Another Book Cover

I needed a gift for a Christmas Present Swap next week. How do you choose a gift when you don't know who the recipient will be? I came up with all sorts of ideas, which I rejected one by one. Although they're all female, the age ranges from 30 to nearly 60, includes two with food allergies, two who don't drink alcohol and one that I hardly know! So, I started searching the stash of sewing experiments that have been put aside, because I didn't know what to do with them at the time. I found the piece with threads and ribbons that I wove together. I couldn't remember when I made it, so checked the blog. September 2007! It's past time I did something with it. So I made a book cover, and matched it up with a gorgeous pen that I found in an Oxfam shop.
This is the back -

The book has occasional pages of purple batik paper, just to add some interest -

I hope the recipient likes it. I'm going to include a list of ideas for using the book. Here's what I have so far...

A diary (so you always have something sensational to read)
A place to write down that wonderful quote you just read (you just know you'll lose the scrap of paper)
A Gratitude Journal (write down three things each day that you are grateful for)
A place for your "To Do" lists
An Observation Journal (for that novel you've always wanted to write)
A sketchbook
A notebook (to write down the details of that great idea you just saw or heard about)

What would you use it for?

Eucalyptus Rhodantha

The rain that we had at the beginning of spring has triggered the flowering of some eucalypts in my Dad's garden. This is my favourite. It's such a scrappy looking tree normally, but when it flowers - Wow! The blossoms are huge, too. I've realised that I have no photos that show the scale, or the tree that they're attached to, so maybe that's an assignment for this weekend -


And this is how the blossom looks as it's emerging from under its cap...

Silk scraps

I've been working on this, on and off, for a while now. It's a good project to take to a Saturday embroidery meeting, because I can sit and chat without having to think too hard about what I'm doing. So I pulled it out last Saturday, when a free Saturday of mine coincided with a local group meeting. It's based on an Effie Mitrofanis project in Stitch magazine, although I've really only used that as a starting point. The silk is from a samples card that I picked up in a sale bin at a curtain shop years ago. I knew I'd use it one day...

It's a bit like these ribbons, which I've either bought at various times, or rescued from Christmas parcels over the years. I'm trying to find inspiration for this years' Christmas cards, because I really should get started on them. I have a couple of ideas about how I'd like to use them. Now I just have to play a bit to find out whether my vague ideas will translate into something achievable!

Indian Inspiration

A recent trip to Sydney to attend a conference resulted in catching an end of season cold that turned into an infection. That's why the blog has been neglected for the last few weeks.

However, I'm quite recovered now and thought I'd share my Sydney purchase with you. These quilts, made from old Indian embroideries which have been cut up and joined together have become fairly common, I know. However, I've looked at lots and thought they were either uninspiring, too expensive or that the colours just weren't appealing. This one, however, caught my eye. The price was right, I loved the colours (yes, it's mostly blue!), and I keep finding bits of inspiration in the many tiny pieces of embroidery.

I still need to find a good way to hang it, so couldn't get a photo of the whole quilt. However, it's the detail that appealed to me, and that's what I wanted to share. So, here it is -