but let a splinter swerve -

I love getting mail. So you can imagine how ecstatic I was when a package came last week from my dear friend Heidi, containing (among other things) a new inspiration journal. With blank, unlined pages. In eggplant purple.

Thank you, my dear. It's perfect. I inaugurated it by copying this poem into it.

Speaking of poems, I've also added a booklist to the sidebar on my blogger account. Although it doesn't come up much here, my training is in literature. I think the main reason it doesn't come up much is because my artistic expression doesn't match my training: I'm no writer.

Still, my study and enjoyment of story heavily influences my work. I love reading the textures and nuances of the page and interpretting them in fabric. With a pen I will never match the wit of Austen, the poignancy of Dickinson, or the raw honesty of Eliot. But with a needle in hand and their words in my heart, at least I can attempt it.

I've just finished This Heavy Silence, a new novel that speaks of remorse and forgiveness without ever falling into sentimentalism. Next up: Creators by Paul Johnson. What are you reading lately, and how does it influence your work?