Dear friends, family, fellow travelers,
I admit to being at something of a loss regarding how we have arrived at the 15th already -- but here we are, so another newsletter!
Image: Teazle (top) and Christopher (bottom) beating the heat by lounging on our back porch.
The end of June was delightful and mostly on the coolish side, punctuated by a visit from a dear and too-far-away friend (we have so many of you...!) who came from Wales to stay for a long weekend. It was my pleasure to take her the splendid vegan diner Veggie Galaxy and shopping at one of our favorite nodes of crafting and resistance: Gather Here. And we spent a lot of time -- the three of us -- crafting and talking, drinking tea, and watching movies; we introduced her to The Fog and watched the first two episodes of Good Omens (which has not -- not even the littlest bit -- been oversold).
Image: A fabric sample, design commissioned for Persistent Stitches from crafter Jaydot. Our new look will be going live later this month! I love what they did with my request for a "wall of flowers in different crafting styles".
Thumbs down on the twin evils of nationalism and patriotism on the 4th of July, but we enjoyed the paid time off; Hanna's birthday was on the 9th and celebrated with cake and presents! Thank you all for your well wishes. Just over a week before that (June 29th) we celebrated our 10th anniversary of coupledom; the timeline is a little unorthodox since we'd been living together for about thirteen months by the time we decided to make the move from friends --> girlfriends but, you know, the "roommates to lovers" trope in romance is a genre staple so we look upon it as a verson of being the slash [fanfiction couple] you wish to read.
Image: A small plush unicorn friend given to Hanna by my mother for her birthday.
Since Hanna's birthday, we've both been coping with a rather vague and lingering sinus malady that's left us both prone to feeling dizzy, irratically hungry, and very tired. But we're carrying on -- albeit at a slower, , and this week I got a new haircut AND finished editing my third Good Omens fanfic (series here) so that feels accomplished. I'd been in fic-writing doldrums since February so the joyfully prolific GO creators have been a wonderful inspiration to get typing again. We've also had the wild and wonderful experience of witnessing a dear friend feel their way toward nonbinary gender identity through the fandom, which (to me) is one of the most life-affirming aspects of participating in fan creation and being a visibly out queer person: in both cases, bearing witness to the riotous heteroegenaiety of human sexuality and gender, and celebrating the coming-into-onesself that seeing a place for yourself in the world can bring.
Image: a sparkly rainbow heart earring repurposed as a blouse pin.
In addition to writing fanfic, I've also been much enjoying the project of piecing my sister Maggie's (2018-2019) Christmas quilt, which requires sewing 23 rows of 17 four-and-a-half by four-and-a-half inch squares in 28 different colors together (I have a chart!). The pattern is Uppercase Spines freely available from Windham Fabrics, but at Maggie's request I've substituted an alternate color palette.
Image: A close up of three orange-brown fabric swatches from the quilt project.
Image: All of the fat quarters used for the Maggie quilt!
July also marked the official beginning of my research toward the Ida B. Wells biography for ABC-CLIO; I received and cashed the first $100 of my advance, which meant a $33 donation to AAIHS and the purchase of four core titles for my bibliography: a collection of Ida B. Wells' own writings; Paula J. Gidding's monumental biography; Brittany Cooper's Beyond Respectibility (which has been on my reading list forever); and Crystal Feimster's Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Lynching and Rape.
Image: Cover of the Giddings biography Ida: A Sword Among Lions.
In counterpoint to the history of brutal and systemic racism in the United States, I've been luxuriating in some newly-published queer romances, particularly Olivia Waite's A Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (a lady astronomer and a widow who embroiders botanical specimens!) and Cat Sebastian's queer cozy Hither, Page (a spy + a country doctor, solving murders and falling in love in the 1950s English countryside GIVE ME MORE I HAVE ALREADY READY THIS ONE THREE TIMES). I also had the opportunity to enjoy the history of genderbending fashion at the eponymously named exhibit at the MFA, Boston with a fellow queer romance devotee.
Image: Three outfits featured in the Gender Bending Fashion exhibition at the MFA, Boston.
You can view some exhibition highlights at the link above and/or view this 2-minute video clip from a 1971 "unisex fashion" collection debut that was featured in the exhibition. So many caftans!
Bon courage,
Anna
I admit to being at something of a loss regarding how we have arrived at the 15th already -- but here we are, so another newsletter!
Image: Teazle (top) and Christopher (bottom) beating the heat by lounging on our back porch.The end of June was delightful and mostly on the coolish side, punctuated by a visit from a dear and too-far-away friend (we have so many of you...!) who came from Wales to stay for a long weekend. It was my pleasure to take her the splendid vegan diner Veggie Galaxy and shopping at one of our favorite nodes of crafting and resistance: Gather Here. And we spent a lot of time -- the three of us -- crafting and talking, drinking tea, and watching movies; we introduced her to The Fog and watched the first two episodes of Good Omens (which has not -- not even the littlest bit -- been oversold).
Image: A fabric sample, design commissioned for Persistent Stitches from crafter Jaydot. Our new look will be going live later this month! I love what they did with my request for a "wall of flowers in different crafting styles". Thumbs down on the twin evils of nationalism and patriotism on the 4th of July, but we enjoyed the paid time off; Hanna's birthday was on the 9th and celebrated with cake and presents! Thank you all for your well wishes. Just over a week before that (June 29th) we celebrated our 10th anniversary of coupledom; the timeline is a little unorthodox since we'd been living together for about thirteen months by the time we decided to make the move from friends --> girlfriends but, you know, the "roommates to lovers" trope in romance is a genre staple so we look upon it as a verson of being the slash [fanfiction couple] you wish to read.
Image: A small plush unicorn friend given to Hanna by my mother for her birthday.Since Hanna's birthday, we've both been coping with a rather vague and lingering sinus malady that's left us both prone to feeling dizzy, irratically hungry, and very tired. But we're carrying on -- albeit at a slower, , and this week I got a new haircut AND finished editing my third Good Omens fanfic (series here) so that feels accomplished. I'd been in fic-writing doldrums since February so the joyfully prolific GO creators have been a wonderful inspiration to get typing again. We've also had the wild and wonderful experience of witnessing a dear friend feel their way toward nonbinary gender identity through the fandom, which (to me) is one of the most life-affirming aspects of participating in fan creation and being a visibly out queer person: in both cases, bearing witness to the riotous heteroegenaiety of human sexuality and gender, and celebrating the coming-into-onesself that seeing a place for yourself in the world can bring.
Image: a sparkly rainbow heart earring repurposed as a blouse pin.In addition to writing fanfic, I've also been much enjoying the project of piecing my sister Maggie's (2018-2019) Christmas quilt, which requires sewing 23 rows of 17 four-and-a-half by four-and-a-half inch squares in 28 different colors together (I have a chart!). The pattern is Uppercase Spines freely available from Windham Fabrics, but at Maggie's request I've substituted an alternate color palette.
Image: A close up of three orange-brown fabric swatches from the quilt project. Image: All of the fat quarters used for the Maggie quilt!July also marked the official beginning of my research toward the Ida B. Wells biography for ABC-CLIO; I received and cashed the first $100 of my advance, which meant a $33 donation to AAIHS and the purchase of four core titles for my bibliography: a collection of Ida B. Wells' own writings; Paula J. Gidding's monumental biography; Brittany Cooper's Beyond Respectibility (which has been on my reading list forever); and Crystal Feimster's Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Lynching and Rape.
Image: Cover of the Giddings biography Ida: A Sword Among Lions. In counterpoint to the history of brutal and systemic racism in the United States, I've been luxuriating in some newly-published queer romances, particularly Olivia Waite's A Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (a lady astronomer and a widow who embroiders botanical specimens!) and Cat Sebastian's queer cozy Hither, Page (a spy + a country doctor, solving murders and falling in love in the 1950s English countryside GIVE ME MORE I HAVE ALREADY READY THIS ONE THREE TIMES). I also had the opportunity to enjoy the history of genderbending fashion at the eponymously named exhibit at the MFA, Boston with a fellow queer romance devotee.
Image: Three outfits featured in the Gender Bending Fashion exhibition at the MFA, Boston. You can view some exhibition highlights at the link above and/or view this 2-minute video clip from a 1971 "unisex fashion" collection debut that was featured in the exhibition. So many caftans!
Bon courage,
Anna