Fairy Tales in Stitches Week: Nora Corbett

As winter rapidly approaches and I find myself spending more time idly in front of the tv or in groups for conversation instead of summery activities, I feel a strong need to do something with my hands. My days are spent too long with the computer and words, my passion, but it is wonderful to escape temporarily into other worlds, recent favorites including The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Lark Rise to Candleford among others. (And, hey, I adore So You Think You Can Dance, too, but I can only watch it with nothing in my hands to distract me.) I like having handwork, too, to add to the distraction. My brain wanders too easily.



Anyway, every few years, I get the urge to work on a sewing project of some kind, probably since I never learned to knit. There's something soothing about the small acts of creation with no demands or expectations, just doing for the sake of doing, especially if something vibrant and lovely comes from the process. It's been five years since my last project and none of my stored patterns match my whimsy at the moment, so I've gone hunting for something new. My searches have included fairy tales, of course. So this week I will share some of my discoveries and hopefully choose my own project to commit to in the coming evening hours when my brain is too tired for anything else.

One of my longtime favorite designers is Nora Corbett of Mirabilia Designs. I have sewn one of her projects in the past, Garden Verses, which hangs in my bedroom so it is one of the first things I see each day and the last at night. The light is too gloomy right now or I would take a picture of her to share. This one is the model image from Mirabilia.


I love the romantic bent to her work, of course. She loves fairies and mermaids as well as Pre-Raphaelite inspired figures. She has also designed the most directly with fairy tales in mind with her Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.



I like both but admit a preference to her Dreamer pictured below as an alternative Sleeping Beauty. It is in high contention for my winter project. It reminds me very much of Flaming June by Lord Frederic Leighton, but in color more suited to my home, although I change colors on almost every project. Garden Verses is one of the few I have ever followed exactly, excepting my choice for the base fabric.


I'm also partial to these two since they also answer my love for the night skies.



I've sewn Damask Roses (see below) before as a gift for my mother, sans the trees and bottom border, and completely changing the colors--her dress in royal blue and white with the woman holding yellow roses, all three being my mother's favorite colors. It hangs in her bedroom, too.


Finally, here's The Winter Queen who makes a fine Snow Queen in my mind. I own this pattern already and have debated making this, but I don't have anywhere that she suits at this point. There are four queens in this series, but each stand well on their own.



So far I'm debating between The Dreamer and the moon and star ones above--which are smaller and won't take as long--but there's more on my list that I will share during this week which I've dubbed Fairy Tales in Stitches Week. There'll be more this week than cross stitch, though, if this doesn't interest you. I have a pile of books begging to be written about and then shelved, for one thing.

Most of the patterns--and most of the images--I've shown this week are available through 123stitch.com. I am in no way affiliated with them or any of the designers I've discussed. However, I have ordered from 123 Stitch and am a satisfied customer.

New Book: Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier

Due out this Tuesday in the U.S., Heart's Blood, by Juliet Marillier plays with my favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. It came out a month ago in the UK, here's the cover there via Amazon.co.uk. So far the reader reviews on Amazon.co.uk are five stars.


Description from the publisher:

The national bestselling "fine folklorist and gifted narrator"(Publishers Weekly) of the Sevenwaters novels conjures a new sweeping romantic fantasy.

Anluan has been crippled since childhood, part of a curse that has besieged his family and his home of Whistling Tor. But when the young scribe Caitrin is retained to sort through family documents, she brings about unexpected changes in the household, casting a hopeful light against the despairing shadows.

But to truly free Anluan's burdened soul, Caitrin must unravel the web of sorcery woven by his ancestors before it claims his life-and their love...

Not very helpful, is it?

Never fear, Marillier has a section on her site for the book. There's an excerpt available on her site as well as a pronunciation guide. The names are Gaelic, not elaborate creations of the author.

Even better, here is an excerpt from her author's notes for the book that explains some of her development of the story. There are spoilers further on that page (not here) so click through at your own risk if you haven't read the book yet. She explains more about the plot and how the hero is a beast as well as her setting choices.

Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favourite fairy tales, and readers will recognise the bones of it in Heart’s Blood: a mysterious house with an alienated, disfigured master, a priceless plant growing in a forbidden garden, magic mirrors and unusual household retainers. The story of my novel has the same general shape as that of Beauty and the Beast.

However, this is far from a fairy tale retelling. It’s not even a close reinterpretation of the traditional tale. Heart’s Blood is a love story, a ghost story, a family saga, a story about people overcoming their difficulties, and a little slice of Irish history, as well as a homage to a favourite fairy tale. There were elements of Beauty and the Beast that I really wanted to include – the bittersweet central relationship, the mysterious setting – and aspects that I knew I didn’t want. I like a female protagonist who follows her own path and fights her own battles. I did not want Caitrin to be as passive as Beauty, who is so much at the mercy of her family’s poor decisions. I took out the character of Beauty’s father, making Caitrin an orphan. Rather than being sent to the Beast’s house because her father stole a rose for her, Caitrin joins Anluan’s household of her own free will. However, she brings with her a heavy load of past troubles, and has her own emotional journey to make. The cliché selfish sisters of the fairy tale are replaced by Caitrin’s grasping kinsfolk, and her reluctant journey home, later in the book, is part of the personal quest she must undertake in order to defeat her demons. In addition, I made Caitrin not simply someone’s daughter, but a skilled craftswoman seeking to earn her own living in a time and culture where independence for women was rare.

Finally, here is a link to a thoughtful reader review at Tempting Persephone. I haven't found any professional reviews yet but I'm sure they are coming considering Marillier's name.


Marillier, of course, is adept with using fairy tales in her lush and compelling novels. Her first was the wonderful Daughter of the Forest, which draws inspiration from the Six Swans. More recently she has offered Wildwood Dancing which draws from Twelve Dancing Princesses, vampire lore and other folklore. In other words, Marillier's favorite tales tend to mesh well with mine.



I preordered my copy a while back and can't wait for it to arrive this week.

Aladin (2009)

The hype for Aladin has been building for several weeks from various new sources, so I decided it was time to feature it here, too. Most of the articles have been trying to stir up interest with actor controversies and such, not something I care about even when I know the players. Oh, the media machines and how they churn...

So far, the film has only been released in the UK and India from what I can see. It will eventually make its way to other countries, of course.

Here's the official website: Aladin. There are many videos and lots of content on the site. Video embedding isn't enabled from YouTube either, but here's a link to the trailer.

An article:

He dreams of Genie: The director of ‘Aladin’ on making a ‘summer movie’, the importance of fantasy in cinema, and his influences by Anindita Ghose

Excerpts from reviews:

Aladin is the best we have seen in a Hindi film in the fantasy fiction genre so far by Sanjukta Sharma

But Aladin’s charm lies in its story and characters. It’s not an original, but a mish-mash of the classic tale of Aladin and the magic lamp, and Harry Potter. Aladin Chatterjee (Riteish Deshmukh), a shy, simple fellow who just wants to be liked, lives alone in an antiquated house in Khwaish town after the death of his parents and grandfather. The boys in the town bully him because of his name. When Jasmine, (Jacqueline Fernandez), a beautiful girl, joins the college, Aladin is enraptured. Once, while being bullied by the other boys into rubbing a lamp, Genius, the genie (Amitabh Bachchan) appears. Aladin’s life changes for the better, but only until Ring Master, an evil wizard, comes looking for the lamp Aladin possesses.

Aladin - Movie Review by Tushar Joshi

Granted the special effects and the wizardy is enchanting enough to appreciate the hard work that went behind putting up those green screens, but dude... where's the kahani ? It's like there is a drum follow without a follow-up.

The post- genie Aladin isn't that different from the one before, except that he has a new found friend in a charged-up and over-animated Genuis.

Vishal-Shekhar's score is in sync with the genre, but the songs pop out of nowhere like those annoying internet ads you want to block! Riteish looks but doesn't feel the part. His Aladin takes too long to realise the real hero within him, and by the time he does you wouldn't care to bother. For Bachchan, it's all about indulgence.

REVIEW: Ritesh-Big B's Aladin
Neither magical enough for a fantasy nor identifiable enough to be real
By Anand Vaishnav

Verdict: Ghosh's setting is neither magical enough for a fantasy nor identifiable enough to be real. It’s too confusing for kids and adults alike. Except for a few laugh early on and Bachchan’s stand out act, Aladin is another addition to Bollywood’s failed attempts at fantasy.

So a mixed bag, but a must-see perhaps for Bollywood fans...

From Russia, With Love

So I had so much to share this week that I decided to have a Sunday post.

Here's this little tidbit from the Washington Post, From Russia, with love:

Many fall lines were built around pared-down classic silhouettes -- sartorial catnip to budget-conscious shoppers -- but an underlying current of luxe coursed through a few collections, heading in the direction of the Old World. Laden with rich fabrics, intricate embroidery and fur accents, Tibi designer Amy Smilovic's opulent collection took inspiration from illustrator Gennady Spirin's "The Tale of the Firebird," a collection of Russian fairy tales. Meanwhile, John Galliano looked to Russian and Balkan folklore for his embellished coats and wide, full skirts. With this imperial array, the movement toward minimalism seems almost like ancient history.

Here are some links to images of and more information about Amy Smilovic's collection: Joonbug and Native Georgian's Tibi line wins global fans and a video of the runway here. Here are a few pics:




Here's more about John Galliano's collectionincluding photos and John Galliano wins plaudits for Russian look at Paris Fashion Week and John Galliano's Winter Wonderland. They are stunning. And I don't know how anyone walks in those shoes, especially wearing those clothes...




Did anyone else think of Queen Amidala just as much as Ivan Bilibin?

Once Upon a Blog has also shared some fashion this week.

Always interesting to see how fashion designers find inspiration...

Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows

As with most holidays, Halloween has arguably lost much of its original meaning and purpose with its primary emphasis one of playing dress-up and eating lots of candy. Of course, the day was never as important as All Soul's Day or Day of the Dead which occurs tomorrow.

Since SurLaLune is devoted to folklore beyond fairy tales, too, I wanted to share the following:

The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows by Jack Santino

Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter. Since they were pastoral people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures and all livestock had to be secured for the winter months. Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle.

The festival observed at this time was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween). It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread.

There's plenty more in this wonderful but not-too-long article, so click through to finish it.

Here's another older article about the holiday, some of it specific to the newspaper it was originally intended for, but still rich with information about the holiday in general: Day of Dead mix of folklore, church teachings by Beth Pratt.

And here's more:

Spooky Halloween: A Celebration of the Dark--Halloween History, Traditions, Customs and Folklore from Quest Magazine

About.com's Halloween Page (lots of great links)

Halloween History, Folklore, Phobias and Symbols by Brownielocks

Halloween Web's Urban Legends, Folklore and Myths

Scary Halloween Stories from American Folklore.net

How fitting that in most of the United States, Daylight Savings also ends tonight. Tomorrow the day will feel shorter with darkness coming an hour earlier by the clocks, especially after the celebrations planned by many tonight.

I wish you all a safe and fun Halloween as well as sweet remembrances of those who have passed before you...

Anastasia, Baba Yaga, and Fairy Tales

I had intended to write up this post yesterday as a companion to my post about A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka since both use Baba Yaga in their storytelling. But I never returned to my computer, so this becomes a Halloween post instead.

Dreaming Anastasia: A Novel of Love, Magic, and the Power of Dreams by Joy Preble was released in September of this year, so this is a little late. It only entered my radar when Publishers Weekly reviewed it a few weeks ago and then entered my queue of books to learn more about. Here's the publisher's description:

What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college—until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams…

You can read more about the book on Preble's website, too.

Once again, I haven't read the book--don't own it yet either--but I am interested in the inclusion of Baba Yaga as one of the characters. I've been a fan ever since reading Orson Scott Card's Enchantment years ago which married the Sleeping Beauty story to Baba Yaga tales among others.

It can easily be argued that the tales of Anastasia's possible survival have taken on mythical qualities, especially with the help of several movies and various books over the years. The story, shrouded in the mystery of royalty, communist secrets, and a long and rich Russian folklore, easily eclipsed tales of the missing Dauphin or even the princes in the tower, mysteries that have diminished in popularity over time. After all, the story has even received the animated film treatment from Don Bluth, not from Disney, but Disneyesque all the same. Throw in the sensational qualities of Rasputin's character along with the photographs of the royal family in their fairy tale setting and the story is understandably irresistable in its tragic romance.


Of course, all tales of Anastasia's possible survival have now been discredited. Anastasia died with her family and was buried with her brother. Was anyone else saddened when Anastasia's body was finally found and identified near her family's mass grave last year? I was. The romance of her legend was moved permanently into the dark reality of murder and horror. Although there was little doubt previously, there was hope and there was storytelling to keep the fantasy alive. Still, with books like these, the story will remain a dark fairy tale with a sad coda in history's records.

But especially in light of last year's findings--and as proof perhaps of the slow churning of the publishing industry--it has been an interesting year for promoting Anastasia novels as fairy tales considering this book and Simon Pulse's offering Anastasia up as a "retelling" earlier this year in their Once Upon a Time Series with The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn. The timing is apropos as the tales are firmly settled into folklore by last year's events.

So I am sharing the image and description for this book, too, as a companion read. I am a compulsive reader myself and tend to look for similar books to read back-to-back. (Never would have guessed that with a site like SurLaLune, huh?)

A Retelling of "Anastasia"

Nadya is a mischievous kitchen girl in a Russian tavern. Having nearly drowned in the Iset River during the turmoil of the Revolution, she has no memory of her past and longs for the life she cannot remember.

Then two young men arrive at the tavern and announce that Nadya's long-lost grandmother has sent them to find her. Yearning for family and friendship, she agrees to accompany them to Paris for the joyful reunion. Nadya eagerly embarks on her journey, never dreaming it will be one of laughter, love -- and betrayal.

And that's all about fairy tales, Anastasia, and Baba Yaga for now...

A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True

A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True came out in August, but I just learned about it this week. I don't have a copy but wanted to share the title with those who may be interested in this debut novel by Brigid Pasulka.

And why do I have it on the blog? Because it apparently makes use of Polish folklore and includes a character nicknamed Baba Yaga. Yes, Baba Yaga. (And Baba Yaga has been popular recently, relative to her usual level of exposure. Once Upon a Blog has had some great posts and I've been receiving email inquiries from students about her, most of which I have no answers for, alas and alack.)

Here's the publisher's description:

The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years. Nearly fifty years later, their granddaughter, Beata, leaves Half-Village for Krakow, the place where her grandparents lived as newlyweds after the war and the setting of her grandmother's most magical stories. Beata yearns to find her own place in this new city, one that is very different from her imagination and the past. Her first person insight into a country on the cusp of change--and the human toll of Poland's rapid-fire embrace of capitalism--transports readers to another world. When two unexpected events occur, one undeniably tragic, and the other a kind of miracle, Beata is given a fresh glimpse at her family's and her country's, history and a vision of her own essential role in the New Poland. With the effortless, accomplished grace of a gifted storyteller, Pasulka weaves together the two strands of her story, re-imagining half a century of Polish history through the legacy of one profound love affair--that of the Pigeon and Anielica--which readers won't soon forget.

Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review:

Pasulka's delightful debut braids together two tales of old and new Poland. The old is the fairy tale love story of the Pigeon, a young man so entranced by village beauty Anielica that he builds her family a house to prove his devotion. When war comes to Poland, the Pigeon works for the resistance, guarding the town and his Jewish sister-in-law with creativity and bravery. After the war, he and Anielica get engaged and the Pigeon brings his family to Kraków, but the fabled promises of the golden city and the glories of communism prove hollow. The new tale is about Anielica and the Pigeon's granddaughter, Beata, whose plainness has earned her the nickname Baba Yaga. Now living in a much-changed Kraków, Beata is a bar girl with no hopes of love or plans for the future. When tragedy strikes and Beata uncovers family secrets, she brings together the old and new to create her own bright future. Pasulka creates a world that's magical despite the absence of magical happenings, and where Poland's history is bound up in one family's story.

And another review: First novels from Brigid Pusalka, Brian DeLeeuw, Esther Vilar and Momus

This parallel narrative of Poland at two pivotal points in its recent history begins in a folksy, whimsical fashion which is soon dispensed with for something grittier. In 1939, the small, predominantly Catholic community of Half-Village is transfixed by the courtship between a man unkindly nicknamed the Pigeon and the beautiful but shy Anielica. Anielica's brother has caused a minor scandal by marrying a Jewish girl, but as the Germans advance the Half-Villagers unite to resist the enemy. In Krakow 50 years on, a woman unkindly nicknamed Baba Yaga, mourning the death of her grandmother, lodges at the house of Irena and her troubled daughter Magda. The miraculous links that connect Baba Yaga and Irena to Pigeon and Anielica are gradually exposed in this lively book which is part satire, part fairytale.

You can also read more at Pasulka's website, including her blog where she discusses the books long creation and her inspiration as well as provides a pronunciation guide for names and other Polish terms in the book.

Overall, the reader reviews are strong along with the professional ones. So this gets added to my list of books to eventually acquire and read. Perhaps it will appear on a few of your lists, too...