Friday 21 September 2007

Manuscripts, Memories and a Bad Cat


Lesley - what a lovely aunt you have. I'm sure you will both love the machine.

I'll put some stuff up about the Flower Stitcher soon, Arlee. About time I had another play with it.

The last few days I have been glued to my laptop, finishing the manuscript for the 'Image to Stitch' book. You always think you have finished when the 'doing' bits have been written but it takes ages to get all the addresses in the suppliers section and check the headings and page numbering. Very boring and I have persuaded Clive to do most of it, working from my scribbled notes. That man is a Saint. All I have to do now is put the photos that I have taken (Batsford give me a set number of pics - never enough for me so I use some of my own) on to CD. This is much easier now we have those cute little flash drives. I back up everything on to one and it is then easy to find the image files. I used to use CDs which took ages to read.
This is getting a bit technical so lets's have a pic or two. I am working on the image below for a faded fresco type textile.
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It is a photo we took in a church in Jersey when I was teaching there, earlier this year and we went over a day early because the plane fare was much cheaper. I think it was in a little chapel in St. Brelade's Bay. It's lovely using your own photos as they remind you of the occasion. This was one of those perfect days: the plane was on time, the hire car was upgraded, the weather was lovely and we stopped for a coffee on the seafront. They even had toasted tea cakes, which Clive is allowed now and again on his diabetic diet. Then we found the wall paintings.
I love the shapes of the figures. It is turning out well so it will be in the book.


I've also been working on December's Workshop on the Web. It has been highjacked by Ruth Lee - a good thing as her work is wonderful. Her new knitting book is not knitting as we expect it to be - just look at these pieces from it.





The shoe is made from knitted Tyvek. We have an interview with Ruth and she is one very interesting lady. We're also reviewing her exhibition in Dumfries - that will be on the unrestricted bit so everyone can see it.

That !!!!!! cat has just jumped up on the desk and has knocked over half a cup of cofffee and my book file - all in slippery plastic wallets and not yet page numbered. I shall have to dash off now to put it all back in order. Luckily the coffee missed it. I'm sure Jan Beaney doesn't have these problems. If the cat is never mentioned again you will know I have strangled it.

6 comments:

Julie said...

That darned cat!! Lol. If you strangled him I'm sure he'd be like the cat in the song..."The cat came back, the cat came back. He thought he was a goner but the cat came back" :o)) I'm sure you'd be lost without him.;)

Leanne Hurren said...

Aww poor kitty - just wanted to see what mummy was doing, lol!! Can't wait to see what you create from that picture- it's gorgeous.

artisbliss said...

Oh, if I had a dollar for every time my cat jumped onto my worktable and sent everything flying! I was in the middle of a bead project at one point and over went the beadboard, seed beads and delicas everywhere. I spent two hours on the carpet picking everything out of the pile.If I didn't love that beast so much, he'd be puppy chow by now.

I love that fresco picture, Maggie. Can't wait to see what it turns into.

Penny said...

Cats! they must be designed for mayhem! Mine with malice aforethought threw my favorite digital camera to the floor and broke the little flange that holds the batteries in. Now taped up and the poor camera groans when i open it.I was ready to kill him too.

M Dawson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
M Dawson said...

Oh tell me about the cat why don't you. My nightmare is the kitten jumping up on my ironing board (carefully placed for convenience beside the Sew-Ezi table) and helping out and, yes, the iron is on!!!! Cue shrieking from me, one startled kitten then peace, for a while at least. No wonder I'm behind with my Block of the Month and Etsy brooches.....

Of course he wants to help.........