Summer Sketch-book

I decided to make my summer sketch book instead of buying the usual A3 effort. I went for a smaller A4 format for a change and made it so that I can add and take out pages as I want as well as being able to insert plastic envelopes and the like. It’s turning out to be really flexible and useful now that I’m starting to get used to it. Here’s a little diagram to show how it all goes together, it’s really just a very simple ring binder with fancy covers 🙂 The part that makes the spine has multiple holes in it so I can expand the thing as I need to…

The hardest part was making the front and back boards. I used canvas type paper meant for acrylics and really did not want to stick to the cardboard at all. I ended up using kitchen weights and anything else I could find to weigh them down in place over-night so nothing ended up warped or peeling away. Here’sa the front… the designs are based on Northumbrian rock art with its distinctive ring and cup patterns.

and this is the back….

Birthday Jumper

A lovely present from a relative, she knitted this for me herself and it is absolutely beautiful 🙂

and a closeup of the pattern…

Sewing & Burda

I’ve finally done some more sewing using a pattern from a Burda magazine. I’ve been after a woven fabric top as an alternate to wering t-shirts all the time and this particular design was just perfect.

Typically for Burda though bits of the instructions were fairly cryptic. I think sometimes being translated form German really makes the comprehension suffer. I gave up on how they recommended applying the bias trim to the neck and arm holes and looked that type of finish up in a sewing manuel I have. I think the results are pretty respectable.