Peter is one of those infuriating individuals who had the nerve to be born less than a month after Christmas. It makes the winter season that much more stressful (not least because I get super impatient for people to open the presents I make and waiting without giving anything away is not one of my strong points.) I think the idea for this particular gift was inspired by something I read about Elizabeth I embroidering a prayer book cover for Catherine Parr one Christmas. I liked that. So this project developed into a fourfold creative endeavor: embroidering the cover, constructing the book itself from scratch, and filling it with poems and photographs I'd written or shot that I thought Peter would like. You are not allowed to see the poems or photographs, so we'll just talk about the cover!
My inspiration was a pansy that was growing outside the house of two little girls I was nannying. It's so hard to find the right color embroidery floss when you have such specific shades in mind; for that reason I'll probably give that particular flower another go at some point. I had this weird detailed pleather lying around that I used for the book cover (I liked the contrast of the rich, delicate embroidery on the tougher-looking leather, though some friends were eager to point out that it looked like I was embroidering a trash bag). Constructing the actual book was a little touch-and-go and I'll know what and what not to do next time. But Peter loves it and everything stays together and right now that's good enough for me. In this case it's the inside that counts the most.
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| The finished product! |
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