Cloth book for Thomas

Sorry for the blogging break, but I have been busy, and for once actually have something crafty for show and tell. I made Thomas a cloth book with photos of us, and flaps that he can lift to see who is underneath. Thanks to Suzy for reminding me about SouleMama's cloth book for Adelaide it was very inspiring. I got some fabric sheets that you run through the inkjet printer, and the photos came out pretty well. The fabric is quite stiff, so good for this kind of thing. My book has heaps of handmade charm, aka wonky stitching and mistakes, but Thomas seems not to mind.

The text is very simple - just about who loves Thomas:

Mummy,

Daddy,

Grandma and Grandpa,

Pop;

And our cat Lucy

(actually it is not quite true that the cat loves Thomas, but he sure loves her - I'm sure one day the feeling will be reciprocated!)

I've also been busy doing a Blurb book - my copies just arrived in the mail, and I'm pretty darned happy with them. Can't show them here yet though because they are for Christmas presents.

We have just had an election here in Australia, and a change of government after almost 12 long years. We lefties here were pretty thrilled with the Labor victory. We had a few friends over and drank a lot and ate lots of veggie pizzas. A very good night indeed!

PS - thanks so much for all the concern and good wishes about the breast lump scare - I'm very glad that it is all ok.

Book love

Hooray, finally sent off the first draft chapter I've been writing for work, so I can relax for a little while before the next deadline. I've been missing the blogging world (although I have been peeking a bit!) We have had various dramas here, with Thomas getting an awful tummy bug, and I had a breast cancer scare, but luckily after an anxious wait for a scan it turned out to be nothing serious.

Meanwhile Thomas has suddenly developed a huge passion for books, I think inspired by some gorgeous picture books he recieved for his birthday.



He particularly loves simple 'lift the flap' picture books, and books with detailed scenes with lots to point at. After showing no interest at all for the first year of his life, Thomas now wants story after story, and then over and over again. I have to say that it beats his other favourite entertainment which is to throw things on the floor and get mum and dad to retrieve them.

This immersion in lovely children's books has inspired me to think about making my own special books for Thomas, perhaps in cloth, or something I could print out on heavy card. I would like to make a book with pictures of his favourite people and of course our cat Lucy (whom Thomas just ADORES), maybe hidden under flaps.

I have been doing some web searching on making books, and have come across some interesting things. This is probably old news to most people but I was a bit thrilled to find this site http://www.blurb.com/ which allows you to publish your own real books (text and photos) for what seem quite reasonable prices. It would be lovely later on when Thomas starts drawing and painting to collect his artworks in a real book like that.

For making your own cloth books, this site has some quite nice appliqued and embroidered examples : http://www.makingclothbooks.com/gallery.htm.

This one has some very simple instructions, although no pictures: http://www.ehow.com/how_2077328_make-cloth-baby-book.html

Well, now I've said all this, I'd better get on and try some of these ideas out.

Back soon!




PS - While hanging around in the city, waiting for my scan I found these little pouches at our local $2 shop (Hotdollar in the Canberra Centre), they were only $2.50 each, so I decided to treat myself and got two!