I've neglected my blog for the past ten days because I've been busy putting together a new book of folk dances. I've published two previously, the last one being 5 years ago, but the big difference this time is that I'm using a desktop publisher myself instead of leaving it entirely to DH. Of course, it's a very steep learning curve and I'm very grateful for his help; he has edited the motor club monthly newsletter/magazine for over 12 years now so has it at his fingertips but unfortunately he isn't good at understanding why I have problems! Still, the dance instructions are all imported to the page layout, I now have to add the extra information like recommended recordings and the reason for the titles (I always find that fascinating in other people's books so have included it in all of mine) then it will examined by my daughter who's a trained proof reader and finally emailed to the printer. It's a very different process from my first book which was published in 1998 - I remember crawling over the floor trying to work out which pages had to be printed side by side and what went on the reverse so that when the sheets were folded and collated they appeared in the right order!
The other excitement in the past week is news of the story I wrote for the WI competition mentioned on my blog for 27 June. Entries are first judged at County level and the top 3 from each go forward to the national finals: last Tuesday I had a phone call to say I had been picked as one of the Hampshire winners. I was utterly amazed because it is almost the first thing I have written since I left school. I mentioned in that blog entry that I've previously done a course at the WI college on story telling and I had to write a couple of brief stories for that; since then I've composed another to tell as an entertainment 'spot' during a folk dance, but I really don't think of myself as a writer. Or I didn't.....I think I'm now sufficiently encouraged to see what else I can produce. I don't claim any greatness for this story, by the way - it was limited to 500 words, and although there are 7200 WI members in Hampshire there were only 39 entries. It will be judged against 150 others nationally so I'm not expecting any further success, but I shall be reading it from the stage at the County meeting in October which will be a great thrill.
Finally, to some cards! It's been a long time since I used some of the older techniques I've enjoyed in the past, other than iris folding which I've done a few times in the past year. This week I found my ornaré templates and paper stitching materials. I made a stitched and beaded Christmas card front which has yet to be mounted so I'll show that when complete, but for now here is one for a friend who was among my first lacemaking students over 30 years ago and will be 93 this month. I enjoy paper pricking and as it is similar to making a pattern for bobbin lacemaking it seems very appropriate for Eva. The rose is a single layer but I used foam pads behind the big flower to give an illusion of 3D.
The bottle shaped card is made from a template by WS Designs and the stamps are also by WSD. I chalked the grapes and used gold paper for the neck; our friend lives in Spain amid vineyards and olive groves so it seems another ideal choice.
It's his birthday tomorrow and I've just made this card kneeling on the floor of my workroom in the most ridiculous cramped conditions! The trouble is that I usually work on the dining table, but the dining room gives direct access to the garden and DH has been trimming the hedge and cutting the lawn so he's been in and out like a fiddler's elbow. My craft room is too small (OK, too untidy) for a table so rather than risk him seeing his card before The Day I worked behind a closed door. That didn't stop him coming into the living room via another door when I was using the scanner there, but then occasionally our house resembles a French farce with characters entering and leaving rooms with multiple doors and unintentionally pursuing each other while the cats look on in amazement. Their only concern is who will stop long enough in one place to feed them.
