Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Riona's Book Nook

I was very flattered by a comment asking me to share the chart for Riona's Book Nook but have to confess that I don't have a chart to share. At least, not a whole chart. I tend to use this design to use up odds and ends of floss. I have charted two or three different designs for the top and bottom of the bookcase, and I vary the number of shelves depending on the length of the scrap of linen I am using. I have charted the leaning books, mainly because I don't like having to plot it out in my head each time I stitch a bookmark. And I have charted a number of different knick-knacks and curios. I vary the number and width of books on a shelf each time I stitch this design, the colors are always different depending on what I have on hand at any given moment. I decorate the spines of the books differently each time as well, depending on my whim. So, ultimately, any bookcase bookmark I stitch is actually a mix and match affair of different elements chosen from a "library" of motifs [charted haphazardly, by hand, on a sheet of graph paper or existing only in my imagination]. I suppose I could reverse engineer a chart by working backwards from a finished piece but the reason these bookmarks are so much fun to stitch is that they are pretty much spontaneous, free-style stitching. I am reasonably certain that any experienced stitcher could duplicate my process just by working from my WIP photo. It is really a very simple project.

1 comment:

barbara said...

I love "just stitching" whatever comes to mind. It's so relaxing. :)