This globe-spanning history of sewing and embroidery, culture and protest, is “an astonishing feat . . . richly textured and moving” (The Sunday Times, UK). In 1970s Argentina, mothers marched in headscarves embroidered with the names of their “disappeared” children. In Tudor, England, when Mary, Queen of Scots, was under house arrest, her needlework carried her messages to the outside world. From the political propaganda of the Bayeux Tapestry, World War I soldiers coping with PTSD, and the maps sewn by schoolgirls in the New World, to the AIDS quilt, Hmong story clothes, and pink pussyhats, women and men have used the language of sewing to make their voices heard, even in the most desperate of circumstances. Threads of Life is a chronicle of identity, memory, power, and politics told through the stories of needlework. Clare Hunter, master of the craft, threads her own narrative as she takes us over centuries and across continents—from medieval France to contemporary Mexico and the United States, and from a POW camp in Singapore to a family attic in Scotland—to celebrate the universal beauty and power of sewing.
“A spectacular encyclopedia of embroidery, sharing valuable techniques passed down through the generations . . . you’ll wonder how you ever worked without it.” —Sew Magazine Enjoy the tranquility of slow stitching with this step-by-step, visual guide to 149 embroidery stitches, motifs, and extras. Go beyond basic color theory–robust color charts take the guesswork out of choosing thread, silk ribbon, buttons, beads, and trims. Then take your embroidery to the next level with luxurious seam treatments and stunning stand-alone designs. Bestselling author Christen Brown’s traditional and contemporary techniques are showcased in a colorful gallery of crazy-quilted projects. “An overview of embroidery stitches and techniques as well as inspiration for embroidery projects . . . She dissects several of her pieces, summarizing the color palette, decorative elements, and stitches used.” —Library Journal
From Sunday Times and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Things We Never Got Over Dominic: I got her fired. Okay, so I'd had a bad day, but there's nothing innocent about Ally Morales. Maybe her colourful, annoying, inexplicably alluring personality brightens up the magazine's offices that have felt like a prison for the past year. Maybe I like that she argues with me in front of the editorial staff. And maybe my after-hours fantasies are haunted by her brown eyes and sharp tongue. She's working herself to death at half a dozen dead-end jobs for some secret reason. And I'm going to fix it all. Don't accuse me of caring. She's nothing more than a puzzle to be solved. If I can get her to quit, I can finally peel away all those layers. Then I can go back to salvaging the family name and forget all about the dancing, beer-slinging brunette. Ally: Ha. Hold my beer, Grumpy Grump Face.
The New York Times bestselling author stitches “an unbreakable thread of friendship and faith” into her second novel in her quilting series (Publishers Weekly). Come home to Marie Bostwick’s poignant novel of new beginnings, old friends, and the rich, varied tapestry of lives fully lived . . . At twenty-seven, having fled an abusive marriage with little more than her kids and the clothes on her back, Ivy Peterman figures she has nowhere to go but up. Quaint, historic New Bern, Connecticut, seems as good a place as any to start fresh. With a part-time job at the Cobbled Court Quilt Shop and budding friendships, Ivy feels hopeful for the first time in ages. But when a popular quilting TV show is taped at the quilt shop, Ivy’s unwitting appearance in an on-air promo alerts her ex-husband to her whereabouts. Suddenly, Ivy is facing the fight of her life—one that forces her to face her deepest fears as a woman and a mother. This time, however, she’s got a sisterhood behind her: companions as complex, strong, and lasting as the quilts they stitch . . . Praise for Marie Bostwick’s A Single Thread “A big-hearted novel filled with wit and wisdom.” —Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author “Bostwick’s warmly nourishing, emotionally compelling novel is quiet yet powerful.” —Chicago Tribune “Marie Bostwick beautifully captures the very essence of women’s friendships—the love, the pain, the trust, the forgiveness—and crafts a seamless and heartfelt novel from them . . . a writer at the top of her game.” —Kristy Kiernan, award-winning author of Catching Genius
From award winning novelist and journalist David Profumo comes a dazzling work about the restorative power of nature and finding joy in simple pleasures. 'David Profumo has fished everywhere man and boy, and come back with his creel crammed with adventures and misadventures - a memoir for every fisherman's bookshelf.' Tom Stoppard It is often said there is more to the experience of fishing than the mere catching of fish, and in this evocative, wide-ranging memoir he explores the delights and mysteries of one of mankind's most ancient pursuits. As we move from the Highland waters of his childhood and into his adult travels from the Arctic Circle to the South Seas, The Lightning Thread unpeels this idiosyncratic subject, and shows how it embraces folklore, poetry, magic, drink and disaster. By turns a lyrical celebration of the natural world and also the quirkiness of human nature itself, this is a hymn to the great happiness that pursuing his life's passion has brought the author. In exuberant prose of warmth, wit and lightly worn erudition, this is a future classic from one of our finest writers - across forty countries and sixty years, one man's quest for perfection. 'With wit, quiet craft, and a lifetime's store of piscatorial wisdom, Profumo draws us into his paradise.' Luke Jennings, author of the Killing Eve novels 'A fabulous confection of history, biology, philosophy and memoir...spiked with wit and crafted with precision and style.' Loyd Grossman 'An angling master and a dazzling writer. Everyone remotely interested in fishing, or writing, would love this book.' Prue Leith 'The Lightning Thread is a delicious account of a lifetime spent among interesting fish, people and places by a compulsive angler who seems to have forgotten nothing. Unimaginable that any fisherman could put it down.' Thomas McGuane, author of The Longest Silence