A sprint towards the finish line

Silk jewels

The imaginatively named silk carrier rods have become a necklace. I bought these at the Festival of Quilts in August and finally got around to playing with them. They are so simple to transform, you split them into layers and each one is a slightly different colour thanks to the dye process. They were then rolled, perhaps two slightly contrasting colours together, whatever your fancy. Secure with a stitch here and there, perhaps a bead and thread a needle with ribbon, before you know it, a necklace! Of course these have a multitude of uses, decorating gifts, a brooch, embellishing a bag.... Obviously I will need to buy more immediately. They are sold in various places, a google is sure to find you someone and they come in a myriad of colours including natural and are the by product of silk cocoon processing.

I really love how this necklace looks against the palette of my autumn/winter clothes, it really stands out against these darker backdrops and in the perfect note of cheer and colour on a grey day.

Bringing more colour to my days is my copy of The Gentle Art of Domesticity. My book arrived last week and I have been dipping in and out ever since. This is a visual feast, colour and whimsy abound and it is a great addition to my library of inspiration books. What makes this book a little different to some of my other "picture" books is the wealth of written content. I was pleased to see that this is not one of those books full of beautiful images but very little content, there is plenty of reading here too. It is very much in the style of Jane's blog and many regular readers there will recognise some of the topics and discussions revisited and expanded upon here. I have read many criticisms of this book and the lifestyle it seems to support and some of those criticisms have just been unkind while others have been well considered and written intelligently. Whilst the book would seem to suggest that Jane has a lovely home and can afford to knit with luxury yarns and quilt with expensive fabrics it seems equally obvious to me that these very Gentle Arts which Jane is enjoying to do not require vast sums of money or as some critics have suggested, the financial support of a very wealthy husband. As far as I can tell from reading, Jane does not suggest that women should stay at home to practise these arts, that may be her choice but it is perfectly possible to practise the domestic arts of an evening, after work and many people do, Jane in no way that I can see, suggests that this is undesirable. Rather, her book is a celebration of those arts, a lovely positive, uplifting read, encouraging anyone, whatever your circumstances, to enjoy these crafts and giving them the recognition they deserve.

Some critics have objected to the lifestyle that the book seems to portray, I really do not object to this and do not for one moment suppose that Jane's life is all roses (or rather, all tulips in this case!) and indeed I do not want a book which depicts those dreary, grubby parts of life, why would I pay to look at those? Plenty of them for free around here! One particular critic lumped Jane in with Nigella's latest television show and I have been curious about the criticism for this this too. It is a cookery show, not a fly on the wall documentary! Accusations of "faking" made front page news on one of our tabloid newspapers the other week, how terrible that something like that should be front page when people are dying in the world, have we all become so obsessed with reality television that we have lost our powers of imagination and fantasy? Am I crazy for thinking that it would be very bizarre if anyone thought that this show was for real, surely it is obvious that most houses, even very nice Eaton Square ones, are not suitable for the demands of a television production crew? And as for the bus thing, did anyone really expect it to be real? Do these same people think that The Queen Vic is a real pub?

I am sorry, I am ranting a little, but front page news?!! I will open my beautiful book again and be transported to a place of calm, carried away by beautiful colours and intelligent, amusing and sometimes ironic words.