Liner Notes: August - Foo Fighters/Best of You/These Days/Times Like These

Well, the last full week of August was a doozy. How's everyone doing? 

Let's start with a song because the Foo Fighters songs I'm focused on this week are oddly fitting.

This version of "Times Like These" came out during lockdown to raise money for COVID relief. Check out this quick Billboard article if you're not sure who's who in the video. 

There's also this beautiful version from the same time period featuring musicians from Germany and Italy doing a similar shared, remote version of the song.

This is my favorite Foo Fighters song and I remember watching these two videos on repeat back in 2020 and crying every time. Even watching them today, I'm crying. This past week has been so freaking exhausting and sad. The back to back deaths of two icons, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, feels like too much. Yes, my brain understands that we're all going to die someday, but I don't really understand why the universe needed to take these two specific people at basically the exact same time. My heart hurts and I don't know what else to say except I guess this is our sign to be kinder and weirder. That's what Dolly and Tim would want us to do. 

One thing about the Foo Fighters - they know how to write anthem-like songs that hit all the right feels when you listen to them. That's why songs like "Times Like These," "Best of You," and "These Days" are still popular all these years later. At the concert a few weeks ago, I teared up during "These Days." I've been listening to this song for 15 years and this was the first time listening to it made me cry. Same thing with "Best of You" - 21 years later, it still hits so freaking hard. 

But "Times Like These" has always been the song for me. It was released in 2002 on the One by One album, so I've been listening to this song for 24 years. Here's the original version.

One of the funniest things about this song is that the opening of the song reminds me of another song, "Fire Woman" by The Cult. I don't know if Dave or any of the other Foos are fans of The Cult, but every now and then I hear "Times Like These" start on the radio and I think I'm about to hear "Fire Woman" and I get very excited because I also really like The Cult, but 9 times out of 10, it's my favorite Foo Fighters song, so I can't complain. 

I don't know what it is about the Foo Fighters and dealing with mine and others' mortality, but that seems to be all I can think about this month. With the exception of three artists featured in the Liner Notes (Mitski, Florence, and Nick Cave), I've been listening to six of the albums or artists for 20+ years. Most of these musicians have been part of my life since I was in my early teens and that is bananas. Even Florence and Nick Cave have been in my life for over a decade. Maybe it's not dealing with mortality but coming to a stage in my life where I realize the stuff I loved when I was young, and have always loved, is where my energy needs to always be focused. And that includes Dolly Parton and Tim Curry too. 

I had a lot of fun finishing up "The Sky Is a Neighborhood." The base fabric reminds me of the shape of Minnesota but in reverse so let's all also think of his royal purple-ness, Prince. I had fun with the shapes in the Purple Neighborhood; I realized I hadn't really done any triangular fabric shapes in any of the other neighborhoods, so there are a lot of triangles. 

Bonus: A cover of Prince's "Darling Nikki" by the Foo Fighters just in case you were wondering what that sounds like. And Prince covering "Best of You" during his epic 2007 Super Bowl halftime performance. 

Here's the Purple Neighborhood and the finished August Liner Notes entry.

Why does it look like Minnesota in reverse?

Fabrics for the Purple Neighborhood

August 23

August 24

August 25

August 26

August 27

August 28

August 29 - two triangles

August 30 - two sides have been attached to the journal page.

August 31

The Sky Is a Neighborhood

Side by side view of Xanadu and The Sky Is a Neighborhood

Up Next: September is Patti Smith month! I'm actually going to see her tomorrow night at The Atlantis - a fitting start to a new month of Liner Notes.

The Sewing Cabinet Project - What if you bought a staple gun?

That's a great question, Ace Hardware Jeff. What if I bought a staple gun? In my last recap post, I shared that I had started taking the nails out of the vintage sewing cabinet I'm restoring/renovating (I'm sure which term is correct - I like restoring) and I spent a large chunk of time two Sundays ago finishing that step. I spent over 3 hours removing over 200 hundred nails from the cabinet. This includes the decorative nails on the outer edge (the easy removal) and smaller nails on the interior of the cabinet. This included the outside edges and all the spaces where fabric was attached on the inside. So many nails. And you know what worked the best to remove them? A metal spoon. 

That metal spoon was fantastic. Who knew?

In addition to removing over 200 nails from the cabinet, I also took a trip to my friendly neighborhood Ace Hardware to get some supplies for the restoration project. I want to sand down and fill some of the nail holes and wanted to get the decorative nails for the exterior. Yes, I'm months away from needing the decorative nails, but having them helps me decide on things like the trim. Anyway, I stopped one of the Ace employees to ask for some advice on the grade of sandpaper I needed. Ace Hardware Jeff is my new favorite person. I explained what I'm working on and showed him a few pictures of the current state of the cabinet. He recommended a sanding sponge that has both fine and medium grades and is easier to work with on small things like the corners. As we were talking through the project, he asked, "What if you bought a staple gun?"

Ace Hardware Jeff proceeded to talk through the process of adding the fabric panels back to the exterior and using fabric for the interiors. He felt that staples would be easier for me to work with and that they'd actually keep tension better for the larger panels. He also thought they caused less damage to the frame and be easier to maintain in the long term. I hadn't even thought of a staple gun. What a great idea! So now I own a staple gun. 

I also feel like I'm going to have to go back to Ace Hardware so I can show Ace Hardware Jeff the finished project. He was very excited about the cabinet once I explained what I was doing and how I'd use it. Find yourself an Ace Hardware Jeff if you need a little hardware store cheerleader. 

In addition to getting supplies, I also finalized the designs for both sides and did the pattern transfer for one of the panels. I'm using designs from Zakka Embroidery, and decided to do three horizontal patterns on one side called "The Gardens," and a four panel repeated pattern on the other side called "Night Forest." With the exception of the Peacock Garden, all the designs will be done in a single thread color. 

Bea is a fantastic helper. She really gets pattern transfer.

Botanical Garden

Peacock Garden

Herb Garden

The Night Forest - each color represents a season

I started stitching the Botanical Garden yesterday. It's coming along nicely. 

This is probably one of my most ambitious projects to date. The embroidery is going to take a long time and restoring the cabinet is also going to push my skills. I have a ton of ideas for the interior once I get things together - I hope I can deliver on my ideas. I'm also hoping the weather starts to cool off so I can work on the sanding process outside. 

Here are some photos from the nail removal process so you get an idea of what was under all that fabric. It was gross. I'm going to need to do at least another cleaning before I start sanding and filling any of the nail holes.

WIPs and Other Small Joys

Look it was a rough week. I felt my brain overwhelm itself several times during the week, and it seemed like there was nothing I could do about it. But then I realized I could do some things to bring me joy around the house so that's what I focused on.

I finally hung up all the art I wanted to hang up in my kitchen, including some items I picked up at Evolution Home two weekends ago. Who knew vintage needlepoint and Homco plastic vegetables would make me so happy?

I made the rainbow and the "whip it" piece. The cookies embroidery is from Vintage Shindig and everything else is from Evolution Home or a thrift store. It's whimsical and makes me smile.

The bargello has been hung as well. I also added a vintage herb cutting board/tray to the wall near the bargello piece. My kitchen has a lot of personality now. 

If you're planning on doing either of the Jonathan Adler for Michael's large bargello kits, let me know. I have some tips on framing and finishing. I think Adler should have consulted with some actual needlework artists, but that's a conversation for another day. 

I completed a very quick project over the week/weekend as well. I wanted to embroider something but wasn't in the right space to work on the patterns for the sewing cabinet until the weekend, so I worked on a little kit I had that reminded me of Dolly Parton. It's bright and happy and I think she would enjoy it. 

Bea and I welcomed another possibly haunted vintage cat to the house. There's a very faint signature on this painting but I can't make out the name. If you have any idea who painted this little weirdo, please let me know.

Bea welcomed the new vintage cat with her own brand of weird.