Marking time with fabric and thread Calendars, diaries, and journals within your fiber craft

Scanlin (Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond), a retired weaving teacher at the University of North Georgia, delivers an enchanting exploration of how fiber artists use their craft to commemorate the passage of time. Mary Jane Lord recounts how she started keeping a "tapestry diary" after taking a class with Scanlin, weaving a small square each day representing notable events (several black entries mark a prolonged power outage, and a "white square with silver Lurex included in the weft" stands in for snowfall). Janet Austin discusses how creating a new entry every day even when dissatisfied with the previous day's work taught her that "yesterday is done and cannot be changed. I must move on and go forward." The impressive variety of the pieces emphasizes the versatility of fabric arts. For instance, Val Vaganek's scrappy mixed-media journals incorporate fabric, paper, photos, thread, and writing, and Jennifer McGregor's "textural landscape memoir" uses variously sized coiled fabric strips to represent different places she's lived and for how long. Though this is more coffee-table book than craft guide, Scanlin does include a few strategies readers might use for their own fabric diaries, such as deciding what shade to make each day's block by rolling a die. This brims with creativity. (Oct.)