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…