Well, I finished my rhyme samplery thing! So happy to have it finished and ready to be ironed, framed and wrapped. I feel like I've been working on that thing non-stop for days, which is true, I guess. I neglected my Roman piece but Christmas is fast closing in so priorities change.My direction on the red borders changed dramatically, because there just wasn't going to be enough space for it to still look nice in the frame and those flowery borders wouldn't have fit in with the style. I'll work those irises into my next project, perhaps using the Carl Sandburg quote "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits."
In any case, I'm quite pleased with the final result. I like the borders, I like having the text in black and the borders in three dark colors. Again, I think my dad will really like it. I can't wait to see his face. I ordered a print for him that I'd temporarily forgotten about and now I'm wondering if I should just hold onto it until his birthday.
Well, we'll see. There's nothing like seeing my parents happy. Lately I don't feel capable of much else. Just waiting for Christmas so they can be distracted by my complete lack of ability to function in all other arenas. C'est la guerre.
Wow that looks awesome! The border work is so detailed. God knows it would probably take me months to do something like that intricate.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I like blackwork more than cross-stitch. It can look super intricate but for me at least is way faster than cross-stitch.
ReplyDeleteI may have to give it a try at some point. Your quote reminds me of the chemistry classic "Little Timmy took a drink but he shall drink no more...for what he though was H2O was H2SO4" which I think would make an awesome piece.
ReplyDeleteHa, I haven't heard that one in years! You're right, it would make an awesome piece, and the border design could be all test tubes and mad science style stuff.
ReplyDeleteI think my next quote project will be this Tom Lehrer one: “Base eight is just like base ten really, if you're missing two fingers.”
Awesome! I had a C programing teacher in college who loved 'number base' jokes. Not that there are many of them but still he found a few like "Why do programers always confuse Christmas and Halloween?"...."Because DEC 25 = OCT 31".....hey I didn't say they were GOOD jokes :)
ReplyDeleteI just saw your piece on Mr. X Stitch. I had a very similar verse in a book called "Slovenly Peter" (this was in our summer house, where lots of antiques were sort of everyday things. Which is to say I don't know if this book was mine, per se, or just something I dug up). The way I remember the poem is:
ReplyDeleteBilly, in one of his bright blue sashes
Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes
Now, although the night grows chilly
We haven't the heart to stir poor Billy.
I am really curious now, if this was originally published in Slovenly Peter or if it has an earlier birth point... Thanks for reminding me of this craziness!
Well I know that a big group and Little Willy poems were published in a book by Harry Graham (possibly he was primarily a translator... not sure) around the 1890s though the poems had been around for a long time - mostly traded around by young male college students.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting because there are two different types of poems: the ones where Willy foolishly kills himself by accident and some where Willy maliciously kills his baby sister, aunt or grandmother. The latter type just don't strike me as hilariously (though certainly ring true of the type of humor late-teenage boys would like!).
There are a bunch on this website: http://www.deadlounge.com/offramp/willie.html (though you have to keep clicking the "read a poem" button to bring up each one.)
Thanks so much for commenting! I had no idea that piece had been posted anywhere.