purejuice

I need a needlebook, and thinking of a design, noticed how often ravens and blackbirds have been looking me in the eye lately. Ravens are power animals, and blackbirds have their medicine too. This blackbird, from Carry Akroyd's very special linocuts for the John Clare Society edition of The Wood Is Sweet, is just the blackbird I was looking for.

www.johnclare.org.uk/Wood_is_Sweet.pdf

The needlebook will fit into the candy tin and might could be the same color, with gold trellis. A small pair of scissors on a handmade blue kumihimo cord, a larger sewing bag for my smocking stuff, with perhaps the entire lower half of the blackbird lino appliqued on it.

We'll see.

Here's about 1000 free needlebook patterns. Love the intarnets.

Learning to smock -- joined the Smocking Arts Guild of America today -- and the local Zia Sun Smockers group, where the project is the sampler you see here -- is part of the regime of learning fine handsewing for the Godzilla Room. This particular skill will be deployed for Godzilla Pillow #8: Harajuku Girl.