song lyrics

For a long time I barely listened to music. I love music, always have. My parents gave us all extremely eclectic music educations for which I'm grateful. Only then I got sick and it became important to distract myself as much as possible with audio books while knitting or stitching. Plus music made me think of dancing.

Since I've had the kindle (can't hold paper books for very long) I've listened to more music again, and it's a happy change. Plus I cut my reading down this year so sometimes I just listen to music while I stitch. 

Hence this new piece (still a work-in-progress) using the lyrics of one of my favorite bands, Ed's Redeeming Qualities. They play calypso-ish music with the most hilarious lyrics in the world. They're funny songs but also intensely real, things real people feel, rather than the unrealistic people that inhabit most song lyrics.

Also, here is a funny picture I took of my niece, Evie. My new nickname for her is Clamps because she's got a very tight grip. She tends to give disapproving looks, and in combination with her fat face this makes her look like an old, male politician.

apologies for absence

I did finally finished my opera blackwork piece (and all ink black!) and I know what project I'm doing next. The opera piece was hard to finish because of border difficulties. Just designing opera motifs that weren't too large was a challenge and I didn't think there was enough room to do a border on the top. I like my solution though and I love my champagne glasses and especially that skull! Ever tried to design a small blackwork skull? It's damned hard!

It's also apartment inspection time (I live in subsidized housing) so I've been busy cleaning as much as I can. Plus today was my mom's birthday. My sister and the fat baby came over and we had tea and lunch and gave my mom her presents. I held Miss Evie for a while and bounced her around, being rewarded with some giggles and smiles. She's in a fussy stage though and my poor cat spent the whole time terrified under the couch and now won't deign to look at me.

Soccer and Tequila

Yesterday was a great soccer day! There was a West Virginia men's soccer tournament and Madre and I went to one game. I haven't seen a soccer game in person in about seven years, since I was at college. This happened to be a pretty good game, though one team was lazy and scattered and only had a few players who seemed to really love the game. They also had a couple players who were fouling really badly and I hate seeing that.

Then at 9 pm we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant to watch the Gold Cup final. This is the tournament for the teams in north and central America and the Caribbean. Last Gold Cup, 2009, Mexico beat us 5-0 which is really embarrassing. Last night was absolutely brilliant though. First off, we got to watch with other fans who were just as loud as me, and second I got a bit drunk which I haven't done for about a year. I haven't even just had one drink is a few months. 

So Mexico came out pushing really hard, had three shots on goal really soon and then the US came out of nowhere and scored off a corner. Then they scored again! It was insane! They also subbed someone in around like minute 10, which is just another example of Bob Bradley being a twat (there are many such examples). Mexico tied it up before the half with some great goals. Then after the half the US came back disorganized and not pushing nearly hard enough. Mexico scored twice more, one of  which was just one of the more beautiful goals I've seen in a long time. It was literally a perfect game. Very few fouls, great goals, good offensive playing. Fabulous.

Started a new blackwork project using a quote from the Terry Pratchett book Maskerade (which is about opera). I happen to love opera, so it's one of my favorite Pratchett books. The quote is long so I'm doing it in a very small font which is one square wide and a maximum of four high. I'm about halfway done with the text and it's turning out better than I'd hoped.

a fine day for sailing

So Go Sailor is happy, snappy, bubblegummish sort of band with some lyrics that have sinister tones. I like that in my music. It's like my needlework, traditional and sweet but with sinister/snarky quotes. Really that's basically me in a nut shell. So sweet and young looking (people mostly assume I'm no older than 19) but also a bit sinister.

Granted when I showed this piece to my mother she just sort of made a noise and gave me a look, but being a sinister young lady I'm used to that. Instead of selling this piece it will go into my bank of items for my eventual perfectly decorated dressing room. You know, for when I have a dressing room. It will be in the grand Addams Family style of things.

I also finished my cross stitch pattern of the Liverpool Football Club crest thingy. It's not the full huge giant affair with torches and the "you'll never walk alone" nonsense, just the basic shield design and founding date. I don't have any particular reason to support Liverpool but my dad always did, so I always do. Anyway, the pattern will be up in my store in the next few days.

Summer Gardens

The garden tour thing is going on in my city. This year you can just wander around people's yards (those that have a garden tour sign) at will, which is fun. Some friends of my mother have the most amazing garden. They fill up their front yard with vegetables and flowers and the backyard is almost completely full plus paths and numerous seating areas.

 

We went by the other day and my favorite thing is that they've put up numerous large mirrors on the back fence. You don't notice the mirrors until you're right up close to them. Just glancing through the yarn they extend the garden so perfectly and make the tall back fence more appealing. They also keep the compost pile and other utilitarian things tucked inside the garden where they're accessible but half hidden among other plants.

 

It is really my idea of a perfect garden and makes me think of childhood. We always had a big garden with lots of vegetables, and while it wasn't so organized and prettily laid out, it was quite full. Plus we were always being dragged to various country greenhouses when I was a kid so most nice gardens remind me of those places as well.

hours of flowers

I came up with a set of flower motifs and geometric but somewhat floral looking things. Two irises and two pansies which I prefer to roses, but I think the rose turned out better due to the half stitch filling. I should use that more, as I always like the effect.

Anyway, this set of motifs is now for sale in my Etsy shop. There are nine separate designs, all fairly small with the largest being no more than 2 1/2 inches in either direction (probably not quite that). It would be fun to do a huge score of pansies in different colors hanging in clusters on a wall.

I just recently re-read four of Juliet Marillier's books. She writes fantasy novels but they're very different from the usual fantasy rubbish. There are no pet dragons or unicorns, it's not an alien world, and the romance is limited and is not the main plot device. They are set in ancient Ireland and Scotland and are historically accurate as far as it goes (we don't know all that much about the Picts, honestly). The fantasy element is that you take for granted that most of the folklore is true. 

I don't really like most fantasy books and I don't generally seek them out.  However, Marillier is one of my favorite authors ever. There aren't very many authors who are writing in the same sort of genre and I highly recommend reading her Sevenwaters trilogy and the two Children of the Light Isles books (which are set/based in Orkney, the first being about vikings coming to Orkney).

Watch out!

One of my favorite things in TV shows is background jokes. In A Very Peculiar Practice the doctors offices are full of strange posters, one of which is, I think "How can another woman get you pregnant?" I notice these things and I love and adore them.

Still Game is one of my favorite shows ever. I about died when I first saw it. It's hilarious and it's geared to appeal to people in their thirties and older. It seems like in the US everything is geared toward teenagers and twenty-somethings.

Anyway, in one episode of Still Game (series 2 episode 3) there's a poster in the background that shows a picture of a banana with the words shown on my cross stitch piece. Hilarious! I crack up just thinking of it. I think my banana looks lovely. I used Andy Warhol's banana as a guide. Maybe I can sell it to a local restaurant or green grocer!

If anyone is interested in the banana pattern (or the entire pattern, really), just let me know and I'll send it to you or post it here if there's enough interest.