure it gives me.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
The sheer pleasure it gives me, and that I think the person I am recommending it to will also love it.

22. Favorite genre?
Almost any fiction genre, but if I had to choose, it would be either scifi/fantasy or post-modern lit.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
A really, really good romance novel is great, but I have trouble finding ones I think are really, really good.

24. Favorite biography?
The only biography I have read that was not required by a class was Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel, so that one, I guess.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Nope.

26. Favorite cookbook?
Comida Criolla (Puerto Rican Cookery, in English), for all my Puertoriqueño cooking needs. Glamour's Gourmet on the Run. Simple but yummy and surprisingly sophisticated recipes that have aged pretty well.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Inspirational? I can think of several craft books that have inspired me artistically, but I don't think that's the answer this question is looking for.

28. Favorite reading snack?
If I eat as I read it is because I am hungry for a particular thing, and has nothing to do with reading itself.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
I can't, actually. The few books I've read that were subject to wide-scale hype (the Harry Potter books, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) more than lived up to that hype.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Depends on the critic. There are critics I have come to trust and rely on, and I have also learned how to determine from a (well thought out) review whether I will disagree with the reviewer.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
I have no problem with it. There is a difference between a negative review and being cruel or unfair to the author.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Other than Spanish? French. I am missing out on some books that I would want to read in the original, like Georges Perec's La Disparition.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
I don't know that I have found a book intimidating. Too difficult, yes, but that is different.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Again, I'm not actually intimidated, though I may be daunted by the length or difficulty of a book, because that I don't want to lose precious reading time to a big long book I end up not liking.

35. Favorite Poet?
T.S. Eliot! I need to read him again.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
One to three, depending on how quickly I can get through them and what else I am reading.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Never. I will at least skim it if I don't have time to finish it.

38. Favorite fictional character?
Severus Snape!

39. Favorite fictional villain?
Hmm, I don't know. I'll have to think about this.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Something not too hard or intense, but not too fluffy, either. Something with meat.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
Reading anything at all? No more than twelve hours or so, since in addition to books I read newspapers, magazines, texts on the interwebs, etc. Books? Maybe two or three days, if I am not commuting anywhere and the kids and household crap keep me busy.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Gunter Grass's The Tin Drum. I hated that book. It was so ugly and unpleasant I could not finish it, even for a class. Which did not prevent me from understanding why it is critically acclaimed -- a bad book is not the same thing as a book one does not like.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Questions. People (like, oh, say, the Beadboys) who keep pestering me by trying to call my attention to something else. Almost all of my book reading gets done when the kids are not around.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
The Princess Bride is an absolutely wonderful film. And Peter Jackson really did an excellent job capturing the feel of the Lord of the Rings books. Ooh, and Tristam Shandy: a Cock and Bull Story was appropriately meandering and post-moderny. I need to see it again now that I've read the book.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
I can't think of it. I don't actually watch many film adaptations, because I usually insist on reading the book first, and then once I have I lose interest in the movie unless it got really good reviews.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
I'm afraid to find out.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Before reading it? Never. During, I might jump ahead to get an idea of how a storyline is going to turn out, although I tend to do this with lesser quality books.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
If I really was not enjoying any aspect of it at all.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
I'm a librarian, so yes. The broadest categories are fiction and non-fiction. In the latter, cookbooks are by Library of Congress classification (except Mr. Beadgirl keeps messing that up), and the rest are by subject and topic (math, physics, craft books, etc.). Fiction is divided into genres -- folklore, scifi/fantasy, mystery, and "literary" fiction. The first is grouped by culture and subject. The second two are grouped by author (not alphabetical) and theme or style. The last one and by far the largest is subdivided by the author's country of origin and then organized alphabetically by author. But I group together smaller "collections" of favorite authors (Byatt, Kate Atkinson, Gaiman, Jasper Fforde, Kelly Link) or by theme (quilting, academic parodies, Arthurian fiction, etc.). Phew!

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
Keep, but I am trying to be pickier about this.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
No.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. What a stupid, stupid, stupid book. Driven by a ridiculously shallow and not-well-thought-out philosophy, incredibly sexist, and so very pretentious. I actually wrote in the margins in this book, expressing my contempt for the ideas in it and gleefully pointing out flaws. And, oh hey! I guess this can count as a book that did not live up to its hype.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
I don't read books I don't expect to like.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
I've written before that I should have liked The Solitudes by John Crowley, but I could not get into it. Lempriere's Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk was another disappointment, especially since I went through a great deal of trouble to get the unabridged British edition. The event at the core of the big conspiracy in the book turned about to be utterly mundane, and the main female character was yet another woman with no personality and no purpose except to inspire love/lust in the male characters.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Mysteries or novels that center around some kind of craft. Urban fantasy. The books of Sarah Addison Allen.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

2011-09-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

I had heard about Gabaldon's books a number of years ago -- a hybrid of romance, historical fiction, and science fiction -- but hadn't gotten around to picking up the first one yet. Then a friend of mine from the Dear Jane quilt class attended the romance genre convention here in New York, and came back with a free copy of Outlander; she already owned it, so she passed it to me (thanks, Lucy!)

I can see why the books are so popular, and for the most part I enjoyed it. Gabaldon writes that the book contains "history, warfare, medicine, sex, violence, spirituality, honor, betrayal, vengeance, hope and despair, relationships, the building and destruction of families and societies, time travel, moral ambiguity, swords, herbs, horses, gambling (with cards, dice, and lives), voyages of daring, [and] journeys of both body and soul," and she wasn't kidding. The premise is that Claire, an Englishwoman in 1946, accidentally travels back in time to 18th century Scotland and struggles to get back home, or at least survive. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on in the book, and the characters (with the exception of the main antagonist) are complex. Gabaldon has also clearly done a tremendous amount of research, and as a result the world of her novel feels dense and real.

Nonetheless, I have some reservations. For one, the book is very long, and by page 500 of 850 I was ready to move on. For another, there is an awful lot of violence: fighting, rapes, attempted rapes, and all kinds of beatings, which were sometimes disturbing, and eventually exhausting. One incident in particular bugged me -- the hero of the book, Jamie, feels the need to "punish" disobedient Claire (by now his wife) by spanking her. Gabaldon did a credible job of putting this in context, both of the society they are in and the particulars of these characters, but it was nonetheless awful to read. In my previous career as a lawyer (and lawyer-in-training) I spent some time working with domestic violence victims, so I really can't admire a man who hits his wife, no matter the cultural context. Not surprisingly, among the small but vocal minority who do not like the Outlander series, this incident gets mentioned a lot.

I also had trouble understanding why Gabaldon gave Claire a husband in 1946. Various characters discuss that she is a kind of widow as a result of the time travel, or that her marriage to Jamie takes place first temporally and so is the valid one, but I could not shake the feeling that Claire was an adulterer. It seemed icky, especially since Frank was portrayed as a good man whom she truly loved. So what was his point, if Jamie is her "true" love? Frank certainly gave Claire motivation in the first half of the book to try and return home, but it really wasn't necessary; handsome highlanders aside, most women would desperately try to get back to a world where there was indoor plumbing and antibiotics, not to mention a society where one does not have to fend off rapists every other day. Frank was also the source of crucial historical information Claire needed, but again, that could have been done through a friend or relative, or even a Frank who died in World War II. Whatever I felt about Claire and Jamie, "Poor Frank" kept running through my mind.

But this relates to what I ended up finding most interesting about the series, namely the narrative decisions Gabaldon made. Take Claire for example: she is from 1946, making her modern but not too modern to adapt to life in the 18th century. She is a nurse with extensive battlefield training, which gives her a valuable skill at a time when women were generally either wives or whores (and sets the stage for the obligatory "She's a witch! Burn her!" chapter). She was raised by an archeologist uncle who traveled the world, she endured WWII, and she was part of post-war England, all of which allows her to cope with rough living and the absence of 20th century conveniences. I enjoyed peering through the story, so to speak, to see how it was put together.

Outlander is just the first volume of the series, with book eight coming out later this year. Which presents a dilemma -- I really want to find out what happens to some of the characters (especially the hinted-at other time travelers), and what the explanations of the supernatural events are. But each book is so long, and I have so many other books to read. Perhaps I should check out the Outlandish Companion.

Alabama Skirt

2011-09-20T20:32:00.003-04:00

I finished the Alabama Skirt last night, missing the summer but at least I can wear it through most of the fall.
I'm excited to have it finished, although it was a learning process. When I make the next one (ha!) I will:
1) Redraw the pattern onto something sturdy but pinnable, perhaps muslin.
2) Shorten the pattern more. Even though I chopped a couple of inches off while redrafting the pattern, it is too long, and I can't trim any more off without cutting into the applique.
3) Find a better way to draw the lines of the pattern onto jersey. The marking tools I had, no matter how smooth, still caught on and dragged the fine knit, making it impossible to draw a clean line. I ended up cutting around the pattern freehand, which led to very uneven seam allowances.
4) Remember to stencil the design a bit higher in the front, since the front should be hemmed (i.e., cut) two inches shorter than the back.
5) Experiment with using pearl cotton for the applique. It might not be as strong as the upholstery thread, but I think it also won't tangle or come undone as much. Plus I'll have a better choice of colors.
6) Really, really pay attention to basting the top of the panels so as to not stretch out the waist. I did baste, but I forgot I had done that when, after sewing the four panels together, I pulled the skirt over my hips to check the fit. I heard the basting stitches snap, but not until I sewed the elastic on did I realize the damage -- a whole four extra inches in the waist. And I had gone through such trouble to redraft the waist in the first place, sigh. I unpicked the back of the waistband and put in two tucks at the two back seams. It's not really noticeable because I don't tuck in my tops, but still. Grr.

It's a comfy skirt, though, and moves nicely.

Zucchini Harvest

2011-09-19T10:03:00.000-04:00

Every year, whether it's from the CSA or the new farmer's market in our neighborhood, I end up with a ton of zucchini. My favorite recipes:

Lemon-Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies:

Zucchini Bread, from the William Sonoma Bread cookbook:

Zucchini Fries:

Chocolate Zucchini Cakes:

Zucchini Parmesan Crisps:

Bottle Cap Earrings

2011-09-17T13:38:00.000-04:00

A number of months ago in a bead magazine I saw a tiny picture of bottle cap earrings set in peyote stitch bezels; as I recall, the ad was for a class taught at a bead show I could not afford to go to. There was no indication of who the designer/instructor was, so I could not contact her and ask to buy a set of instructions.

But it was an awesome idea -- I love earrings, bottle caps, and seed beads. The first step was to pick a pair of bottle caps. I have a big jar of them:
But most don't have the bright colors I was looking for. Mr. Beadgirl solved the problem, however, by coming home one day with a few bottles of Izze's watermelon soda -- perfect!

The next step was starting the bezel to go around the bottle cap (I would attach it to a background later, holding the cap in place):
The trick was to figure out how many beads would fit around the crown of the cap (I got lucky on the first try -- 84 beads for the first two rows of peyote), and how to handle the expansion of the circumference to keep the beading relatively flat. A standard way to increase in peyote is to add two beads instead of one at various points, but I can never get it to look right. Instead, the bezel in the photo appeared to use larger and larger beads to handle the increase. After three tries I found the right sequence -- four rows of size 15 beads, two rows of delicas, two rows of slightly larger delicas, and a row of size 11 czech beads.

Next I used pliers to turn up the edges of the caps to get a flattish surface and drilled holes into the edges:
The holes allowed me to sew them onto my background (ultrasuede), so that the bezels would not be the only things holding them in place.
I then placed the bezels on the caps and sewed around the circumference through the fabric and the beads of the last row. I then trimmed away the excess fabric, being careful not to cut the stitches:
I used a whip stitch to attach another circle of ultrasuede to the back, sandwiching a jump ring at the top, and then used the peyote stitch to add one last row of czech beads. I added the ear wires and I was done!
They are quite large, but light weight and comfy.

The Ugliest Turnovers You'll Ever See

2011-09-17T10:18:00.005-04:00

Ever since Chuck made pear gruyere pies laced with anti-depressants for her aunts, I've been on a quest to make my own pie (without the drugs, of course). Although the creators of the show did publish a bunch of the Pie Hole's recipes, they never did this one, forcing me to experiment.

A couple of years ago I made my first attempt, which was only ok. I used Bosc pears, I think -- the kind that turn brown when ripe but do not soften -- and they remained a little too firm when cooked. Next time I use this kind of pear I will try this recipe, which calls for poaching them first (and sounds delicious).

This year I got a different type of pear, so the texture was no problem. For the filling I used flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and grated gruyere, and for the crust I used the Silver Palate's Apple of my Eye pie crust, swapping gruyere for the cheddar of the original and omitting the sugar (I prefer savory pie crusts).

It was the pie crust that caused so much trouble this year. I had a hell of a time rolling out the dough, I think because the cheese made it very tough. I probably should have chilled the dough less, and added a bit more water. I also had the brilliant idea of making turnovers that I could freeze, since I am the only one who eats fruit pies, but that made the dough situation worse; while I probably could have patched together a decent circle to fit in a pie plate, trying to create any clean shape for turnovers didn't work at all.

Hence the ugliest turnovers ever:
They tasted good, however.

With the rest of the dough I gave up on turnovers, and tried my hand at ugly mini-pies:
They froze beautifully, but would not come out of the muffin pan at all, so I had to bake them all at once. Disposable mini-pie plates are the solution. And again, they tasted good, but I am still on the hunt for the perfect pear gruyere recipe.

Book Round-Up

2011-09-10T22:57:00.000-04:00

Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast: This romance novel is a riff on the Persephone myth. Through a series of events, Lina, a middle-aged bakery owner, exchanges bodies with Persephone and agrees to bring the touch of a goddess to Hades. This was a pretty good re-telling of the myth -- Cast makes Hades, known as a dour god (unusual for the Greek gods in general), into a very attractive hero. Lina is smart and capable and mature, a refreshing change from the typical twenty-something heroine. The happy ending is unconventional but plausible (well, as plausible as one can expect in a world where the Greek gods are real). And Cast deliberately recast (heh) the myth in a feminist manner, getting rid of the (in)famous rape in the process. (In a comment on a Smart Bitches thread, Cast states that her research indicated the rape was not part of the original myth; I can't confirm this, except to say that this aspect of the story was not known in Homer's time.) Cast has written other books in the "Goddess" series -- the one below, plus ones based on the Undine and Beauty and the Beast stories, both of which I intend to check out.

Goddess of Light by P.C. Cast: This is the sequel of sorts to Goddess of Spring, and I did not like it nearly as much. For one thing it is set in Las Vegas, which holds no appeal to me. For another, Apollo is kind of a jerk -- there are several scenes where he is downright bullying to service people. I think we are supposed to find it romantic, a sign of how passionate and concerned he is for the protagonist, Pamela, but . . . no. Nor did I like the use of the antagonist, Bacchus. I found it odd that Cast chose the Roman version of this god when all other gods were the Greek counterparts, and while Dionysus is a natural foil for Apollo, chaos to his order, Bacchus here was not chaotic or wild, just gluttonous and petty and mustache-twirlingly evil. (And fat. Cast made a big deal of how disgusting he was.) On a more abstract level, I had a bit of trouble with the idea of the Greek/Roman gods being real (which I was able to overlook in the first book, because I enjoyed it so much, but still). Not surprisingly, God-with-a-capital-G (let alone the J-word) is not mentioned in the books, but neither is this some sort of alternate America where Judaism and Christianity do not exist. There are several off-hand references to a Christian understanding of prayer, much is made of how Hades is not like the Christian Hell, and in this book we learn modern dead people do not go to Hades at all. I was therefore left with a number of questions about the theology of the books (as dorky as that sounds, and yes, I am the type who over-analyzes romance novels). Nonetheless, the book was pretty well written, and again Cast came up with an unconventional yet plausible happy ending.

A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick: Bostwick has started a series centered around a quilt shop in Connecticut and a group of women who form a modern quilting circle. As you would expect, the women face all the standard problems -- cancer, divorce, betrayal, familial estrangement, career problems, and so on. Bostwick's skill, however, keeps the story engaging, perhaps because the characters are a little more self-aware than is usual in this type of fiction. Bostwick does make a couple of odd narrative decisions: although the story centers around four women, it is told from the first-person perspective of two, not all or just one; why? And several passages in the novel indicate that the two narrators are speaking or writing directly to someone; who? Otherwise, the book was well-written and enjoyable.

The Mouse Guard comics by David Petersen: Petersen has created an unusual comic universe -- a society of mice who survive in the wilderness despite being surrounded by predators. Fall 1152 is about a rebellion against the Mouse Guard, a group who keep other mice as safe as they can; Winter 1152 deals with the aftermath of he rebellion and a harsh winter. Although the plots at times were a little thin, the world is rich and deep -- the there is a history (including a war against weasels and an alliance with hares) that we only get snippets of, there are mousish poems and proverbs, and there is even a list of the quotidian professions of mouse commoners. The artwork, sized to fit onto square pages, depicts mice that are both adorable and deadly serious. I look forward to the next installments.

J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey: Over-the-top title aside, this is a great book of literary criticism by Shippey. I read it a decade ago and then lent it to Beadmom, where it sat neglected on a book shelf until I reclaimed it last month (like me, Beadmom has more books than time to read). I've now re-read it, and it was just as enjoyable the first time around. Shippey devotes each chapter to a major work of Tolkien's while tying it to a particular theme -- myth, the nature of evil, and so on. Sometimes he overstates his case, but it is clear he knows both Tolkien and his writings very well, which gives him a lot of insight into the works. He also does a close reading of the texts, paying special attention to particular words Tolkien used and even invented (not surprising, given that Shippey, like Tolkien, was a linguist at Oxford). I love language, particularly etymologies, so this is right up my alley.

Although Shippey quotes them, it is nonetheless hard to believe there are people who think the Lord of the Rings et al. is trivial and simplistic. I get not liking the books, but if you think they are just inconsequential little stories, you clearly weren't paying attention.

More Embellished Fabric

2011-09-07T21:23:00.004-04:00

Beadboy2 was fascinated by me beading the dot fabric. After an extended argument about how I would not let him play with my boxes of seed beads, another about how I would not give him a beading needle to sew beads on, and yet another about how the tiny seed beads would not fit on his giant plastic needle, I was finally forced to fetch the box of big plastic beads in my stash. I threaded Beadboy2's needle with wool and showed him how to attach beads to his needlework:

August Stitch-Along Finished!

2011-09-06T22:12:00.006-04:00

The past few weeks have been hectic -- a trip to visit Beadmom and Fr. Beadbrother, three and a half weeks of my damn wiener kids running amok at home all day, school supply shopping, car trouble (three batteries in three weeks!). I did manage to finish the stitch-along, however, and only a week late (a record for me).

The whole thing:
There are two uncovered dots just on the edge, which will get cut off when I applique the circle down. On the one hand, I only wanted to embellish complete dots. On the other hand, they appear obvious and naked. I'll have to decide what'll look best once it is sewn onto its backing.

Close-ups (other than the four discussed earlier):

Word.

2011-08-31T21:10:00.000-04:00

Light in the Dark.

Be Crewel

2011-08-21T21:11:00.004-04:00

Har Har. I finished the next two letters:
B, done in stem stitch:
To finish the B I'm supposed to add three interior rows of stem stitch in the lighter red, but I like the way this looks so much, especially between the yellow and turquoise, that I'm leaving it this way for now.

C, done with threaded backstitch, backstitch, satin stitch, detached daisy stitch, straight stitch, and french knots:
I used just one strand of the wool when lacing the back stitch of the C, which gave it a, well, lacier look. I love this stitch, and I must use it more often. Satin stitch, on the other hand, is my mortal enemy, which is why the leaves don't look great.

Love and Rockets: New Stories no. 1 by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez

2011-08-18T19:50:00.004-04:00

Love and Rockets was one of the first "alternative" comics to come out of the 80s, and I have intended for years to read these highly acclaimed books -- but where to start? I knew that the Hernandez brothers created a number of characters they followed over the years and tackled a variety of genres, resulting in an expansive universe. Three weeks ago, while in the library looking for some other books, I saw on the shelves New Stories no. 1, and figured I might as well start there.

And what a place to start. It is a collection of stories by the three brothers (they are now publishing annual trade paperbacks, and this is the first). Gilbert has the most stories, and they are by turns poignant, surreal, serious, and satirical. Mario contributed only one story, a broad satire on colonialism complete with corrupt priests, greedy Spaniards, and stupid Indians. But Jaime's story, a two-parter that bookends the collection, was the standout. He creates a superhero series out of some of his long-standing female characters, and the results are an incredible riff on the superhero genre, combining the pulpy, retro, occasionally goofy feel of 40s comics with feminism and girl power. There are competing teams of mostly female superheroes, and the plot centers around motherhood, in a kick-ass kind of way. There's even a female analogue to Batman, a woman who is inspired by the detective abilities of Miss Marple and who wears a costume to intimidate superstitious and cowardly criminals. And what's the scariest thing a woman could be? Why, old and ugly, of course. This is brilliant. I love, love, love this story. LOVE.

I now have to read every Love and Rockets story, preferably from the beginning.

Ha!

2011-08-17T16:29:00.001-04:00

Your Crafts Are Not Renegade Enough for the Renegade Craft Fair.

A Little Stitching Goes a Long Way

2011-08-15T09:33:00.004-04:00

The advantage of a project like this is that it really doesn't take much sewing to get a lot of impact. I was able to embellish four of the dots on the fabric this weekend:
(I'm getting really mad at my camera. The green of the fabric is completely washed out.)

Close ups. A shisha mirror:
I attached a shisha mirror with yellow thread, encircled it with pink feather stitch, and added purple and orange beads. There are lots of techniques for attaching the mirrors; for this one, I used a sort of modified buttonhole stitch, and I plan to use the "shisha stitch" to attach another.

A fake shisha mirror:
This shisha is not an actual mirror, but a plastic ring covered in blue with a reflective sequin attached to the back. I sewed it on and surrounded it with french knots, long stitches, and beads.

More french knots and beads:
surrounded by a loose chain stitch and bugle beads, to allow the colors of the fabric to show through.

An organic-looking burst:
I used seed stitches in the center of a beaded ring, and then added french knots, fly stitches, and more beads.

I already have a plan for this piece when it is finished. Remember this? I want to put that and this on twelve inch squares of some fancy fabric (maybe crazy patchwork), make two more embellished circle pieces, and put all four together for a wall hanging.

Because I Don't Have Enough to Do

2011-08-12T11:38:00.008-04:00

I am joining Feeling Stitchy's August Stitch-Along (one week late). Last week's assignment was to find a printed fabric to stitch on, and pair it with threads. For years I had been meaning to do the "Beaded Patterns" project from Color on Color, which is pretty much what it sounds like -- find a fabric with a print consisting of simple shapes, and embellish it. Perfect for the Stitch-Along.

Here are the materials:
The fabric I bought several years ago with this specific project in mind. The threads are left over from various cross stitch and embroidery kits; this seems like a good way to use them up (I won't be using black or white, though). The beads are little mixes I've accumulated over the years. I've thrown in a few shisha mirrors, too, which I may use.

I'm off work now until the middle of September, so on the one hand I will be home to sew. On the other hand, I'm off work because summer school and day care have ended for the Beadboys, which means the sewing will have to happen between meals, snacks, toilet training, laundry, coloring, breaking up fights, filling and refilling the little plastic pool in the backyard, and so on.

Book Round-Up

2011-08-07T09:45:00.000-04:00

The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges: An odd little bestiary that covers fantastical animals from all over the world, from the earliest tales to modern legends. Borges cites all sorts of literary sources for his descriptions, only translating some of them, and there are both the very common (unicorns and dragons) and the very obscure (the Sow in Chains and the Ink Monkey). It is far from comprehensive, but the real reason to read it is to experience Borges' incredible prose; of sylphs, he concludes: "Romantic poetry and the ballet find them useful."

Spain: A Culinary Road Trip by Mario Batali with Gwyneth Paltrow: Batali and Paltrow (a lot more likeable than you'd think in this book, although still remarkably un-self-aware), the luckiest people in the world, tour the best of every restaurant and kitchen in Spain. This was a Christmas present from Mr. Beadgirl, who knows how much I love Spain and Spanish food. I was lucky enough to travel extensively through Spain as a teenager and young adult, and the pictures and text brought back a lot of memories. Spanish cuisine is tied with Puerto Rican as my favorite, and the book is dog-eared with recipes I want to try.

Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt: Knowing I enjoyed Bram Stoker's Dracula, Father Beadbrother lent me his copy of this ostensible sequel by Stoker's great grand-nephew. This was . . . bad. Really bad. So bad I stopped reading after two chapters and skimmed the final few. Although in their very, very long afterwords the authors say they wanted to avoid the cliches of modern vampire lit, they are all here -- an explicit linking of Dracula to Vlad the Impaler, even though it is not clear Stoker made that connection or wanted to; Dracula is really your friendly neighborhood vampire; the revelation that Mina is Dracula's true love and a vampire, and Harker is a drunken jerk; the inclusion of Stoker as an actual character who wrote about Dracula and got it horribly wrong (what a way to honor your ancestor's legacy); the assumption that being a vampire is an awesome solution to the "problem" of mortality; gory violence; sensationalized sex involving nubile young women (that's why Elizabeth Bathory's in the book, as a lesbian, natch); and a lame "The end . . . or IS IT???" ending. The writers also took what I call the Kitchen Sink Approach to Historical Fiction, incorporating Jack the Ripper (of course), famous actors of the time (gotta have celebrities!), Aviation pioneers (cutting edge technology!), and the Titanic (why not!). A totally revisionist interpretation of Dracula despite purporting to be otherwise, and poorly written at that. Boo.

Songs from the Seashell Archives, Vols. 1 and 2 by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough: These two books (very poor editions riddled with typos) collect four stories set in the same universe. These are light, comical fantasies that incorporate lots of folklore and fairy tales with a modern sensibility. So, for example, there is a red tapeworm that uses bureaucracy to keep people out of a castle, the witch from Hansel and Gretel is an ancestor of one of the protagonists, and to avoid falling under an evil wizard's spell one must take his words with a grain of salt, literally. I read these long ago in high school, and loved them, particularly the first two -- the protagonist was a brown-haired, decidedly un-princessy witch with unusual powers. I'd all but forgotten them until a month ago, when I had a dream which was basically a recreation of a scene from the second book (how imaginative of my sub-conscious). After that, I had to reread all of them, and I did. They held up pretty well, although as I said the first two were the best, and reading all four in a row was a bit much. The fourth ended with a major plot-point unresolved, making me wonder if Scarborough had intended a fifth novel. According to her website she did write a short story about it, so perhaps someday I will hunt it down.

My Quilt is in American Patchwork & Quilting!

2011-08-04T20:54:00.002-04:00

The October issue of American Patchwork & Quilting has an article on the Dear Jane class at the City Quilter, which is where I made my quilt. They have a tiny picture of my quilt in the magazine itself, and they direct you here where you can read a blurb about it. Be sure to look at the other quilts, they are stunning!

Fabric Hunting Was Much Easier

2011-08-01T21:56:00.004-04:00

My original plan was to pick a light purply-blue fabric, which I thought would contrast nicely with the leafy greens and teal I was intending to use. However, because I had to buy new threads, I couldn't quite get the shades I was envisioning. So I went through my fabric stash, looking for a good neutral. White and off-white were out, because I wanted the white thread to stand out. Blues and purples were out, as I explained above. Posie gets Cozy used a brownish olive fabric in her kit, and I thought of using something similar, but it wouldn't work with the threads I chose -- plus, I wanted to make mine a little different. I finally settled on a greyish-pink linen, remnant of a skirt I wore for years until the waistband finally stretched out too far to fix. (I used another piece of this fabric for my Bear Footprints embroidery). I think (hope) this will work nicely with the reds and greens.

I traced the design with a permanent pen, a fine-point Sharpie, as per Posie's instructions, which was horribly nerve-wracking. And then, finally, I could start sewing:

They're not late for last Halloween . . .

2011-07-28T21:25:00.003-04:00

They're early for this one!

A Prairie Schooler design, from the 2008 Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue:

A monsterbubbles design, from the same issue:

Thread Hunting

2011-07-23T20:23:00.003-04:00

I bought Posy Gets Cozy's DaisyChain ABCs pattern a while back -- just the pattern, partly because I wanted to change some of the colors and partly to use up the fabric and wool I already have, saving money. And then I promptly forgot about it, until Lisa reminded me by stitching hers.

So I decided this week to pick out the threads. I have a big jar of wool yarn for needlepoint, with all the colors I wanted for the pattern:
Unfortunately, the pattern calls for crewel wool, which is just a little thinner than standard tapestry wool. I have lots of crewel wool, too, but with a few exceptions the colors are much more muted and old-timey:
I did a little sampler embroidery of the Q from the pattern, to see if I could get away with using the tapestry wool, but it really did make a difference. As you can see, the daisy flowers at the top are significantly larger, even though the threads look almost the same width:
So I spent my lunch hour on Thursday calling all the needlepoint stores in Manhattan (oddly, clustered on the Upper East Side). After work I trudged uptown in the heat wave on the dreaded 6 line to the one store claiming to carry crewel wool, bringing some of the brighter shades of wool I had (I was determined to use at least some of my colors too). Unfortunately, their wool (a brand I had never heard of) was thinner than standard crewel wool -- so thin I'd need to strands to do the embroidery. Which was not a problem, except that mixing in the wool I had would ruin the uniformity. Given that the skeins were pretty cheap, I gave up and bought all seven colors I needed.
The colors are pretty. The pattern calls for nine colors, but two of them are gray and peach, which I don't like at all, and they are only used for the M, so I've omitted them. I'm using the two cherry colors instead of pinks, the green shades are closer together, and the turquoise replaces the light blue, another color I am not crazy about.

The next step is picking the fabric, and dammit, it's coming from my stash.

Earrings for Sale

2011-07-18T16:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I listed a bunch of new earrings in my Etsy shop.

Silk cocoon earrings:
Beaded wool earrings in indigo:
Bordeaux:
Teal:
And pink:
Button earrings in purple (large):
Purple (small):
Blue:
Citrus:
Green:
And pink and yellow:

Sparkly!

2011-07-17T18:39:00.003-04:00

This necklace is from a pattern dating back to the Spring 2005 issue of Stringing; I kept waiting for a time when I could justify buying all those Swarovski crystals. Instead of teardrops, which are obscenely expensive, I used rondelles, which are only very expensive. And I substituted in three larger ones I had left over from another project, rather than buying another package of the smaller ones with more than I needed. Generally I change colors a lot when I follow a beading pattern, but in this case I loved the toasty colors with the silver.

Recipe of the Day

2011-07-13T20:52:00.002-04:00

My colleague found a recipe for "Bible Cake" folded up in The Improved Housewife, from 1845. I wasn't able to copy down the whole recipe, but it was made from ingredients mentioned in various Bible verses, such as honey, flour, figs, raisins, and nuts -- a cute idea. No fatted lamb, though.

A google search shows many modern variations, if you want to make one yourself.

Well That Was Unexpected

2011-07-11T19:50:00.006-04:00

I'm used to Beadoy1 spending the weekend in the hospital, not Mr. Beadgirl. Thank God he's ok now, but my crafting plans for the weekend went out the window (I think I left them in the ER of Bellevue, along with all the patients from Riker's).

I do have some crafting news to report. New York City Folk Art Museum recently hosted a gorgeous exhibit of red and white quilts (which to my huge disappointment I was unable to see). The quilts all came from the collection of Joanna S. Rose. Her niece, the "Threadmistress," is in my Dear Jane class, and she decided to make a red and white Jane quilt for her aunt, with the help of anyone who wanted to donate a square or two. It sounded fun, so I quickly made two squares, C-3 and D-3. I did forgot to photograph them, but you can see them at Threadmistress's blog right here.

Strawberry Harvest

2011-07-05T20:24:00.002-04:00

Strawberry balsamic jam from Well Preserved:

Strawberry gelatins from Everyday Food:

Strawberry rhubarb pie, a modification of this recipe:

Gee's Bend Cuff

2011-06-30T16:27:00.003-04:00

I sewed all those (square-stitched) squares and rectangles into a cuff:
The kit was designed by Cathy Collison for Glass Garden Beads, based on the incredible Gee's Bend quilts (I think this one, specifically); Mr. Beadgirl gave it to me for Christmas. The kit came with 17 different colors of seed beads, which I cycled through as I made the components to keep the colors balanced, using less of the pink and orange whenever the bands of colors used per component set wasn't a multiple of 17 (which, unsurprisingly, was often). I also left off three of the medium squares, to make the cuff a little shorter for my wrist. I have a lot of the beads left, so I may make a couple of the biggest squares for earrings.

It's the perfect summer jewelry -- bright, summer-garden colors, and a bracelet (that won't be covered up by long sleeves) rather than a tight or confining ring or necklace.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

2011-06-27T13:51:00.000-04:00

Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler has an unusual structure -- each section of the book is the opening chapter of another, fictional book; alternating with these sections are sections about "you" trying to read a book called "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler," but printing errors keep inserting the wrong first chapters, forcing "you" to hunt down each successive novel. It is a novel about reading and writing, and is rightfully considered a post-modern masterpiece.

Mitchell borrows this technique for his novel Cloud Atlas. Each section tells a different story, but it ends just at the climax of the tale, moving on to a completely different story in a different time and genre. Unlike Calvino's novel, however, the central story is complete, and then the process reverses itself, as each of the previous stories is completed in reverse order, back to beginning. The novel has been aptly described as a set of nesting dolls. (This structure is actually mentioned in the book too; one character describes life as a series of shells, and the "doll of 'now' [] encases a nest of presents yet to be" -- which is exactly what this book is.)

And what a set of dolls it is. Mitchell brilliantly writes a variety of time periods, characters, and literary styles. The first story purports to be the diary of an American on a Pacific ocean voyage in 1850, and the diary-writer has all the assumptions and biases you would expect of a white, educated man of that time. The second story is a collection of letters from a young, dissolute musical genius to his friend and former lover. The letters are dated 1931, and depict an uneasy Europe between the wars. The third story, taking place in 1975, is a parody of fast-paced, poorly written thrillers; so successful a parody, in fact, that I kind of didn't want to finish it. The fourth is in the style of contemporary literary farces, with the protagonist one so often finds in those novels -- a male baby boomer, educated and clever but with no common sense or wisdom, self-deprecating but convinced of his superiority to everyone else, randy but impotent, and almost totally lacking in values and integrity.* The fourth section is again a completely different style, this time a Blade Runner-esque distopian future where corporations rule all, "consumers" are required by law to spend a certain amount every month, and human clones are bred with specific traits to work menial jobs, with no rights or dignity or "souls" (microscopic chips that keep track of consumers and allow them to buy and sell). The final, or rather middle, section is yet another dystopia, this one a post-apocalyptic tale about humans struggling to maintain what little culture and technology they've retained, much like A Canticle for Leibowitz.

As different as these stories are, they are nonetheless linked in various ways. The 1931 letter-writer finds the 1850 diary, although he suspects it is a fraud; the recipient of the letters is a character in the pot-boiler and gives them to the heroine, who also tracks down the writer's last composition entitled Cloud Atlas Sextet; the protagonist of the fourth section, a vanity publisher, receives the the third section as a novel to be published; the protagonist of the fifth section, a clone on death row for attempting to forment a revolution, asks as her "last wish" to watch the movie made of the vanity publisher's adventures; and in the last/middle section, this same clone is worshiped as a god, and the narrator treasures (but cannot understand) the archival recording of the clone's story. Moreover, characters in each section share a birthmark, suggesting in at least some cases that they are reincarnations of each other (but this cannot be given too much weight, since, for example, the pot-boiler is supposed to be fiction). The structure alone of Cloud Atlas is quite remarkable.

Thematically, too, the stories are linked, and they allow us to see a certain degradation of civilization as more and more evil is tolerated in the disguise of progress. Slavery doesn't go away, it just takes different, insidious forms. One character lectures that "[a]nother war is always coming . . . . They are never properly extinguished." Over-privileged idiots maintain that the ideal governance is a corporate empire. The elderly and useless are shunted to the side, and nothing is allowed to get in the way of the future.

Despite what all this progress leads to, the book is not entirely bleak. Ụnderneath all the tricks and interlocking structure, there is a commonality of striving for something better, something transcendent. And so the 1850 diarist is inspired by what he sees to become an abolitionist. The dissolute composer abandons his hedonistic pursuits because of an overwhelming need to express himself in music and create a masterpiece that will outlast him. The clone goes to her execution, content in the knowledge that her actions have inspired others who may be able to change what she could not. And the characters of the last/middle story will not give in to lawlessness and violence the way others have, determined to hold on to not just culture and technology, but human decency.

References in the book and statements made by Mitchell himself liken souls to clouds that drift across the sky. The signs of decency in the book sometimes seem like little wisps floating in a sky of human failings, but they are there -- changing and dissipating and re-forming, but always there.

*See David Foster Wallace's "Certainly the End of Something or Other, One Would Sort of Have to Think" in Consider the Lobster for a take down of more self-serious versions of this man. See Straight Man by Richard Russo for a genuinely likeable version.

Lots of Quadrangles

2011-06-26T13:16:00.001-04:00

Recipe of the Day

2011-06-23T12:42:00.002-04:00

Ritz Cracker Torte

Crumble up a bunch of Ritz brand crackers (accept no substitute). Beat six egg whites, sugar, and a little vanilla into a stiff foam. Fold in crackers, bake for 30 minutes, and cool. Top with Cool Whip brand whipped topping (accept no substitute).

The companion recipe to Ritz Cracker brand mock apple pie?

Alabama Stitching

2011-06-21T20:59:00.004-04:00

Beadmom and Father Beadbrother came to visit for a week, so not much crafting got done (especially since my sewing room is also a guest room). I did start a skirt for myself. The pattern is from the Alabama Stitch Book, which is all about handsewing with knit fabrics.

I've never worked with knits before, but I adored the skirt, and after seeing Artsy Crafty Babe tackle it successfully a couple of years ago, I figured I'd give it a shot too. The technique is simple -- four panels make up the skirt, each with two layers in different colors embellished with reverse applique. Stencil a design on the top layer using paint, sharpie markers, or whatever, sew a running stitch around the shape, and cut away the top layer inside the stitching line.

I've already cut out the panels, stenciled them, and completed stitching on one. (As usual, my apologies for the crappy photo; maybe my camera needs a new, not recharged, battery?)
It's been easier than I thought. Cutting out the fabric was a bitch, because I had trouble marking the design with the recommended tailor's chalk (the knit fabric is very fine and kept catching) and so I had to cut around the pattern, which was held in place with cans, which led to jerky cutting. There are various ways I can remedy this in the future, however. Layering the two pieces on top of each other smoothly was also kind of tricky, but once in place they did not budge, which made sewing less nerve-racking. The sewing itself is a piece of cake.

I'm still apprehensive about how it will all come together. I had to enlarge the pattern, and shorten it, and narrow the waist (I'm so easy to fit!). It's pretty, though!

Inspirational Embroidery (of a kind)

2011-06-09T13:41:00.004-04:00

After embroidering "Where's Fluffy" from Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, I thought it'd be cute to do a few more little embroideries with a pop culture theme. The Simpsons were the logical choice for the next project.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I adore Lisa Simpson, so of course I chose something related to her: the note Mr. Bergstrom wrote her when he had to leave her school. I got a screen shot of the note off the internet, traced it onto the fabric, and used cotton floss in the color of pencil lead. I even found a plastic hoop in "Simpsons yellow":
Where I'll put these, I have no idea.

Book Round-Up

2011-06-06T22:19:00.003-04:00

The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba: The lead singer of My Chemical Romance is apparently determined to become a modern-day Renaissance man; he developed the concept and original sketches of this comic, in addition to writing the stories. Umbrella Academy is about seven children conceived and born under unusual circumstances, and raised by a cold, eccentric millionaire to fight crime. By the time they are adults, they are fully dysfunctional, as one would expect. This collection, the first six stories, serves as an introduction to the characters as they try to prevent one of their own from destroying the world. The writing is quirky and dark and cute, a good match for Ba's clean, wonderfully expressive artwork.

A Short History of Nearly Everything By Bill Bryson: Bryson wasn't kidding with that title -- he covers everything from the creation of the universe to the extinctions we face every day, the earliest humans to the scientists of the last century, stars to volcanoes to tiny little single-cell organisms. He synthesizes this into a highly organized, compulsively readable, occasionally terrifying narrative -- particularly impressive since I already knew most of the information in this book. People often lament the abysmal lack of scientific knowledge most Americans have; requiring everyone to read this book would remedy that.

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter by Kathy Cano-Murillo: I adore Cano-Murillo's crafty/artistic sensibility, so I was excited to pick up her first novel (plus, I am required to read all craft-themed novels). It is a light book, about three Latinas in Phoenix whose lives intersect around arts and crafts. Everything in the story is resolved exactly as you would expect, in a pretty, glittery bow, but what makes this book stand out from others in its genre* is the unexpected ways the characters got there. There are a lot of left turns and odd little detours that kept me engaged, and I liked that the characters, if not fully dimensional, were nonetheless quirky and interesting. Cano-Murillo's writing style could use a little work -- she had some neat turns of phrase, but she has a tendency to tell instead of show, and some of the transitions were a little abrupt; my copy also had a few typos. Overall, I really enjoyed the book.

*There needs to be a name for this genre; it has its rules and conventions, just like any other. I won't accept "Chick Lit," or even "Chica Lit," because first of all the term at its broadest includes every book ever written by a woman, making it not-at-all helpful. Second, men write books in this genre too. Third, it just serves to ghettoize fiction written by women as being something different from "regular" fiction. Fourth, it facilitates the dismissal of books read primarily by women as being less important that the books men read. See also: the way romance gets less respect than any other genre, including scifi; Franzen's Oprah kerfuffle when he balked at the idea of ordinary women reading his masterpiece; the theory that no woman could write the great American novel because women write about families, not important stuff (never mind all the male writers who write about families and are acclaimed for their insights on the human condition); etc.

Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso: Ostensibly a fantasy, because it takes place in another world where people have hair like artichoke leaves, this graphic novel follows a few generations of a family as they struggle with a civil war and its aftermath. Kelso's illustrations are cute and deceptively simple, but the subject matter is anything but. Like the real world, everything is messy, loyalties are confusing, and neither side is entirely right or wrong. The story was quite poignant, if a bit thin, and it left me wanting to know more about the characters.

Unlocked by Courtney Milan: My first e-book! (Well, sort of -- I have copies of Flatland and ABC for Book Collectors on my laptop too. So, my third.) I could not resist the Smart Bitches review or the dollar price, and reading a novella on my laptop was no hardship. A common complaint about a certain style of "old-school" romance is that the purported hero is a complete and total ass to the heroine until the very end when he realizes how good and pure she is; a quick apology (if that) later and they are Happily Ever After, while the reader thinks the heroine could have done so much better. Milan inverts this. The bad behavior the hero committed occurs ten years before the start of the book, when he returns to London much more mature and determined to make amends. But the apology is not enough -- he then has to earn her trust and her friendship before he can even begin to earn her love. This was a quick, emotionally satisfying read with thoroughly likeable characters. Special props to Milan for the heroine's mother, a proto-feminist, but not the spitfiery, iconoclastic, totally unrealistic type that shows up in historicals.

Ego and Other Tails by Darwyn Cooke: Cooke is a writer/illustrator of comics who has a wonderful retro style -- no surprise that he worked on Batman: The Animated Series. This collects several of his pieces about Batman and Catwoman. My favorite image by far is the cover to Batman: Gotham Adventures #50, which perfectly captures the personalities of Batman and Catwoman, and their relationship. The main Catwoman story, "Selina's Big Score," I already owned, so I bought this mainly for the Batman story "Ego." A recurrent motif in comics is the struggle between Batman and Bruce Wayne, and which is the real person. Cooke literalizes this by having Wayne confront his dark side, the Batman, who is cold and ruthless in his pursuit of justice. The lesson Wayne learns -- that he must control his dark side, not give in to it or ignore it -- is entirely unsurprising, but it was nonetheless a good crystallization of the Batman mythos.

What caught my eye in "Ego," though, was an argument the Batman figure made: Wayne needed to kill Joker to finally put an end to his crimes; his longstanding moral code of never killing anyone is "cowardly." This is exactly the argument that has been floating around the Catholic blogosphere concerning the morality of torture or weapons of mass destruction. Those of us who argue (correctly) that torture and the indiscriminate killing of civilians are intrinsically evil and never justified are moral cowards, afraid to make the tough choices that real life requires. This reasoning is not confined to conservative Republican types, either; it is related to the view among a certain segment of comic readers that the only authentic, realistic comics are those filled with death and extreme violence and despair (because that's totally the real life these comic book readers experience in suburban America). Although neither group probably realizes it, the core of this viewpoint is nihilism, and a contempt for anything good. Bruce Wayne recognizes this, and understands that he can use his dark side for the strength and edge it gives him while never allowing it to overtake his morality. (He still violates the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments to a ridiculous extreme, however, and he is totally a state actor.)

Felted Wool Bead Earrings

2011-06-04T15:39:00.002-04:00

I seem to have entered a crafting slump -- little time to craft and lots of long-term, on-going projects, so little progress to show. I did manage to make some earrings last week, however.

I wanted to make some more beaded felt ball earrings, but this time make the wool balls myself from woving, rather than buy them. A google search quickly found this great and easy tutorial from Knitty magazine. In an evening's work (and two days drying time), I had four pairs of felted wool beads:
(Unfortunately, the color in all the photos is off again -- the teal beads, for example, should be deep green.) The tip from the tutorial was to use toothpicks to make the holes, but at 11:00 on a Sunday night I had none, so I came up with the brilliant idea of using size 20 chenille needles. Brilliant, that is, until two days later when the beads were dry and I removed them from the needles -- not only were the holes quite a bit smaller than I wanted, most of the needles had rusted, rendering them useless for embroidery. Other than that, however, the process was very easy.

The next step was to string the beads onto headpins, with "silver" (the guy who sold them to me said they were silver, but English was not his first language and the price was very cheap, so who knows) spacer beads. Using thread to match the wool, I sewed on seed beads in different patterns:
(They look much prettier in person.) I made these with the intention of selling them, but I like the light bluey-green ones with pink daisy flowers so much, I may keep that pair for myself.

For completion's sake, the felt bead earrings I made in the fall with commercial wool beads:

New Feature! Recipe of the Day

2011-06-02T17:11:00.002-04:00

I'm currently cataloging cookbooks, which means I come across all sorts of oddball recipes. The most recent one (for a dish that scarred my childhood):

Chipped Beef a la King

Condensed chicken noodle soup
Condensed cream of mushroom soup
Hard-boiled eggs
Chipped beef
Green peppers
Pimentos
Onion flakes
Parmesan cheese
Canned mushrooms.

Mix together, heat, and pour over toast. Bleagh.

Legalese for Parents

2011-05-24T21:09:00.001-04:00

When I had to give up my job as a litigation associate for Beadboy1, little did I know that the legal profession would not let me go. I'm not talking about the legal issues Mr. Beadgirl and I discussed with regard to estate planning or Beadboy1's city benefits, or even the unofficial legal advice I've given friends and family over the years. Instead, I've been keeping track of the legal terms that apply to parenting.

Adverse Possession: "A method of acquisition of title to real property."* Statutory requirements vary by state, but in general it must be hostile (you claim the property as yours, not the owner's), exclusive (only you have access to the property), continuous (for the prescribed period of time), and open (you don't try to hide what you are doing) (BAR-BRI graduates will recognize the mnemonic ECHO).

Beadboy2 displayed a remarkable grasp (heh) of this concept when he once grabbed something of mine, clutched it to his chest, and said "That's not yours! It's mine!"

Attractive Nuisance: A condition or thing which is dangerous to children, but which is "attractive," causing the children to want to play in or with it.*

Almost everything in a house is an attractive nuisance to a toddler or pre-schooler -- electronics, outlets, knives, medications, needles, wine glasses (and their contents), appliances, and cats.

Forum Shopping: "Such occurs when a party attempts to have his action tried in a particular court or jurisdiction where he feels he will receive the most favorable judgment or verdict."*

While both have engaged in this, Beadboy1 is particularly adept when it comes to that extra cookie or glass of juice I've said "no" to; once he even ordered me to "ask Daddy." Mr. Beadgirl has fallen for it a shameful number of times.

*Definitions from Black's Law Dictionary, 6th ed.

More Flowers . . .

2011-05-23T19:34:00.000-04:00

to add to my collection.

The poppy pattern from you-know-who:
I used red and black silk, with two yellow buttons on either side to hold the flower in place on the wire. (The picture is blurry; sadly, the best photo of the batch, and I'm too tired to keep trying.) (Perhaps that's why it was blurry.)

I found these instructions for rickrack flowers while browsing Craftstylish.com, a fortuitous discovery because I just happened to have a yard of jumbo purple rickrack and no particular idea of what to do with it:
I think I might have some lime green rickrack, too.

Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves

2011-05-19T21:12:00.002-04:00

I absolutely loved Kostova's first novel, The Historian, a modern take on vampires (specifically Dracula) that tells a great mystery while retaining the horror and symbolism of the vampire myth (no dreamboat vamps here), so I was eager to get her second book, The Swan Thieves. It's funny that I read it after re-reading Possession, because they share many similarities. Both involve Victorian artists who are caught between their passion and social constraints, and modern day pairs who feel compelled to solve the mystery of their 19th century counterparts. Both address the tension women face between being creators and being muses (or mothers). And both are told through personal narratives, journals, letters, and so on (a structure Kostova also used in her first book).

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book as much as The Historian. Some of it, to be fair, is because I simply don't find the subject matter that carries the story -- painting -- as engaging as the Dracula myth, despite the effective way Kostova described the sensations of painting. But the real problem was that I could not get myself to care about the characters she created. The story centers around a painter, Robert, who tries to vandalize a work of art in a museum, and refuses to say why. He is the stereotypical tortured artist, self-centered and almost completely blind to the suffering and sacrifices of people around him, and yet everyone who meets him falls under his spell. Because this is a book we cannot see his art, which is supposed to be brilliant and moving, and because he refuses to tell his story we never get a chance to really understand him. As a result, I felt little interest in Robert, and I could not understand why the other characters were so drawn to him (surely someone, somewhere, would get as impatient with him as I would?). Robert does suffer from a mental disorder, but Kostova keeps that diagnosis a secret from us, and never makes clear how much of his personality is attributable to that, how much to his natural temperament, and how much to the fact that everyone lets him get away with bad behavior.

Moreover, the book relies heavily on the reminisces of the psychiatrist trying to help Robert, Robert's ex-wife, and Robert's ex-girlfriend. These passages are overwritten, almost precious, and far too perfect to be believable as memories. The result was a certain sameness despite the fact they they were supposed to be very different characters. (This occasionally happened in The Historian, too, but I enjoyed the story too much to care.) Add to that the fact that throughout the book I was two steps ahead of the protagonists in figuring out the central mystery, and you have a disappointing book. A sophomore slump, I guess. I'll be interested to see what Kostova writes next.

What I'm Working On

2011-05-11T19:06:00.000-04:00

Irises

2011-05-09T18:56:00.004-04:00

Boy, time passes when you get out of the habit of posting. It didn't help that I had no particular project to write about.

To celebrate spring, I made some crepe paper irises from a Martha Stewart kit I picked up a few years ago (it's shameful how often that name comes up here):
The technique was fairly simple -- use the templates to cut out leaf and petal shapes from the crepe paper, form the petals (the crepe paper stretches in neat ways, making it fun to play with), and use floral tape to attach the components to florists' wire. My results don't look as iris-y as those on the cover of the kit, and the purple crepe paper is very . . . bright, but it still makes a pretty bouquet for the mantle.

I still have three light purple irises to make when I can snatch a few more minutes. Also, the kit came with way more templates than advertised, so if anyone wants the extras, just let me know.

Jesus Christ, Superfrog

2011-05-09T18:48:00.001-04:00

The title says it all. I would pay good money to see it.

Possession by A.S. Byatt

2011-04-28T22:18:00.001-04:00

I first read Possession in the midst of law school finals, and it quite possibly saved my sanity. It is a gorgeous novel -- a literary mystery (but no murderous albino monks! No petty thugs working for unseen billionaires!), a romance (two, really), and a meditation on the power of literature. Writing exerts a strong force here, and Byatt nails not only the exhilaration words can inspire, but the obsession too. And so Roland steals a newly discovered letter because he can't bear to have others read it too, and he and Maud hide their research, trying to keep Ash's and Cristabel's secret as long as possible. Cropper devotes a lifetime and a fortune to acquiring every word written by Ash, every object he touched, every scrap with any connection to him. Beatrice spends decades editing Ellen's journals, because she is afraid to release them to the wilds of modern academia. Blackadder does all he can to make sure Ash's papers stay in England, because Americans don't have a right to him. And Leonore does not want to relinquish the view of Cristabel she and her "sister-feminists" have held all these years.

Earlier this week Alexa Alfer's and Amy J. Edwards de Campos's A.S. Byatt: Critical Storytelling, which includes an essay on Possession, crossed my desk, so of course I neglected my job long enough to read it. Page 103 contains a passage which, in turn, cites Chris Walsh's "Postmodern Reflections: A.S. Byatt's Possession" (from Richard Todd's and Luisa Flora's Theme Parks, Rainforests and Sprouting Wastelands: European Essays on Theory and Performance in Contemporary British Fiction), which describes the novel as "'a celebration of reading' and rejection of restrictive critical readings." The first phrase in particular describes exactly how I feel about Possession. It is a reminder that regardless of all the lit crit theories out there, a fundamental part of reading novels is the sheer pleasure we take in the words and story.

That pleasure was still there when I read it again. But this time I was also struck by the role of women in the novel. Byatt has stated time and again that she is opposed to Feminist Theory, yet she cannot help but notice the limitations placed on women deliberately or inadvertently, and it is reflected in the female characters. A theme running through the book is that of agency, of the traditional role for women as muse or helpmeet and the efforts by some to become something else. Ellen is the prototypical helpmeet, who devotes herself entirely to her husband to support him and his writing, and is dismissed by modern feminist critics as not being worthy of attention. It is Beatrice, a modern scholar dismissed by male critics for being female and by female critics for being frumpy and old-fashioned, who sees the wit in Ellen, the caginess, the subversion of people's expectations of her. Passages from Ellen's diaries and scenes told from her perspective show that she embraced her role, even if it was assumed for troubling reasons, and she took control of the way she would be perceived.

Cristabel, the obvious contrast to Ellen, rejects the path she took, and carefully cultivates a quiet life with a female companion that gives her the freedom to write. And then she meets Ash, who loves her not for her beauty or gentleness, but for her mind -- and even more, not for her understanding of his works or her ability to be his muse, but for her own writing, her status as a creator of art. Cristabel is wary, not just because Ash is married, but because she sees that even with a man who is so supportive, Victorian life and culture, and just the fact of being married, would tear her away from her writing and reduce it to a hobby. Cristabel would not allow herself to be sucked into Ash's life for more than a brief period, and made tremendous sacrifices to retain her freedom.

This tension is echoed in the lives of the modern characters. Maud keeps herself tightly closed and cool, figuratively and literally (she hides her blonde hair from the world), because she perceived as being too beautiful to be a scholar. Beatrice is all but irrelevant, invisible to the scholarly world around her. But it is Val who is worst off, and the most frustrating. She has had her own hopes dashed by living in Roland's shadow, by not being good enough to do what he does. She takes a series of unfulfilling temp jobs to pay the bills, and watches as the men around her gain some measure of success. And yet . . . it is the 1980s, and she no longer has to be like that. She can search for a career that would fulfill her. She can find satisfaction in her work for paying the bills, and find fulfillment elsewhere -- in art, books, writing. She can leave Roland, because whatever love she felt for him is long gone. But she stays, and she takes on the role of the female martyr (almost as if she enjoys the role), and allows bitterness to consume her. In this sense, she fails where Ellen and Cristabel succeeded -- they chose their roles, accepted the sacrifices and consequences, and found some genuine satisfaction in what they did. Which is not to say that their lives were not heavy with suffering and doubt, or that a more egalitarian culture would have allowed them more happiness, more choices. But they did what they could, and took responsibility for their lives. Maud, too, ends the book navigating a way for her to be both a woman and a scholar. Val, however, never displays any agency, and instead gets swept up in the life of another man (albeit one that makes her happy).

I've only touched a fraction of what's in Possession. The text itself is a literary feat, composed of different narrators, journals, letters, stories, and poems of almost every nineteenth-century style. It's a post-modern work that reads like a genre novel (no wonder I love it), it's a skeptical look at contemporary critical approaches, it's a parody of academic life. It's one of my most favorite books.

Neglected Necklace

2011-04-21T22:04:00.004-04:00

I keep forgetting to blog about this:
I finished it last October, but blogging about other projects kept pushing this aside. The inspiration dates all the way back to late 2009, when Gordana on Project Runway made a gray dress with a detachable bib necklace that I loved. I wanted my own, so I began planning it out. I chose different black fabrics, because I am not a fan of gray, and added ginormous black rhinestones and shell pink pearls for an accent (I adore that combination of colors, shell or cameo pink and black -- it reminds me of lovely vintage lingerie).

The base was a crescent cut from black wool (and, uh, seamed in the center because I screwed up the first time):
In this picture, I've already added a rosette of sorts to hide the seam -- I cut a wide strip each of shantung silk and netting, layered them, ran a running stitch along one length, and gathered it into a circle.

I then made other fabric doodads from silk, netting, velvet, and satin:
gathered strips, yo-yos, ruching, and so on.
I then started sewing them on the foundation, in whatever placement seemed best. As you can see here, I also added fabric roses made from the silk -- the summer of 2010, I picked up the premiere issue of Jewelry Affaire, which had all sorts of bib necklaces, many with fabric roses (and showing that for once in my life I was actually "on trend").

Next came embellishment:
(this photo has the most accurate colors, by the way. I need a new camera.) In addition to the pink pearls and black rhinestones, I added black pearls and faceted, shiny seed beads (I forget the precise term for them) for a touch of glitter.

The last step was backing it with ultrasuede, which would be nice and soft on my skin. Getting the ultrasuede turned out to be quite a production. You'd think that stores in the world-renown fashion district of NYC would have heard of ultrasuede, but nope -- they kept trying to sell me real suede or sueded fabric that raveled (no seam allowances for me!). And of course mass market stores like Jo-Ann's and Michael's would not carry anything like it. I finally had to order it online, spending a fortune in shipping. But I got it, and hand-sewed it to the back of the wool base, inserting ribbon at the ends to serve as a tie.

I've worn it a couple of times since (it's not the sort of thing to wear to the local pizza joint, no matter how good that pizza is), and I have discovered two flaws -- the bow tied at the back of my neck is annoying (easily remedied with a ribbon-end clasp), and the weight of the necklace is lopsided, necessitating adjustments all night. I'm thinking of adding a bit of weighty chain to the back, to even it up.

Hawai'ian Quilting

2011-04-20T19:33:00.005-04:00

Remember the hibiscus pattern I made inspired by The Aloha Quilt? I'm making progress:
Tradition dictates that you cut out the drawn wedge and place it on fabric folded in eighths, and cut out the fabric that way. But when I unfolded the pattern, I saw that either because I had not folded the paper tightly enough or because I used freezer paper which is thick (or both), the innermost (when folded) hibiscus ended up narrower than the others. Afraid that I'd make the same mistake with the fabric, I instead kept the pattern whole and ironed it on to the right side of the fabric, then traced around the whole thing with a white pencil (that's the beauty of freezer paper -- the shiny side sticks to fabric until you pull it off, and it leaves no residue).

The next step in traditional Hawai'ian applique would be to baste the entire pattern onto the background fabric an eighth of an inch from the line, and then cut the top fabric a quarter of an inch from the basting line. But this seemed unbearably tedious to me. That's when one of my quilt instructors came to the rescue. Her advice was to just lay the top fabric on the bottom, smoothe it out, and pin it in a few areas -- the weight of the top piece would keep it from shifting, obviating the need for basting. Then I just cut the fabric out as I applique. That technique is working out great for me; I was on trains for 15 hours this weekend, and as you can see I got more than half of the design appliqued.

The one problem is that I unwittingly came up with a design that has a lot of deep v's to applique, which are exceedingly tricky. Another quilter gave me the tip of snipping the fabric right to the inner point, dabbing on fray check glue to the v, and quickly folding under each side of the seam allowance until the glue sets. It's a good trick, and while some of my v's are still kinda sad, others have come out nicely. It helps that I've used batik fabrics -- in addition to their vibrancy and ability to read as a solid without being as flat as one, they are densely woven, which makes them hold a crease very well. On the other hand, that dense weave makes it harder to hide applique stitches (silk thread helps).

I'm very excited about this, and I can't wait to see it finished!

It Is Finished

2011-04-19T10:34:00.006-04:00

I stitched the last square Thursday night, just in time to finish the project one (liturgical) year after I started it:
Get it?

The whole thing:
Now I just have to figure out how to finish it, by which I mean stick it in a drawer while I focus on other projects and forget all about it until some time in 2013.

Donors Choose

2011-04-12T15:42:00.004-04:00

It's that time of year again, and the wonderful Sarah Bunting of Tomatonation.com is running a contest throughout the month to raise $250,000 in donations to Donors Choose. What is Donors Choose? A place where public school teachers throughout the country put up requests for desperately needed supplies. A place where you can donate money (even just a dollar) for a specific project, allowing you to make a real, concrete difference in children's lives. The Tomato Nation Donors Choose page is here, where you can see eligible requests and the progress so far. What happens when the Tomato Nation goal is reached? Sarah Bunting will dress up in a tomato costume and personally deliver a frosty beverage to one lucky donor. Also, there will be other prizes awarded at the end of the month, and mini-prizes every day.

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to donate a lot of money this year, so instead I am donating my time and skills. Last year I made a pair of tomato earrings, this year it's tomato pendants:
The idea came from Indygo Junction's Yo-Yo Blooms pattern -- little stuffed yo-yos that have a tomatoey shape in my eyes. By using red silk and a bit of green wool felt, they became even more tomatoey. Donate to Donors Choose, and maybe you'll win one!

The inevitable cat

2011-04-11T15:15:00.004-04:00

Because I've owned lots of cats in my time, I am contractually obligated to incorporate them into my crafting. So, in honor of my current two calico cats, and all previous ones (including the very first one, also a calico), an ur-cat, in calico fabric of course:

Squares 33 and 34

2011-04-09T13:40:00.002-04:00

Looking over the whole thing, I realized I didn't have much blue (I'm not really crazy about it), so I decided to remedy that using my favorite bluish-indigo color. Delftware was the very loose inspiration.

The running stitch I used for the blue square made me think of sewing, so the next square has a sewing theme. I attached a little stork scissors charm and a spool charm I wrapped with a little thread (I used a touch of glue on the back to keep it from unraveling). I used a running stitch again to border the square, and ended the stitch with an embroidered "needle."

Two squares left! I know what I want the last one to be, so I just have to come up with an idea for square 35.

Saffron and Brimstone by Elizabeth Hand

2011-04-05T19:23:00.003-04:00

This is a collection of short stories by one of my favorite writers. Hand generally writes a kind of urban fantasy, with elements of ancient mythology, horror, romanticism, and the Seventies punk/club scene, but her work can vary wildly. Of what I've read, two stand out in my mind. Waking the Moon is my favorite novel, told from the viewpoint of an annoyingly incurious woman who is only half aware of a great battle raging around her between an Illuminati-style secret organization and an ancient Goddess cult bent on destroying the world (to be fair, her focus is on protecting or just supporting the people she loves). Glimmering, on the other hand, was a dystopian novel set in the near future (and depressingly prescient), something I did not enjoy at all; but then, I hate reading dystopias.

The eight stories in Saffron and Brimstone cover these styles, and more. Thematically, they are divided in two, with the first four being stand-alone stories originally published elsewhere that superficially are quite different from each other. One of the title stories, "Cleopatra Brimstone," is a chilling tale about the way women can be subdued and pinned down; "The Least Trumps" is about opening oneself to life and the world via a couple of mysterious Tarot cards; "Pavane for a Prince of the Air" is a meditation on the rituals of death and the reactions loved ones have; and "Wonderwall" is about trying desperately to fit in, to find something to belong to. What connects them is Hand's style, and the use of intricate, vibrant imagery. Hand tends to return to the same types of characters (misfit women who struggle with college and the underground scene in Washington D.C. in the seventies; beautiful, intelligent, androgynous men who don't quite belong in the world; artists of all kinds), but her characters are affecting and well drawn.

The latter four stories contain these same elements, yet they are linked, stories Hand wrote that were inspired by a particular friendship and world events like September 11, with overt references to Greek mythology. And so "Calypso in Berlin" is about Calypso, who has learned her lesson and won't let a man leave, using him instead as her muse; "Kronia" is about all the ways two people may or may not have met; and "The Saffron Gatherers" connects San Francisco to the ancient island of Thera. Themes of loss, heartbreak, and creation run through them all.

But the absolute standout in the quartet, indeed in the entire collection, is "Echo," which moves the story of Echo and Narcissus to the near future. The narrator, completely isolated on an island off the coast of Maine after a series of unexplained apocalyptic events, has all but disappeared from the world -- all that remains are the words she writes for her former lover, which she sends off into the ether on the rare occasion she can pick up an internet connection. This story was stark and beautiful and bleak. It left me chilled and haunted. I can think of very few writers who can do that so beautifully.

A Heartbreaking Project

2011-04-04T12:17:00.003-04:00

A friend of the family was diagnosed with ALS in August; in late January he died. I made this for his wife:
The focus is a picture of them dancing at my wedding -- the look of sheer bliss on her face is beautiful. I printed the photos onto fabric ironed onto freezer paper for stability; the pictures are not as clear as I would have liked, and I wonder if there were printer settings I should have adjusted. The background is a patchwork technique from Fabric Art Collage, using fusible web to adhere different pieces of fabric to muslin. I ironed the embroidered photo fabric onto heavy duty fusible interface, for added dimension, and then sewed it onto the background with the machine. Bits of trim, painted lace, beads, and French vintage crosses finished the top, and then I sewed it onto wool felt. On the back is a prayer card for Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, a candidate for sainthood and someone the family prayed to throughout this last half year. I'm mailing it today with a Mass card and my condolences.

Magical Thinking with Forsythia

2011-03-29T16:55:00.002-04:00

Surely Spring will come now?

Lilies of the Valley

2011-03-27T10:56:00.005-04:00

Another favorite of mine:
This is a modification of an old pattern from Piecework (I should subscribe again), using embroidery stitches traditionally used in Madeira. The flowers are made with the bastido stitch, a kind of padded satin stitch, the stems and border are ponto de cordão stitch, similar to split stitch, and the leaf is the matiz stitch, like an uncontrolled long and short stitch.

Book Round-Up

2011-03-24T21:53:00.002-04:00

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip: This was a re-read of my favorite McKillip novel. Her prose tends to be very metaphorical and beautiful and a bit impenetrable, but as my friend put it, this is one of her more lucid stories. It is also about an orphan taken in by librarians and given a mysterious book to translate and an ancient myth to unravel, so no wonder I love it.

Song for the Basilisk by Patricia McKillip: This is another of her more straightforward stories. The difference here that is when I first bought it years ago, I could not get into it. Re-reading Alphabet of Thorn made me want to tackle this again, and frankly I don't know what was wrong with me twelve years ago. Another orphan needs to discover the truth about his background (which, to be fair to McKillip, is completely different from the above orphan's origins) and avenge a great evil perpetrated on his family. Like her other books, McKillip populated this one with a number of complex, very human characters. The one sort-of exception is the antagonist -- he's not two-dimensional like villains in fantasy novels all too often are, but unlike the antagonists in other books his humanity is not enough to even partially redeem the horrible things he has done. I have no problem with that, it is just something I noted because McKillip's antagonists are rarely truly evil.

(As an aside, whoever's trying to sell a copy of this book on Amazon for $99 is insane, and greedy; Abebooks.com is selling several copies for under $10.)

The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine: A take on Sense and Sensibility, gently skewering modern sensibilities. Like Jincy Willett, Schine creates satirical characters but treats them with genuine affection, so that the reader cares about them even as she loses patience with their actions. Also, Schine appears to correct a plot point of Austen's that always bothered me, so points for that.

I Zombie by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred: This is a new series from Vertigo Comics, highly praised. I've read ten issues so far, and while it is pretty good it has not lived up to its hype. The premise is that Gwen is a reluctant zombie who must periodically eat a human brain (to avoid killing people she works as a gravedigger); doing so gives her the dead person's memories, allowing her to resolve any unfinished business or solve any mysteries.* Surprisingly little of the first ten issues was spent on this, however, as the writer set up what are clearly to be the overarching plot points -- how did she become a zombie, will she eventually have to start killing bad guys to feed her appetite, what is that armaggedon-like thing looming on the horizon, and will she get the cute guy who's vowed to destroy her kind? Roberson has come up with a neat mythology to explain the existence of revenants, ghosts, zombies, poltergeists, vampires, werewolves, and so on (it has to do with the fact that every living creature has both an oversoul and an undersoul), but the series as a whole seems designed to cater to the 18-24 demographic. With the exception of three stock characters -- the sassy older waitress at the diner, the cantankerous grandpa, the tough, weather-beaten monster hunter who will clearly be played by Samuel L. Jackson should this ever become a movie -- all the characters are young and hip and trendy and not nearly as interesting as they think they are. There is a lot of promise, so I'll continue to read it for a while longer.

*In this sense it reminded me of Agnes Quill, a wonderful comic about a girl who is pestered by ghosts until she does what they want her to do.

From Demons to Dracula by Matthew Beresford: I read this way back in October but kept forgetting to write about it. It purports to tell the evolution of the vampire myth, but it is remarkably poorly written. Beresford jumps from topic to topic, country to country, and even century to century with little or no transitions, and he makes conclusory statements with little or no explanation of how he got there; in short, he doesn't show his work. Which is a shame, because he clearly has done a tremendous amount of research and he really knows the material. Not everyone is great at telling a coherent story, and I think he would have benefited from a good editor. I also wish he'd give me his research notes, so I can learn more.

It's Been a Year . . .

2011-03-21T14:33:00.003-04:00

Since I started the 36 Squares project. I knew I had no chance of finishing it in 36 days, but I thought I could get it done in a year. Given the progress I made the last few weeks I really thought I had a shot, only to realize on Sunday that I started sewing this on March 20 last year. I think what screwed me up was the fact that Easter is so much later this year. I remembered doing the first square close to Easter, Palm Sunday weekend to be precise, so that has been the end date in my mind. Perhaps I should go by the liturgical calendar; then I have a few more weeks to finish the last six squares.

In the meantime, square 30:
We had a couple of lovely days of spring, so I embroidered one of my favorite flowers -- lilacs (the colors aren't quite accurate, but I really love this combination). The two bushes in front of my house have just started to bud, and by late spring they should be filled with fragrant, dark purple blossoms.

Of course, this morning it snowed, so Spring giveth and it taketh away.

Getting Close . . .

2011-03-18T15:58:00.004-04:00

Since I've tackled embroidery, cross stitch, whitework, blackwork, redwork, and string art/needlepoint in the 36 Squares, bead embroidery was next:
I was aiming for a paisley, but instead it looks kind of like a peacock feather with a flower in the middle. I seem to have trouble with paisleys. The beads come from a "Mardi Gras" bead mix that I got in college. The bead store was called Beauty and the Beads, and I was there all the time (I even worked there Friday afternoons my senior year). The owner of the store (who has since passed away, I heard) came up with the idea of making seed bead mixes, inspired by events, poems, songs, really anything at all. I also have mixes based on a Langston Hughes poem and a Billie Holiday song; I long ago made necklaces from all three, but I still have beads left over which I save for bits of bead embroidery when the opportunity arises.

Jackson Brodie Books by Kate Atkinson

2011-03-15T09:54:00.002-04:00

Kate Atkinson is a Scottish author who has written a number of general fiction novels and short stories, and more recently a series of literate mysteries featuring the detective Jackson Brodie. I absolutely adore her older fiction, which is witty and odd and filled with wonderful characters and meta touches (Emotionally Weird has the narrator's mother interrupting the novel to complain about how it is being told; the narrator of Behind the Scenes at the Museum begins, brilliantly and funnily, at her conception), so it is with some apprehension I look at the success and skill of the Brodie books, which are much more conventional. I hope she has not abandoned her previous style entirely.

Which is not to say that her mysteries are at all a disappointment; I've enjoyed Case Histories, One Good Turn, and When Will There Be Good News quite a bit (Started Early, Took my Dog was just released in hardcover). While some aspects of the books are standard to the genre, such as tragic backgrounds, a bitchy ex-wife, adorable children and pets, lots of injuries and violence, last-page twists, and a surfeit of failed marriages, Atkinson's incisive, smart writing shines through. The plots are intricate puzzles, and Brodie does not so much solve them as stumble repeatedly (but likeably) into coincidences. The characters are fully realized and fascinating; in particular Reggie from Good News is a stand-out. Brodie and the other "white hats" are flawed but intelligent and self-aware, and their innate goodness is apparent despite their mistakes and misdeeds. Above all there is a sense of wit, and a recognition of the absurdities and ironies of life, that make the books enjoyable to read even as horrific things happen to characters.

Pretty Flowers

2011-03-14T15:36:00.004-04:00

Since I've done so many other techniques on my 36 Squares piece, it was time to do traditional cross stitch. The squares I'm doing for the Summer Mood design seemed perfect -- 15 by 15 stitches, requiring me to just delete a row and column to make it fit, and the flowers suit the fact that spring is ever so slowly coming (I saw crocuses on the way to Mass yesterday!).
The square fortuitously fell under my other, non-traditional cross stitch square, for an interesting contrast.

As for Summer Mood itself, it is slow going:
I do love it though, even if I get bored quickly stitching it.

Squares 26 and 27

2011-03-11T09:57:00.008-05:00

Since I finished the Hardanger needlecase, I thought a bit of Hardanger would be good for the 36 squares. I stitched this up on a scrap of the fabric from the needlecase:

Are you old enough to remember string art from the 1970s? These stitches have official names among needlepointers, I'm sure, but I call it that "string art stitch." And it's lots of fun to stitch: