List-it-Tuesday

aimee and others have been posting a list every Tuesday. Of course, when I had lots of time, I had no time to do it; now that I have no time, I find it imperative to make lists and write about it. That is because I am in the midst of an Editing Project. This always happens. I am used to it, and if you ever find yourself in my situation, here is a handy list of things to do to procrastinate.

PS I have done all of the above today. I also picked up my medication, had lunch at Casa Labia, and walked the dog. Now I am finally ready to start working. But it is 5:47 pm, so I am just going to have to wait until 6 pm.

Books.

Forgive me if I have books on my mind. I am editing the first of the three that will keep me busy over the next couple of months, so books are kind of topical right now.
But fear not, dear Reader! This post is not about these books, but about two others that I acquired over the last month or two.

Very, very handy, this one. Especially now that I seem to have developed a thing for stitchcraft. (Which rhymes with witchcraft.  Not that that is of any relevance. Though it does make me want to write a story about a witch called Mildred who has a passion for embroidery ...)

This one (published in 1964) is really about designing, and not so much about embroidery, but I just love the illustrations.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Read a book!

I Can Fly.

I made a new doll.

And just in case people don't get her, I've put a label on her wing.

Mostly people don't get me. I sometimes wonder if I should stick a label on my forehead saying something like quirkess* or weirdo or beware: abnormal. Do you think it would help or would it confuse people even more?

* This is not a word.  I made it up.
PS The first of the three books I have to edit over the next few months has arrived. I am immersed in Doppler effects and Huygens's Principle. Have pity on me.

The sad piano stool - a short story.

One day (not so very long ago) there was a sad piano stool.
If you looked like this ...

... you would also be sad.

Then one day his life changed!!
Anairam took an offcut of upholstery fabric and embroidered it with black cotton yarn.

She used it to make a cushion.
Then she put the cushion on the piano stool.

And now he is a happy piano stool.
The End.

On Aesthetics, Ants, Adoption and Cadavers.

Time for some brain food. To battle the vacivity* of mind. And I bet you are just itching to find out what aesthetics, ants, adoption and cadavers have to do with one another.

Not much, actually. Except that they are subjects of different articles/books I have been reading over the last couple of weeks.

• Which "aesthetics" do you mean? Ten definitions - I recently purchased this book by Leonard Koren (author of wabi-sabi). It is a short treatise, consisting of 10 different definitions for the term "aeshetics" (i.t.o. appearance, style, taste, as a philosophy of art, a thesis or exegesis, a synonym for artistic, beauty, beautification, a cognitive mode, and a language.)
• Are ants industrious little workers, teachers to us all, benificent saints, or teeny, tiny Nazis? I found this article about the entemologist  E.O. Wilson illuminating, and frankly, a little scary. I may want to read his novel, Anthill, now.
• An article about working with cadavers - about time that they are treated with a little respect, I would say ...
• And finally, a fun site. Yes, you can adopt too! (*this one is mine)

A Change.

From this ...

(ugly still-unpainted wall and yucky torn plastic)

to this ...

(Anairam's version of pojagi - made from an old sample book of discontinued curtain fabrics and a few other bits and pieces.)

Inspired by annekata's post on pojagi here.

I just love annekata's projects and informative posts - she has awakened in me an interest in sewing by hand. It is incredibly meditative. So much so that at times I even forget about The Neighbour's Horrible House.

Land art.

Last week I spent a day doing a land art workshop with artist Andree Bonthuys at Die Kelders and Platbos.

"simple creative acts of walking and marking 
about place, locality, time, distance and measurement"      (Richard Long on land art)

Hand-sewn Nest (probably about my recent obsession with hand-sewing) - I left a treasure inside the nest for someone to find.

Target = Red (definitely about my obsession with collecting, sorting, categorizing)

Magic Ladder (hmmmm, about filling in spaces, a habit of mine?)

Other land artists I admire: Andy Goldsworthy,   Strijdom van der Merwe,    Robert Smithson