🌸Finished 100 Day Project

Sketching in a hidden green space...

Hejsa!

Last Friday I went to London for the day. To get out of the house! To do some sketching, although I only did one sketch. But I enjoyed that one very much. And, importantly, I also went to Ole & Steen, the Danish bakery chain, to buy some rye bread. It is really difficult to find decent rye bread in the UK. But the chia one from O&S is one of the best I’ve ever had. 😍 I can definitely recommend it if you are rye bread curious and near central London…

This is the sketch I made. In the Phoenix Community Garden, a beautiful green space sandwiched between Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue. And it would have been peaceful too if it weren’t for the very loud construction work going on right next to it. I’m not sure how long I sat there with my sketchbook, long enough that two people came and sat on the bench and left again… I could hear lots of birds and little leaves kept falling on my sketchbook. Lovely. I also had a nice chat with one of the volunteer gardeners and she told me about various plants and the different types of birds that live there. It is well worth a visit if you are nearby. (Although the address is Stacey Street, the entrance is actually in St Giles Passage, just FYI.)

I finished my 100 day project and turned all the pages into this great, big squishy textile book. I am really happy with how it turned out. And I’m really chuffed that I managed doing another 100 day project. To be honest, there were times when I felt like quitting…but I didn’t. I’m not sure if I’m going to do the 100 day project next year, though. We’ll see… Have you done the 100 day project this year? Or any year?

One of my favourite spreads in the book. Inspired by a Palestinian cookbook* I got for Christmas. The spread is very different from the rest of the book but I am glad that I made it. Palestine is on my mind a lot so I guess it would be odd if that wasn’t reflected in the things I make…

I made a video where I go through the book, it’s over on YouTube if you want a look…

Have a lovely weekend!

x Carina

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Some Things I Am Enjoying

Book: Women's Work: From feminine arts to feminist art* by Ferren Gipson.

Watching: We Are Lady Parts. This excellent show is back! “The series follows a British punk rock band named Lady Parts, which consists entirely of Muslim women.”

Music: The Violator album by Depeche Mode. Not sure why I had a fancy to listen to this album. Nostalgia perhaps? It was the first CD I bought myself way, way back… 😁

Instagram: You may have seen the ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ image that about 45 mio people have shared in their Instagram stories? What you may not realise is that the image is created by AI, not a real person. It feels pretty icky that people are sharing that image and not any of the gazillion images created by actual human beings (i.e. Palestinians). So I’d like to encourage you to follow some Palestinian artists and share their work. Both the serious work that talks about the genocide in Gaza but also the work that shows them as fellow human beings, enjoying a meal with friends or tending to their garden or reading a book or doing embroidery. Here are a few to start with, but do use the search function in your social media app of choice to find more. “Palestinian artist”, “Palestinian embroidery”, “Palestinian food” is just some keywords to try.

@linasthobe - @hibah_musthafa - @tatreez.filisteen - @jordannassar - @hoobzehoojibneh - @beesanarafat - @nouraneowais - @minamanne - @anisamakhoul (well, Anisa isn’t Palestinian but with Lebanese heritage and Lebanon has seen its share of Israeli attacks…)

Oh and before anyone starts with “but the hostages!” let me just ask you to think about why you are comparing the genocide on 50,000 people with 100 hostages?

*bookshop.org affiliate link.

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Random Things From The Internet

How to knit a log cabin blanket. I think even I could manage this. Remember how I said at the start of the year that I would dedicate some time each month to get better at knitting? Fancy a guess at how much time I have dedicated to that? If you guess 0 time you would be correct! 😂😭

A Remarkable Typeface Resurfaces from the Thames.

French & Saunders: Titting About - podcast on Audible. I randomly came across this and it is laugh out loudly enough to startle your sleeping dog funny. Definitely NSFW. Not suitable for children, or grown ups who are offended by swearing.

Noctilucent clouds: What are they and when can you see them? If you missed the recent aurora borealis (I did, boo) you may want to keep an eye out for noctilucent clouds which are pretty cool too. They are more common than the aurora but only in certain areas.