The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.

—Jalal al din Rumi, ca. 13th century

ive me some white encre de Chine ink and a dip pen with a fine steel mapping nib; pour me a cup of black coffee (*thank you, my darling*), then shut the door to my studio softly…and I will very happily doodle bits of lace and doily loveliness for the rest of the day. I love this sort of mindless doodling…a dozen loops, a picot, a scallop or three…

I can still sort of remember how to crochet, but don’t feel the urge to take it up again—it never really made an impression on me; I love the look and feel of doilies and crocheted lace, though, as love drawing these bits of fiddly finery.

This is a ‘case’…a made-up pair of covers for a hardbound, flat-backed book…minus the book. Just a little something Valentine-ey to brighten (i.e. to em-Pink-en) my etsy and Madeit shops soon. The lines are from a short poem by the incomparable Sufi mystic, Rumi (transl. Coleman Barks)…the most beautifully ecstatic and mystic poet I know, and, hands-down, my absolute personal favorite.

P.S. The beautiful drop cap ‘G’ above is from Jessica Hische’s amazing Daily Drop Cap project…you really have to go over there and see! The equivalent of 12 alphabets of quirky, classic, showy, modern, eye-catching drop caps—each one such an individual, with a character all its own— are available free for personal use, to jazz up your blog posts. It’s incredibly generous of her to share these typographical works of art with everyone, when people of much less talent are so grinchy about everything they post on the internet, don’t you think?