Mars is Bright

 

"'Good evening,' said Ronan. 'Students, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?' 'Erm-' 'A bit,' said Hermione timidly. 'A bit. Well, that's something.' Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. 'Mars is bright tonight.'" - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Behind the Work & Why It's Now OOAK

When I first began brainstorming ideas for embroidery hoop patterns, I thought I might be interested in designing a series highlighting my favorite literary quotes. I was new to calligraphy and excited to learn, so stitching this hoop with the famous words uttered by Ronan when he first met the young Hogwarts students in the Forbidden Forest was an interesting adventure! I was troubleshooting how to position letters so they could be easily embroidered and then also figuring out how to teach someone the simplest way to embroider the cursive lettering via a PDF pattern.

I love this little 6-inch embroidery hoop, and was initially happy to have it included in my Etsy shop as an example of how to stitch chunky calligraphic quotes surrounded by complementary collage elements. However, after about two months of intense design ideation and critically considering how I want to define my creative practice, I decided to deactivate the listing for this embroidery pattern. 

Why? The answer is pretty simple: quotes with little else are just not my thing, and (at least for the time being), I don't have the drive or passion to make them my thing! There are many artists out there who already stitch amazing, mind-bogglingly beautiful quotes offset by delicate details. I'm just not one of them. I prefer to stitch architecture, or full montages, or wreaths accompanied by a quote, or cute lil' seasonal things that just make me smile when I pick up my needle and begin to embroider!

While I understand you might be disappointed not to have the opportunity to stitch up your own "Mars is Bright Tonight" embroidery using my pattern, I hope you'll understand my motivation behind adjusting my Etsy inventory. Of course, you're more than welcome to take your own stab at the quote - I'd love to see what you stitch in your own style!