Liner Notes: March - Mitski/Nobody/Washing Machine Heart/Be the Cowboy

I used to be the kind of person who read Rolling Stone and Spin magazines and knew when musicians I liked were releasing new albums. I'm not that person anymore. Case in point: I was walking around Target sometime in 2018 and heard a song that made me say, "Hey, that sounds like Mitski. Did she release a new album because I don't know this song." And the answer was yes, she had released a new album called Be the Cowboy. As is the way, here's a song to get us started. This was the song I heard in Target that day.

I like this entire album but this song, "Washing Machine Heart," is probably my favorite on the album. My second favorite song is "A Pearl," and I also really like "Nobody" and "Old Friend." I think "Washing Machine Heart" and "A Pearl" remind me of "Your Best American Girl" as if the woman from that song had moved on and was now in this relationship timeline. 

This week's stitch journal entries have been focused on a tiny rug and cats. What you might now be realizing is that I'm creating my own version of the Tansy House, the subject of Mitski's latest album (which I'll talk more about during the last week of March). The house is old and has some cats in it and yellow wallpaper and the spirits of the women who lived in the house before the woman on the album. As I said last week, listening to a Mitski album is like being in her apartment with her, watching the events and people she describes. So my entry this month is an attempt to create a little world based on what I hear when I listen to her songs. Swoopiness, cats, unrequited love, anger, weirdness...that's what I hear in these songs. 

I found some trim last week when I was volunteering at Upcycle that helped bring the tiny rug to life. Sewing the tiny rug took me back to the 6th grade when I took home economics and sewed my first project ever. It was a pillow case. It may still be in my parents basement. Anyway, it's cute. The white cat is a dopey looking guy, but I think he works. I'll add his whiskers once I add him to the stitch journal. Next up: another weird cat and some art for the "wall."

Here's this week's stitch journal progress:

March 8

March 9

March 10

March 11

March 12

March 13

March 14

Use your imagination to picture the white cat strutting around and the cat in the upper corner sitting on the tiny rug. I'm working on the other cat starting tomorrow.

After the cats are done and added to the stitch journal page, I'm moving onto art work for the wall. I'm going to use a binder ring as a frame (covered in satin stitch), but I need to find something to go in the frame. I'm picturing a weird print of figures or a person. I'm going to look tomorrow at Upcycle, but may end up making my own painting...which would actually be more fun. More to come on this.

Imagine this fabric behind it was a weird portrait. That's the vibe I'm going for with adding art to the wall.

WIPs, a Finished Project, and Other Small Joys

I wore a new dress to work on Tuesday. I mentioned my new Zuri dress last week, and I actually wore it on Tuesday. I can't stress enough how important it is to wear bright colors and things that make you feel good. I had the best day on Tuesday. Nothing particularly special happened...it was just a good day. I felt good. I talked about women artists with the elderly at my friend's work. I told several people at work to do bold things. The dress, that does have pockets, made me a bolder person. Wild. 

This dress also fulfills my continuing life goal of being more whimsical and weird every day. That's it. That's all I really want to accomplish in my life. Enjoy my possibly haunted home decor and this orange dress. 

I continued my bold color life with a small dyeing project yesterday. I found this bag at Goodwill a few weekends ago for $8 but it's beige. I hate beige. Despite the carpet in my house being beige (not my choice), I hate beige. So I decided to dye the bag. RIT makes a line of dye for synthetic fabrics, and the dye worked perfectly for this bag (it's made of nylon).

Before

After

It's definitely not beige anymore! The color is called daffodil yellow, and this is what it looked like after 30 minutes in the dye bath. It doesn't need another round, so I washed it and am going to try it out today. I love the color and the bag is light weight. Most of my crossbody bags are heavy without anything in them so they're heavy to carry. I'm hoping this will be lighter even with stuff in it.

I also worked on a random piece this week. Sometimes I just want to stitch something but I don't want to work with a pattern or make something specific. I threw a bunch of orange and yellow threads, mostly almost empty bobbins, into a case and started stitching. I like how it's looking and will keep adding to it until it's done. The thread will tell me when it's done. 

I may work on this more tomorrow during craft day or I may do a paint by numbers kit I recently purchased. Maybe I'll work on the portrait for the stitch journal. Who knows what tomorrow will feel like and I like to pick my project based on vibes. It's the only way to go. 

Bea had a busy week of finding old toys of Keely's, jumping on things she's not supposed to jump on, and supervising me while I was dyeing the purse. She's a huge help around the house. 

Supervising my work as I dye the purse. 

She approves. 

The toy she found is a bug that moves on flat surfaces. She spent four hours playing with it across the last two days. It brings her so much joy and exhausts her completely. It's perfect.

If you live in Virginia, don't forget that early voting is underway for the April special election. This election is focused on a proposed constitutional amendment about redistricting. Please take time to do your research and vote.