The best way to spend a Saturday

It has been a while since I posted: the job hunt is gearing up so I have made several trips upto London to talk to recruiters and I have submitted a couple of applications directly. I had a very nice half hour in Falkiners Fine Papers on one occasion, looking at (not surprisingly) papers of all kinds, book cloth, bone folders. It's a shop very much of it's time and I love it.


However, last Saturday I went on a day school with Frances Pickering. Frances came to talk at Sevenoaks branch of the Embroiderers Guild last year and brought with her her stash of gorgeous hand made books. She gave her day school on the technique and what a marvelous few hours it turned out to be. Maggie, I used some of that left over gesso from one of our Boughton sessions and unearthed my enormous collection of Stewart Gill and Lumiere paints which had not seen the light of day since the end of City and Guilds. I created a cover and pages, based on my regular Gaudi chimney pots theme and after much fiddling and cord wrapping completed it the following day; don't you always feel better with a finished item within twenty four hours of going on a day school? If it hasn't happened with me, the WIP gets confined to a small collapsible crate and resurrected many months later, often to be thrown away. (I do throw, and I'm proud of it!). Before I had a chance to photograph it, it has been spirited away for a display cabinet.

Last week I had lunch with a friend at Bluewater (any excuse) and tea with a friend who I haven't seen for fourteen years. It's really funny - Bev and I used to attend a keep fit class (we were quite choosy on what we actually did in the way of exercise) and when she moved to Gloucestershire, we kept in touch with Christmas cards but as anyone who works long hours, getting together never actually happened. Then she moved back to Kent with her husband in December and it was like we hadn't really been apart. That's a really nice feeling.


This Saturday I was back at Guild, listening to a talk by Carol Naylor. Loss of projector bulb meant Carol had to improvise a talk on the hoof and she did a marvellous job. I love Carol's work - lots of glossy soft textures which reflect the light that so characterises her pieces. So for me, guild has been the best way to spend a Saturday, and in between the job searching, there have been some nice ways to spend the weekdays too.

Oh and one of the cats has had his first encounter with the pond... definitely a soggy moggy!