Thursday 4 November 2010

On the one hand it seems so wrong.....


but on the other hand, the thought feels so satisfyingly, illicitly good!!

No doubt, dear readers, you are at this very minute wondering what on earth I am whittering on about now ;-) Well, I came across this book of love poems the other day which I haven't read once since I got it years and years ago *blush* I bought it with all good intentions of 'getting to know' a little poetry but sadly, I still have no great urge to become immersed in such reading matter. So on the bookshelf it has sat for all these years with no one to love it or even turn its pages.
Anyhoo, I idly picked up said book and gave myself the most tremendous shock by thinking a hitherto unthinkable thought, namely that I could use it for craft projects.....by TEARING THE PAGES OUT OF THE BOOK! Goodness gracious me, my dears ~ if I hadn't already been sitting down in my comfy chair I may well have fallen to the floor in a daze, totally bewildered and bemused that such a thought could possibly take root in my head! You see, I have had (up to now, at least) a very real problem with the idea that one could destroy a book by tearing up its hallowed pages. I have also, in the past, found it excruciatingly difficult to write notes in a book ~ even when said book is supposed to be used for that very purpose. Heck, I don't even like to see the corners of book pages turned down ~ what's wrong with using a bookmark, for goodness sake!

The downside of this, of course, is that although I've come across absolutely masses of simply adorable projects which use old book pages, I have wistfully passed them by because of my little book destroying problem. The rather wonderful thing about this particular book, though, is that I am quite certain that I am never going to read it and so I can allow myself to rip and tear those pages to my little heart's content ;-)

Upon examining the book more closely, I was thrilled to discover that its pages are most definitely assuming that lovely 'vintage' look. They have a rather nice feel to them, too, and have the added bonus of having developed an 'aged' tint which I like very much indeed.

There are the most delightful illustrations on many of the pages, too :-)

My fingers are now itching to get started on the path of mass destruction.....of this one particular little book, at least ;-)

Moving away from books and strolling over to fabric.....do you think it's normal to be quite so enamoured of cotton batting as I have rather surprisingly found myself! I hadn't seen cotton batting 'in the flesh', as it were, before I bought this piece (for yet more projects which are currently whirling about in my head!) and I find that I really, really like the stuff!
Unfortunately, this photo really is not one of my better efforts so it isn't easy to see just how old-fashioned and vintagey it looks. It feels so lovely, too. It would be absolutely wonderful if it were possible to make a blanket just out of cotton batting, smothered with pretty embroidery! Well, I think it would be rather fabulous even if no one else does LOL

Last week I got the urge to do some stitching, so I had a rummage through my somewhat embarassingly large stash of unopened/unfinished kits to see what took my fancy. I didn't really think I should make a start on yet another cross-stitch picture, since I have rather more than a couple which are still in the UFO category.....I don't know if I should be sharing this with you, dear readers, but I started working on one of them about 15 years ago!

Anyhoo, I thought I'd get the stitching urge out of my system by working on this little tapestry zinnias picture. Since it's only 5" by 5", I got it finished during the course of the week ~ so that's one less project in the stash, at least ;-) When I had finished, though, I wasn't really sure what to do with it. I couldn't decide whether to just frame it as is, make it part of a larger wall hanging or make a bag using it in one of the panels. Oh decisions, decisions!
I rather think though, dear readers, that I am coming down more on the side of using it as the focal point of a wall hanging ~ or rather, an 'art quilt'. Having spent a delightful time today visiting Pam's lovely blog, Kitty & Me Designs, I have become totally enamoured of the idea of creating my very own art quilt, following her exceedingly fab tutorial on how to make this very same thing! So I have printed off Pam's so-easy-to-follow-even-I-understand-them instructions and this evening, whilst hubby watches his beloved Chelsea kicking a ball about on TV, I shall be cosily settled in my comfy chair studying the instructions some more and dreaming of my art quilt. Oh ~ and no doubt from time-to-time I will find myself wondering, as I do each time he watches a match, whether I am supposed to be responding to hubby's comments about the footie and picking up my crochet hook to work some more on my I-can't-show-you-yet little project ;-)

2 comments:

Sandi said...

Haha - I recognise the traits of a fellow obsessive bibliophile with all of the attendant dilemma's you have mentioned. I have lost count of the number of books I have bought, some only costing a mere few pence, with the intention of using the pages for various craft projects. So far I have failed to 'destroy' any of them. Likewise I detest the folding down of pages, avoid lending anyone my books and even find it hard to throw out magazines although lately I have managed to place a few in the recycle box only to then worry whether there just might be something of use in them. I don't know if there is a cure for these symptoms but will let you know if I hear of one.
P.S. I also have a huge stash of old sheet music but that's another story........;))

SharonLarkin said...

Oh Sandi ~ I too have a stash of books I bought to tear apart but like you, I haven't mutilated any of them yet! I haven't torn anything out of this books yet, either, but I am definitely working up to it LOL

I've managed to restrain myself in the sheet music department ~ so far ~ purely and simply because I know that they will just take up valuable space in some corner or other.....like the maps I started to hoard ROFL