Getting Organised

Oh, first, Happy New Year.  Its a bit later than I'd intended but I'm getting myself up to date with things, printing off mini calendars to stick in notebooks etc.  I used to have one notebook for everything, but actually it does get rather heavy and also confusing, searching through pages to find what belongs to what organisation, and over time I've found some places I go, I only ever write half a page, so pointless to heave a heavy tome about. So these days I have a notebook for each, much easier to just grab the red one on this day and the green one on that. I've also made myself another year book.  You can read all about the how, what, why in this posting  I did hesitate about making another, number 7, but it does prove to be very useful.

It just has to be patterned paper - and this is Tim Holtz. Vintage Shabby - which I love.  The cover is a textured paper which I bought at one of those 'fill a wallet' stands.  It will have the year added on the front at some point.  It will also have bells on!!!  Yes really.  I have a couple of bells on a split ring which will attach to the spine - so useful to then be able to find the book!!!  Wobble the table, smack the shelf, and it will ring to say I'm here!

In the back of the book I also keep a list of forums etc I belong to and my sign in details.... I thought I ought to check out and upgrade the info.   Dogeared Magazine which is a publication about book arts has a forum do dah..  Publication of the magazine itself has disappeared and lots of us are still owed issues.  But the promise has been that they will appear,  Well checking the forum, thinking perhaps I ought to ditch it, been such a long time... and what do I find, next issue of the mag is available for download for those who were subscribers.  So I hope to get access to it.  But odd... I have the blog in Google Reader and there's been no notification on there, so its only pure chance I discovered, and I don't know when notification was put up on the forum site.

In the meantime I'm toying with the idea of continuing with Quilting Arts for another year..... change of editor, may bring about changes, as such things often do.... so thinking about it.

How about something pretty

This is Rico PomPom yarn.  I'm using Tunisian Crochet to make..... well its a thing!  I tend to call these pieces Therapy work.  Its an itch to scratch, either in terms of the need to get back in touch with crochet, or to play with a ball of yarn.  I can't knit - well its more like pushing a snowball uphill - but lots of these lovely fancy yarns don't show how you can crochet with them.  I've chosen Tunisian Crochet, because I can push the pom poms onto one side.  It may turn into something, perhaps another cat blanket which the cat sniffs looks at and declares "you expect me to sit on that".  But its bright and cheerful for these dull grey days of Winter.

Remember I said I needed a paper fix.  Well this is what I made.  Its called a Kusudama flower.  Do as I did, and Google for the instructions for it - I followed a video.  The paper is a new purchase, which I love love love.  Its by Tim Holtz, Tissue Wrap.  Comes on a roll just like cling film or tinfoil - this is Terminology, and has dictionary type meanings on it, so very me!!

I've still not worked out what I need arty wise for Xmas.... but I have bought choccies, for me!!  Him indoors tells me the shops have sold out - so he won't want any of mine then, will he?

But now a question…. Jan/Feb time my magazines come up for renewals on their subs. So, should I renew or not? I will renew Embroidery, no question of that. I’ve been taking it since 1992. It was the magazine which led me to the Guild itself, it used to publish lists of all the Branches and contacts. It came at a pivotal moment in my arty life. Bought the magazine, attended my first Guild meeting and started C&G studies all within weeks of each other. Its now the only magazine (since Fiberarts demise) that gives me a wider viewpoint on textile art. Some issues are better than others, or rather some of course hit what resonates with me, but I can’t imagine giving it up because what I don’t like or am not drawn to gives me cause to think. I am the sad person who reads everything in my magazines and I mean everything, all the ads, the lot.

I also take Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors – via digital copy as that way I can afford them both. I’ve taken CPS since issue one. Honestly, I’ve never made a project in it….  and I don’t like twee – things like pages and pages of Halloween novelties, Xmas decorations also leave me cold. QA I’ve taken for a while now – but I don’t quilt!!! In fact I don’t really know where to start with quilting. However, QA merges the edges between embroidery and quilting, and I’ve come across several artists I like, and now follow their blogs. So if I don’t take these two magazines any more, what do I put in their place? I don't tend to stitch in the evenings very often - I use that time for my reading.
Btw we have a calamity, I can't function.... the laptop has died.  Would have been nice if it hadn't failed 3 weeks after a new battery.  Looked it up, was bought on Boxing Day in the sales four years ago.  Guess where we are going this year?  It has had a huge amount of use.  We have a netbook, which I'm not keen on, keys in different places and I always type the wrong stuff, too small to see, and.... I can't play Mahjong Tiles on it - see calamity.  I mentioned the i-pad word.... and judging by the response, no mini flat do dah thingy is coming in this house!!