Rites of Passage

To celebrate the end of my "Fifty Miniature Books" project... I made another book!

This time I used the online sevice Blurb to make a  hardback book about the project with photographs of every single one of the limited edition books from  book number one, "Be my Valentine"

all the way through to book number fifty "Write On".

I've never used this service before but I am delighted with the quality and ease of use. It's also wonderful to have this lasting memento of each of the books I have created.

Of course there have been others as well as this fifty... twenty Jubilee books and eight extra Japanese books (the last remaining few are still available in my Etsy shop and could well be the last ever). And in addition I've had requests for books that came after the original fifty were already spoken for. And that is what I've been doing this week... finishing off the few remaining orders.

A rather delicate little book on the theme of "Hand Stitching"

One of my favourites I think, although it would be hard to pick an absolute favourite. If you are reading Sue... I'll bring to our meeting in September to save the postage!

I really enjoyed creating all the little pages of hand stitches.

There has been another Pisces book, the third one I've made.

This time with fish made with foils (saved from Easter eggs!)

A book about Crows

And finally a book about the Bard...

Filled with favourite quotes... which is another of my favourites.

And now I have only four more to make... and that is it! So if you are waiting, it shouldn't be too long.

In total I will have made eighty six tiny books in matchboxes since February, which is an awful lot of books. I did think I might try to get to one hundred, and I still might, but for now I'm thinking it really is time to move on to something new. I'm mulling about some new ideas concerning "Rites of Passage" but as yet nothing concrete. I'm hoping by closing a door on these books, another one will open... in itself a passage of sorts.

Going for Gold

Yesterday we had a day out at the Olympics!

Our tickets were not for the Olympic Park but Stewart, Jake and I decided we would like to start the day by visiting the park in the slim chance we could get day tickets. We'd tried on-line during the week with no success but had no luck on the day either... instead we made our way to the river to see the Olympic rings hanging from Tower bridge.

And then spent the day soaking up the atmosphere along the South Bank and generally enjoying being in London at such an exciting time. Ben joined us later in the day when we made our way to our venue... the Excel Centre

To watch men's feestyle wrestling! (Not my choice I might add!) The atmosphere inside the stadium was brilliant... and very noisy... (and all those seats were full by the start!)

But try as I might I could not get excited by the wrestling! Silly rules, lots of grappling, and not much action!

However, I was quite excited to witness a medal ceremony

and see the men's under 74 kg champion from Russia get his gold medal.

I haven't a clue who he was...

but it was exciting all the same!

I also have to add I was incredibly impressed with the transport system, the helpfulness of all the volunteers and the general atmosphere everywhere in London which made me feel proud to be British. Everything was wonderful.

And just in case you happened to miss my last post... I'm going for my own personal gold in a few weeks time and trying to raise some money for a very good cause. If you would like to cheer me on you can sponsor me here:

www.justgiving.com/Gina-Ferrari

Keep on Running... or Walking?

I was never particularly sporty at school... it was pretty much a case of if you weren't in the netball team then you were considered no good. Once a year we were all walked over to the local park (our North London school didn't have the luxury of fields) and expected to run 400m for Sport's Day. Not the most inspiring start. Wind forward fifteen years and two children later I decided I needed to get fit and so at the age of 29, inspired by watching the London Marathon I took up running. I literally walked 100 yards and ran 100 yards... and it hurt!

But just one year later on 17th April 1988 I ran that marathon. It took me over 5 hours but I did it!

I think this photo of me at the finish with Ben is one of my favourites ever.

And later that evening we celebrated with family and friends... including my brother who also ran the London Marathon that year. ( I make no apologies for wearing what looks like over sized children's pyjamas... it was the 1980s!) Those medals felt like Olympic Golds to us!

From then on, running became a part of my life. I loved that all it took was to put on a pair of trainers and go out the front door... it always gave me a buzz. Ten years and another two children later I ran the London marathon again, this time taking over an hour off my time... despite pouring rain and my arm in plaster.

So you can imagine that when osteo-arthritis in my knees put an end to my running days I found it really difficult. I've tried swimming (too wet) and cycling (too much traffic) but nothing else really came close. However, I have kept on walking as regularly as I can so when I spotted an ad in the local paper for a 10 mile charity walk it seemed like just the challenge I needed... these wonderful Olympics have a lot to answer for! On September 8th I will be walking in the Starlight Walk... 10 miles at 11.30 pm at night.

And as a bonus it is a chance to raise money for the Garden House Hospice in Letchworth. It just so happens the hospice movement is a charity close to my heart at the moment as my Dad is very poorly with cancer. If you want to support me you can find my JustGiving page here:

www.justgiving.com/Gina-Ferrari

I started training this week and already I've got two huge blisters so I think I'm going to need all the support I can get!

Fifty Shades of...

...Matchbox books.

I've finished! I've reached my target to make fifty miniature books in matchboxes. And before you email me to say "hang on a minute, what about mine..." yes, I know, I still have some to make. But when I first embarked on this project my aim was to make a limited edition of fifty books and those are now complete. In addition I've made some Jubilee books and Japanese books (some of which are still available in my shop) and I've had another dozen or so requests for books which I still have to finish.

But it feels good to have done that fifty! The last few have included another book for a Piscean... decorated with tiny sequins.

One designed to show that moment that dandelions release their seeds which I've named "Make a Wish"

Number 49 was a real challenge with a theme of "Hobbits" - a subject I know nothing about!

 But I'm hoping a box decorated with Hobbit doorways and a book with excerpts from "The Hobbit" will fit the bill.

And the final book was on a theme of "Writing"

With a little origami flutter book of alphabet letters.

And if you are still waiting for your book... I promise they are on their way. I've enjoyed making them so much I think after I have finished the special orders I may well continue to add new books to my Etsy shop as I think of new themes... I'll be sure to let you know if I do!

I'm on a Quest

To find the perfect flapjack

Moist, chewy and with the right amount of sweetness. Yet in all my years baking I have never found a recipe with the right combination of butter (salted or unsalted?), golden syrup (only ever Tate & Lyle), oats (jumbo or normal?) and sugar (brown, demerara, white?) to make that perfect flapjack. Cooking times and oven temperatures seem to vary just as much as ingredients.

Today's attempt came from Nigella's Domestic Goddess. I had high hopes given some of the other wonderful things that have come out of this book and I only tinkered with the recipe to add some chocolate chips... perhaps that was my downfall. My chief taster declared them "a little dry but tasty"... but I beg to differ. They are very dry, not at all chewy and not nearly sweet enough for my taste.

Although I did manage one with my afternoon cuppa.

What's your favourite flapjack recipe... have you found the perfect one?

And the Winners are...

Just popped by to let you know that I've picked some winners...

of the little bag...

the corsage...

and the Japanese book.

I seemed to spend all afternoon copying out names, some of them up to four times depending on the various ways you happen to network with me. I then got my trusty assistant (Stewart) to pick out three names... and so in the order they were picked out... Dotty Cookie has won the bag, Indigo blue has won the corsage and Dandelion Dreamer has won the Japanese Book.

Well done to all three and sorry you couldn't all win something. However, taking a leaf out of Vivienne's book I have decided there will be more stuff given away over the next few months but I will pick people from random from those who happen to comment on a regular basis as I rather like the idea of surprising someone. And I thought I would start with Vivienne who is a loyal follower and regular commenter on my blog... who will also receive one of my corsages.

And should you really be disappointed to have missed out on the Japanese book I have just added the final three to my Etsy shop.

I made a series of 8 Japanese books for my Open Studios, sold four, have given away one and so these are the last three remaining. Japanese stab bound books covered in screen printed papers with origami butterflies on the matchboxes.

I've also dropped the price of the three remaining Jubilee books... when these are gone there will be no more Japanese or Jubilee miniature books... well, not from me at least!

Free Stuff!

That's Open Studios done for another year. Visitor numbers and sales were down on previous years but I still met lots of interesting people, some first time visitors and others regulars. It was also a chance to chat and catch up with friends so all in all it felt like a successful couple of weekends with lots of lovely visitor comments. There are always one or two slightly odd comments and the best this year came from a man (who actually made several odd remarks) who, after looking at all my work told me that his Mum did cross stitch too.

Now, I've nothing against cross stitch and have even been known to do some many years ago but there is nothing of my current work that even hints at cross stitch so where he made the connection I do not know. It amused me enough that I put it on my Facebook status... and then on Saturday a friend (you know, I am beginning to wonder) visited my studio with a gift for me... a cross stitch kit as pictured above... and the gauntlet was thrown!

So in between visitors yesterday I sat and stitched this little chap... although I had to add my own interpretation... and I am well aware that not all my stitches go in the same direction and I've probably mis-counted on several of the holes  (my eyesight is not up to pale yellow on cream linen... especially 26 hpi).... but there you go it's done!

Any way that little story is just a digression because today my blog is five years old... that's five years of me waffling on, so as a sign of appreciation for those who have stuck with me I'm giving away some stuff. First of all a machine and hand embroidered make up bag made from felted wool and a suitably colourful lining.

Next one of my machine stitched corsages made from recycled fabrics, lace and buttons.

And finally one of my miniature matchbox books... Japanese stab bound, covered with Japanese papers and the box decorated with an origami butterfly.

All you have to do is leave me a comment by Friday this week... but in an unashamed attempt to get more followers, fans and subscribers and generally get myself more publicity I'm offering extra ways to win.

If you are a subscriber to my blog, you get an extra chance to win, if you are a Facebook Fan, you get an extra chance to win and if you are a newsletter subscriber you get an extra chance to win. Potentially you could have your name go into the hat four times... be sure to let me know when you leave your comments. You can tell me what you'd prefer to win too, if you like... although I make no promises!