I overcome the problem of sewing and reading by listening to talking books while I sew. It's lovely to sit hand quilting while someone famous with a lovely voice reads to you!

Favourite reads with stitching related - Gail Tsukiyama (author) for Women of the Silk and The Language of Threads.  These two books should keep you in their grip from beginning to end.  Japanese  and Hong Kong Chinese related and fascinating.  I hope you enjoy them.  Lorna.

I enjoyed the refrences to nedlework in the daily schedule of  "The Ladies of Missalonghi", written by Colleen McCullough of "Thorn Birds" fame. The ladies had 2 - 4 p.m. set aside each day for needle work. I'd love to be able to do that!

One that was strangely intriguing, comical and sad, is Cion by Zakes Mda...he is a professor at Ohio University in Athens and is from South Africa.  You can read my review here: karoda.wordpress.com/.../cion-continued

I DO want to add to the comment about talking books. I'm a librarian and a fiber artist. To everyone considering this article, your public library will have books on disc and downloadable books for you to check out with an active library card. Can't wait to read this article. Piecework is an amazing magazine.

and here is my final review of Cion,

karoda.wordpress.com/.../cion-continued-2

Here is a wonderful book for your list. The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry is a wonderful tale of a woman from a family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns of lace.  This novel is great fun, combining mystery, murder and a truly wonderful love story.

Audio books!!!.  Being read to is wonderful.  Ask any child.  And artists tend to be children at heart.  One of the bonuses is the words are all pronounced correctly.  Another is that books I would normal pass by (I like escapism literature) are great when being read to me by accomplished readers.  This week I "read" Sea of Thunder and  David Copperfield.  --Nancy Brannon Yellow Dog Quilts

Alias Grace is a fantastic book by one of Canada's most notable authors, Margaret Atwood. It is based on a true story of a woman charged with murder in the mid 1800's at the age of 16.. Each section is named for a quilt block  from the time period and includes an illustration. As there are 15 sections a wonderful sampler could be made based on this book.

Another Canadian historical fiction for young adults ( and older) is Irish Chain by Barbara Haworth- Attard in which a quilt features prominently. At the end there are instructions for making a nine patch by hand.

I'm almost finished reading "The Minister's Wooing" by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is a detailed account of life in a Rhode Island village in the late 1700's. You'll love the detailed description of the dressmaker...the most sought after woman in town. Great description of the making of the wedding quilt, the importance of spinning and weaving & Biblical quotes about embroidery.

I love to insert writings in my quilts. My latest quilt is my poet quilt

in which I embroidered 10 faces of poets and excerpts of their poetry.

It is fun to watch people read and learn about these poets.  

The Movie with Olivia deHavilland comes to mind, from 1949, "The Heiress", set in New York City with Mongomery Clift.  The shy (Olivia), stitches her sampler throughout the movie...

I think the book I'm thinking of is called The Dive off Clausen's Pier.  It's a story about a woman whose boyfriend is seriously injured in a dive and what happens to her.  She's a sewer, and the book has quite a bit about her sewing.

I read an interesting book called "The Lady and the Unicorn" by Tracy Chevalier.

It is based on historical events, including a commission to design a series of large tapestries (in real life, the famous Lady and the Unicorn cycle, now in Paris's Musee National du Moyen-Age Thermes de Cluny).

Kristin Farwig

I love stitching and reading together.  I read all of Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries while quilting my Dear Jane quilt.  You have to have a good, wide sofa arm and a cooperative book spine.  Library books are perfect.  Lots of stitching in her books, too.

I just finished reading*  Sing Them Home, by Stephanie Kallos.   Three siblings from a smalltown in southeastern Nebraska cope with being adults -- very much likeAnne Tyler. There is one discription of a quilt in the book that sounds like the most beautiful quilt anyone had ever made.

I also enjoyed reading  Oh my stars, by Lorna Landvic, the heroine is a one handed sewer and maker of beautiful clothing.

For many years now, I have listened to books on tape and CD's.  Much of the quilting process is repetitive and listening to a story works well.  True, the creative process requires more concentration but I still get a lot of story time in.  Being in my 70"s, I am a child of radio and just love being "read" to.  

I mainly enjoy mystery's and our library has a large selection to choose from.

Marian Shipley

Northport N Y (Long Island)

I stitch and read and watch tv all together all the time,You read during commercials or when theres a lag and I talk too :) differant things take differant amount of attention at differant times so you just juggle it, Its the cats demanding to be petted that throws me off , but the kittys always win out in the end,

Be sure to check out "The Friday Night Knitting Club" a first novel by Kate Jacobs.  A fun read!

I take  my knitting to choir practice! I make sure I master the pattern so that I can read my music sheets, sing and knitt at the same time!

Carol Shield, a Canadian author, wrote An Unconventional Woman about a woman who goes to a quilt convention for the first time!

Talking books are the best!

my books read them selves to me

as I stitch or draw or paint.

I love tales by Neil Gaiman whose discovered

he loves story telling

or the other stories that fill my mind

with rich imagery I transmute into images.

I can knit sox or crochet when my eyes are  tired

and listen to mysteries in the dark.

~heartstitch,  Faun Bonewits