The Wishing Chair...

Once upon a time there was a girl who read a book called 'The Wishing Chair,' and after she read it, she decided she wanted her very own rocking chair. If it also flew her to magical places, that would be a bonus...

Well as rocking chairs were hard to come by back then, being decidedly "not on trend," and the girl had little means of her own, being very young and without the magic of the internet, she had no luck finding such a chair.

Many years passed and the girl grew up and became distracted by many other weird and wonderful things, but in the back of her mind was always the childlike desire to possess her very own wishing chair.

Finally there came a day when the girl realised that rocking chairs were finally "trending right now" but she realised to her dismay that they were either terribly expensive or cheap on eBay but many miles away and with "collection in person," as a condition of sale.

The girl almost gave up hope...

Then one day she found herself wandering  through a car boot sale when lo and behold, there amidst the dust and the dirt and the all pervading smell of fried onions that always seems to invade car boot sales, the girl spotted, at last, a rocking chair.

 

It was a thing of joy to her although up close she realised it was a little battered and most definitely what could be described as "pre-loved."

 

But no matter, armed with a trusty brush and a tin of so very purple paint, she was able to transform it in to a magical bohemian wishing chair of wonder and if it isn't quite able to physically sprout wings and fly her to mysterious places, at least she can curl up in it with a good book and imagine she somewhere far far away.

 

 

The End

 

Unicorn in Profile

One of my first attempts at stitching on evenweave, as oppose to aida.  I loved the blending of Victoriana kitch with the mythological unicorn.  'The Last Unicorn,' was one of my favourite books, growing up as a horse mad girl, without the horse.  Just about the only creature that could trump a horse for me was the fabled horse with a horn.

Evenweave is a greater challenge to stitch on than aida but gives a more sophisticated finish and probably looks better when your design allows a lot of the fabric to show around the stitches. 

The design comes from the, What Delilah Did Presents, 'StoryLand Cross Stitch,' book from Sophie Simpson. It's a nice little book with various cross stitch fairy tale inspired designs, with lots of different ability levels catered to. There is also a website called What Delilah Did with information and kits you can buy. 

Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair so that I may climb the golden stair...

I've just finished reading Kate Forsyth's 'Bitter Greens.'

(The following is just some thoughts I had on the novel, no major plot spoilers I feel but if you are planning on reading the book and don't wish to know any plot details, then don't continue reading this.)

A reworking of the Rapunzel fairy tale, blending it with historical fiction, as she recounts the life of one of the first people we know of, to have written down the story, which she called 'Persinette,' and which we now know of as 'Rapunzel.'

This was the French authoress Charlotte-Rose de la Force, who led a rather eventful life herself, which includes, among many adventures, disguising herself in a bear suit to gain access to her lover, imprisoned by his family for fear that he would marry the older, scandal-clad lady, who, worst of all, was too poor to come with a dowry. (He did.)

 

I found it an easy, entertaining read, very evocative, much of the action takes place around Paris, Versailles and Venice, places I've visited and so her descriptions were not only vivid but nostalgia tinged for me. She's clearly done a lot of research around the historical era's she invokes and visited the areas in person to better conjure up their individual atmospheres for the reader. In that way, the novel reminded me of 'The Historian,' by Elizabeth Kostova, which made me want to jump on a train and travel around Europe like the protagonists in the book.

I liked the way she weaves the story around three women, the indomitable Charlotte-Rose; the Rapunzel figure, here called Margherita and the mysterious and usually much maligned 'evil witch,' in this novel; the beautiful courtesan and one time artist's muse, Selena Leonelli. They are multi faceted characters, especially Charlotte-Rose and Selena Leonelli, who do good things and bad things; they have troubled pasts and make mistakes but ultimately choose their own fates. Characters, most importantly, that you become invested in, feel sympathies with, even if previously revolted by their actions.