I have an upcoming bday. Not one I am excited about at all but time goes on… The problem is not that it’s a significant bday (it is) but that (sigh) I have to keep coming up with bday gift ideas… Again… I do not need anything…

So, I fished around a bit and came up with a few ideas. Some Smartwool slippers that have soles so I can slip them on to make quick trips outside to dump recycle or garbage or whatever. I used to have to go outside to start up the Ninja on cold/snowy days but I don’t own her any more (sigh) and I can start Cygnus with an app.

And… “Inspirational” books about slow stitching. I googled around and found a few possibilities and emailed them to the fam.

The GG had a couple questions. 1) What is slow stitching? 2) We just got rid of a bunch of stitching books and you want more?

1) I cannot really describe slow stitching. Is it embroidery? Yes sort of. But not the traditional embroidery you might be thinking of like making samplers and things. Slow stitching uses embroidery stitches when they are appropriate. What I think I want to do with slow stitching is small hand-stitched prodjects where I collage various pieces of fabric and stitch them down in various ways.

2) Yes we did get rid of a bunch of “stitching” books. But not all of them. I have done this before. I collected a lot of fancy quilting books back when the beach urchins were young. I actually made some stuff although full-size quilts seem to be beyond me. A lot of my quilt books were not giving me “love” any more. I took those books and some others over to the AAUW sale in Maple Village and the women were astounded. “These are GOOD books!” Yes they are but I am kind of done with them. They graciously accepted them.

I am not an active fiber artist these days. I spent all day doing an archaeological dig into my online banking product’s sometimes sordid history. I mean sordid just in terms of technology our team designed eons ago and now needs to enhance and specification is anything but clear. I am not finished with that archaeological dig. But I am an artist. Music, fiber arts, user experience design, whatever. We are ALL artists. Yes, really. Engineers can be really annoying (ask me) but they are also artists. Being an artist, I am forever changing the media I work with. That’s what being an artist aka a human being is all about.

The books I have asked for may or may not be inspirational or even useful for me. I don’t care if I get them or not or ANYTHING for my blasted bday. But here’s the thing. Some of these books are available as USED books at reduced prices. I am TOTALLY okay with receiving used books. And I can donate anything I decide isn’t working for me.

Photo credit: Lemon pigs on New Year’s Eve by mouse.

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