Literary Sewing Circle: Spring 2025

 

Our Spring 2025 session of the Literary Sewing Circle starts today! 

I'm pleased to announce that our group read this time around is:

All the Things We Leave Behind by Riel Nason

This is a book I first read almost a decade ago (my original thoughts on it here) and it has stayed with me. I hope you will find this introspective novel, which delves into some serious themes, as engaging as I did.

Summary: 

It's 1977. Seventeen-year-old Violet is left behind by her parents to manage their busy roadside antique business for the summer. Her restless older brother, Bliss, has disappeared, leaving home without warning, and her parents are off searching for clues. Violet is haunted by her brother's absence while trying to cope with her new responsibilities. Between visiting a local hermit, who makes twig furniture for the shop, and finding a way to land the contents of the coveted Vaughn estate, Violet acts out with her summer boyfriend, Dean, and wonders about the mysterious boneyard. But what really keeps her up at night are thoughts of Bliss's departure and the white deer, which only she has seen.

"All the Things We Leave Behind" is about remembrance and attachment, about what we collect and what we leave behind. In this highly affecting novel, Nason explores the permeability of memory and the sometimes confusing bonds of human emotion.

(from publisher)

About the Author: 

Riel Nason is a Canadian author and textile artist/quilter.  She writes for both adults and children.  She is best known for her debut novel, The Town That Drowned, which won the Commonwealth Book Prize for Canada and Europe among other awards, and her bestselling picture book series starring The Little Ghost Quilt. Her works have been translated in many languages including German, Japanese, French and Scottish Gaelic. 

(from author's website)

This book is available for purchase in multiple formats.

You can find this title at all of these locations:

Direct from the publisher, Goose Lane Editions

IndieBound

Biblio.com

Chapters Indigo

Barnes and Noble

ABE Books

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com.au

Or, of course, check your local library!

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How does the Literary Sewing Circle work? We read a book together, discuss it, and then make something inspired by our reading. As long as you can point out what inspired you from your reading, even if just a sentence, you can share your makes in our final roundup!

Anyone can join, and you can sew, knit, crochet, quilt or embroider - any textile art that you like doing - to participate. This is a reading/sewing circle, very low-key; no competitions here, just reading and sewing for fun. 

There is no official sign-up to worry about; just start reading along if you wish, and leave your thoughts on the book or your project on any of the Literary Sewing Circle posts. We do have a dedicated book discussion post halfway through and again at the end, but leave your thoughts anytime. And you can follow along on Instagram too if you like: look for @sewmelwyk and the hashtag #LiterarySewingCircle and you'll find us.

And when the final post goes up on week 6, so does the project linkup -- you can leave a link to your finished project there, whether it is on your blog, a pattern site, or even Instagram. It's easy :)

So, join in, and share!

Literary Sewing Circle Schedule

April 4 - Announcement & Introduction

April 11 - Inspiration post 

April 18 - Preliminary book talk

April 25  - Inspiration post

May 2 - Author feature

May 9 - Final Post: book discussion wrap up & posting of project linkup

We will have our project linkup live for two weeks after the final post to allow you to finish up and post your projects, which takes us to May 23, when the window to share your projects will close.