A Holmesian Solstice

Title and Author: An Excerpt from Nostos by disheveledcurls
Link to Story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29019876/chapters/71225730
Recipient: disheveledcurls
Podfic Reader: REDACTED
Verse: CBS Elementary
Characters/Pairings: Joan Watson/Sherlock Holmes, Joan Watson & Sherlock Holmes
Rating: M
Warnings: None
Summary: It’s like one of those nightmares that turns reality inside out like a sock. Nothing makes sense, least of all the fact that Sherlock is holding her close, trying to comfort her, not letting go. How can this be real? The only explanation she can think of is that this unprecedented gesture is his final goodbye.

[Three years after Odin Reichenbach’s fall from grace, Sherlock comes home.]

Listen or download: An Excerpt from Nostos

Title: Breakfast Table
Recipient: rachelindeed
Artist: ghostbees
Verse: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (1980)
Characters/Pairings: Holmes/Watson
Rating: G
Summary: A domestic scene
Artist’s Note: I hope you like my gift as much as I've enjoyed creating it for you! Pickering's Watson is also one of my favourites, it was an absolute delight to read all your thoughts about him (and his Holmes) and get to make art for this lovely verse.

( Breakfast Table )

Title: "Labours of Love"
Recipient: ghostbees / vernets
Artist: strampunch
Verse: ACD canon, Granada
Characters/Pairings: Holmes/Watson
Rating: Suitable for general audiences (mild nudity in second to last image)
Warnings: None
Summary: After the gift receiver mentioned "scrapbooking" and "English paper piecing" I went down a rabbithole of research and learnt about this wonderful quilting technique.
From the EQS website: "English Paper Piecing is a method of quilting that involves using a paper shape, most commonly a hexagon, to add stability to the quilt. The quilt is hand stitched with pieces of fabric cut a ¼ inch bigger than the paper shape. The fabric is basted to the paper shapes before the shapes are sewn together. Once the quilt top is completed the papers are removed." The technique dates from 1770s and was popular during the early 1800s in the UK, then in the mid 19th century in the US and it made a comeback during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the pattern was called in the sewing magazines "Grandma's Flower Garden", but before that it was simply known as hexagonal pattern or (you guessed it) honeycomb pattern.

The paper used for these quilts were usually recycled from newspapers or scrapped letters, and the fabric used to come from old garments that had seen better days, and since a lot of the times the paper was simply left in these quilts are marvelous time capsules that contain a wealth of information about the person who made them and their environment. I encourage you to look up English paper piecing (EPP) quilts from the early Victorian decades, they're fascinating!
So this little series of illustrations shows Watson dealing with Holmes still indulging in scrapbooking, and how the doctor picks up the discarded pieces and their old 221B era clothes to make something entirely new and uniquely theirs.

(Technique: India ink, watercolours and gouache paint over cold pressed cotton paper)


( Labours of Love )

Title: To Sleep, Perchance
Recipient: fridaythegowerstreetcat
Author: Marta
Verse: Doyle
Characters/Pairings: Holmes/Watson, Mycroft Holmes and Mrs. Hudson offscreen
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Violent themes and imagery. Original character deaths, primarily offscreen. Sexual exploitation as a theme. Frankly excessive use of mythology and of Latin. Canon-typical racism
Summary: “This, Watson, is my confession. Confiteor Deo omnipotenti: quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opera: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Now I must lie abed while my leg heals and see those same children run about day after day. God grant me the strength.”

During the Great Hiatus, Holmes has cause to reflect.

( To Sleep, Perchance )

Title: Caress
Recipient: strampunch
Artist: CommonCollective [beta'd by ghostingart]
Verse: Granada Holmes
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Scars, Partial Nudity
Summary: A soft morning with gentle breaths and the reverence of home. Some scarred Holmes and warm love.

( Caress )

Title: Baskerville After Midnight
Recipient: saki101
Artist: helloliriels
Verse: ACD/BBC crossover (S2)
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock/John
Rating: Gen/Safe
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Summary: Sherlock and John in a Victorian setting, post-Baskerville, discussing the case at length. Sherlock is wearing nothing but his dressing gown and showing a bit of neck (scandalous!) while holding his pipe; Watson is sitting close with his legs around Sherlock's arm as he listens attentively, holding his well-earned cup of steaming tea.

( Baskerville After Midnight )

Title: The Essential Layers In A Gentleman's Attire
Recipient: sanspatronymic
Artist/Vidder: strampunch
Verse: ACD canon, Granada
Characters/Pairings: Holmes/Watson
Rating: M
Warnings: Nudity
Summary: (Un)dressing like a gentleman can be tricky, but luckily we have two very capable men happy to demonstrate how it's done.


( The Essential Layers In A Gentleman's Attire )

Title: Some Rest In The Country
Recipient: colebaltblue
Artist: natrix_natrix
Verse: Doyle - Canon
Characters/Pairings: Holmes/Watson
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: None
Summary: Holmes and Watson take a break from London to go horse riding in the countryside. They decide to lie down in the grass for a while: Holmes shares trivia, Watson's smitten.


( Some Rest In The Country )

Title: Strange Coincidences Leading to the Most Outre Results
Recipient: armchair_elvis
Author: amindamazed
Verse: Elementary; Mary Russell
Characters/Pairings: Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes, Joan Watson, Mrs Hudson, Ms Hudson, Kitty Winter
Rating: Gen
Warnings: none
Summary: what if Mary Russell was born 100 years later and ended up in NYC instead of Sussex? A bit of not-fic for a story that never came

As I was reading through everyone's Holmestice posts and got to yours, I had a flash of inspiration for this modern-day AU/fusion of Elementary and Mary Russell. Sadly, try as I might, no actual story or plot materialized in time; only more detail to the set-up. So I offer this to armchair_elvis as a Holmestice treat in hopes it may amuse, and to everyone as a prompt, in hopes it may inspire someone to take it further. And I'd love to read additional speculation about this fusion in the comments.

---

( some outre results )

Title: BBC Sherlock || Human
Recipient: write_out
Vidder: dovahlock221
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: None

( Human )