Decisions, Decisions

I've got my trees made, the words "Joyeux Noel" (including the umlaut over the e - that is what those dots are called, right?), and a sample set of piano keys (which may be for a border or sashing here or there between the trees). Now I just have to decide on the setting. This is how I had it yesterday:

And then I thought today that maybe I should have the words in the middle with a row of trees to the top and bottom:

I like the first pic better, but haven't made any firm decision yet. I'm trying to keep this quilt smallish.

I have a book recommendation for you all. Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay. It's not just a book about colorful pigments and dyes (which would be fabulous enough) but also about travelling, history and art. Ms. Finlay is incredibly adventurous, going into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan on the hunt for lapis lazuli for example. She actually saw the large Buddhas of Bamiyan before they were destroyed. I love this: "The peaks in that area were like children's drawings of mountains. Or perhaps they were even more basic than that--scribbles made on paper to check that a pen works; impossible jagged crags glowering over the horizon."

And this bit is a hoot: "In the eighteenth century the main source of urine for the whole of the English dyeing industry was in the North. History has rather generously rewritten the story of Newcastle upon Tyne, and credits the city for exporting coal and beer. But two hundred years ago its citizens peed for England. It seems extraordinary now to imagine first that London could not provide its own natural resource, and second that Newcastle should have organized an efficient system whereby its people would have been--presumably--paid pennies while spending them, and where pots of urine were transported around the courntry by ship."

You can read an excerpt from the book and an interview with the author here. I give the book 4.5 out of 5. Remember how I read the book A Perfect Red not too long ago? If you haven't read it yet (and you really should), I'd read it AFTER reading Color. I was a bit bored in the red chapter and I'm sure that's why. And if you have read either of these books, how did you like them?