Stitch by stitch, page after page

 When I came home from the workshop I wrote about in the last post I was obsessed with the idea of embossing packets of hooks and eyes through the press. Gill, one of the girls on the workshop had produced some great prints using them and I suddenly wanted to see how they would look if they were blind embossed  because I'd started gathering stuff together to make a book loosely about sewing for my friend Sheila and I thought the hooks and eyes would work for it very well.

After producing a few samples of them I went off on another tangent for Sheila and left all the sewing book odds and ends on my table for another day. Well, today has been that other day. There is a major event taking place in Wales today called Ironman Wales. After a swim in the sea at Tenby at 7.30 this morning, the competitors hopped on bikes for a lengthy 40 mile bike ride before getting back into Tenby for a marathon run. They have until midnight to complete the course and it means every road for miles has been closed to car traffic since early morning. This means we cannot go anywhere so I just picked up the sewing book pieces looking for something to do and suddenly got carried away. I had an old sewing pattern that was falling to bits and lots of haberdashery stuff as well as a couple of old books I thought I could use and this is the result. I just love cutting and sticking! Now I'm making a small box to put it in as I was a bit gung ho in the making and did not factor in a cover or a closure.

 The book I actually made for Sheila started out from a book called Needlework in Education written by Theodora Graham and published in 1939. Long out of print, it has some lovely illustrations inside so I just scanned some of them in and then printed them out into an accordion book. I started to colour them in Photoshop and then decided I'd let Sheila do that herself. I sent them with a small plea to her to give them a good home, to rescue them from the musty pages of an old book and put colour back into their lives. I went a bit over the top and gave each one a name and a bit of a background but they have found a loving home and Sheila is making new clothes for them as I write.

I have a few bookmaking workshops lined up as part of the local adult education classes this autumn.I'm running a series of four in Fishguard and they are fully booked so I'm hoping I can get other people enthused and interested in making similar things or even re-purposing an old book and giving it a new life.

Speaking of books, news of the new library in Birmingham is everywhere and it looks a stunning building. There are some wonderful events happening there in the inaugural three months that are well worth taking a look at. I hope to get to see it in November when there is an exhibition which is curated by artist Susan Kruse. Do follow the link to The Library of Lost Books and read how Susan saved some old books from the library from destruction by distributing them among other artists, all of whom have now changed the original book into a work of art. I cannot think of a better way to save books that would otherwise sit and rot away or go to landfill. I have nothing but praise for everyone involved in the project and can't wait to see them in situ. Makes me want to do something similar myself so I'm off to Books for Free tomorrow to look for a suitable candidate. I know I will find a book there that I can save from landfill and give a new look to. Well, that's the plan. Watch this space.