Liner Notes: April - Florence + the Machine/The Old Religion/Kraken/Shake It Out

I had a hard time picking one song this week, so there are three. I mean, three of something is always a good thing in my mind. 

Let's start with a few songs from the new album:

And then there's a classic:

I really love Everybody Scream. It's a great album and the songs stand on their own as well. Fun fact: Mitski co-wrote "Everybody Scream" and "Buckle" and plays acoustic guitar on both tracks. Weird, ethereal girls unite.

I don't know about you, but as I've entered my late 40s and have started to deal with things questions like "Is this perimenopause, extreme rage, or my uterine fibroids flaring," I feel very unlike myself. My body, which has been pretty decent to me most of my life, has started to be like "sorry homie, I have to do all this stuff because you're old and a woman and I don't make the rules. Here's some random shoulder pain and please enjoy the itchy ears." (Apparently a symptom of perimenopause.) So an album like Everybody Scream and a song like "Kraken" makes me happier than I expected. 

Florence Welch has always been a fantastic example of female power and rage in music. This particular album feels like it emerged from the ooze to deliver a message to the world: we are angry, we are powerful, and you should be scared. I love every minute of it. I can't wait to be in an enormous arena with thousands of my newest friends screaming together. Perhaps the North America leg of this tour will actually reset the timeline. Perhaps. 

I was able to complete three sets of lyrics this week, which I'm both surprised by and pleased with. I picked "The Old Religion," "Kraken," and "Shake It Out" to start us off. I did end up attaching the first piece to the stitch journal. It looks good and is definitely achieving the spell book vibe I'm going for. I also worked with a piece of suede I got at Upcylce and made it work. I didn't have a lot of success with the leather/suede needles I have, so I used an awl to poke holes in the fabric first, like what I do when I embroider on paper. That worked really well and I was able to use a regular embroidery needle. I haven't attached the suede piece yet. I think I want to attach it to the back of the stitch journal page directly to the lace rather than treating it like a page being bound in the book. I'm going to try that tomorrow since I'm still thinking about it. 

My goal is to get at least three sets of lyrics embroidered each week. We'll see if I can do it. 

Here's this week's addition to April's liner notes:

April 5

April 6

April 7

April 8

April 9

April 10

April 11 - I decided to attach this one to see how it looks. I like the vibe so far. 

April 11 - I also decided to do one more quote on a piece of suede. Turned out way better than I expected. 

Liner notes to date - I didn't attach the suede piece yet. I think I may attach it directly to the lace back. I'll try that out tomorrow. 

WIPs and Other Small Joys

I made more progress on the mushroom needlepoint last weekend. I took it with me when I went to see my parents for Easter last Sunday. My dad was very curious about the process, so I explained how to do a few stitches and how patterns work. I don't think he's going to start needlepoint anytime soon, but he seemed to find it interesting. 

Meow Manor and Kraken are back home. I went to Woodlawn to pick them up this week. One of the women who manages the event told me that if Meow Manor was in a different color palette, she would have stolen it from me! I take that as a very high compliment. The Woodlawn ladies know things. 

I don't know where to put her, so for now, Meow Manor is on top of my DMC storage chest. I need another bookcase...for many reasons. 

Bea has been "good" about letting me put the ointment on her face. She's definitely feeling better; she's been running around like a possessed creature all week and being where she's not supposed to be. I read recently that if your cat acts like a menace at home, they're comfortable with you and feel like they can be free. They don't have to hide or protect themselves. I love that for Bea, but would also really love it if she stayed off the counter and the lamp shelf. 

I'm currently at my car service appointment and will probably be here for the rest of my life. I brought the mushroom needlepoint piece with me so maybe I'll finish it today. I also hope to get some cleaning work done on the trinket shelf I thrifted a few weeks ago. Being sick threw off so many things so I'm trying to get back on track with getting it cleaned up so I can display it. I'm not sure where it's going to go but I'll find a place for it. I may have to move some other things around to make a place for it.