merrily we roll along

This weekend past I managed to get one of my four "Oldies" done and ready to give away.

Where it was.

Where it is.

I also managed to straighten up the top of this little table topper and cut out a back, but I did not have enough batting to finish the job.

Must go shopping.

I've knit another strip for Phoebe's blanket. Must sew it on to existing blanket.

I've started knitting Steve a sweater. I love working with this yarn. Berroco Ultra Alpaca. It is 50% alpaca and 50% peruvian wool. Normally, I do not like working with Alpaca or Merino wool. I find they lose their shape and droop. However, this blend keeps it shape better and is very soft.

It better not pill up on me, or I will be stamping my feet at the next alpaca I meet.

Finally, I have begun work on the fabric that will be the back sides of my pocket project. This whole piece needs attention of some sort.

This should go quickly, I want only a small amount of embroidery on it.

In the fall I like a firelog in the fireplace. It isn't really cold enough for a long lasting fire. The house overheats and I end up sitting with a book in the kitchen, cooling off. A firelog is just the ticket. Little bitty flames and nice glow setting ambience while I read or knit. I have just finished two books I think worth recommending. I never buy from Amazon. I always go to one of two local book stores or buy through Abe books. There is no affiliated link but I don't know how else to get images of the book's cover.

(here)
 

A Catalog of Birds by Laura Harrington is simply lovely. Set in Finger Lakes (USA), a brother and sister are very close. They spend time in the woods. Billy teaches Nell about the birds that fascinate him, their calls and habits. Billy learns to decipher all the nuances of their calls and to draw their flight. It is the time of the Vietnam War and DDT. A few chapters in, Billy is deployed to Vietnam and we meet him at a M.A.S.H. unit and is on his way home. Billy is a ruined man, (can't give it all away) while Nell is a burgeoning adult. We watch the two as they struggle to support each other, learn to navigate Billy's wounds and grief and Nell's urgency to leave home. This book is so beautifully written about sorrow, tribulations, family tension, individual ways of dealing with tension, loss and forgiveness. I couldn't put this book down. I walked the wood paths with the siblings, felt the cold water, cried towards the end, felt the parent's anguish and guilt. Really, really good.

(here)
 

The second book I strongly recommend for those who love a good fantasy/sci-fi is The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. She has won the Hugo Award twice already and I believe this book either won her a third Hugo, or has been nominated for a Hugo. It is rather hard to describe because the writing structure is very surprising. I can't figure out a way to describe it without giving it away. But what I can say is that there are people who have the ability to deeply sense the movements of tectonic plates and earthquakes and tsunamis. The land is one of many volcanoes, fault lines and (there is a technical name for this) holes in the ground that hold water or oil. Father Earth is angry with people according to the stone lore. The people who can sense the shifting of the land have become enslaved to the general population to sense these shifts and prevent actual earthquakes etc. We follow what seems like several people's lives in this culture and attempts at freedom from the enslavement. Because of the cool structure of the novel, we see various points of view, settings, communities and growing anomalies.  I was fully convinced by the world created by the author, the characters are interesting, the love/not-love struggles are surprising, love/hate/revenge/forgiveness are explored in a satisfying way and there are even being who live in stones.I read this book in three days. I even bought books two and three on speculation based on some trusted people's recommendations. A perfect winter read.

Book of Bedtime Dreams

Below is finally the video of the booklet I have been making for ages for my daughter, Phoebe. It includes collaged papers and stiching, some painting, some buttons, lace, and odd bits. Where I have painted a picture, the adjacent pages are meant to reflect back the colours or details or images. Phoebe had originally built this book for me with watercolour paper. I wanted it to take with me to Turkey and to paint while we traveled. I took it with me, but we were so busy, the painting rarely happened. When I came home, this is how the new project evolved. Each little grouping hopefully inspires a small story that you can take to bed with you and let a dream develop. The book covers are made by Phoebe. Many of the pages were made while watching videos from Karen Ruane's classes, but are not directly connected to the class content at that time. As with all lessons, however, new ideas creep in, so a lot of credit does belong with Karen for her ongoing inspiration. Let the pages turn.

Bedtime Stories by Laureen van Lierop from Laureen van Lierop on Vimeo.

Book "Bedside Dreams"

I spent a morning videoing the stitched book, Bedside Dreams, but the file size is too large. I can't upload it right now. I'll have to get some advice. In the meantime....

On a trip to Ontario, we were able to visit with Phoebe and give her the book in time for her birthday.

After a long journey through Ikea's aisles to buy kitchen chairs, everyone was a little zonked.

The reason for going to Ontario was for Steve to celebrate the launch of his book "Living Lightly on the Earth" at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It was a fun event and he sold several books.

I'm not sure the video is going to upload successfully, so I'll keep this short and see what happens. More information next week.

A Quicky and 3 books

Busy days this week in the studio, but hardly any photos to show it. Lots of stitching, lots of tearing of paper and lots of attempts at making a video.The video file is too large to upload, I have to find someone to advise me on how to do this. Expert advice welcome.

I have been doing Karen Ruane's (link on sidebar) Embroidery School this winter as a way of getting another voice in the studio that is interested in cloth etc. We've been learning a bunch of new stitches. I have several of them in my own stitch books. I say, I must do that, it looks interesting and then I wander away from the book. This way, I do a few new stitches on a sampler, promptly forget the name of the stitch but do remember doing them. I have incorporated the web stitch in a few places already. Below is the ....

I had to look it up. It is the Pekinese Stitch. I have stitched it with wide loops, narrow loops and a wide/narrow combo and added beads to the longer loops. There are lots of options if colours get introduced to the playing as well.

Some of the ladies are making up lovely little patches of stitch samples and working towards a stitch booklet. That is part of the lesson's agenda, how to present the sampling. I am going to stick to a very low effort, write the stitch names on a piece of paper and staple it to the back. I have too many other things going on to pay a lot of attention to this, but it is certainly restful and soothing to work on this Friday afternoons, while watching Karen's videos.

About a book. I haven't mentioned any books here for a while. I have to say, it has been a bit of a desert lately. Long time readers know that Steve and I usually have a read-aloud book on the go and that has been most frustrating lately. We picked up John Steinbeck's The Log from the Sea of Cortez. Steinbeck, sea, exploration, how could we go wrong? We could. Steinbeck took it upon himself to record all the tiny details of the packing/loading/day by day account. The back of the book says this book combines science, philosophy and high-spirited adventure. When, I ask?

Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill is great. Either aloud or on it's own, Cotterill has a nicely paced mystery combined with the mostly unknown setting of Laos in the mid 1970's. Dr. Siri is a 72 year old coroner for the entire country. He is called to solve unlikely situations that the government is uncertain it wants figured out. He is also the human conduit for the god Yeh Meng. This is news to Dr. Siri and he is trying to sort out this as well. This is the second book in the series, and we are still very engaged.

Last book. Maybe not a good read aloud option but a very fine book indeed is The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan. Emmanule (Emma) is the only baker in town during the occupation in the 1940's. I think it takes place in France, but I am not positive. Emma finds a way to turn 12 loaves of bread meant for the Kommandant into 14, using two loaves to trade and barter and feed those seriously in need in her village. Skirting the fine wedge between survival and the resistance, (not the formal Resistance) both seem to be actions subject to death. Emma and her fellow villagers struggle on. The plot isn't complex but the range of characters makes this a very good drama.

I'm off to Ontario for some good times. I'll be back on Monday but may not get the post up until Tuesday. Cheers.

Exciting News

I won! I won, I won, I won !
What did you win? you ask.

I won the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia Unpublished Manuscript prize. It is officially the Joyce Barkhouse for Children and Young Adults Prize. I didn't realize it when I submitted in November of last year that there is a cash amount as well as the honour. That's a great bonus, but I just so thrilled that my chapter book for young readers was chosen.

The book is called "Beach Meadow Friends". It is about Fox, Crane, Eagle and Crab as they live through a season on Beach Meadows.

Crane is silent most of the time, Crab is a slightly panic stricken crustacean, Eagle is a huge boaster with an enormous sense of self and Fox patiently keeps the community going. Each chapter has its own challenge or joke and different combinations of the characters are featured.

Beach Meadows is an actual place, about a 20 minute drive from our summer camp.

One very cold windy day as we were walking along the beach at low tide, a young fox walked alongside us for about 200 metres. I have a photo of him on the kitchen wall but can't find it in my archive. Maybe Steve took it.

We discussed the nature of the fox and Steve said if you had a totem animal, it would be the fox. It felt so completely right. Over the course of a few summers, seven short chapters evolved and with some editorial help from some very nice friends, the book was written. I get to read from it at the award ceremony on June 10 and immediately afterwards, go to Iceland. What a great day it will be. What shoes will I wear?

Book Review - Contrarian view

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (here) is getting a lot of positive review right now. As a rule, I don't seek out book reviews, you will have to do that on your own. But be warned, Harper Collins has a big lust on right now for this book and reviewers are eager to please.

This reader just doesn't love this book. By a lot. Angie Thomas brings the issue of the shooting of black men into the spotlight. Khalil is killed by a policeman. Khalil has not provoked the policeman, nor has been detained for anything other than a broken brake light. He leans into the door to see if his companion, Starr, is alright, when he is shot three times in the back. He dies in seconds.

Starr is the main protagonist. She is a successful high school basketball player, going to a private white school outside of Garden Heights, Starr's neighbourhood. She travels two worlds, that of the very rich white teens and that of her deeply troubled inner city section of the city. At Khalil's death she is faced with the challenges of being the only witness to a race-related killing. She must tell her story to the police, to the DA, a grand jury and eventually, her friends. She has hidden her connection to the killing to her white classmates and white boyfriend.

Starr's journey to voicing in a public way is the main plot line. There is a large cast of supporting characters. Starr's father, Mav (Maveric) is the only well drawn character and that is only in relation to the others. I don't have any problem with the story line or the points of view. My problem with this book is that I don't think it is well written. I don't believe in the characters. The settings have a thin veneer. The characters are for the most part stereotypes that we expect to find in an inner city area, the tough gang kids, the bossy older ladies, the innocent younger kids, the gang lord, a few good guys hidden behind their tough exteriors and lots of references to popular culture to make sure you know where you are. In this book, emotions are the driving engine to action. I never really was convinced by Starr's grief, her anger and eventually her 'fuck you' attitude when she finally decides to really be Khalil's voice.

We are told everything. We don't see the dirt in the streets, the colours or smells of the two neighbourhoods, the wealth in the private school. We don't taste the barbeques or hear the music. If we don't know who Tupac is, we have to google it later. We are told Starr cries and gets a snooty nose. She doesn't wipe the snot on the back of her sleeve. I could not get into Starr or anyone else except her Dad.

And so, I couldn't get into the story Angie Thomas is trying to tell. It is a hugely important story but a decent journalist's article could do a better job. There is no reason for any person of any colour to be shot in the back by any trained professional. That's why they are trained, to know what to do before a gun needs to be drawn. The fact that this is happening to black youth, men in particular, is abhorrent. 

I return to my opening statement, this book is about telling us something is very wrong. It does do that, but it is not well written. To be a book that deserves all the hype it is getting, it has to have merit that goes beyond being timely.  It needs to capture our hearts, to feel the pain, to want to tell it's story to others to that they might read the book too. I'll donate my copy to the library so it can be read by others, but I won't recommend it. What this book has done has motivated me to get the the book (here) The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. I'll talk about it when I'm finished, to let you know if it does a better job of engaging me.

A little book

I was in Ottawa last week visiting my daughter and I met my sister there as well. We had a great time together, but of course, none of us remembered to take photos.

Once home, I realized I could take some pictures of my purchases. This is a large print wool knit with just enough fabric to make a gathered straight skirt for next winter.

I love this other wool knit. I have enough for a long sleeved t-shirt or tunic. Hopefully, it will be cover as far down as my bottom, for a tunic look.

Then, I started a little book for my sister. It is a combination of collage and pages with stitching. What follows are images from the eight pages and inside covers.

These are slightly pointless booklets. The pages are fine for writing on, but I have trouble writing on a pages that has decorations on it. I'm not sure if my sister has the same inhibitions.

This is the second page with an insert of music paper with lace and some stitched torn paper glued behind. In the upper image, I thought the music paper looked too bland.

Page two with a glued collage of fussy cut cherry blossoms and daffodil overtop an upside down cloth house.

Between page two and three is an inserted calendar page with stuff glued on. I was never convinced by this page, it just doesn't click. But it has a hidden edge a few folds over that I love.

The stitched edge is the hidden side of the calendar page while the grassy bit is the continuation of the rooster page. I've added grass style stitches and a button to the flower's centre.

The third page. Collage with three circles of seed stitch and french knots.

Closer view. The grass area had a rooster image that I used elsewhere. I used some cross-stitch pattern paper behind it and added an eye and coloured in the beak.

The centre fold. The three dots are the back of the seed stitches and french knots on the rooster page. The Japanese paper in the centre fold is where the stitching is to hold the pages together and where the pages join the cover. Thin grey/green DMC cord has been used for the binding stitches.

Page 5. A simpler page. The left side is the continuation of the Rooster page. The right hand side of page 5 are two strips of seed stitch, french knots and the grassy stitch.

The music page insert appears again with some free motion embroidered lace, embellished with a variety of stitches in white DMC coton a broder. The back of page 5 can be seen on the far left.

Detail of above

Page 6. I left this plain. There is a small cut out on the bottom right edge that gives a glimpse through to the back cover.

The inside back cover. I've used two calendar pages for the covers. They are stiff and should protect the pages if the booklet goes into a busy purse or bag. If I had planned this better, I would have placed the brown japanese paper in a different location. Then the little cut out from Page 6 would have been in a different location and when the page is turned, as it is in this image, there would have been an option to place something to look through from this side. As it is, it poorly placed for that to happen. Next time.

And the end.

Stitching a Story three and sticks

Every spring and summer I attempt seeds. It is usually a disaster, but this year, I think I might have sorted things out. That includes a beautiful tin to hold my unused seeds in. More importantly, I bought those stick things that you can write on to tell you what seeds are in what pots and when they were planted. Important why? Because I am usually flailing around finding little pots and fine enough soil and other sorts of dithering to label the seed pots. I have used the seed packets and taped them to the pots or stuck them in, or other irresponsible things. They get wet, I can't read the packaging after a few days, they fall off, or blow away and the seeds don't sprout anyways. This year, those little sticks were properly labeled, unused seeds remain dry for a second sowing, and low and behold, there are actual seedlings for a change. What a brilliant idea, those sticks.

Below, Rosie's Hat continues to be stitched. I've added some red beads to her hat and some red threads to blow in the wind. At her feet are some enhanced flowers and yellow gestural stitches.

On the back side of the first page, I managed to get the stitches to be more or less upright. The back of the French Knots have been left long to make tufts out of the knots. There is a red bead on the muffin for the gull to find.

 

Mama do you love me is coming along with more intense titivation. 

 

 

Here, Mama and daughter have had their skirts enhanced with ruffles and embroidery.

 

 

The green ruffle was a rectangle embroidered with lazy daisy flowers, sewn into a tube and turned right side out. The top edge has been caught down with small running stitches to get the curves to work. The daughter's ruffle has a couple French Knots to anchor each end.

Mama's ruffle is made the way a usual ruffle is, stitched down and then the orange chain stitch added at the end. That was a bit tricky as far as keeping the hands from banging the page up, but it is a short run of sewing and I kept it very much on the surface.

Here I am working on letters. The purple is meant to be the back ground, the piece of paper napkin the foreground. It was tricky to get the napkin paper trimmed to fit inside the purple edges. Very fussy.

It turned out the paper napkin was three plys of paper. Every thing was nicely glued down, then cut out, then as I was gluing it to the page, the coloured bits peeled off. More gluing.

Kunik means kissing on the nose in Inuktitut.

For those of you interested in our bees, the hive has been moved to a dryer sunnier spot beside the garage. Michelle is showing new to bee-keeping Nick, how to move the compartments around when there are gadzillion bees on them and flying around.

Michelle has added a decorative feature at the bottom of the hive, a turquoise base. Too bad about the concrete blocks, but this is a working hive, not a garden feature. But when I sit outside with a cup of tea or a beer, I just love watching these bees do their thing.

Stitch a Story two

But let's get personal for a moment.

I have a bee helmet. When it is not being used for preventing Bees from getting in my neck, it can be used to pretend I am an Edwardian woman on Safari. I am feeling a bit German with my Capitalization right now.

The owner of the bees in our backyard bought this for us because I mentioned I might have to borrow hers when I had to do the weeding in the garden around the bee hive. I wasn't expecting this gift and it is crazy. I keep forgetting I have it on.

Blowing one's nose with a huge net in front of one's face is a bit acrobatic. I am pretty sure drinking beer or wine is impossible with one of these on. Will it prepare me for the fantasy of traveling to the Delta region of Botswana? I feel the need for a hippo statue to make sure.

Seriously though, back to studio work. We continue to pursue fooling around with altering books. Here are a bunch of images for your enjoyment. We are adding stenciled text to the pages. I have used Gesso as an under surface before adding markers or Inktense watercolour pencils to adorn each letter.

Unikkaaq translated from Inuktikut language means "tell a story" From my understanding of first nation traditions, one must ask a story teller for a story before it can commence. It is the proper etiquette.

Qujjuk means whale. Unfortunately, the one "J" on the left turned into a candy cane. I wasn't looking for that to happen and it is a bit disappointing. But this stenciling business is kind of fun.

In Rosie's Hat, the hat blows away on the first pages.The main character is the hat. The left hand page has the letters G and O outlined in double running stitch, DMC threads and coloured in with a purple/blue combo of Inktense pencils. The right hand side page has an under painting of Gesso, an outline of purple markers and then, once fully dry, the same Inktense pencil colours as the other page. GONE, since the hat has blown away.

Well, that's it unless you want to know about the Cat squabbling with me about who gets to sit in the Sun, or what possible relevance Freud has to do with Quaker Theology or how my son's Beard seems to be appearing on many young Men in the city and I think he is every where. Put a pair of Sunglasses on a young Man with a certain style of Beard and you have a Finding Waldo situation on your Hands. So here's the question of the day. Does the German language, which I studied a lot in the '70's, still capitalize nouns? Or is it so yesterday?

Desk cleared - found books

I have a journal that I record most fiction books I have ever read. I used to keep lists of authors and their book titles so I could check things off. When the kids were little, I raced to the library's shelf of new releases and grabbed.

After too many times grabbing something I had read earlier, this journal evolved. Over time, I liked too many authors to keep track, and became more selective. Libraries don't usually keep an entire series, they spread the series out over all the branches. That meant putting in requests and remembering that I had. The journal became more complicated, with a list of holds and another list of books read. Then I joined a couple of book clubs and had to keep track of my opinions of the books read, the book club lists and all those other lists
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I participated in the "Battle of the Books" as a volunteer with Woozles book store - keeping book summaries and creating 10 questions for each book. I read an average of 10 books each year. I did that for 5 years. One silly year I tried keeping track of things in document files on the computer. That might have been the year I punched the computer screen.

It is the end of January and I haven't kept track of a single thing. I am down to one book club list and a chronological list for each year. My efforts of keeping track to avoid previously read books seems to have fallen by the wayside. I think the journal's main purpose has come to an end after around 20 years.

I now photocopy the inside list of books written by an author and tick that off. Those photocopies float around the studio covering books. Which brings me to today's found books - the latest two read-a-louds.


A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett. This is the second in the Wee Free Men series and enjoyable. Eleven year of Tiffany's ability to leave her body while she does something else attracts the attention of an immortal being that is searching for a host body. Tiffany is off to learn magic, the Mac Feegle men follow in order to protect the "Wee Hag" and chaos ensues. The plot isn't as crisp as book one and the Mac Feegles aren't as engaged as I would like, but there is nothing wrong with this book. It was enjoyable to read and think about in between. I learned that Pratchett had written a fourth book for this series before his death. I'm looking forward to it.
 
The Chimney Sweepers come to Dust by Alan Bradley was both enjoyable and disappointing. I really like the character, Flavia de Luce. At times I think she is borderline delusional. She has been sent to Canada to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy, presumably because Flavia is so bright and needs a good challenge. She also needs to get away from all the corpses she keeps stumbling over. Naturally, she discovers a corpse in the chimney of her room's fireplace on the first night. A good start but the consequent meeting of a new character list, setting, and the discovery of misleading clues is confused and sometimes pointless. Bradley has lost his ability to write a mystery. This story couldn't make up it's mind if it was a mystery, a boarding school adventure, a sad journey away from home, a girl who remains friendless and unsupported by her family or some kind of secret society intrigue. Flavia is the thread that keeps things going. At one point I wondered if Flavia had been sent to a boarding school for mental illness. Bradley's book 6, Speaking From Among the Bones, was also not a mystery but mostly an exploration of grief, funerals and a secret society. This might be last Bradley book for us as a read-aloud.
I wonder if it is by reading a book out loud that these pitfalls in plot or character become more apparent. There is a lot of time to ponder the story between chapters. Maybe each author should engage 'readers aloud' for just such a purpose.