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Journalist and author
The Line of Thought
. . . to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream.
--Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
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Winning ribbons
In chapter 27 of Emma , sweet but dim Harriet Smith dithers over her shopping, while Emma Woodhouse tries “with all the force of her own...
Deborah Yaffe
Nov 4, 2024
Plain and ornamental
In his 1870 Memoir of Jane Austen , the author’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, reports that his famous aunt “was successful in...
Deborah Yaffe
Oct 10, 2024
A stitch in time
The complaints about Winchester Cathedral’s proposed Jane Austen statue have quieted down lately, or so I conclude from the silence of my...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 25, 2024
Embroidering Chawton
The last time I completed a significant piece of needlework (see below) was during the early months of pandemic quarantine, when being...
Deborah Yaffe
May 2, 2024
Ready for its closeups
A couple of months ago, when Jane Austen’s House Museum unveiled the results of the collaborative quilting project it organized to...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 17, 2018
Unveiling the Jane Austen quilts
The delightful Jane Austen Quilt project culminated earlier this month with the unveiling at Jane Austen’s House Museum of two beautiful...
Deborah Yaffe
Mar 25, 2018
Patching together Austen's life
Among the commemorations planned during last year’s bicentenary of Jane Austen’s death, one of the most delightful was the Chawton quilt...
Deborah Yaffe
Jan 8, 2018
Women's work, international edition
When I was a girl – yes, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth – I was a dab hand at needlepoint. I stitched plastic canvas into keepsake...
Deborah Yaffe
Sep 18, 2016
What the--?
By now, it’s hardly a shock that other people see things in Jane Austen that I just can’t find there. Heck, I wrote a whole book about...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 24, 2016
Crafting time
Today’s edition of Jane Austen Craft Projects I Wish I Had Time For features a charming cross-stitch kit based on one of C.E. Brock’s...
Deborah Yaffe
Jun 15, 2016
Awesome mom, possibly a Janeite
Most of us moms are muddling along, trying to make sure the kids eat something besides cold cereal, wear clothing that is reasonably...
Deborah Yaffe
Jul 30, 2014
P&P & Quilts
Visitors to Jane Austen’s House Museum, fondly known as Chawton Cottage, love to admire the patchwork quilt stitched by Austen, her...
Deborah Yaffe
Mar 23, 2014
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