Liner Notes: July - Xanadu/I'm Alive/Magic

And so we're finally at the first recap post of July! Welcome to the soundtrack for Xanadu. I love this movie and the soundtrack. As I said in last week's summer reading post, if you haven't seen this movie, you should stop what you're doing and watch it. If you haven't seen it since you were little, again, go watch it again right now. 

Here's the album art: 

Here's how Sonny experiences the song "Magic" in the movie:

And here's the song on its own:

I wrote a very detailed post about the movie Xanadu several years ago on my other blog, The Island of Misfit Toys. You can read that post here. There's also a companion piece on the movie The Warriors because if you watch Xanadu, you should really watch The Warriors. Michael Beck deserves it.

Anyway, I love this soundtrack. I didn't see the movie until my freshmen year of high school (the movie was released in 1980 - I was a year old), but I knew several of the songs because they were very successful singles for Olivia Newton-John and ELO. Both Olivia Newton-John and ELO were big names at the time, and that was a big part of the event that was Xanadu. If you have the soundtrack on vinyl like I do, you experienced Olivia Newton-John's songs on Side A and ELO's songs on Side B. The song "Xanadu" featured both and is on Side B. It doesn't really make sense as a soundtrack to organize the tracks that way since, but it made sense at the time so it could be marketed to fans in a certain way. I also own the soundtrack on CD and it makes even less sense organized this way on a CD. 

A big reason for that is that "Magic" isn't the first song of the movie but it is the first song on the soundtrack. An ELO song, "I'm Alive," is and it's fantastic, and I would argue, a better way to start the soundtrack. But what do I know about things? 

We see the Muses come to life, courtesy of Kenny Ortega's excellent choreography, and the movie gets started. Olivia Newton-John's Kira comes alive last and then skates off to find Sonny and start being his muse. On roller skates. With perfectly feathered hair. This movie and the soundtrack really need to be experienced, so please go watch the movie.

My piece for this month only includes three songs: "Magic," "The Fall," and "Xanadu." I think these three songs capture the arc of the movie, but I'll include a few other songs each week because they make sense to share in the context of the plot. But for me, these three songs are it. They hit the plot points, showcase characters at very specific moments in the action of the movie, and they happen to be my three favorite songs from the soundtrack. 

I found some metallic fabric at Upcycle a few months ago and decided to use it for this month's piece. Each song will be stitched on a different metallic fabric with metallic thread. I also have a tulle overlay for each piece. Once I finish all the panels, I'll decide on the order and attach them to the stitch journal page. I'm also going to embroider a title piece for the finished piece. It makes more sense in practice then in photos (probably). For each song, I made some cuts to the lyrics since I don't have space for the entire song. Originally I thought about only embroidering phrases or single lyrics from each song, but I like this reveal/build design better. 

Fabric choices

Yes, that is the font from the album cover.

Test panel with the fabric - the sticky solvy does come off. 

Here's the first song for this month's Liner Notes. Please enjoy a stitched version of lyrics from "Magic."

All three songs plus the title piece that will be stitched last.

July 1

July 2

July 3

July 4

July 5

July 6

July 7

July 8

July 9

July 10

July 11

July Liner Notes Song #1 - Magic

Look at the sparkle! Can you actually read it if you're not in person? Probably not. Does that matter? Absolutely not.

When I assemble all three songs, each one has a tulle fabric overlay. 

WIPs, Completed Projects, Recovery Updates, Bea's Adventures, and Other Small Joys

Last week I shared that I finished the frog embroidery but hadn't finished painting the hoop. Later in the weekend, I did finish painting the hoop and hung it up. It turned out great and I need to pick up some more kits from Nest Embirdery for the future. I enjoy her nature/animal focused designs and the kits are good for any level embroiderer. 

I also finished the kraken pattern from Hook, Line & Tinker last Saturday. I haven't decided if I'm going to paint the hoop so it's not hanging up yet. What do you think - should I paint the hoop and what color should I paint it? I'm thinking black as a base color and then use one of the metallic paints as a final layer. I don't think a flat color will look good. 

This is the other kraken pattern in my collection:

They don't need to match but I'll probably display them as a pair. 

I also completed three other projects this week and started a new WIP. That's the wild thing about this week...I finally feel like myself again. I don't think anyone ever prepares a person for the process of recovering from surgery. This was my first time undergoing a major medical procedure and it was such a wild experience. The first two weeks were mostly napping, taking pain meds, and eating soft/bland food. I couldn't get comfortable and certainly didn't have the focus I have now. I found it difficult to read for longer than 10 minutes and I could only make my stars for last month's piece or one of the leaves for the frog embroidery, but that was it. My brain couldn't handle more than that. 

Weeks three and four were better. My focus came back. I needed to be able to do certain things since my aunt was heading home at the end of week three, so I stopped taking the heavy pain medication which meant I was able to do more. I felt sort of good. Discomfort was still the reality though, so I had some really good days and some really bad days. I started walking at the rec center, which helped tremendously. My muscles seemed to like that and something sort of snapped back into place randomly on a Wednesday. I wasn't perfect but I could do things like bend at the waist and sit for longer than 10 minutes without hating it. 

This past week (week five) I started the process of getting back into routines. I didn't succeed every day; there was one day where my alarm went off, I turned it off, and promptly went back to sleep for an hour. But I did more this week than I've been able to do since June 2. That's why I was able to do several small projects and finally clean the trinket shelf. I'm feeling more like me. 

Back to my completed projects. This key chain is from a shop on Etsy called BetweenBells. It's 3D printed and you can stitch on both sides. I ended up gluing it since embroidering creates some bumps that don't allow the pieces to stay connected. She makes them in other colors too. I want to get some more so I can make more as little gifts for people. 

I also finished my artist trading cards for the summer swap. I wasn't sure I was going to do it this year, but then I had the idea to use pages from art journals I did from 2020-2022. I was able to find a few pages to cut up and then I added embroidery to each one. I love how they turned out and am excited to drop them in the mail this week. 

Bea helped me with these ATCs, so if you participate in Abby's swap, please know that a tiny, grey tuxedo cat also played a part in creating your card. She absolutely did. 

The artist in her studio...or something.

The last big project I finished this week...finally cleaning the trinket shelf! I bought this way back in March and life got in the way of giving it a good cleaning (it was so dusty) and reattaching items that needed to be reattached. I was able to determine the maker for a few items and was pleasantly surprised that I was right about two of them. I think I want to do a separate post about the shelf since there's a lot to go through and I want to document each piece. Maybe in August.

All nice and clean. I ended up moving two items that had come loose to new locations - the glass swan that's not with a ceramic duck and a tiny cat that now sits next to the guitar.

This is a Jorge Wilmot piece like I thought it was. It was loose so I was able to remove the bird and see his signature. 

I can't remember which ceramic studio I thought this was from but it's actually from an English studio called Animal Friends. They were big in the 1970s and their figures are big with collectors.

This is a Pablo Zabal figure. This was another guess of mine and I was right!

I figured out the artist/studio for a few more items and have questions about more pieces. I want to do some more research before I do a longer post about the shelf. The shelf is a Sears product that was on the market in 1977.

I also started a new project: a Jonathan Adler bargello kit from his collaboration with Michaels. This is my first time trying bargello and I'm enjoying it so far. As is Bea.

I also hooped another project to start sometime this week. It's a vintage embroidery piece from a company called Bucilla. This piece is from their line in the 1970s when they made kits that included shadow boxes for display. I saw one on Facebook Marketplace and started looking online for other designs. This one came from a seller on eBay and it's fantastic. Bucilla still exists but I don't think they make these types of kits anymore, which is a shame. 

Speaking of eBay, I was also able to find a copy of Rosey Grier's book for less than $100 earlier this month. It's a fantastic book and I'm looking forward to using one of his patterns for a future project. My vintage needlepoint/embroidery book collection continues to grow.

As you can see, Bea had quite a week too. She's off her meds completely and seems to be doing well. I'm trying to schedule a dermatologist appointment for her in August. I hope that will help us determine a better course of treatment for her. She made some progress on becoming a couch cat this week, and continued to demonstrate that anything can be a pillow if you're cute enough. 

The heat has eased up a bit here in NOVA, so I'm going to venture out for a little bit this afternoon. Bea and I hope you have a fantastic weekend and do something fun if you can. Or nap. Whichever feels better for you.