Here be sparkles

Now that the advent calendar is finished, I’m seriously tempted to start a brand new project. But I’m forcing myself to be good and have fished something out of my unfinished project stash:

This one dates back even further than the advent calendar – in fact, the pattern comes out of the same book I used for my brother’s wedding sampler, and I’ve got a feeling I may have started this one first.

It’s going to be gorgeous once it’s finished, but after only adding a few stitches to the border I’m beginning to remember why I keep putting it aside – the wonderful shading and sparkly effect (which is precisely why it’s going to look so good) is achieved by using lots and lots and lots (and lots) of different colours (which means changing threads every few stitches), and liberal use of blending filament (a thin sparkly thread you combine with normal embroidery cotton to give it shine – it looks great, but it’s horrible slippery stuff to work with, constantly either tangling or slipping out of the needle). No wonder I got frustrated and gave up!

But I’m determined to persist this time and actually get it finished! Possibly…

I went to see When a City Falls a few days ago. It’s a feature-length documentary about the Christchurch earthquakes, made by a Christchurch film-maker. A totally amazing film, very raw and emotional, and really captures what it’s been like for the ordinary people living through a horrific year. I don’t know if it’s being released more widely than NZ, but if you get the chance to see it, do. But take lots of tissues.

I learnt two important things watching it:

1. You should never watch a film about earthquakes in a multiplex when there’s an action film in the next theatre – the low rumbling of the loud bits coming through the wall sounded so much like an approaching earthquake!
2. I must have missed out on being in the film by about half an hour – there’s a segment that was filmed at the Gapfiller bookfridge on the day of the launch, and the sun is just setting. I’d left when I saw the sun was getting low because I had to walk right round the edge of the cordon to get to my bus stop, and I wanted to make sure I got there before it got dark. So I must have only just left when the film crew turned up! (In fact, in one shot I spotted the people I’d been sitting reading with, and they were still sitting in the same place.) At least some of my books got to be in it – if you look closely when the camera pans over the fridge you can see a few books with Ballycumber on the spines 🙂

A cool recent catch (well, actually the catch is over 2 years old, but the catcher only got round to journalling it recently): Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe

Currently reading: Mortal Remains by Kathy Reichs
Currently listening to: The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim