Brace yourself...

This is about to be a very long post. As promised... a tutorial for the little book. And if you manage to hang on to the very end... a giveaway too! I should say that I first came across these books on Little Paper Bird and have since found the instructions in "The Penland Book of Handmade Books" so I cannot claim credit for the design.

You will need the following:

• 14 sheets of postcard sized paper for your pages
• A roll of decorative paper - the owl paper came from Paperchase.
• Stiff board for the covers
• ribbon for ties
• PVA glue
• brush, ruler and knife or scissors.

To start you need to measure your postcard pages - the height is the important measurement. Mine is 10cm high. You will then need to cut a long strip of your decorative paper that is eight times the height of your pages by twice the height plus about a cm. This makes my strip of paper 80 cm x 21 cm. Accuracy in cutting and folding is the most important part of making these books.

You then need to fold your long strip of paper into 16 equal size concertina folds. I find the easiest way is to fold it in half and then in half again etc. If you try to start at one end and work along the strip it is very easy to get the folds out of alignment.

Mine folds up into rectangles that measure 5 cm x 21 cm

Next you have to fold the corners of each of the rectangular concertina folds by lining up the corners with the centre crease.

You have to do this top and bottom all the way along the strip.

Until you end up with something that looks like this.

Now open out all the little triangular folds and fold them back in the opposite direction so they move easily in both directions. Open them out again and this time reverse fold the triangles - sort of tuck them in the other way. This is much easier to do than explain but the photo should help.

Once all the little triangles are tucked in, the large triangles that are formed are folded back down into the centre crease. Do this top and bottom

Keep turning over each concertina fold and folding these big triangles to the centre until they are all folded in.

And this is the centre of your book finished.

This is what the reverse should look like.

To make the covers, cut two pieces of stiff board to be slightly bigger all round than your finished book. Insert one of your postcard pages into the folds to find out how big it will need to be.

Cut two pieces of your decorative paper about 5 cm wider and higher than your cover boards. Brush the cover sparingly with PVA glue (always apply glue to the thicker surface where possible) and glue the cover paper to the board.

Mitre in the corners and glue in the edges.

Now you need to attach the ribbon ties. Cut two pieces of ribbon about 20 cm long and glue to the centre of each board as shown. Make sure you glue them to opposite sides.

Almost there.... Cut two more pieces of decorative paper slightly smaller than your cover boards and glue to the inside of the covers.

Now take your folded piece of paper. Slip a piece of scrap paper under the first fold to protect the rest of the folds and brush glue over the first fold as shown.

Stick this down onto one of the covers - at the opposite end to the ribbon tie!

Brush glue onto the folded paper on the other side (remember to protect the other folds) and stick down onto the second cover.

Leave to dry and then insert your blank postcard pages into the folds.

And voila... you have a book! If that all sounds far too garbled and complicated and you really can't be bothered with all that then fear not...

For I am going to give this one away! Despite the snow keeping me in all weekend when I've not finished my shopping... a minor disaster with some indigo dye (a story for another time)... the fact that my washing machine has broken and there seems little chance of it being fixed this week... and a recurring eye infection which has returned to plague me... I'm feeling festive and generous because I got my marks back for my latest module which far exceeded my expectations... and so I'm feeling very happy!

Just leave me a comment between now and Christmas day, all names will be put into a suitable Christmas container and I'll get one of my drunken revellers to pick out a winner!

Ta very much!

I'm long overdue some thank yous. A while ago Trashy organised a Rainbow swap and I was the lucky recipient of this collection of rainbow parcels from Laurie.



Inside were fabulous pressies... all rainbow inspired, including some gold at the end of the rainbow which has long since been gobbled up!


Don't you just love this mini quilt... an alternative take on The Princess and the Pea. I hope the princess isn't squashed under the mattresses! Thank you Laurie!

Another thank you must go to Penny who awarded me this Kreative Blogger award... simply ages ago! Rules are to list seven interesting facts about myself and then pass the award on to seven more bloggers.

I've dithered and dallied... and dithered some more and I can't think of seven new things about me. I have done this twice before for different awards and I thought I might link back to those posts but can't find them... quick edit... found this and some on this post! But I won't pass it on because I think all the blogs I read are creative so couldn't possibly choose only seven. But thank you Penny... I did appreciate receiving this.

And as a Christmas thank you for everyone I thought I might do a tutorial soon... on the little book that I posted about... and maybe even a giveaway... watch this space!

Pooch pressies

Much as I love my pooch...

I don't consider myself a sentimental dog owner.

I don't do doggy Christmas or birthday presents.

But I couldn't resist buying one of these for the Christmas tree.

How long before he sniffs it out?

Talented friends

Thank you for all your lovely kind comments on my last post... results should be back by the end of the week so fingers crossed! Today we went to the 40th birthday party of a dear friend who happens to be a very talented artist.

Which was an opportunity to forget all about stitching and indulge in a little cutting, folding and glueing, resulting in a little book as a gift.

A book made with folded pages that contain additional removable pages.

In this case, postcard sized watercolour pages for filling with sketches and drawings.

Do take a look at John's website and see some of his amazing paintings and drawings. I should add he is one of the nicest smiliest people I know so I'm not sure why he looks so stern in his photo on the site!

At the party was another friend who also happens to be a very talented textile artist. She was very excited to tell me she has just started blogging.

So please go and visit Sandra... leave her a comment... and tell her Gina sent you!

Searching for the Rainbow Scale

I've been gone a little while because every spare minute over the past two weeks has been spent doing this... hours and hours of hand stitching.

But I've finished! My final piece for my final assessment for my current module with The Julia Caprara School of Textile Arts. Another self portrait (35 cm x 50 cm), machine and hand stitched on artists' canvas, set in the chaos of my kitchen and inspired by the following:

All my spare time off housekeeping and mothering I spend trying to delve further, to find more. When one is young one is satisfied with a flower petal or a sparkle. Now I want more. I want the rainbow scale of the flower and the reason and the travel of the sparkle and most of all a long quiet time of intense peace and uninterrupted thought, none of which one can get.

Winifred Nicholson in a letter to Jim Ede
(c1948-49)

During the first level of the degree all our work is assessed as only a pass or a fail. This module is my first at level two and consequently will be given a grade so the pressure is on. All the work from the past three months is now packed up and labelled ready to take for moderation tomorrow. Despite initial difficulties I have found my tutor to be helpful and encouraging and she has really helped me challenge myself further than I ever imagined I could be. It has been hard work, at times frustrating and difficult but ultimately very enjoyable and satisfying. So thank you Kate.

I've now got three months worth of housework, cleaning, ironing and "To Do" lists to catch up with... before the next module starts on January 4th! And I believe Christmas happens sometime soon too!

Feeling Fruity?

Do you want to know how to go from this...

To this?

Then check out the latest edition of
Workshop on the Web

Not only lots of fabulous articles from some brilliant tutors...
but one from me too!

A Recipe...

For Frangipane Mince Pies. As several people asked it seemed easier to post it here. It makes about 36 pies.

• 750g sweet shortcrust pastry ( I actually used 125g butter, 50g caster sugar, 250g plain flour, 1 egg yolk + 2tbsp water and it was just enough rolled out very thin!)
• large jar of good mincemeat
• 200g unsalted butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 200g ground almonds
• 50g plain flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp brandy
• flaked almonds

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2. Grease three 12 hole tart tins. Roll out pastry thinly and cut 36 rounds of pastry to line tins. Leave to rest in fridge while you make the frangipagne.
3. Beat the butter until soft. Beat in the sugar until pale and fluffy and then beat in the almonds. Mix in the flour, the eggs and finally the brandy.
4. Half fill the pastry cases with mincemeat and then spoon a heaped teaspoon of frangipagne over the top over each one. Smooth it over and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
5. Bake for about 20 - 25 mins until golden brown. Serve warm sprinkled with icing sugar.

(Recipe from Richard Bertinet in Times Magazine 21.11.09)