Hello friends. Last year’s stitch book was such fun. And this year’s felt so much more challenging for me. I honestly feel like our world is being turned upside down over and over again and it’s freaking disconcerting! So, this book took longer than 100 days. The work stretched out to accommodate my restlessness, my lack of focus, my ennui. The book feels a bit choppy and not cohesive as a body of work. But it’s done and I’m happy about that. (You’ll notice a few themes from last year reflected in this year’s book.)
As I began the work, I had been looking a book inspired by Pete Seeger’s song Oh, Had I a Golden Thread. The book, written by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Nikki McKlure pays tribute to a man who changed the world with song. In contrast, there’s a man who is changing the world with an obsession with gold. The tackier, the better. As I stitched this book, I held that sharp contrast close to my heart and imagined all of us bound by golden thread, one to another, making us stronger and braver.
This (above) is the front cover of my 2025 book. A dove, the sun (dyed with homegrown tansy) and some sturdy trees.
Stitched with bits from my stash, including fabric dyed with fresh indigo, acorns and birch catkins.
More scraps. Left, Liberty of London floral with reverse appliquéd hankie and some vintage buttons. Right, linen and cotton.
Left, cotton dyed with madder root from our gardens, shibori resist. Right, commercial fabrics and brown swatch dyed with Black Hopi Sunflower on cotton. I’ll let you interpret this juxtaposition…
Left, background of page, tansy dyed. Various commercial fabrics and golden beads. Right, background of page, madder root dyed. Many little bits of treasured garment scraps.
Left, tansy dyed background, with appliquéd radishes from Anne Butera’s Spoonflower shop. Right, screen printed and beaded patch crafted by my daughter Gretta.
Left, fresh indigo dyed linen, with scraps from various projects. Right, three fresh indigo dyed patches (different batches, different years) and vintage buttons.
On the right, a page inspired by my daughter Hannah. Background page is dyed, using clothespins to create resist.
Left, page using scraps from my son Stewart’s college quilt. Right, page made with scraps from my daughter Lindsey’s college quilt. They overlapped at Earlham College by two years, and I love that these two pages share a spread in the book.
Oh, indigo. How I love thee. Left, raw silk dyed...turquoise…with fresh indigo from our gardens. Reverse appliqué. Right, Black Hopi Sunflower dyed background. Fresh indigo leaf pigment transferred using Japanese method of Tataki zomé.
Back cover. Leaf carved and printed with a bit of linoleum. Wooden buttons from my stash.
AND NOW FOR A SPECIAL TREAT! Some of my readers have generously shared photos of the work on their books. I am so grateful for their willingness to send their photos along so that we can all see the variety of ways to approach this project.
Kathleen Doenier sent her pics all the way from Wisconsin. I love the way she used frayed edges for waves! And such genius to use pinking shears to do some of the cutting. And I love the way the birds are mirror images, but not exactly. So creative!
My friend Ellen lives just over the ridge from me. I love how she used reverse appliqué to create portals…for ants and for a pastoral view. The moon and stars over the little red farmhouse…so quintessentially Vermont!
Thank you to both Kathleen and Ellen for allowing me to share their work here!
I’d like to welcome my friend dawn as my newest subscriber. A former colleague, dawn has moved away from the area, and I’m so glad she found us here.
Much to catch you up on, friends, but I wanted to get this post out to you today. I’ll be back soon. Keep on stitching, reading, speaking up, pushing back and all the other things that bring you joy, courage and hope!
with so much love and light, me.