Happy Valentine's Day! Here's my "finish". I bet you forgot all about this needlework project. It had been safely tucked away in storage since last summer, which is the last time I even looked at it. I thought it was high time to put in those last stitches. I had hoped to do the actual sewing/finishing before Valentine's Day, but I'll get to that soon. Maybe even this weekend, and if I do I'll update this post. I am planning on making it into a little pillow using some red checked fabric.
Cupid is looking a little surprised, don't t you think? Like he's not quite sure what he's meant to be doing. (He could bring me some tulips, but I might just have to have a Valentine's splurge and buy a few for myself . . .). I haven't decided whether to add a date and my initials. Laziness means I probably won't but I should really 'sign' my work.
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My "start" isn't a needlework start, though I am certainly in a stitching mood at the moment. I am in need of a good, purely escapist read. Work is stressful again and I am having trouble focusing a little. Don't get me wrong--I am very much enjoying the books on my sidebar that I am reading right now, but many of them are work along with pleasure and I need something that is sheer mindlessness to turn to. I've asked a few friends for suggestions and have been thinking of my own books, too. Now I will pick your brains.
Someone said Daniel Silva is a dependable turn-to writer when it comes to thrills and twists and turns. He said I will not be a better person for having read his books but I will most certainly have been entertained! Another friend mentioned Janet Evanovich and maybe it is time for the next Stephanie Plum book, which I own and just need to find in my mess of books.
I'm not sure whether I am more in the mood of a thriller--lots of page turning excitement, or something light and easy--a good frothy concoction with lots of humor and maybe a little love affair (in honor of Valentine's Day?). Or maybe I should pick a good comfort read that I have read before and know I can rely on to enjoy once again.
I am forever soliciting reading suggestions, aren't I? I am always in search of the perfect read, however (perfect being one of those elastic terms depending on mood!). Maybe Diary of a Provincial Lady? Joanne Harris's Chocolat (how many times have I read this one in the past?)?
I do know that whatever I choose I want the book to be utterly unputdownable. And that is always the tricky part of choosing a book.
This is a very frivolous post (but all I can manage on a Friday, and a holiday of sorts, too). But I have lots of bookishness in the works--more literary postcards (I've not forgotten), more by gardener Anna Pavord (am thinking spring and green and therefore about gardens!), at least two book 'reviews' in the works, a little something on the Omaha's World Fair of 1898 and the usual weekend short story reading.
Until then, have a happy Valentine's Day and lots of hours spent reading this weekend!