The Treehouse

A Visit to Chawton

While driving home from our holiday on the Isle of Wight...we called in here and spent a lovely while wandering around and had a most amusing encounter with a very realistic and funny apothecary in the kitchen! There were some lovely examples of ceramic work on display from Bristol University - one set in particular caught my eye and I wish I could have photographed it, it was a very delicate set of chinaware made to resemble crumpled up pages, the edges of the plates/dishes were gold and there was gold writing on too...such a clever idea and beautiful to look at. I also went and had a very good look at the Jane Austen quilt/coverlet which is upstairs and displayed on a tent bed. Considering the age of this quilt, the colours are really very vivid, it's in remarkable condition...and I hadn't realised that the sashing had little polka dots on it - again, no photo I'm afraid, I don't think it's allowed really - the quilt is displayed in a room without light and as you walk into the room the electric light comes on so that you can see the quilt on the bed which is behind a protective screen.

 

While driving down to the IofW I read another book for the Everything Austen challenge - Writing Jane Austen by Elizabeth Aston.

Here's some blurb from the back of the book...

"Critically acclaimed and award winning - but hardly bestselling - author Georgina Jackson can't get past the first chapter of her second book. When she receives and urgent email from her agent, Georgina is certain it's bad news. Shockingly, she's offered a commission to complete a newly discovered unfinished manuscript by a major nineteenth century author. Skeptical at first about her ability to complete the manuscript, Georgina is horrified to learn that the author in question is Jane Austen."

As in Jane Austen stories, there are some truly ghastly characters in this story - the editor, the publisher and his sister! Poor Georgina, she runs from pillar to post trying to escape these dreadful people and trying to escape writing the book...unfortunately, she needs to do it because she needs the money. I loved gentle Henry and his sister Maud and wonderful Anna and the quiet little romance going on in the background. I was getting a little frustrated with Georgina and wishing she would at least sit down and try to write the book instead of running around all the time, lol! I enjoyed this book - in fact, when Catherine  had run out of holiday reading she took it away and read it herself and pronounced it to be 'good' and 'ok'.

 

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

 I couldn't resist this book when I was hunting around for things to do for the challenge - I love Sense and Sensibility and the picture on the book of is irresistable! As I've not yet read P&P and Zombies I wasn't sure what to expect from a Quirk Classic when I started to read this so it was quite a new experience. Here is the blurb from the back of the book...

"Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen's biting social commentary with ultraviolet depcitions of sea monsters biting. It's survival of the fittest - and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

I think you could read this without actually having read S&S but I found it enjoyable to be able to compare, to know what was coming in the original story and see how it had been altered/changed for this crustaceous version! There is a great deal of death and blood and gore and the monsters are very monstrous indeed - there are all of the things that one would expect the be associated with the sea and a mystery runs all the way through the book. I tried to read it slowly and spin it out because I was enjoying it but I gave up on that idea fairly soon! I thoroughly enjoyed it - the addition of the pictures was a nice touch. The original story remains mostly intact and my only criticism is that on a few occasions the language wasn't quite right - it neither fit with a Regency fashion of speaking nor with an English fashion of speaking. If I say much more I'm in danger of dropping spoilers so I'll leave it that it's a thoroughly good hoot of a read and highly recommended. 

I hope P&P and Zombies is as good!

Austenland by Shannon Hale

This is another review for the Everything Austen challenge  - I'm a little behind with the reviewing! This book wasn't on my original list, it's an add-on and I was quite excited about it. Here's the blurb from the back of the book first of all... 

"Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man - perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths to her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly becomes more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for goof, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own? 

I'm not sure what I was expecting the actual Austenland place to be like but it certainly wasn't anything like I imagined! There are plenty of amusing bits in the story, the place itself is horribly cringeworthy as is the woman who owns/runs it and the heroine has in the past been a bit of a Marianne Dashwood - ready to fall in love at a moment's notice and planning the wedding and number of children 5 minutes after she's met somebody. It was an amusing light read, ideal for summer holiday reading.

 

Lost in Austen (dvd)

My second review for the Everything Austen II challenge. First of all, here's the blurb from the back of the DVD... 

"Lost in Austen is an ingenious reinvention of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, in which the 'true' story is thrown off track by a very modern heroine who swaps places with Elizabeth Bennet.

Disillusioned with her life in London, Amanda Price discovers Elizabeth Bennet in her bathroom. Soon she finds herself swapping places with Elizabeth and entering the 'real' fictional world of Pride and Prejudice. How will she keep the greatest love story of all time on track when Elizabeth Bennet is stuck in the modern world? "

I remember catching a brief glimpse of this when it was first on the television and for some reason I was quite prepared to dislike it entirely. I had the feeling that it was exceedingly farcical and that a nonsense had been made out of Jane Austen's original story. Why have it on my list at all? At the start of the challenge I was completely unaware of the proliferation of JA-esque literature etc. there was available and I came to the challenge very close to the last sign up date therefore I assembled my list with considerable speed in order not to miss out! 

I'm glad to say that I did enjoy the story - it's an amusing twist on an already excellent story. In fact, there are quite a few twists and turns away from the familiar storyline as Miss Price makes her way in Austen-land. A word of warning though - if Pride and Prejudice is an Austen book that you've not yet read or you at least haven't watched the BBC version then you need to do so before you watch Lost in Austen. Catherine watched the first episode with me and it was completely lost on her because she didn't already know the story of P&P so I watched the remaining episodes alone. I liked the ending and I enjoyed the journey to get there, I thought Wickham was wonderful and I would watch this again.

The Jane Austen Book Club

 I'm not very good at doing reviews but I'll give it a shot. I watched this film together with my daughter (age 13) on a rainy afternoon this last week. Here is the blurb from the back of the box...

"Six months. Six novels. Six members.

Based on the best -selling novel by Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club takes reading the classics to new heights of passion in this romantic comedy featuring an all-star cast. when fie women and one man get together to discuss the beloved novels of Jane Austen, they realise the heartaches of Emma, Mr. Darcy and the Bennet sisters are not so different from their own. finding comfort, with and wisdom from the pages and each other, they discover that, in matters of love, all they need to ask is: What would Jane do?"

We both really enjoyed this film - it's definitely a feel good, happily ever after, curl up on the couch and enjoy film. Each of the characters in the film can be loosely identified with characters from Austen novels and although their individual stories run along the lines of some of Austen's stories, they do so with a modern day interpretation. I think the film works well and we would both watch it again (and probably will do so very soon if the rain keeps up!) - it's a refreshing and charming film that is completely without the violence and overtly sexual content that is so predominant these days.

In the special features part of the DVD, there is a segment entitled "The Book Club : Deconstructed" which is well worth watching - I think probably more so if you have already read the book (I have not) because the director/writer of the film explains her thinking behind the version that she has written of Karen Joy Fowlers novel. It's clear from Robin Swicord's explanation that there she has made considerable changes to the original story and I am quite keen now to read the actual book itself.

I must say that prior to starting this challenge I was completely unaware of how much Austen inspired literature and film there is available. I was dubious as to whether I would enjoy it however, I'm delighted to say that so far, I'm loving every bit of it. I've made great inroads into my challenge list this week having now watched this film, the dvd of Lost in Austen and also started on Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I'm also making a list of things that look interesting in the hopes that there will be an Austen III next year...a few of them I may add to this year's list as I'm enjoying myself so much.

Finishes and New Arrivals

  The postman has been pretty busy delivering to the Treehouse over the last week. As well as the kit for Lynette Anderson's Scandinavian Christmas (I forgot to photograph this), he also brought the next My Garden pattern/button and Electric Quilt 7. I am stitching along on Scandinavian Christmas with Simone  and we are just waiting for her first delivery to arrive so that we can set a date for completing the first block - they are quite large blocks but I'm looking forward to stitching them. 

As for the Electric Quilt - I am itching to start playing with that - I've not owned a copy other than the Dear Jane software before so I'm sure that there will be a learning curve involved...I'm just waiting for the 'technical department' to fix me up with an appropriate version of Windows so that I can get going - I only have an old version on my Mac which I use for Inklingo cds and cross stitch software and it won't do for EQ!

I've been in a finishing off mood this last week or so and have finally finished stitching Geranium House by CCN. It's such a pretty design and I'm pleased with how it turned out...just wish that the fabric had been a little lighter. Its destiny is to become a cushion. I also finished off the little scissor fob from the LHN Needle and Thread pattern - that is super cute, I really like it - I'm not sure that I will bother to make many more scissor fobs although it does look very sweet dangling from the halloween scissors

   

I've made a start on my list for the Everything Austen II challenge in fact, I keep on finding things that I want to add to the list. I've ordered up a 'few' more books from the library and I had a little party over at Amazon and The Book Depository last night. I can see that this is going to be an Austentatious summer! It is certainly the weather for staying indoors and reading and sewing - we have had steady downpours of rain, thunder and lightening and some flooding for just over a week now. Most bizarre weather indeed. 

I'm hoping and hoping that it's going to brighten up and at least remain dry for a while as this has been a very soggy beginning to the school summer holidays. We had planned to get in some bowling practice today which I certainly need as my defeat last night was almost total - I blame it on the wet conditions! I did manage to score 2 points before the end of the match so I wasn't completely embarrassed. Also, we've now booked a week's holiday. We were going to go to France with the tent again but given the precarious situation of my back we thought that would be unwise. We're now going to the Isle of Wight and have booked a lovely little thatched cottage to stay in...I'm really excited about that, I think we're taking the bicycles along as well so plenty of exercise to balance out the time sat reading and sewing :)

I know I've not posted about my Flower Garden for a few weeks - I have fallen behind with it somewhat but I do intend to make some flowers before the end of the month and post about them at the same time I post about my clamshell progress. A new Inklingo collection of 1/2 clamshells and edges has just been released and I will certainly be adding this to my Inklingo library very soon along with the 1" diamond collection which I need for my Flower Garden.

Hoping to have the stitching completed on a couple more Christmas story blocks this week...just a few more roses and leaves to go :)

 
 

Everything Austen II

 Stephanie of Stephanie's Written Word is hosting the Everything Austen II challenge - I missed the first one but can't resist signing up for this 2nd chance. Sign ups are open until 15th July and there are 6 months in which to complete your chosen challenges. I've really challenged myself - I've included two lots of viewing - I'm not good at viewing - I only view when I've got some hand sewing in my mitts and no kids sports to attend! I was going to include a stitching project - I still would like to include a stitching project but really - I have an incalculable amount of stitching projects on the go as it is! Here are my choices, in no particular order of preference - 

1. Mansfield Park - book

  I've never read this one :o 

2. The Jane Austen Book Club - dvd

 This looks interesting. I'm thinking a girly night of tv and sewing with Catherine. I see Violet from Private Practice is in there, I like here and also Jimmy Smits...Mmm, I used to love him in LA Law!

3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - book

 This sounds like an absolute hoot!

4. Lost in Austen - dvd

 I recall seeing part of a random episode of this when it was on the television - I was curious to see more. I think Catherine may manage to keep me company for some of this...there is 3 hours worth of viewing though so good for stitching along to!

5. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters - book

 rather irresistable once you see that POTC Davey Jones character on the cover!

6. Jane Austen's Sewing Box - book

 I had a little dip into this when it arrived from Amazon - it looks like a great combination of Austen info, history and little sewing projects. I might combine no.6 with the stitching of a huswife but like I said above, I have lots of stitching on the go so I may not get around to it.

Hoping to find some time to visit the blogs of other participants to see what they're doing.