Lighter, brighter

Working in one of my favourite places today, I must have been distracted when I arrived, because it was only as I left that I noticed the blackboard standing by the door.  I’d spent the morning in a pleasant and very useful meeting with colleagues whose company I enjoy and met some interesting people over a sandwich lunch.  Time well spent.

Stepping outside to return to my car then, I read the list of flowers to spot in the grounds, noticed the sun shining and decided to take “the scenic” route back to the car park.

How could I have overlooked these little beauties earlier?  Such a welcome sight after so many dreary winter days and even though there’s still plenty of time for more of that, the days are getting noticeably brighter and longer.

The small drift of crocus under the gnarled old tree lit up this area of the gardens and the pale, light colours shone through the wet grass.

Most exuberant of all were the little aconites, which always remind me of the dear old lady who owned the flat I shared with occupational therapist Lin, when I first started work.  I’ve tried several times to get them growing in our garden, without success, each time inspired by the sight of them like this.

What a great idea to place the blackboard by the door this morning and what a joyful way to start a new month, don’t you think?

Super, wonderful, terrific

Well, our day didn’t quite get off to the best start.  We’d booked seats on the train to London to join friends celebrating a significant birthday, but as we walked between car park and platform, heard the news that all trains were cancelled due to a fatality a short way down the line.

A terrible tragedy for those concerned, our immediate need to get to London seemed trivial in comparison.  Nevertheless we couldn’t hang around waiting for replacement buses or anything and decided to drive to Swindon. Except, when we got there, there was not a single parking space to be found.  Since we were staying overnight, we needed a long stay place and having done the circuit once or twice (together with a couple of other cars), we left them to it and drove up instead.

Amazingly, we arrived earlier than we would have done had we caught the train as planned.  Hmm.  Not the best incentive for taking the train in future. 

At least a warm welcome awaited us at the hotel, where an upgrade to a suite  lifted the spirits no end, I can tell you (not to mention a few nostalgic photographs on the wall!)

The day got progressively better, because we met Edward for lunch (in Zedel, just off Piccadilly Circus which is a reliable, reasonably priced place in a very convenient location, btw) and after a bit of a mooch around, we put on our glad rags and met our friends at J Sheekey’s (Fish pie all round! hooray!) Our generous host, the Birthday Boy, had arranged a fine evening out, the highlight of which was The Mikado at ENO.

All ten of us had seen this production previously.  Some had seen the original with Eric Idle some 28 years ago and others – including ourselves – had seen it revived some years later.  Everyone remembered it vividly and couldn’t wait to see it again!

(Photo album from English National Opera)

This is the Jonathan Miller production which takes place in a seaside hotel of the 1930’s.  Wonderful, witty, stylish and exuberantly performed, the whole thing is an absolute joy from start to finish and was every bit as good – if not better – than the last time we all saw it. 

What was especially lovely, was that rather than bid everyone goodnight at the theatre door and each go our separate ways, we returned to J Sheekey’s for puds and coffee – and of course, to share our delight in The Mikado.  As a result, it was well past midnight when we reluctantly put on our coats and headed across Leicester Square, humming our favourite tunes as we went.

The softest and cosiest of beds  in the most elegant suite awaited us!

A green world

Well, it’s pretty brown and muddy in places and the rain is unrelenting too, but it was good to open the curtains this morning and see the grass again.

I’ve been progressing with my travel journal, pottering about my studio in between doing bits and pieces of work; making sure all is up to date and everything is tickety boo.

Not only was the weather enough to keep me at home again, but I felt I really needed to be around today, just in case.

I kept my work internet connection open and my phone in my pocket.

Just in case.

Then, just after a quick chat with a colleague, who agreed that, yes, it was surprisingly quiet

(considering)

the phone rang to arrange the expected – the inevitable – meeting with OFSTED.  Yes, we have four days of fun at work again this week.  Still, 48 hours notice doesn’t allow much time for panic.  Does it?

Meanwhile the journal pages are coming along nicely, I’m enjoying fiddling about with bits of coloured paper and now I’ve discovered a nifty way of getting the small pieces of a Chinese character from one place to another without muddling them up (clue:  washi tape…) I’m on a roll.

Still talking about the snow?

Because the sun came out this morning!  Hearing from friends in baking-hot Australia and –22C in Sweden makes us feel fortunate indeed, the more so when we looked outside and saw one or two icicles and heard the unmistakeable sound of dripping water.  It’s going to take some time, though, because there was a hard freeze overnight and that lovely soft snow has a distinct crunch to it today.

Anyway, the postman arrived (yes, in shorts ;-) to bring a parcel of pretty things for me and I could begin work on my pocket book/travel journal at last.  I don’t normally buy the whole collection like this, but since it was all half price, it seemed a good idea to go for it.

My first thought was to maximise the double-sided print of these papers.  If I cut and folded the papers as in the prototype, then each pair of pages would be the same – and I preferred them all to be different.  Time for a slight redesign, then, after which the Silhouette was cranked into motion.

What I did was cut the pages in half and make a joining strip with the binding holes from a different print.  There was the challenge of finding the right glue for the job – always key to the success of a project, I find – and having discovered which one worked best (Zip Dry) I made the six pairs of pockets. I chose a particular print for each destination and tried to keep them in order, so that they’ll follow our journey. Hope I got it right!

Sorry, dreadful picture, but I wanted to show how pretty the spine was at this stage.  How could I cover all of that up?  Surely, it’d be good to see that part?

So, after a couple of false starts, I cut a spine piece and a liner from a sheet of clear acetate, using my Japanese screw punch to clean off a couple of the holes that the Silhouette didn’t quite manage to cut right through.  Rather than stitch each pair of pockets in separately, I used a kind of cross stitch binding, which secured it all nicely.

Next bit was to add the card covers.  I’d already covered both sides with some of the pretty paper, sanded the edges and cut them to size.  Attaching them to the acetate spine was going to be the next problem – until I remembered I had a tape runner for vellum.  Perfect!

Except it wasn’t…or rather, I wasn’t!  I had forgotten how vicious that stuff is and as soon as it comes anywhere near a bit of paper, it sticks like..well, glue!  I made a real mess of it and had to pull it apart again, but fortunately managed to hide the damage under that Orla-Kiely-esque border!

I cut the folders to slide into each pocket and gave myself a pat on the back for remembering to fit that ribbon tie in the binding, because this little book is going to be very stuffed!

There we are.  Now comes the fun bit.  With a box full of bits and pieces to titivate it up, I’m looking forward to adding a few embellishments.  I’ve already printed off quite a few journalling cards to pack into the sections and am resisting the urge to fill the whole thing up before we’ve even started!

Update on Friday, January 25, 2013 at 4:07PM by Gill Thomas

In answer to Dorothy's questions below:

Yes, I too like the Kraft paper one, but sadly, every greasy fingerprint is revealed.  I'm not sure the paper is strong enough to withstand the journey, sadly - but this was cheap manilla card and not "proper" paper.

The pockets are large enough to comfortably contain a 3x4inch journalling card.  The book measures about 4x6 overall.

I haven't found an equivalent to ZipDry glue, sadly.  It's new to me too - one of my Philadelphia discoveries - and is unlike anything else, except possibly a thinner version of Bostik?  (It's flammable and a bit stringy)

Hope that helps!

Turn the tap off, please

Yes, it is very pretty.

No, we don’t want to sit outside to drink our coffee.

We like to stay indoors and have plenty to eat, drink and to keep us busy.

But perhaps we’ve had enough snow for now, thank you.