Book Recommendations

The weather is perfect for curling up with a good book. I have two recommendations.

I did a podcast interview yesterday morning with the author of this book, Nicole Nehrig:

I am a bit more than halfway through reading it. This is a not a book for quick consumption. It is meant for thoughtful reading and contemplation. From the website:

With Her Own Hands explores the personal meaning of women’s textile work throughout history and around the world. Textiles have been essential to survival, technological advances, and the development and expression of culture throughout much of human history. But more personally, textile work has provided one of the few avenues for women to develop and express their intellectual ability and creativity in areas of engineering, science, math, and art. Through textile work, women were able to tell their stories, shape and express their identities, process difficult emotions, stand up for what they believe in, nurture relationships, and improve their quality of life. This may explain why, for millennia, women went well beyond what was necessary for survival to dye yarn, create complex designs, and make textiles that are beautiful and imbued with meaning. It is with thread that women wrote.

The podcast interview will come out next Tuesday. We visited for almost an hour—Nicole is a dynamic and engaging young woman and I am looking forward to more of her work.

This little gem popped up in my Kindle queue last week. The Moorwitch, by Jessica Khoury, is perfect for those of us who love sci-fi/fantasy and have more than a passing acquaintance with textile arts.

From the website:

In this sweeping romantic fantasy from bestselling author Jessica Khoury, a young witch caught in a twisted bargain with the fae must disguise herself as a governess and uncover the gateway to the realm of faerie in order to save her dying magic and escape the clutches of her controlling fae handler―even as she finds herself falling for her new employer, an enigmatic young Scottish laird and the owner of a crumbling estate brimming with secrets.

I enjoyed this one very much. My only quibble is that it is written in the first person, a style of writing I don’t prefer. The storytelling makes up for that, however.

******

I made the lining for the Bella Quilt Coat yesterday afternoon:

byAnnie has an add-on video for those who buy the pattern. Neither the video nor the pattern state to finish the edges of the lining pieces—the seams will be enclosed between the lining and the body—but I think it looks better and will extend the longevity of the coat. I also staystitched the neck edges, even though that step wasn’t included in the pattern, either.

Anything worth doing is worth doing in excess, and if we’re going to encourage quilters to become garment sewists, we should teach the correct techniques.

Cutting and quilting the main body pieces seems like such a daunting task, although I know it isn’t, not really. I’m not sure why I am procrastinating. I will try to get those cut tomorrow and perhaps I can get them all quilted this weekend.

The only problem is that the 50" separating zipper for the front won’t be available on the byAnnie website until November 12. I’m more than a bit annoyed by that. I understand the excitement of bringing the pattern to market, but the add-on video didn’t release until yesterday and I won’t have the zipper until later this month unless the store ordered some. (Stores get their shipment of patterns and zippers sooner.) I think it’s better for manufacturers to wait and release everything together.