Pencil Roving

Huzzah, Blogger's back up!

I've been spinning some pencil roving:

 

It spins like a dream. No drafting necessary, just hops right on.  From Sassy Spinster in Lancaster, TX.  You also get to see Edna, my spinning wheel, purchased from eBay a year or so ago - came in a huge box.  Very fun!

Then washed and hanging (like the setup? two hangers, a shower, and groceries!):

And the finished product!  (With a new Margery Allingham from Murder by the Book.)

One skein of pencil roving yields 45 yards.  Anyone have a pattern for 45 yards of somewhat bulky?

What books have you read?

I've read 56 of the books listed here, and 1 (Shakespeare) unfinished. Not bad. Minus: several of the read books (Suitable Boy, Life of Pi, etc.) were school assignments or tutoring self-assignments (as students had to read them). Plus: most of the unread books are of the modern/trendy/"read the book of the movie!" variety. (Admission: I have read Bridget Jones....)

So.... have an English teacher as a mother and you'll read most of the classics at home; have two advanced degrees and you'll probably get most of the rest!

How about you?

Giveaway!

Welcome to the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway day!  (And my mother's 60th birthday!)

Today there are three options.

I'm giving away a headband, like I'm making all the (girl) cousins for Christmas.  (Knitted with a crocheted flower.)

And I'm giving away this little (4x5 ish) coptic-bound book, handy for writing things in.

And, in case you want to do it yourself, some boucle yarn, in three colors.  I tried (ignoring the label) to crochet with it (about 2 feet of the yellow), threw a fit, and decided not even to try knitting with it.  Maybe you'll have more luck!

To enter, tell me what you'd like - that's all.  Open until the 17th.  Yes, I do ship internationally (but it may take past the deadline for me to ship to you, as I can't use the automated postal unit for international shipping, and the post office is only open when I'm at work).

Grandmother Quilt

I did it -- I went to Sunflower Quilts and got a quilt kit, as I mentioned below.  My dental hygienist sent me there, which entertains me.  Had great fun at the shop, and last Saturday made these four blocks (not perfect, as the corners really aren't exact, but I'm very pleased), and yesterday made four more.

I'm always impressed by the women who can apparently do everything.  With a full-time job, getting home after 6:30, a husband who likes to eat dinner together, and an 8:30 bedtime, on my days off I can either make stuff or do housework/buy groceries/etc.  But the people who do both, and have kids, impress me.  I approve of homeschooling, and, if we weren't in a place full of good schools that I can trust, we might consider it if necessary, but I don't have the self-discipline and organization to do that.  I taught high school, and in a parochial school where we came up with our own lesson plans and lectures (none of that cushy stuff that some of my friends in public schools have -- and that I've seen/used when subbing at public schools, where your lectures and lesson plans are all pre-made by some syndicate!  (And yes, I know, not all public schools do that -- but some very highly-ranked and highly-regarded ones do)), and it was certainly a lot of work!  I certainly can't understand single mothers who homeschool (respect them, yes, but grasp how their lives function, no) -- if you're also having to earn a living for you and your children, how do you do it and also manage to teach multiple levels of children and stay with them all day?  The 1990s Supermom (who had a high-powered job, ran a perfect house, and raised perfect children with no hired help) stereotypically ended up on speed for a reason, I think! 

But, that said, my goals for the rest of the day:
-bring the workbasket downstairs to corral some of the loose knitting/clothing repair projects
-3 loads of laundry
-dishes
-find books that are owed to various people (good thing working at the library means no late fees!)
-go to post office (across the street)
-grocery/gas (Costco?)
-plan meals for the next 2 weeks
-pharmacy
-water plants (and, if enthusiastic, mow as well)
-call AT&T to figure out why the TV won't work
-only if all else is finished: play!

Book fair!

Earlier this month we had the book fair at the Museum of Printing History.  Here's me with my offerings:

Regular readers may recognize some of these books, especially my two miniature books in the left corner.  (Those went quickly.)

The little books in the middle, in the neon covers, are tiny staple-bound notebooks; I find them useful, and usually have one in my purse or wallet, but they didn't sell, at a dollar each.

All three of these ones went, though.  All I have left is a few of the Florentine-paper ones, and one with Rome on it that I forgot to bring but that (see post below) is now destined for the perfect sister-in-law.

Much fun!  My second fair, not as exciting as the first (because I spent all of 3 weeks making things, rather than a few months like last year, so didn't have much variety or any of the little earrings which sold so well last year), but still a very good time.

Martini Record

What do you think - make a journal of interesting mixed drink recipes?

The paper entertains me. The insides are standard linen resume paper, hand-torn, very nice.

Sewn with waxed linen thread.
Zooming in on these two pictures (shadows heightened in the lower one), you can see the difference in the sewing -- this book was sewn with single-needle coptic style sewing; the florentine book below was two-needle sewing, and I think it looks a lot more even.

Tutorials, of course, can be found through the links at TJBookarts' website.

New book

I had fun with this one, my first two-needle coptic-bound book. I used a lovely florentine-style (maybe actually florentine -- it's "made in Italy"!) paper for the outside, and a Japanese print on the inside.

Plain blue copy paper matches nicely.

If you zoom in on the picture below, you can make out my stitches. I think it looks a lot better than single-needle coptic, but it's more of a pain (especially as I have only one curved needle, and had to do the other straight!). Pink cotton thread. These colors make me happy!

Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I read this book this past week.  I must say I was looking forward to reading it, but did not expect to like it very much.  As it happened, though, I loved it! 

The book, for those who don't know, keeps almost all of Jane Austen's original text, adding in sections (and changing just a few words here and there) to add a background of a zombie plague across England, where the five Bennett girls (and Mr. Darcy, although not Mr. Bingley) are all well-trained in zombie fighting. 

(Spoilers ahead.)

Aside from my enjoyment of the zombie element, I very much appreciated the way that it made several pieces of the plot easier to understand.  Charlotte's decision to marry Mr. Collins, for example, stems not just from her fear of ending up an old maid, but also from her infection with the zombie plague, her awareness that she has but a few months to live, and her hope that her new situation will give her a better end.  Darcy's excuse that he warned Mr. Bingley off of Jane because he feared that her illness (from Jane Austen's original) might be a sign that she had also become infected with the zombie plague also is much more believable than that he feared she wasn't actually interested in him. 

In all, a very enjoyable book; the solidly 1900-era costumes on the girls in the illustrations aside, I heartily recommend it.

Green miniature book

Again, blurry dying-camera shot, but you can see my little book's structure.  Case bound, linen resume paper, headbands from France, paper from odds and ends lying about... very fun little blank book.

I like this paper - it looks and feels like snakeskin.

Love the way the marbled paper turned out in such a tiny segment.

My hands look so big!  It's about an inch across and 1 1/2 or maybe 1 3/4 inches tall.  It, like the red one, is available in my shop.

Red miniature book

Sorry for the fuzzy pictures - the camera was dying.

Looks like leather, actually is paper.

Real marbled paper, off-cuts from a larger book.  My hand gives you some sense as to size -- it's about 1.5 inches by 2.5 inches.

Six signatures of linen resume paper, headbands from france, case bound.  And very fun to make.

Along with the camera battery going, my internet has been out for the past two days... meh.  So, editing the scheduled post from work on my break (I'm a good girl, don't blog when I'm supposed to be working, but a 1-paragraph edit in my afternoon break is fine).  Hope it gets back up soon... although I'll probably get more of the house cleaned tomorrow if it's not!

Miniatures

More detailed pics to come; this was the best one, though, so showing it off first.

Buttonhole book

I've been home sick today, and didn't do much but lie around. I picked up something from the kids I was around on Sunday, I expect; sadly, my grandfather is ill as well, as I had dinner with him Sunday night. I did get around to making this little buttonhole book today, though.

Neither of these pictures is right on the color -- it's greener than that. The paper is some I picked up in India in March; the paisleys are made out of little glued-on dots.

Sewn with linen thread from France. Boring old yellow copy paper on the inside, but the colors do match well. About 6 inches tall, about 4 inches wide... I suppose one could put a bunch of 3x5 photos in it!

The endpages (false endpages, technically). Don't know where I picked up this paper... heh - don't know where I picked up most of the yarn and paper I have lying around!

I also unearthed a few miniature books I made a while back; photos to come tomorrow.

Winner!

The Randomness Generator at random.org gave me number 6! That would be Purple Paisley Patch who said...

I love the name of your blog, and I absolutely LOVE the gorgeous purple book you're giving away! I sooooo hope I win! :-)

Congratulations :) And for everyone else, hope you stick around -- I'm a sporadic poster, so I shouldn't take up too much of your time if you stick me in your reader!

Giveaway!

My very first giveaway!

Sew, Mama, Sew! is having a giveaway day, and I don't know if I got in on time or not (if not, I'll try to stick myself in their twitter feed), but, either way, here's my prize:

A little blank book, coptic-bound in purply-pink thread, with purple covers and silvery endpapers.
(EDIT: my husband says it's not purple, it's pink on the covers... I'm not good with colors, but I think he's right.)

It's not absolutely perfect, so my perfectionist self won't let me sell it, but it's really quite nice and good for a giveaway! It may not be sew-ish, but it is sewn with needle and thread, lack of fabric notwithstanding... and the sew-ish people can use it to jot down pattern ideas :)



To win, leave any comment at all below. Open until next Monday morning.

Surprise!

I won Rozi's giveaway. Today the package arrived!

Check out those funky stamps :) Her handwriting's nifty, too.

So fancy, that paper's totally being used for something else (another book?) sometime soon.
And then the final unveiling:

So pretty :) Thanks!

Paris

On our way back from India, Himself and I stopped off in Paris. His family is from India, and his first name is very common there, so we were always looking around to see who was calling him. (Aside: I always found it amusing to shout out "Mommy!" in a crowd, just to see how many mothers would look my way to see if I were theirs.) For equality's sake, then, we found my name in many places in Paris.

(You may have to zoom in on that one.)

We had fun doing the 1976 Michelin Guide (picked up on my parents' honeymoon) recommended 4-days tour of Paris in 2 days, with the third for Versailles -- walking about 8 miles a day, which is very salutary, I'm sure, but does make your feet tired after four days of climbing stone temples barefoot in India.

We caught some examples of fine French design, which my French-Antiques-Saleswoman Aunt I'm sure would appreciate, such as the chandelier in our little hotel:

And we saw all the general sights, as well as, of course, some very exciting bookbinding examples:

at the Hotel Cluny, Museum of the Middle Ages:

Also managed to stop by Relma, a fantastic bookbinding shop. I'd never been to a real bookbinding shop before, only booths at the Guild of Bookworkers Standards meeting, so it was a great experience. Bought some cheap leather (that would fit in the suitcase) and some headbands -- some of the leather's already gone to make Himself a book, which should be my next post, if I remember -- either that or the bird that's moved into my parsley!

The last night, febrile under the Eiffel Tower, was not quite as fun, but I'm all recovered and well, and at least the pneumonia didn't really hit until the last night!