The Stitch Book: Week 38 (September 15-21)

 

I'm not a huge NPR person, but every now and then there's an article I really enjoy. This week's piece is inspired by one of those articles from March 2023. The article is about words that don't translate or have equivalent words in English. There are some wonderful words included in the article, but one in particular stood out for me: soubhiye. 

Soubhiye is a Lebanese Arabic word that roughly translates to the quiet time in the morning before anyone wakes up and you have time for yourself. It can also mean meeting up with a friend to catch up over tea and coffee in that quiet time before the day begins. 

I love this word and the idea of that quiet morning. I love mornings where I can sit on my couch and drink my coffee and not have any distractions or noise before I start my day. Keely is a quiet animal, so I assume he also enjoys the cat equivalent of soubhiye each day too. 

I wasn't sure how I was going to bring soubhiye to life for the stitch journal. I guess I could have embroidered the word and the way the women in the NPR article described it and called it a day, but that didn't feel right to me. Then I got the idea last Saturday that I should try to recreate my living room. This is both the best and worst idea I've had for this year's 365 project. My drawing skills are fine for most of the embroidery I do, but not "recreate your living" level. Then I remembered I had some blue velvet fabric I bought at the upcycle craft store last year. It almost matches the color of my couch, so I had to use it. I drew a couch to the best of my ability, made a paper pattern out of it, and created the couch. I drew an awkward table. I had to include Keely's new marshmallow bed and his spider toy. I added yellow pillows. 

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Does that matter? Absolutely not. It's my version of soubhiye and my quiet morning. It's lovely.

Here's this week's piece:

The drawing is my best version of my living room. It's not great, but it gets the point across.

September 15 - I started with Keely's new bed.

September 16

September 17 - the table is not quite right but it'll do. 

September 18 - this is not an accurate depiction of the to be read pile on my coffee table...or in my bedroom...or in the studio. I have a bit of a book problem.

September 19 - Keely's spider toy is an important part of the living room. See actual spider (above) and embroidered spider (below). 

September 20 - I found this velvet fabric remnant at the upcycle craft store last year and haven't had any reason to use it. It works perfectly for my couch. 

September 21 - what if I made tiny pillows for my couch? I love them.

Week 38 - a space inspired by the word soubhiye.

Weeks 1-38 and a cat.

Week 39's color is grasshopper. We're entering the green phase of the upholstery book.

A Programming Note and a Reminder

I'm heading to Maine later this week. I'm meeting my friend Emily for a Stephen King's Maine trip, so this week and next will be Stephen King themed. I'm planning on sticking to my regular schedule of posting on IG and will have a recap post up next Saturday as well. There won't be a full photo of the stitch journal next week since I'm not bringing all of the entries with me to Maine. If you have any recommendations for restaurants or things to do in Bangor, ME send them my way. We're going on a bus tour of SK locations and visiting Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. 

We're also heading into fall, which is my favorite time of the year. That means a lot of fall themed stitch journal entries are coming your way. I have to figure out how to draw a bat and am very excited about it.

Early voting for the 2024 election has started in my home state and most states in the US. Make sure you're registered to vote, have a voting plan, and get out to vote in this election. Early voting is awesome if you can do it. I went this morning, waited in line for 10 minutes, and was done. I can't stress enough how important it is to vote this year. I'm not exaggerating when I say we're voting for whether we want to keep living in a democracy or allow a moron to take us into a dictatorship, so get voting and be nice to election workers. 

Look at that voting sticker!