I'm feeling a bit better today

partly because I've had a couple of good nights sleep, partly because Mr Cheddar very kindly sent me some photos from Saturday [before he read my blog - he must be psychic], partly because he thinks it may be possible to retrieve mine from my camera - and partly because I made another book to cheer myself up.

I have had to scan it [because I can't use the camera until one or other of the IT experts in the family have had a look at it]. It is the latest example from Sue Bleiweiss's workshop. It was going to be lavender, because the pages are envelopes and I had some nice hand-made paper envelopes needing to be used up. [They were left over from this - which used the paper that went with them.]

However when I was fossicking around looking for something to decorate the cover with - an unfinished machine embroidery I had started in a workshop with Brenda Weekes fell into my hands and yelled 'Use me! Use me!' Of course I had to finish it first. Making this little piece of machine embroidery, about 12 x 17 cms, took hours and gave me even more respect for Alice Kettle whose pieces are much much much bigger.

But the embroidery said it definitely didn't want to be on a lavender journal. It demanded white silk dupion, no less.

The journal demanded that, instead of the pages being sewn in in a restrained manner with internal knots, like Sue's, it had external knots. With long ends. And not just one thread per signature - three threads. And a few beads. [They are opalescent green, not the colour they appear in the scan.]

Those of you who read my discussion of minimalist embroidery the other day will be laughing your heads off. There is nothing minimalist about those beads.

Sue's lesson suggests making little pamphlets to put in the envelopes. I made a variety of folded, single sheet books, with hand made paper covers glued on.

The embroidery was inspired by a picture of a cottage - our dream cottage in Wales. The dream has been postponed until the housing market settles down a bit - so the book will be used to store ideas, plans etc. until we can make the dream a reality.

On a more mundane topic - thank you to the people who responded to my banking rant - you must have read it all the way to the end! There have been some strong recommendations for First Direct - so I think my account may be on the move soon.

We have just about recovered

from a few days looking after Babybel while her childminder was in hospital. It was very enjoyable [apart from the stomach bug which hit us part way through] – but exhausting. We kept wondering how we coped with Cheeses Major and Minor when they were little, plus jobs and all the routine things which we put on hold while she was here. Of course we were 30 years younger …

Here she is with her feely book. She really is a very happy baby and tolerated our lack of recent practice in nappy changing, feeding and bathing, and lack of knowledge of her routine. Unlike her father and uncle at her age, she loves to be cuddled and on occasion fell asleep in my arms. She even seems to like her granny’s singing!



Here she is concentrating on trying to work out how the buckle of her high chair strap works - which she kept up for nearly 15 minutes [under supervision of course]. Not bad for a 10 month old.

She also mastered climbing on to Gran's coffee table - and up the stairs. Time to get a stair gate!




All creativity was put on hold while she was here apart from a bit of baby knitting when she was asleep. I had signed up for another Sue Bleiweiss course which started last weekend so, having got rather left behind during the last one, I made sure I completed at least part of the first week’s assignments before the brunette bombshell arrived. This is an accordion journal which Wensleydale thinks looks medieval. The colour in the picture on the left is the most accurate.

Since Babybel left I have tackled this week's Coptic bound book, using some of the heap of painted papers I made during C&G, so it went together fairly quickly. It needs something on the cover but I am not sure what – perhaps when I decide what to put in it.