I am finding it hard to settle to anything at present.

I think this is because on Friday it is the first session of the 'Contemporary Textile Workshop' I have started to replace C&G. I have been pottering around with my sketchbook for the class. I find this disruptive because I slosh paint on - go away while it dries - come back and stick in pictures - worry that there aren't many actual 'sketches' in the sketchbook - tell myself I ought to be doing some drawings - paint some more pages - forget the other things I was going to do like experiment with Inkaid - etc. etc. etc.

I have been working on my little pot book [going to pot, you could say]. Sorry for the quality of the images - I am still cameraless. Cheese Major thinks he may be able to get the 'deleted' images out of my camera, provided I don't use it in the meantime - so I have to wait until he can do it.

This is a stuffy pot, with a hand made stamp and doodles on the other page.

This is wonky wrinkly reverse applique. The opposite page is strips of hand made paper and layout paper sewn together, so you can just see the stamp on the next page through the layout paper.





There is one benefit to my restlessness - I am also finishing off UFOs - three so far. This is an illuminated letter from the 'Embroidery Now' class I took with Florence Daisy Collingwood [wonderful name!] last month. We could choose between B [for book - it is on a book mark] or N for needlebook. As the class was just after I had finished the infamous needlecushions - I opted for the book mark.

Having completed the bookmark, I had to find a suitable book to put it in. We don't have a family bible - it may say something about my forbears that we have a family dictionary. It belonged to my great great grandfather. I assume that he was trying to better himself through evening classes, as he was born before compulsory state education was introduced in England - indeed, he died the year it was introduced, leaving a widow and three children under seven.

Having finished the book mark - I have to decide which of three other pieces from the Embroidery Now classes to work on next, including this 'sweete bag' I started yesterday with Jenny Adin-Christie. Her designs are beautiful and although I don't buy kits - I bought a kit for shadow work - a rose lavender bag, if that makes sense!

i also want to make one of these - the blanket, not IgglePiggle. I have bought a piece of red fleece but I have never worked with fleece before. I know in theory I don't have to hem it, but I will, of course, have to put blue blanket stitch round the edge. And looking at the edge - I think it would be better hemmed or rolled. Any one out there with more experience of fleece who cares to comment?

It is very unusual

for us to go out in the evening - but last night, for once, we did.

We went to listen to a talk by Susie MacMurray at the Discovery Centre. I have to confess that all I knew about her before we went was that she had done a beautiful drawing in the 'Object as Muse' exhibition. I meant to do some more research before we went, but never got round to it, so was quite surprised to find out what sort of work she does. Although not described as a textile artist, there are clear textile links like this, this and this, which is probably what she is best known for. Maybe that was why her audience was almost completely women - I counted 4 men in total, compared with 50 - 100 women.

She is a very good speaker - unassuming, clear and interesting. No 'art speak'. It was fascinating to hear the ideas behind her work - and I wish I'd known about her when 'Shell' was still on display in Chichester. For those who don't know it is made of red silk velvet and mussel shells [or muscle shells, according to the Discovery Centre flier!].

I would also love to have seen 'Echo' in York - it would be wonderful to have a similar piece in Winchester Cathedral, where there is more coloured glass. It is made from hair nets and fibre from violin bows - Susie used to be a professional musician.

Susie is currently planning installations for Compton Verney, so we will have to revisit when they are there.

And finally - one of the photos from Christchurch that M Cheddar so kindly sent me. This is Babybel, her daddy and Ronaldo the wonder dog who wishes someone would please kick that ball! I think this really captures the atmosphere of a lovely family day out.

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.

A brief, photoless account of a delightful afternoon - followed by a long rant on the inadequacies of a British bank [and the Post Office.]

We had a lovely day on Saturday.

We met up with Babybel, her mum and dad, Mr and Mrs Cheddar and the dogs, for a stroll along the beach in Christchurch. We had made this arrangement a while ago - and the weather forecast had been dire - but it turned out to be a beautiful, warm autumn day.

The dogs paddled - and so did Babybel, with a little assistance from Mrs Cheddar.

I beach combed, with a little assistance from Cheese Minor.

We sat on the rocks in the sun and gossiped.

We sat outside the cafe, drank tea and gossiped a bit more.

I took lots of photos.

Unfortunately it went downhill from there.

On Sunday I accidentally deleted every b****y photo.

I was so upset and cross with myself. I tried whingeing to Wensleydale and swearing at the cat. And then I tried it the other way round. But it didn't do any good - the photos were still gone and it was still my own stupid fault. So I just have to hope that the other photographers on the trip will send me copies of some of theirs [Hint, hint.]

Today has not been much better. I mentioned a while ago that someone had tried to use our credit card fraudulently. A week later the same thing happened with my debit card. Different bank, different account - same effect. Second time this year, on both cards.

Sp the Alliance and Leicester [bank] sent me a new card. These days, of course, you have to 'activate' the card by phoning the call centre. I have done this before so I collected a book and all the paperwork and phoned them. I sat and read Sandra Meech while listening to the anodyne music, punctuated by irritating messages apologising for the fact that I was still on hold.

Although I had phoned the activation number - when I eventually got through, my card could not be activated because they had no security questions to ask me. Probably because I am a dinosaur who has had the account since long before debit cards, phone banking and call centres - when it was still Post Office Giro and I opened the account because I could push the pram to the local post office and cash a cheque. [Don't get me started on the subject of the ruination of the British post office.]

So I was put through to 'Customer Services'. Of course you don't get through to a real person - you have to 'choose which service you require' and push a button. i was then asked to key in my 8 digit something number and my 5 digit phone pin number. Pardon? I have a 9 digit account number and a 4 digit pin. There is of course no instruction on what to do if you don't understand the instructions - but I discovered that if you do the wrong thing often enough you get put through to 'Security'. Who told me that they have 'changed the system'. [I had only just caught up with the old system.]

Had they written to me to tell me this? No. Had they sent me a 5 digit phone pin? Of course not - or if they had, our wonderful post office hadn't bothered to deliver the letters. [I told you not to get me started on the subject of the post office.]

So I was told my 8 digit whatsit number and I dutifully wrote it down on a piece of paper which I will promptly lose - and they are sending me a 5 digit pin which I will not be able to remember.

And then they put me through to someone who could actually activate my card.

So it took 3 people [ and a long time] to do it - because of course you never get straight through to anyone, you always end up on hold. And all on an expensive phone number. I think I have probably, single-handed, made a billion £ contribution to the rescuing of British banks.

One thing I will say for A&L - their call centre is in England and the staff do speak English - well, scouse*, anyway. [I apologise to my readers in the NW of England for that cheap joke.]

Can anyone recommend a bank where the phone is answered quickly by a real person in the UK and which doesn't take three people to deal with a simple operation like activating a card? Preferably one that isn't going bankrupt - although that limits the field, I realise!

* Liverpudlian English, for readers outside the UK.

In case you've been wondering

I haven't given up embroidery. I have been tackling UFOs, starting with the one which, when you saw it last, looked like this. I swithered for a long time about it, trying to decide what else it needed, before adding some ginormous feather stitches and a few fake leaves. It seems very simple but I couldn't think what else to do with it.

I had been playing around with the leaves for at least an hour before I remembered that the picture I started with was of - autumn leaves.

The embroidery reminded me that at the Alice Kettle workshop, my friend A. and I had a discussion about minimalist embroidery. A. sees herself [I think, she'll correct me if I'm wrong] as 'not really an embroiderer' because she uses relatively little stitch. This is, of course, rubbish - she is an embroiderer and a very good one.

I think we both feel 'less is [usually] more' - it is possibly one of the reasons I am relatively productive! I was told to go and add more stitch to this extended sample because the tutor felt there wasn't enough. So I added the foliage at the bottom, telling myself that I would take it out later. I haven't done so yet - but I still think it might be better without. Comments welcome!

And of course there is relatively little stitch in the foreground of the leaves piece, although the woven background was machine embroidered before it was cut up, and it is held to the background with overcasting. And the purple background is embellished, although I'm not sure if that counts as stitch!

i am not anti-stitch - i think Julia Caprara's work is stunning - and Alice Kettle is not known for minimalist stitching! But I think it is hard to handle heavy stitch and when I try it it looks a mess, so I get discouraged [bored?] before I have put in enough stitch for it to work. I have a low boredom threshold for repetitive work - it's why i don't like cross -stitch and why I will never make a big traditional quilt again. Having said that i can still face a cushion coverful of tent stitch, provided there is not too much background!

One a completely different topic - if you have been reading this blog since I started you will have read my gushings on the subject of my cherry tree. I cannot resist this photograph, taken this evening, of the setting sun on the underside of the leaves - it is quite magical to see and looks as if the tree has glowing lights in it.

Although I suppose that isn't a completely different topic - it is autumn leaves again. Sounds like a good subject for an embroidery to me ...

Books, books and more books

This week has been officially designated a getting over last week week - so nothing too exciting apart from a trip to Hobbycraft for some essential supplies - followed by coffee and a Danish in the garden centre cafe next door.

So I have made a few books. But before we get on to mine - these are - er - different ... I found the link via this blog - which I recommend if you are interested in book arts.

Returning to my more amateur efforts - this is a straight lift from 'Book Arts - Beautiful Bindings for Handmade Books' by Mary Kaye Seckler, even down to the colours and use of a script stamp. I had never made a star book before and I am pleased with the way it turned out - apart from putting the pockets in the wrong way up. And the ink refused to dry on the red card, leading to a few smears and blotches.

The others are rather simpler - and at first glance may not look like books at all.

In Esther K Smith’s ‘How to Make Books’ she describes making a book from a cake mix packet. Cake mix is not something I buy very often - but I did buy some puddings at the weekend for our visitors, not being up to making something from scratch. So the boxes were recycled into books.

This is a book, not just a box - you can see the tails of the stitching at the top. It is 'experimental' - i.e. an example of how not to do it. I cut the box in the wrong place - so the binding is at the top. The pages are brown paper - which I knew before I started wasn't really strong enough. And although the holes in the spine are straight, the accordion which makes up the pages goes gently downhill, from the front to the back. Life would have been easier, too, if I had decided I want to use webbing spray on the pages before I stuck 5 pieces of paper together to make a 10 foot long accordion.

The red one has conventional signatures and went together a little more accurately. I like these books - the idea amuses me and as the cover is generously sized, compared to the pages, there is plenty of room to stick stuff in.

As the red book is an odd size there were a lot of left overs after I had cut the pages. So I had to make some more books to use up the left-overs - don't want them sitting around at the back of the fridge till they go off, do we?

The scraps were long and thin, which always suggests Japanese stab bindings to me. This one has a cover made from a car ad in the Weekend Guardian. That was the simple one - apart from resewing it using thicker thread and auditioning several beads for the tassel.

For this one, I found a long scrap of purple card of the right width - and that suggested a dos-a-dos, which I had also never made before. The book was simple but then the beads on the thread ends got a bit more elaborate. I love those cheapo letter beads. Then I had to find my punches.

Still into recycling, I decided to use an old manila file for the covers of the last one, but it looked a bit boring, so I painted it. I got a bit carried away, as you can see. The coloured blobs are nail varnish - which I buy when it's on sale. I find the more interesting colours end up in the sale bin. I usually use it as a resist with water soluble paper. You didn't think I put it on my nails, did you?

What do I do with all these books, you may ask. Well - not a lot! I am journalling / experimenting with altered book techniques in this one.

This one has embellisher samples.

And this one has become an album for some postcards of Japan sent to me by a penfriend when I was at school - which makes them vintage ephemera, I think, if not antiques.

But there are still several hanging around saying 'Give us a job' -so if anyone has any suggestions? I do need a photo album for photos of Babybel - but none of the existing books are the right size. Oh dear - that means I will have to make another one ...

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.