Crafternoon, July.

Every afternoon this last week has been a crafternoon, and it has been fabulous.

After finishing a major work, I was having trouble starting anything else. That was fear of commitment, and a fear of the ol' blank canvas. How about some low-key, minimal risk pieces to increase my confidence, and re-focus?

Back to some kind of drawing board...

Here are a pile of my favourite books, depending on the subject...today's search was 'cross stitch', so we have Beeton's Book of Needlework (1870), Goldenhands no. 3 (1972), Best of Handmade by both Woman's Day and Woman's Weekly (1974 & 1991), and a book on calligraphy. I want to do some things with words.

Can you read this? So far, it says 'Pubic hair' 

So far in cross-stitching, I have discovered about myself one new thing; stitching the words adds weight to the statement. As a reader, and a wishful member of the intelligentsia, I can use words liberally to express meaning, and verbosity can be an issue. If you are going to spend 5 minutes picking out each letter in tiny stitches, what is said needs to mean something, at least to yourself.

For my first stitchery, I chose the phrase 'Pubic hair is normal'... There were other contenders, but when looking through one of the Best of Handmades I found a 'delightful monthly floral calendar' to stitch, and one of the flowers was the Thysanotus, commonly known as the 'Fringed Lilly'. Double entendre, anyone?

Left to right: the plan, the work, and the book I sourced the plan from.

Close-up

The studio space, i.e. the floor directly in front of the couch.

Nearly there....

Done! Now I just have to finish it off...

Altogether, this took a couple of hours an afternoon, for four afternoons in a row. I think this was a good way to end this visual version of writers' block. I have a bunch of new ideas, and a new way of making.