Where does the time go?

So, last time I checked in at the beginning of August, I mentioned I had booked my first booth at a local art fair. WRONG! I came down with the flu instead, a product of exhaustion plus summer spent with dozens of little kids at work. Given this and the State Fair rejection, I was ready for a break by the time we went to the lake. My Travellers Quilt project/online class had completely stalled out for me, I was stuck on on ideas for the Food Project work, and just generally feelin' crappy. One thing I did have to look forward to was a skirt-making class at the local hotspot, Crafty Planet. This would take up two Saturday afternoons towards the tail end of my vacation time.

I brought several items with me to work on at the lake: the Star Bright quilt that I'd started over the winter, which needed a border and back; the crows piece, which I'm still putzing with off and on; and a bunch of book art supplies, plus a small square piece that I started recently, which I love (more on that later.) Plenty of homework.

What quickly got me jazzed up was eco-dyeing and printing some watercolor papers for handmade books. Weather towards the end of the trip was drippy, and a good opportunity to hang out by the stove with a pot of boiling water and some leaves and petals.

Purple iris and a host of tree leaves made for some fun experiments! And I started sewing in my pages as soon as the covers were pressed and sewn, using recycled materials from home and work.

This in turn set off a flurry of paper-boiling, flower-picking and household humidity after we returned. It's a little out of control.

I can't explain what's so satisfying about staining paper and sewing it into little books; I'm entertaining myself very well though. And between this and a successful skirt class (I can insert a zipper!) I was starting to feel like life and light might be returning...