Hot Off the Press!

This week has been one of very great excitement in the world of The Bookish Maker. On Monday I received a direct message via Twitter from none other than Gathered by Mollie Makes, asking if they could use a photo of my first granny square on the Show and Tell page of their next issue! I can't tell you how flattered I was. Imagine - one of my photos in my favourite digital magazine! Whoop, whoop! 

I could hardly wait for the issue to come out and very nearly ran out of battery through constantly checking for an update on my iPad. I am absolutely pleased as punch to be part of such a great publication, so thanks everyone at Gathered for the honour. It's a fabulous magazine - keep it coming!

On the needles, I've started my little embroidery project and am using all kinds of coloured silk to bring life to a plain cushion cover. I'm festooning it with a border of crafty images - needles, thread, sticks and string. There's even a thimble, a sewing machine and a mannequin. 

Also, I've very nearly finished my colour block cardigan. I'm at the cuffs of both sleeves, and it's looking really lovely. The only slight hiccough is that after having tried it on, I do think it's a little bit short in the body so I'm going to have to undo the cast off edge and add a little bit more length in. It's still cold enough for coats but when it's a little bit warmer, I'm looking forward to actually wearing something that I've made with my own two hands and I want it to be as good as it possibly can be!

One of the many great perks of my job is getting to read books before they are actually published and this week I was lucky enough to be given an advance book proof of The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky. I'd heard about the book in-house and read a synopsis on the notes for Candlewick's covers meeting. It sounded intriguing straight away so I made a note to ask for a rating copy, but then on Monday, the very lovely Jo came to my desk brandishing a beautiful proof, telling me that she'd read it at the weekend and that I must read it. Jo is a great reader and I take her recommendations incredibly seriously - we have similar taste in fiction and I will always be grateful for her introducing me to Patrick Gale. 

And of course, she was absolutely right. It is a brilliant book. It is beautifully written and reminiscent of the nostalgic lyricism and intrigue of Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay or What the Birds See by Sonya Hartnett. It's not going to be published for a little while yet, but when it is - make sure you get a copy. I could hardly bear to put it down and read it in one day over two train journeys. 

I've had a bit of a break from buying books over the last six weeks or so in an attempt to reduce the size of the pile by the side of my bed. It's been a dismal failure to be honest with you as I've swapped or been given books instead, but I decided to treat myself anyway with some lovely new (and secondhand) books to read over the long Easter weekend. Happy reading!

Starting Something New

Spring is one of my favourite times of the year - a time for new and exciting things, for growth and light and enthusiasm. It's great time for starting something new which is exactly what my friend Fiona, also known as the Pine Marten but more commonly just Piney, is doing. She had a bit of a bonkers idea whereby she would take up a gazillion new hobbies until she found something that she would enjoy (and be brilliant at) and she's started a hilarious new blog to chronicle her adventures. 

I had the privilege of being the first person to share their hobby and duly rocked up at her place on Saturday morning with a bag of knitting-related goodies (tea, biscuits, hand cream - you know, the usual stuff). I'll let her tell you all about it in her blog - click on the link to head on over to Piney Gets a Hobby. It felt especially auspicious as I was driving over to hear Woolly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs on the radio and what I will say is that  she took to knitting like a Pine Marten to woodland - a natural-born knitter. Well done, Piney!

On the crafting side of things, I've started planning an embroidered cushion cover with some fabulous crafty transfers from Sublime Stitching. I'm not sure how it's going to pan out, but I promise I'll post again as it progresses. 

More excitingly, I've been using the very fabulous Meet Me at Mike's, and I've taught myself how to crochet granny squares. It's something I've really taken to; they're easily portable (so great for the train), quick to complete and surprisingly uncomplicated. I've always been a bit unsure of crochet, but it turns out that I really like it. I've also now had two attempts at handwriting embroidery, a Valentine's Day card for D and a first ever Mother's Day card for Shona, so that's another thing crossed off my New Year list. Hoorah!

There's some exciting new life in the garden too; I've planted a raspberry bush and put lots of summer-flowering bulbs in the ground as well as seedlings of tomatoes, peas, radishes and broad beans, which are currently dominating the kitchen table - and there are potatoes chitting nicely on my kitchen windowsill. As soon as it stops freezing and snowing, I'm going to get out and plant some of them - can't wait.

Last new thing for this post which I absolutely must mention, is the joy that is my new toaster! I am a MASSIVE toast fan - toast, crumpets, muffins, bagels, tattie scones, Soreen - if you can toast it and slather it in butter I'm probably going to be a fan and my new toaster does the job perfectly. Mmmmm!

Since I last posted, I seem to have gone through a spate of reading YA novels. Every Day by David Levithan which is going to be published in the UK in July by Egmont and is an absolute must-read, Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett which not technically a novel for teens but is a heartbreaking observation of adolescence; the ingenious Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan and the really rather compelling Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher. I've also started Monkey Wars by Richard Kurti which, from the first six chapters, promises to be absolutely brilliant.