Slouchy Day...

This afternoon, we have mostly been Slouching!

Slouching at my computer... blogging and updating my Shop...

Slouching in the messy bedroom...

Slouching on the door mat...

Slouchy guitar...

It's nice to just relax for a while and "do nothing"...

See you all tomorrow - with photos of what I'm working on (when I'm not slouching!)...

Sherlock's New Cushion - A Bed-Time Story

Good Morning, All Blog Friends!  This is my first contribution to Sian's wonderful Story Telling Sunday - I hope you enjoy the Tale! 

When you've finished, why not go back to Sian's blog, to read some of the other stories - there are usually lots and they're all quite different and normally very good!

Prologue

I'm sure that those of you who are owned by cats, have notice their clever ability to copy sounds?  You know, you speak to your cat, and he answers you - in your own language! At least, it sounds as if he does.

In fact, cats are great communicators and do have the ability to make a lot of different noises - and a selection of individual vocal sounds (someone told me a cat can make 18 different sounds, which I can quite readily believe!). 

They can also "talk" with body language - how often have you come back from a holiday, to find that your feline pal will not "speak" to you and slowly & deliberately turns his back, then sits upright with his nose in the air?  All to tell you how badly he feels about being abandoned to the cat-sitter. 

If you give your cat a lot of attention and watch/listen to him, you will have learned some of his "words" - whether vocal or body language.  A cat "says" so much more than just "Miaow"!  (In fact, Miaow is only an English spelling - there are lots of ways, round the world, of spelling the sound a cat makes when it wants a human's attention ) and it only uses this word to its mother, then to its humans, never to other cats or animals.

Sherlock is not alone in this ability to "talk" then; but for us, his language seems both clever and unique.  He has a great rapport with "his humans", especially the male members of the household. 

He's learned to mimic words we use, to get what he wants from us - or sometimes, just to be conversational.  If you say "Hello, Sherlock", back comes the reply "Hewo!". 

He generally speaks in a mixture of Ow's, Ooo's, Ahhh's and sometimes a short little "ip" or "ee".  When he watches birds out of the window, he gets excited and says "mip!" over and over again, while kneading his paws or pacing in excitement. 

He has a habit of wandering round the house, when he's not sure where to find us, yelling for our attention. If there's just him and me in the house, he shouts "Muuum", "Muuuuum" for me.  It's not quite the same sound as the human version, but it's quite definitely his "word" for me and it does sound like "Mum"! DH was working from home last week and was quite amazed to hear him do this (and it does prove I'm not mad and it's not just wishful thinking).

So, it's not unsual for Sherlock to "talk" to us.  And we like it. 

* * *

Chapter 1 - Sherlock's New Cushion

Sherlock is getting on a bit.  He's a middle-aged cat, of 14, with arthritis in his back legs.  This means that sometimes he is uncomfortable and goes up or downstairs rather carefully - sort of one-paw-two-paw-hoppity-bump - with a look of careful concentration, as if trying not to hurt himself.  

He doesn't usually like to sleep on the floor any longer, as it makes his legs sieze up and hurts when he has to get up again.  He chooses comfortable places, like beds (when he can sneak in there), sofas and sometimes, laps. 

His favourite spot to sleep in the day-time is (was!) the back of the sitting-room sofa,

or on a comfy bed in the garden

He used to sleep on a chair in my studio, however, this was moved downstairs, so he went back to his favourite perch on the sofa.   He doesn't like it though, if I am upstairs working and he is downstairs; he prefers to Supervise, but can't do that if there is no-where to sit. 

For a while, we had a running battle, as he started sneaking in, to sit on a pile of paper which lived behind me on the floor (since February and until recently, everything has lived behind me on the floor!). Of course, I didn't like this idea very much and kept making him get off.  He couldn't find another place to settle down, so he'd go off to the bedroom (if the door was open), or the sofa again, but keep coming to shout at me from the bottom of the stairs - something in cat-language, that sounded very like "Hey, I'm down here, come and keep me company!"

A couple of weeks ago, I took him to the vet for his check-up, so we could continue to get his medicines etc.  While I was there, I found a really nice cushion, which I bought for Sherlock and put in a corner of my studio. 

This is where he now spends most of his time....

...when he isn't lying out in the sunshine:

* * *

Chapter 2 - The Bed-Time Battle

So Sherlock loves his new bed (almost as much as the sunshiney garden)

Sherlock's New Bed

He spends so long lying there snoozing, that he's usually still there in the evening, when it's time for the household to settle down for the night.

Up til now, he used to ask to "go to bed", getting up from his perch on the sofa and staring fixedly at Human Number One, until he said something like "Is it Bed-time, Sherlock?" and followed Sherlock to the kitchen.

Cats are definitely animals who like a routine.  Sherlock wants his bed-time to be the same every day.  At Bed-Time, he expects The Humans to supply a snack supper, fresh water, clean litter-tray and a comfortable mat or cushion on the dining-room sofa, so that he can settle down to sleep. 

Bed-Time is always around 9:50pm (give or take 5 minutes - a chap has to have a pre-bed-time wash!).  At this time, he will get up and request (or demand!) that we Take Him To Bed.

So, that first night, it was very unusual and irregular, that Sherlock was snoozing on his New Bed at eleven pm.  I was still hard at work (or play?!), at my computer, but DH had an early start in the morning, so he was heading for his pillow. 

He came into the studio in search of Sherlock and said, "Sherlock, it's bed-time."

No response from Sherlock (well, he kind-of half-opened an eye....).

"Sherlock, it's Bed-Time; are you coming to bed?"

After a pause, Sherlock opened an eye, looked at DH and said, quite clearly,

"Mo!"

* * *

Epilogue

When DH and I had stopped laughing, we coaxed Sherlock downstairs for his usual bed-time routine - but I had to carry him!

Since then the bed-time routine has been somewhat erratic.  It's improved since I was at the vet again, buying more medicine, where I bought a second Comfortable Cushion.  This now sits in state on the dining room sofa and, most evenings, Sherlock doesn't mind exchanging the Upstairs Comfy Cushion for its brother Downstairs Comfy Cushion. 

But sometimes, I still have to carry him!

Stopping to Catch my Breath...

Well, I am so busy, I'm permanently out of breath just now!  I posted that I had lots of books on the go, with various orders to complete.  Since then, I have posted off three of the Custom orders, plus a few "ready made" items.  But I still have loads to do! 

** I'm writing notes for the Sock Monkeys workshop I'll be teaching on Saturday.
** I'm making Monkey-samples, for the same workshop.

** I'm making book samples, for a Books with Fabric Covers workshop I'll teach in July (the samples need to be displayed at the shop in advance).

"London Phone-Boxes" 6"x4" notebook, with fabric and red paper cover and red ribbon tie. 

"London" Sketchbook, soft cover, with red paper lining and back, red cotton edging; Japanese stab-stitch binding in black linen; leather strip and button tie closure.

** I have two of my original Custom orders left - waiting on customers to answer a couple of queries, then ready to go - one is all but complete.
** One of those customers has asked me to make a second custom order also.

** I had an order for a Wedding Guest book, from a friend who recently got engaged.

** The same friend also wants a photo album, to match one I made her last year.

** Yesterday I took an order for a Visitors' Book, from a UK artist, to use in his studio/shop.

It will be like this except with a Coptic stitch binding (this has a hinged cover, for a Japanese stab-stitch binding). The binding will be in chocolate brown linen.

** This morning I took an order for another Wedding Guest book, the same as one I mailed to USA last week.

This will be the last Wedding album order for this paper (unless I can find more!) - I have run out now; it has been so very popular!

** I still have a Coptic stitched Guest Book on my Binding Table.

I'm binding another book like this one.

** I completed another Guest Book, plus a couple of mini-albums and listed them in my shop.

"Birds and Butterflies" Guest book, Coptic stitch binding, 8" x 6"

Mini 6"x6" Scrapbooks, in "Nonsense" papers, by We R Memory Keepers.

** There is a pile of pages and cover boards for Photograph Albums on my table, waiting to be worked on.

These will be large and small photograph albums (one day!).

** I have pages cut for several other books, which need covers and bindings.

~~~~ Gasps for breath! ~~~~

I have now told family and friends that I am "Working" on Tuesday to Thursday.  These are my Studio Days.  Except for urgent appointments/problems, I am not available to give lifts, run errands, go out for coffee, go shopping, blog hop... etc, etc....  I have stopped answering the phone during "office hours" and allow the answering machine to do its job (it does very well). 

Some stuff is unavoidable - like the cat needing to see the vet for a check-up and it needing to be a "work day", as she was out on Monday/Friday;

or my osteopath appointments, once a month, which are always on Wednesday, since that's the only day that my osteopath is there (she works in Milton Keynes the rest of the week).  Otherwise, it has to happen on Monday or Friday!  

So far, this has been quite successful.  I have found that my own attitude has also changed.  Suddenly, it feels that I Do "Go to Work" on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I feel justified in leaving the housework between 9 & 4 (though I do sometimes put the washing on the line, or else it won't dry!).  I am definitely getting more work done - a lot more! 
So far, so good - until an "emergency" crops up, I suppose! 

Well, now I have got my breath back and it's the end of a day's work.  I have spent the day on queries and admin, as there was a lot to deal with (and the morning was half over once we got back from the vet).   Now it's dinner time...  off to my Other Job!

Sad

Coffee

Died Friday 17th September

Aged 4 years

* * *

I had to take Coffee to the vet.  She hasn't been well for some time - kept losing weight and wasn't her usual self.  We thought it was because her teeth were growing too fast and preventing her from eating.  These were trimmed, but she then got a cough and infection, which needed anti-biotics.  She seemed better, but only put on a little weight.  Recently she's had her teeth trimmed again, as they were getting long and she wasn't chewing properly.  But even after this, she continued to lose weight. 

Over the last few days I have been hand-feeding her with her favourite grapes, tomatoes and other nice things. She gradually got sadder and sadder and lost her enthusiasm for even her favourite foods.  Today she refused to eat at all.  I syringe-fed her with fruit juice and some baby food (banana and pear puree), but she just sat in a corner and shivered.  It was clear she was really sick and wouldn't recover without urgent help.

So we went to the vet.  Who said she had a tumour in her intestine, which was preventing her from eating.

She was beyond help - nothing I could do would save her. 

The vet gave her some gas to make her sleepy and comfortable, then gave her an injection to humanely put her to sleep.

* * *

Even after all these years of keeping guinea-pigs, I am still heartbroken whenever we lose one.  These little creatures have such personality and are so sweet and friendly.  It's not possible to keep them and not love them.  Each small piggie has its own personality.  Some have been cheeky, some funny, some made amusing noises - one of our piggies would squeak every time her foot touched the floor, like a little commentary on every step she took.  Some are clever and some are not.  I've had a piggie with an amazing sense of humour (!) and a real interest in humans as fellow beings. She loved to talk! 

Coffee was cute, super-fuzzy, a bit cheeky. If you put a hand on top of her head, she'd butt your hand; she would shout for breakfast and chatter her teeth at you in appreciation.  She came to you if you put your hand in her house and called her.  She liked to be stroked and cuddled - she lay in your arms like a baby, on her back! She purred at you and nuzzled your hand.  She was sociable with other guinea pigs too and stood up for her piggie-rights when it came to squabbles over the food dish. She had curly, fuzzy fur and her toe nails grew curly too.  She was soft and so cuddly. 

We loved her.

* * *

Six Needles, Six Threads, all sewn up!

At last I have finished the binding for my current book commission! This has taken longer than I anticipated, due to numerous interruptions of the "Life" kind.  But today I finally got the sewing finished.  Now all I have to do is add the extra little embellishments, then it will be ready to despatch.  I have posted the order in my Etsy shop, so the customer can see the (rather hasty!) photos of the book as it is now.  Soon I will replace those slightly scrappy photos with nice, shiny "Finished Book" pictures! 

So far, this Green and Ivory Silk Wedding Album with a Coptic Stitch Binding looks pretty okay:

Two-sheet section. The book has 10 of these. There are only 2 sheets per section because the pages are heavy weight printmaking paper, which is stiff and thick.  The folded bits are spacers, to allow the book to expand a little, if little souvenirs are stuck inside (like photos or tags with greetings on etc).  The pages measure 10" x 8".

One of the two covered boards, ready to be attached to the book. The covers are of ivory silk satin and moss green silk dupion (a slubby mid-weight silk fabric).  They are lined with some ivory damask-effect paper. 

There is a slight "lip" round the edge of the covers, to make the book neat and easy to open, so the boards are a tiny bit bigger than 10" x 8".

The covers were punched with the six holes for the binding.  I then added the green silk edge and used an awl to make little holes in this, so I knew where to push the needle through. If you look closely, you can see the teeny holes.

Each of the six sets of holes needs to be stitched. I used Coptic Stitch.  See the Six threads - all at once!

This is a Six Needle Coptic Binding!

Here's my needle-holder, that keeps them all in order.

So, I add each Section, on top of the previous one...

Each thread is stitched through the new section, in, then out of a pair of holes, then the needle is tucked under the stitch below it...

... and the thread looped round and tightened, to form a Kettle Stitch.

You can see that it makes a nice chain-stitch effect across the binding.  Sometimes this is done with different coloured threads, to give a lovely contrast, but this binding is just in natural-coloured linen, strengthened with beeswax.

Then the cover is attached.  I prefer to make a double stitch, to make the cover extra-secure and also because I think it looks nice!

The finished binding.

Front view

The book will open flat, right the way through, because the pages are essentially "hinged" on their edges.  This is a good binding for a thick book, especially one with heavy-weight paper. 

It's ideal for this Wedding Album, as the guests will want to open it flat and write messages to the bride and groom. No nasty splitting of the spine, because someone bent it back to open the book!

I'm really pleased with how this turned out.  It's been a while since I made a Coptic binding and I have never made a six-needle version before. There are a couple of minor hiccups, but I'm happy that the book is a pretty decent piece of work.  The customer says she loves it (though she has only seen my straight-from-the-camera, taken-in-poor-light, photos!). 

I need to make a matching tassel and put a lino-cut print on the cover (like I did with these books -

Ivory damask-effect paper, with navy silk binding and hand-printed Wedding Rings lino-cut embellishment.

Journal covered with lime green lokta paper, with gold silk hinged binding, hand-made tassel and hand-printed Beach Huts lino-cut embellishment.

I will use the wedding rings lino-cut that I made recently - the same as I used for the print on the navy book above.

This has been a great project for me to do, though it's been frustrating to have so many hold-ups.  I had problems sourcing the right materials, then trouble with the original binding plan (had intended to use a Japanese stab-stitched, hinged binding, like the ivory and blue book above, but the paper was too heavy and the book would not have opened properly).  Then various delays and problems with Life getting in the way...

But now it's nearly finished and I'm so excited!

* * *

Just a final little photo, that I thought you'd like to see...

Someone loves the sunshine...

Who Shot Sherlock?

The Height of Specciness!

So, yesterday I paid a return visit to the Opticians, to pick up my New Glasses ( ! ).

They have those ultra-thin, coated, anti-scratch, anti-glare lenses.  They have half-rims - which is new for me.  They have varifocal lenses....

Okay, I'll try that again.... varifocal lenses...

Well, that's a bit better.

It's official. I am getting old (er).

Varifocal lenses, because I have been having trouble with reading stuff with normal glasses on and my reading glasses have now reached the stage where the world beyond the area of the Printed Page (or Scrap Page!) is blurred if I forget to change my specs.

I'm not unhappy to have them, though they take some getting used to.  It's all about the position of your head, apparently.  If I want to see stuff clearly, I have to be looking through the right part of the lens.  This means making sure my computer screen is in the right place, so I can look slightly down at it.  I have to look straight forward to see distances (and I haven't tried driving yet).  I need to look down through the lower part of the lens when I'm reading (which is apparently a natural thing, but I've got so used to peering at stuff from beneath my glasses, that this is going to need some adjustment time!).

When I go out this morning, I will try them for driving.  But I'm taking my old distance glasses with me. For insurance. Just in case. 

Actually, I think I'm a bit scared of my new specs...

Did I say that out loud?

Takes a bit of getting used to. As does the idea of me having varifocals. At my age. Which isn't old. Not yet. 

But I always thought bi-focals were for wrinklies... 

Then again, these are not bi-focals.  Those thick, ugly lenses, with big lines across the middle, or a large semi-circular spot on the lower lens, for the reading part of the glasses.

These are Platinum Varifocal Lenses.  Super-duper, extra-special, high-tech, ultra-thin, coated, anti-glare, anti-scratch, half-framed, light-weight.....

Sigh...

So, anyway...

I thought it would be nice to take a photo of myself in my new specs.   They are much less obvious than my old glasses. The lenses sort-of fade a bit against my face, thanks to there being no frame at the bottom, and the top part of the frame being a colour that blends into my (dark and beetly) eyebrows.

Two attempts by DS to take my portrait... Not bad, but he needs practice.

The new specs are not very visible though (I know, I said they blend in nicely, but I wanted a photo that showed them a bit more than this!)

So, although J. tried hard to help, I thought I should try taking a self-portrait instead....

In the mirror...

Hmm....

Not much better...

Okay, I would put the camera on the window-sill and use the self-timer.

Feeble attempts to get a shot lined up....

Maybe this would do.

Not sure that this is any better than the one taken by J.  And it's so dark this morning too. 

So, there you are.  Proof that I have new glasses.

And proof that I need to take a photography course - and probably buy a better camera too!

By the way, all the cuddly creatures on my bedroom windowsill were presents from J.  He would be very upset if I didn't put them somewhere nice and obvious, on display.  He bought the meerkat for Mothers' Day this year, the mini-dolphin was an "adopt-a-dolphin" present, and the teddies were for my birthday and once when I was ill.  I don't play with cuddlies any more - except when the babies are here to visit - honest!! (but I must admit I rather like to look at them...).

* * *

And finally....

J's portrait of Sherlock in his New House...

The delivery man brought a large box of cat food yesterday.  Sherlock always knows this is his food  - I don't know how he can smell it when the stuff is in sachets, inside boxes, which are covered in plastic wrap, then put into a bigger box for delivery...

I put the box down, Sherlock walked in and sat down, had a wash, got comfy...

J. fetched the camera and managed a quick photo before Sherlock came out again.

We think Sherlock is cool.

* * *