Liner Notes: August/Foo Fighters/Skin and Bones/Marigold

I saw Dave Grohl in the wild once. My brother is one of my primary concert buddies, and way back in 2016, we went to see AC/DC. If you're an AC/DC fan, you may recall this period in the band's history as the one where none of them wanted Brian in the band (although he was also suffering from hearing loss, so there's that), and Axl Rose filled in as the lead singer for the part of the tour. Now, I've never seen Guns N' Roses live so I wasn't sure what to expect from Axl. What occurred is one of the stranger concerts I've ever watched simply from a physical perspective. As I said back then, I don't know if Angus Young and Axl didn't get along with one another or if their personalities are just too big for the same stage, but they were never physically on the same level of the stage at the same time. Angus in his short pants and Axl dancing like the girls from The Breakfast Club, but never on the same stage plane. It was strange. 

Anyway, we didn't have the best seats. We were up in the 400 level at whatever the arena where the Capitals play is now called, but we could see the stage well and could see a lot of the arena. At one point, we both noticed a guy across from us on the other side of the arena in the section of a show that's usually reserved for family and guests of the band (we've sat in that section before so we knew what we were looking at), and we both said, "that's Dave Grohl." And it was Dave Grohl. He was air drumming and having the best time. Dave is a big AC/DC fan and had actually been asked to fill in for Brian, but declined, so instead we got to watch the show with him. 

Here's my very grainy, Big Foot-esque cell phone photo of Dave at the AC/DC show. He's the guy in a red flannel looking shirt behind the guy the light is hitting perfectly.

It was later confirmed that he was there, so I'm not making it up. There's my Dave Grohl in the wild story. 

This week, I stitched the Pink Neighborhood while listening to my third favorite Foo Fighters album Skin and Bones. Let's listen to the title track of the same name before we get into it. 

I love this song. It's creepy and weird and everything I want in a rock song by this band. Whenever I listen to this song, I think of the boat ride to the Underworld in Greek mythology. I imagine Charon, the ferryman on the River Styx, looks like the person described in the song. There's also something about the lyric, "Tell my mom I'm doing fine" that just gets me every time. There's an accordion involved, that gives the song a folk-y vibe until the end kicks in. It's like when I say "I like folk" music while listening to the Violent Femmes. It's a vibe. 

The album was recorded in 2006 at the Pantages Theatre in L.A. during a full acoustic tour. I think that's why this album is in my top three - it's a full acoustic album from a band that is usually very loud and very assertive in their rock and roll shows. The songs included are Foo Fighters songs we all know and they're usually played ten times faster and with more Dave Grohl screaming. There's something really lovely about this album. These songs, in this style are, in some cases, better than the original version. I particularly like the version of Nirvana's "Marigold" that was included (Dave wrote it). 

And don't get me started on the version of "Times Like These." No really, don't get me started. The entire last week of this month's Liner Notes will be devoted to this specific song. It's one of my favorite Foo Fighters songs and it's the first FF's song I ever used in an embroidery project. 

Do yourself a favor and listen to this album sometime this weekend. Put it on in the background while you're doing something else. Or if you're like me and enjoy laying on the floor listening to music, go ahead and lay on the floor while listening to this album. 

This week I moved to the Pink Neighborhood. One thing I changed was working on the pink section separate from the stitch journal page. I did it the opposite way last week, and the Xanadu page was not doing me any favors and constantly got in the way. This approach worked better and made it easier to get everything assembled. I'm going to do the same for the remaining neighborhoods. 

I used fabric from a ripped pillowcase I retired this year and more fabric that's been sitting around my house waiting to be used. Lots of different shades of pink this week - it looks bright and happy. I used random stitches, just embroidering whatever came to mind when I sat down to stitch. I did draw a few guiding lines this week and that also helped. It looks a little unhinged and that is totally fine. I would hope that if the sky was actually a neighborhood, an HOA wouldn't be involved so things can be a bit unhinged and wild.

Here's the Pink Neighborhood:

Fabric options

The Pink Neighborhood

August 9

August 10

August 11

August 12

August 13

August 14

August 15

The Pink and Blue Neighborhoods

Side by Side

Up Next: the Orange Neighborhood and my favorite FF's album, Sonic Highways. I'm also planning on rewatching the docuseries of the same name this week. I have it on DVD, but it's an HBO documentary so you should be able to watch on HBO or HBOMax if you'd like to join me for a viewing party. 

WIPs, an iPod Shuffle, and Other Small Joys

I decided to switch up the way I'm working on the Jonathan Adler bargello piece. Instead of working in the same color and stitching across the quadrants, I decided to complete one quadrant at a time. This is way more satisfying since I can see the progress in a more pronounced way.

August 12

August 13

August 14

I figured out where this piece is going once it's done, so I need to get it done so I can stop being annoyed with this spot in my kitchen. 

Yes, that's a phone jack on the wall in my kitchen. I haven't had a landline since 2000, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to do with this thing. My condo was built into the late 1990s, so this tracks as a feature but it annoys me. It's been annoying me for 6 years. And yes, I probably could have done something in that time period, but that's not the point. So the Jonathan Adler bargello piece is going to cover up this phone jack. It'll be a prettier approach to fixing a problem. 

I feel like this week was a particularly good example of how small things in life can make a big impact. Last Sunday, I reorganized my kitchen cabinets so now all of my mugs can live in the mug cabinet all year long. I don't have to unpack them from a plastic bin and be sad when it's time to put away the Halloween mugs for the year. I also spent some time moving other cabinets around to make my main cabinet more focused on the stuff I use every day/throughout the week. I moved some of my dinnerware into another cabinet along with specialty bowls and serving platters. I'm still working on it but it feels better. 

So pretty. So whimsical.

I also unearthed my old iPod Shuffle this week. It's been sitting in a basket of stuff in my closet since I reorganized my closet last year. It still works and has 1252 songs on it. I listened to it while I was doing some editing at work and it was phenomenal. Now I need to find a docking speaker for it and I'll be all set. It's like a time capsule of who I was in 2016/2017 based solely on the music included. 

Finally wore the thrift store dress I bought in early July with the annoying sleeves. I cut the sleeves off and made them a sort of tank top style sleeve instead. The sleeve probably doesn't matter since I'll probably wear a sweater over it. I wore it with jeans and chunky shoes...I look like a high school art teacher (compliment).

In other creative news, I finally broke down and bought the Lego botanical collection "Woodland Mushrooms" set. It's fantastic. It's probably one of the best sets of the botanical collection and it was super fun to build. It's currently residing in my bedroom.

And yes, Halloween has arrived. I decorated my house last weekend. My ghosts are coming together nicely. I may still add more but I think it's done for now. 

Bea matches this year's decor. Not sure she's as excited about that as I am. 

A New Project

Back in May, I bought a sewing cabinet from Upcycle. It's been sitting in my bedroom and I thought I might work on it during my leave, but I didn't have the energy at the time. Earlier this week, I decided that it would be my big fall project. 

Inspector Bea - she ignored the cabinet the entire time it was in the bedroom. Yesterday she decided to get very involved with the cabinet. 

Sewing cabinets have been popular in sewing and needlework communities for decades. They come in different shapes and styles. Some look like larger versions of sewing baskets. Others are like the one I have so they're upright and fold open. A lot of them were made to be customized. You could add fabric panels to the exterior and add other elements inside. 

I don't know anything about the person who originally owned mine, but she (I assume it's a she) did add fabric to the exterior and made dust covers for the inside out of the same fabric. She also added jars for buttons, which I love. Given the age of the thread, I'd guess this cabinet is from the 1980s or 1990s. It's possible it's older, but whoever was using it kept materials from that period in the cabinet. There was also a pin from a conference that took place in 1990. Again, that doesn't necessarily mean the cabinet was from the 1990s, but the person was using it during that time. 

This was all the stuff that was still inside. It's mostly spools of thread. There were also some zippers and an entire box of straight pins. 

It's in rough shape though, and needs a makeover. The exterior fabric is ripped on both sides. It's also not a fabric I really like, so I can't say I'm sad to see it go. The inside is dirty; I tried my best to clean it yesterday but it's a challenge because of the dust covers and the exterior fabric panels. Once I remove all of that, I'll be able to give it a good cleaning and use some wood conditioner to help perk it up a bit.

Now to the important question: what do I do for the exterior panels? I can simply replace the fabric with something more my style/taste. That's easy to do once I find the fabric. But I could also do something much grander. I could design an embroidery or needlepoint piece for each side. Or if I don't want to design something, I was thinking I could use a design from one of the vintage needlepoint books I have in my collection. Maybe this is an opportunity to use one of Rosey Grier's designs or one of the abstract bargello patterns. I don't know. 

So what do you think? What should I do for the exterior panels?

Send me your ideas! I'm going to Upcycle to shop today. Maybe some fabric will speak to me and I'll figure it out. My goal is to finish the Jonathan Adler bargello piece in the next two weeks, and start working on the sewing cabinet after that. 

Enjoy your weekend as much as Bea is enjoying the sun.