I never said I wanted to be an astronaut.

Nor a nurse, a teacher or President of the United States.

I only ever said I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid and somebody asked. Because that's what I wanted.

Until college, that is, when they beat the fear of astronomical-odds-of-success into me.

That's why it was so much fun for me to meet someone who beat the odds and was living my dream, the night we had dinner with The Novelist (who asked me if I considered myself to be an artist. Remember?)

On our vacation, we decided to take his book along to read aloud on the drive.


And we really enjoyed it. (For the record, I do consider him to be an artist.)

It was a good story with some truly impressive writing.

After we were a couple of chapters in, I said to Russ, "We're not smart enough to have dinner with this man."

And he answered, "Too bad because we already did."

Indeed.

But I'm still convinced that my kids can grow up to be whatever they want to be. So when Hannah told me she wanted to submit a poem to "The New Yorker" (it's a really good poem) I told her to go for it.

I have my own "New Yorker" rejection letter. I think every wannabe writer probably does. (Except, of course, for the ones who have copies of "The New Yorker" that they were published in.)

Well I'm not actively seeking a writing career at this time, so I don't expect any editors to be calling me to offer a book deal.
(note: if you are an editor reading this, please don't hesitate to call. I'm willing to entertain all offers.)

But that doesn't mean I can't take a book tour.

Someone asked me awhile ago what some of my favorite needlework books are. So I thought that perhaps we should all take a book tour (or two).

And I decided to start with a tour of my all-time favorite needlework book -- the book that is probably directly responsible for the medium I'm working in now, and one that I continue to turn to for inspiration.



"Celebrating the Stitch" by Barbara Lee Smith

I bought this book at the bookstore in the Art Institute of Chicago on a whim one day a good 15 years ago -- I hadn't paid much attention to fiber art (aside from traditional quilting) but for some reason it caught my eye and I took it home and then took it to bed with me every night for months after.

There are so many reasons I love this book. The quality and variety of work is remarkable.


"Tea Time", Renie Breskin Adams


"Absence of Mind" (figure #30), Keiko Yamaguchi


I first met some of my favorite artists in its pages.



"Graffitti: Still Life", Mary Bero



"Ideogram", Mary Bero



"Head with Braids", Mary Bero



"Terror Sampler II", Caroline Dahl



"The Will to Dress", Caroline Dahl




"Four Faces of Skwabby", Caroline Dahl




"Noah's Ark", Sally Mavor




"Picking Peas", Sally Mavor




"One More Little Shove", Darrel C. Morris




"Helen, Side One", Maribeth Baloga


"Helen, Side Two", Maribeth Baloga
Yes, they are front and back of the same piece. Which completely blows my mind. No one will ever photograph (and certainly will never publish) the back of one of my pieces! Maribeth, I salute you.



There are also all kinds of other useful tidbits in this book. Instruction pages are interspersed throughout,




as well as needlework history,




inspiration, interviews and ideas from artists, process details, working drawings, etc.

If I could only own one needlework book, this would undoubtedly be it. You can probably find it at your library, and it would be well worth the trip to look.

I wish I had written it myself.
Or maybe I wish I were in it.

And now I'd like to see some hard data about what percentage of people grow up to be what they said they wanted to be.



I'm beginning to think perhaps I should have looked into a career in statistics . . . or maybe embroideries about statistics . . . or maybe writing about embroideries about statistics . . .