Russian Dolls and fallow spots

The last couple of weeks have been a bit....fallow really.  I have had loads of projects started but none at the point of being finished and no "aha!" moments for new ones. In short I haven't had a lot to talk about!

This left me feeling a bit disatisfied with my lot and desperate for something to move in the right direction.

Finally this week something clicked and things started moving forward again.  Funnily enough it was all down to me being a bit of a miser!

Over the last eighteen months I have collected loads of business cards, postcards and contact details from suppliers of various art and craft supplies that I want to keep for future reference (like when I make my first million maybe?)  Too lazy to write or type the details into something I wanted to glue the cards straight into a book.  So I looked around for a book and all the cute ones were £10.00 or more which I wasn't prepared to pay.  Hunting around at home for something to substitute I found a project book that I had bought to house my endless "To Do" lists whilst still teaching and never used.  It had dividers, it had a spiral binding and it was REALLY ugly!

So out came the felt and the cotton perle thread and off I went.   I measured around the outside of the cover with it shut so that I got the longest distance of felt that I would need with the book closed.  I then used fabric glue to glue a strip of felt inside the area where the spiral bound spine would go so that it wouldn't poke through the stretched felt.

I glued the edges of the inner sleeves into place and then stitched around in blanket stitch (which I really love) with cotton perle.  I think than cotton perle stands out more than stranded cotton and I find it easier to stitch with when using the full thickness of the thread.

During this time I had a bit of inspiration.  I know that Russian dolls are currently very trendy but I have always loved them and collect them so I figured why not put one on the front of my contact book?  I added a little stitched embellishment (I learnt those stitches in Primary School and was honestly amazed that I could still remember how to do them!)  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Anyway, that seems to have restored some of my mojo (laughs sarcastically) because I have come up with a template for something new, original and exciting (well, at least to me) for my ongoing embroidery hoop gallery.  Here's a sneak peek...

Byeee...