More Books

Sometimes Amie and I talk about reading as much as we talk about sewing!

We are always trading books and recommending new titles -- right now, she's reading my copy of Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life.

Occasionally, sewing and books go hand-in-hand. I'm not talking about craft titles here; I mean books that have inspired sewing projects, or sewing projects that remind me of my favorite titles.

Awhile back, Amie blogged about a stuffie-themed book report on The Tale of Despereaux. And I'm not sure which came first: Phoebe's Princess Stories or her Princess Pillows, but they're both equally fabulous.

Phoebe's Princess Stories reminded me of this brilliant blog, which jogs so many memories of the hours I'd spend curled up with a stack of titles from the Gail Borden Public Library, a phenomenal place where, once upon a time (i.e. the early to mid-1970s) you could check out framed oil paintings and games as well as books. Thanks to Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves, I'm re-acquainting myself with John Burningham's Cannonball Simp and Don Freeman's Space Witch.

No surprise to find that one of my elusive memories involved sewing of sorts: Mr. Biddle and the Birds, who are sewn into harnesses so they can airlift his house into the sky!



Of course, there's also Corduroy, also by Don Freeman, which both Amie and I declare our favorite book about mending.

And last week, when we were working on a project that included a guinea pig stuffie named Nectarine Tangerine Peach Pie, a foggy memory from the deepest recesses of my brain came to light, and I remembered a series of books I read in third or fourth grade written by Paddington Bear creator Michael Bond. I couldn't come up with a title -- and neither Amie nor N.T.P.P.'s creator, Emma Kate, had ever heard of such a thing -- but today, I discovered this on Amazon.com: Olga Da Polga.



There she is, just as I remember her.