caro-rose-creations

I'm not getting very far with my sewing.

I spent ages preparing my embroidery for my friend.  Too bad I didn't read the instructions properly.  I got nearly to the end of the first plate only to find most of it should have been stitched in one thickness of thread not two.  It took me days to pull it all out.  Now I have to start again.

There is just so much other stuff going on that I'm not finding time to stitch.  Some of the 'other stuff' is another book in the Rain Wild Chronciles series by Robin Hobb, 'Blood of Dragons".   I have made myself put it down and only read one chapter per day.  That is so hard to do.

I might start to re-read all Robin Hobb books again, and there are lots of them.  They are so exciting to read I'm sure I missed some facits of them.  It must be age.  I never re-read books but now have an urge to re-visit a lot of books I have read before.

Thomas Pynchon - Author

Did you know that the 8th of May 2013 was Pynchon Day?  Well I didn't but it keeps poping up all over the place.  I have to admit that I find his writting is complex and I have trouble saying I enjoy it, but in an odd way I do.

I read Gravity's Rainbow again recently and still found it difficult but interesting.  I see that Time named the novel as one of the "all-time best" novels.  I like this quote from the book,
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers."

As to the American writer , he seems as complex as his books.

A book and an exhibition

I bought this little book a few years ago.  I didn't realise until it arrived just how special it was.  It is called "Nuturing Walls" and is about the art of the Meena Women in India.

I didn't realise until I opened my parcel that this book was hand made.

This video shows how the books are made, quite an eye opener.

 

There is an exhibition of this art in the Artisan gallery up the road from where I live.  There is an interesting website setting out the history of these people and their art.  I have been putting off going to see the exhibition but I see things are being moved in the gallery so I have to get in their quickly in case I miss it!

A new Book

I just received my copy of Sarah Flieke's new book, "Hand Quilted with Love".

There are some great quilt patterns in this book  and it is beautifully produced but I was personally disappointed at the lack of Quilting patterns to accompany the quilts.  Now I must qualify that by saying that there are some notes.  But with a title that says "Hand Quilted" I was expecting more information on the actual quilting.    Still there are some good ideas here.

Scientists

I found this talk about the origins of modern scientists quite fascinating.  I hadn't realised that this word didn't exists 170 years ago.  A very interesting talk.

 

Fluffy

My dog Charlie doesn't like cats.  I think it was beause Fluffy terrorised her when she was a pup.

 

I have thought about getting another cat after Fluffy died but Charlie is so against it I think I will give it a miss.

Cats are being discussed in depth on the Medieval blogs ever since this photo of cat prints on a 15th Century Manuscript was posted on the net.

There is a very good blog post on the Medievalist Blog that pulls all the evidence about cats back then together.  It also quotes a poem that I love, about a white cat called Pangur Ban (White Cat):  Everytime I read it I think of that monk working on his manuscript.  Reading this poem he becomes a person I can relate to not just an anonymous medieval monk.

I and Pangur Bán, my cat
'Tis a like task we are at;
Hunting mice is his delight
Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will,
He too plies his simple skill.

'Tis a merry thing to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur's way:
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.

'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.

When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!

So in peace our tasks we ply,
Pangur Bán, my cat, and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.

Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.

Translated by Robin Flower

 

 

Pooh Bear

My little grandaughter loves Pooh Bear.  I think I do too.

Happy Birthday Bill, no wonder your daughters are so cute.

Catalogue of illuminated Manuscripts

I found some beautiful images in the British Library of the" Life of Guthlac" at their on-line site .

These demons are just so ... demon like, but not like eastern demons.

Fancy imaging these.

Then these beautiful angels and the drape of his clothing.

You can find a full description of the manuscript and all eighteen of the illustrations here.

& Stitches

I have a  just bought an on-line Ezine stitching publication called '& Stitches".  (Cute header on their web page.)  In fact, I bought the whole 5 issues that have been published so far.

I found a mention of this Ezene on the TAST Flickr website.  Lots of interesting articles with some hyperlinks to other places and a very good section reviewing books old and new.  Most of the work is not complex but is charming.  (Since writting this I found a mention on Craft Gossip as well, and here is a link to the blog of one of the writters and editors.) 

But for me the icing on the cake came in issue No 4, The Scandinavia & Stitches.

There on page 21 was 'Introduction to Yllebroderi'.  The same stitching as my wool embroidered pocket I am planning to stitch.  You may remember this old postcard that was my inspiration.

There is page full of links to Swedish Blogs, and some books.

Even a link to a supply shop that also  has an English translation of its web page.  Here I found they have a book about Albertus Pictor with 200 colour images and the text in Swedish, English and German.  (I'm calculating if I can afford all three books!)

 

After I got over the excitment of finding all of this the next page in the Ezine was an interview with Karin Holmberg with more images and projects.  I can see I will have to print out some of the electronic pages so that I can drool.

After the drooling I will have to go back and read each issue properly.

 

A designer's portfolio

I found this article at Creative Review about a 16th Century book that the British Library is trying to buy. ( This is where I found the link to the article about white gloves.)  There are some wonderful scans from the book on this site.  I think my favourite is this letter D.

But I love these as well.  There is something about Medieval artwork that I relate to.

The Creative Review blog is always interesting.