Liner Notes: May - Fleetwood Mac's Rumours/The Chain

I love this song. While the entire Rumours album is the inspiration for this month's Liner Notes stitch journal, "The Chain" is the song that inspired my theme and the actual design of this month's piece. But before we talk about "The Chain," we have to talk about Rumours. 

My dad is a Fleetwood Mac fan so I remember listening to their music as a kid. Fleetwood Mac music sounds good in a car, and my dad loves car music. There's something about songs made in the 1960s and 1970s and listening to them in the car - they sound so freaking good. They sound good outside of the car too, but there's something about listening to them in a car that makes them even better. 

I remember three Fleetwood Mac songs from my childhood, "The Chain," "Don't Stop," and "Everywhere." The first two are from Rumours; "Everywhere" was on the 1987 album Tango in the Night. I also looooove "Everywhere." The beginning of the song sounds like what I think twinkle lights would sound like if they made noise. I'm not focusing on 80s-era Fleetwood Mac, but Tango in the Night is a fun album if you've never listened to it. I also remember watching the video for "Hold Me" a lot in the late 1980s (it's from 1982's Mirage). 

Back to Rumours. I don't think I listened to the full album until my late teens. I had a 1960s/1970s phase in high school and Fleetwood Mac was a big part of that. Rumours is one of those albums that I can listen to over and over again and never get tired of it. I listened to the album at least once a day during lockdown and even before this project, I listened to it at least once a week. I knew about the drama behind the making of Rumours when I was listening to it as a teenager. I was already part of the Stevie Nicks coven, so obviously I knew about Rumours. But it wasn't the drama or my allegiance to Stevie (the mother of all ethereal weird girls) that drew me in. The whole album, with two exceptions (for me), is an absolute masterpiece. It's got a little bit of everything and it seems as if it was created by magic. Because it was. 

In his book Don't Stop, Alan Light looks at the enduring legacy of Rumours and how an album that's almost 50 years old continues to attract fans of all ages. It continues to be a top selling album, and several of the songs have surpassed one billion streams on various streaming services. The album and the band have inspired countless musicians and writers since the album was released. In the book, Light discusses the making of each song and provides a lot of great detail about how the band was functioning and how the creative process worked. I highly recommend reading it if you're a fan of the band and the album. 

"The Chain" is probably one of the best known songs from Rumours. It has such a great opening and it only gets better from there. It's the second-most streamed song from the album after "Dreams," and it serves as the center point of the album. I think it best demonstrates the tension of the album and what was going on in the lives of the band. At one point they're singing "The chain will keep us together," and then Lindsey Buckingham is shouting "Damn your love/Damn your lies." It's just really good. 

In the essay "The Truth About Rumours" by David Wild (it appears in the liner notes for the 2013 3-CD release of the album), Stevie Nicks sums it up perfectly,

"The truth is we never did break the chain back then. We kept going back to the studio and trying to make something great together - despite how untogether we might have been outside of the studio."

She goes on to talk about how the band "psychically" knew how important the album was and how what they were creating was going to live on forever. Like I said before, it's magic.

And so "The Chain" serves as the inspiration for this month's liner notes entry as well. One of the foundation stitches in surface embroidery is the chain stitch. It's usually one of the first stitches an embroiderer learns, along with back stitch and stem stitch. In the foundational version, the stitch makes a connected chain and is often used for decorative borders, flowers, and circular designs. There are also versions of the chain stitch in other fiber arts like crochet. 

There are at least 90 variations of the chain stitch. The Stitchery created a fantastic tutorial focusing on 90 variations. You can check out Charlie's YouTube channel here and her IG account here if you want to try any of them out. 

That's how I decided to solely focus on the chain stitch and some of its variations this month. I'm not going to do all 90 variations featured in the Stitchery's design but I'm going to try to work with some of my favorite variations and maybe learn a few new ones. The base layer of fabric is composed of small upholstery samples cut in various geometric shapes. I wanted it to resemble the carpet or a rug that might have been in the studio while the band was working on the album. The color scheme is very 1977, which is one of my favorite things about this month's piece This week I did most of the base layer; I have two more pieces to attach. Once the base layer is done, I'll start stitching the other chain stitches. I haven't decided if I'm going to design something specific or just let the stitches take me where they need to go. I have 19 days of chain stitch so really anything is possible. 

And so we begin this month's Liner Notes:

May 1 - I had five possible color combinations of the small upholstery swatches. I picked this one, which was my first choice.

May 2 - the final cut and the thread options.

May 3 - start with the square. It's a little off center but what isn't these days?

May 4

May 5

May 6

May 7

May 8 - even with pins, this fabric wouldn't stay straight.

May 9

The first week of the Rumours Liner Notes.

I also absolutely love the use of this song in season one of Our Flag Means Death. Music is so well used throughout the series, but this has to be one of my favorite moments (my actual favorite will be discussed in November). If you haven't watched this show, I highly recommend it. I really hope they find a home for a third season. 

WIPs, Bea's Adventures, and Other Small Joys

I've made a lot of progress on the mushroom needlepoint this week. I had a weird week and rather than doing one of the 600 things I really need to do, I spent an hour and half working on the mushrooms earlier in the week and a few hours more over the course of the week. It's getting there. I need to find a frame for it too.

May 4 - this was the 90 minutes day.

May 6

May 8

It's getting there. I like to watch a true crime docuseries or a documentary and work on the mushrooms. That seems to work for me. 

Bea had quite a big week of being adorable. I think she's finally over being mad at me for going out of town for a few days. She's not going to be happy with me this week since I have to go into the office for a few days. She doesn't really understand how money or jobs work, so there's that. I still haven't figured out how she got under the covers one night this week without waking me up but she did. Stealth is her true talent.

I hosted another art/craft supply swap last Saturday. Bea was gifted another Trader Joe's bag (see above) which she has since destroyed. I have a ton of stuff to donate to Upcycle and got to spend a lovely afternoon with my friends. I may try to do another swap in the fall or switch it up and do another type of swap later in the year. 

If you're like me and you love unnecessary collaborations between companies that probably don't make a lot of sense, you're probably very aware of the Jonathan Adler collaboration with Michaels. It launched in late April and is fantastic. I didn't want to love it as much as I do. I've been focusing on the crafting section but the collection also includes decor and entertaining. I've purchased the bargello kit, a needlepoint kit, and three diamond art kits. I've done diamond art before but the insects were too good to pass up. I ended up hitting a sale and using a voucher so I basically got the three diamond kits for the price of one. I do love a sale. I'm going to have lots of things to keep me busy this summer. 

I'm off for part one of what I guess is a double feature movie weekend with my mom. Today, the whole family is going to see the Hugh Jackman sheep movie and tomorrow, I'm taking my mom to see The Devil Wears Prada 2. I don't know if my dad is joining us for that one. If you're celebrating your mom or a mom this weekend, enjoy. If someone says "Happy Mother's Day" to you and you're not a mom, just say thank you and move on. 

This is Jazz Fest 1988. That's my mom, her sister Pat, and me at the festival. We're super cool.