Bibliophilism

I cut back on the amunt of magazines I buy years ago. The reason, apart from a distinct lack of interest in what celebs are doing, is I hate to throw out any sort of printed materials. To the extent that when the Husband threw out some of my favorite books things got decidely tense. Divorce was threatened and he's still not game to throw out anything on paper twenty seven years later. I did sort of forgive him, well stop reminding him of his sin. I don't even think of it that often.

Bibliomania is the collecting, some might say hoarding of books to the point where relationships or health are damaged. Obviously I don't have that because we are still married despite the sin of throwing out a bag of my books I had carefully put behind my arm chair out of the way. No hoarding or obsessing would be not forgiving him eventually when I found out he'd thrown them in the rubbish while I was at work and the garbage truck had been before I got home and noticed the loss the minute I walked in the door. Not that I hold it against him.

When is it hoarding? Who decides what is hoarding? I'd hazard the guess it would be when your kids sign you up for one of those reality tv shows and some out of work TV wanna be is luring you away with a free trip to the biggest book store on Earth and horrible home invaders are packing up your stuff and having a garage sale while you aren't there. Not that I've thought that some day the family might do that to me.

I don't collect just any book that would be hoarding. I have standards. They have to be something I am interested in.
Mostly, of course sometimes the book is about something I might be interested in in the future. But if it looks interesting and it is a good price it would be silly to not buy it just in case right? That's definitely not hoarding.
So I'd rather sit inside and read than go outside, I shan't get skin cancer and you can buy Vitamin D in a bottle. Sometimes I read on the back verandah.
If I can still get in the front door then I am not a hoarder. I do feel slightly sick when I throw out the free local paper but I close my eyes and just throw it in the recycling. That's how not obsessed I am.
There aren't books in every room in my house. There are none in the bathroom, the toilet is a really uncomfortable place to read. I know, I know some people take a book into the smallest room. Please stop the excuses, if it takes you that long to go get a laxative. If that is the only place you can get some privacy you need to learn to tune the rest of the world out. It doesn't take long to learn to zone them out. My kids soon learnt to give me a nudge if they needed something important like first aid. Because they damn well better have been bleeding before they interrupted me. No, not really. Well alright sort of.

Bibliophilism is the love of books. Healthy love not sick porn love, no sticky pages in my books unless I get some of my breakfast jam on there and don't notice. A bibliophile is a person who loves books or collecting books. A bookworm cares about the contents, they love reading. We need a new word for that. One that expresses the true pleasure and normalacy of having a couple of thousand few books that you don't share with anyone because they just don't look after them. And sometimes forget to give them back or carelessly loan them to me which makes them mine, mine all mine.

(Deep breath, get a grip) It might be called bibliophilia by some but that sounds slightly rude to me and "Bibliophilism" sounds much more highbrow. The opposite of bibliophobia is abibliophobia. This is the fear of running out of reading materia. I don't have that problem I would just read something again or go online and buy something. Not have something to read that freaking terrifies doesn't worry me much at all.

So I get a little cranky if I don't get to have a little read while I am having my breakfast. Doesn't everybody have a book in their handbag, a couple of audio books on the ipod and a spare book in the car in case you break down somewhere. That's not obsessive that's just being prepared. You can only read a street directory for so long before it gets a little tedious.

Yes, OK I might be screamingly a little abibliophobic. But I am definitely not an obsessive book hoarder.
Perhaps there is a book on recovering from these conditions I could read. (I type and then laugh to myself cause that's a little joke sort of. Leave me a comment if you agree or know of that book).

I have no idea what I am doing - So I'll eat ice cream

As my previous blog post said I am at a cross roads. I should be doing something positive but I am not, I am spending my days reading and procrastinating waiting for some sort of divine guidance as to the direction I should take. There is a saying along the lines of if you keep looking over your shoulder at where you have been you can't move forward.
Wise words.
So I shall start looking forward. No more looking back even if I do end up going back. I don't really want to go back but then I am not sure if staying where I am is a good thing either.
Darn it... I really have no idea what I am doing so I am going to go and have some ice cream. Really yummy Cafe Grande - coffee with scorched almonds and grande marnier syrup. I haven't given a recipe for a long time so here's a really good icecream recipe Not for cafe grande but nearly as good no added sugar unless you chuck some in the apples if you do those instead of mulberries. If you want cafe grande icecream it is in the freezer at the supermarket.

Ice Cream

Ingredients
2 eggs
500 ml milk
375ml double/heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or according to taste)
¼ cup real maple syrup put half into the custard and then taste and add more to your taste
2 cups mulberries or berries of choice or (1 ½ cups of cooked diced apples and ½ cup chopped toasted pecans or walnuts and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon)


Pour the milk into a saucepan place on heat and bring the pan slowly up to boiling point

In a bowl, beat together the eggs and maple syrup until thick. Pour ¼ cup of the hot milk into the mixture of egg and syrup whilst stirring. Then slowly pour in the rest of the milk stirring all the time.

Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat gently over low, stirring until the custard thickens. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Use a double boiler if you are not confident. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Leave to cool.

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks (This is important). Fold the custard into the cream.
Put the mixture into a bowl in the freezer and let it half freeze. Beat it with electric mixer or put it into an ice cream maker. Refreeze.
Fold 2 cups of fresh or frozen mulberries (or the apple/pecan/cinnamon) through the ice cream before it goes hard. Place in small molds or a loaf tin lined with plastic wrap. Freeze until solid and then turn out and slice if a log.
Because this is low sugar this is a hard ice cream take it out of the freezer 10 minutes before eating to let it soften.

A Fork in my road

I have reached a fork in my personal road. I applied for the position I have been doing on a temporary contract for nearly a year and didn't get it. After a few lot of days of general foul moodiness I now know I have to get a grip and get over it. so I am at a fork in my road. I could turn around and go back to my old position I left last year.
I should say I left it because I was miserable there and it hasn't improved in fact the situation there is worse so I know I won't do that.
I could take a job at a lower level where I am. I would have a job in a place I really like with a good bunch of people.
But my pay packet will drop about $20 thousand dollars a year and that is a lot.
Or I can apply for a job on my current level in a place that is, apparently, about to implode. This couldn't be any worse than my old work place that has imploded. OK it could be worse because I could spend the time there kicking myself for leaving the place I like.

I have a bucket list that doesn't have much on it.
At the moment it simply has a trip to Europe on there. I am saving up for that cause I want to go on a Stitching and Stately Homes tour and they don't come cheap.
The other thing I would like to for my life to be easy. I am still working on that one.

On my daughters facebook page she had a link to The Bloggess who has a very funny blog and she had a link to Girl to Mom who has a F*ck It List, a list of things she never wants to do. I can really get behind that idea. I can put some thought into things I never want to do.

No 1. I really don't want to run my old manager over with my car. I just imagined doing it. I have a really good imagination and that was enough for me.

No 2. No bungey jumping or parachuting for me.

No 3. No bleaching or waxing of parts of me that never see the sun.

No 4 I will never watch Brokeback Mountain, The Hours or 6 Freaking years in Tibet ever again unless they remake them with aliens. I think all those movies would be better with aliens in them.

and then i pinched some from the other lists
No. 5 I don’t want to clean my house to spotlessness… it never lasts.

No. 6 I don’t want to be a stick figure… I love my curves (so does my husband)

No 7. I don’t care if my hair is done everyday… it’ll be messed up a few minutes after I leave the house anyway.

No 8. I don’t care if my husband and I are rich… our lives are rich with each other and our kids and grandkids.

No 9. I don’t care if I never own a pet… No matter how great they are, I have plenty to do and don’t want the animal to inadvertently starve.

No 10. I don’t care if I never have a threesome or attend a key party… one man is enough for me.

So now I know some of the things I don't want to do that's a start.

I am still here

Despite my best intentions I have become a woeful blogger. I seem to have little time for it. Work and family are interfering with my preferred activities of cooking and textile arts. I have finished my grandson's christening gown. He looked beautiful. No 2 granddaughter always says "hello beautiful boy" she says we have to say that so he knows we love him.

His gown is skill twill, handsomocked the peterpan collar and cuffs are trimmed with entredaux and the hem is trimmed with cotton lace. I am having a bit of trouble getting a good photo of it but I will try.
I am also working on a secret project I will tell you about it when I can.

Vest

I am still alive, I haven't posted for so long and I am sure we all feel like this year is streaking by. I see from the blogs I follow that I am not alone in my infrequent posting. I find that with working full time, family and life in general that I am having less and less time to do what I want to do.
I look on my blogs as a diary of sorts of my craft and cooking life so if I don't post often then it is because I have not been devoting as much time as I would like to these things.
I have finished something today though. This project has been on my mind for a while. I saw a pattern a few years ago for a travel jacket or vest. It is a garment with lots of pockets for people to wear while travelling. I was re-inspired earlier in the year when I saw the apron/overdress that India Flint wears. She told us she simply takes it off when she goes through the x-ray machine at the airport. An inspired idea.
I don't travel as often as India but I loved the idea of a garment with lots of secure pockets to hold things like my phone, ipod, money etc etc while I am out and about.

The pattern I saw was $30 and I thought I really didn't need to spend that amount of money. In hind sight it would probably have been quicker but nowhere near as much fun. The photos don't really show much however here's what I did. I took a denim skirt and a pair of cargo pants that I found in the local Op Shop. They both had a lot of Zipper pockets. So after some cutting and cropping and resewing I now have a long vest with 12 pockets most of which have zippers. I think I will dye it before I wear it as I am not a fan of the colour. Probably black. Then again I might just leave it the way it is.

So I am still around just a bit busy. I am enjoying reading your blogs when I get the chance.

FibreArts Ballarat 2011

Where have I been? Well since you asked, I have been on my annual jaunt to Ballarat. The weather was beautiful, the company excellent and the class I did superb.
I have had a serious case of the "Blahs" for quite a while. I really wanted to make something but couldn't even find the initiative to finish one of my many WIP’s (works in progress).
The doll I made with Jill Maas changed that and I have recovered my drive.
I spent the 6 days in Ballarat creating up a storm. As always there was a class I would love to do in the future but for the first time I didn’t look at the other classes and think “Damn I wish I had done that one”.
Joss Farmer Jones is a truly excellent, incredibly patient teacher and an wonderful book maker. I can honestly say with my hand on my heart this was one of the best classes I have ever done. Fun, relaxing and filled with (for me) new techniques and lots of information.

We made lots of different coloured papers in a variety of techniques I have always wanted to have a go at. Itajime, marbling and dipping.
The blue book is a technique where you dip tissue paper in inks that you have splashed about on a piece of glass. After they have dried they are ironed onto a piece of freezer paper and then 3 coats of blonde shellac is brushed on allowed to dry between each coat. The freezer paper is left in situ.
I used it as part of the cover for my leather bound binding. The leather and paper were glued and stitched in place.

The orange marbled paper covered book is a simple spiral bound item, it is actually all our class notes that we made into a book on our last day. An excellent idea that I will use in the future.

The other 3 are concertina books, I haven’t written anything in them yet.

The teachers and classes for 2012 are up on Gleny's site FiberArts Ballarat
I am doing a Mixed Media class with Jenny Crossley let me know if you are going to come and I'll catch up with you there.

Jill Maas

I spent the weekend making a doll 'Snowdrop and Frosty' by Jill Maas. I haven't made a doll for ages. I ran out of oomph for doing much in the way of textiles. I wasn't even that keen to do the doll workshop but I had made the committment to do it and didn't want to let my friend Christine down by dropping out at the last minute. Off I went on Saturday thinking 'Why did I commit to doing this'.

I made my favorite Spice Cake to take along. I hadn't made that for quite a while and it is an easy cake that everyone who eats it always raves over so it was a good choice to take along. I knew I would know just about everyone there and was looking forward to spending time with them, still I had a large case of the blah's.

Getting out and making something was just the thing to cheer me up. Starting and finishing Snowdrop and Frosty in 2 days gave me just the sense of accomplishment I needed to kick start me back into my textile adventures.

I hadn't made a doll with or by Jill Maas before her patterns are very popular. I know why now. The patterns are easy to make and the results are beautiful. Jill was a great teacher, she made sure everyone got the help they needed.
I also bought the pattern for High Octave Hester

and The Little Singers

Photos courtesy of Jill Maas's website.

I had the best weekend. It was just what I needed. I found my initiative. I'd left it somewhere and couldn't find it. Now I have and I am madly keen to go off to Ballarat on Thursday. Something else I was wondering why I had committed to.
I found talking to my textile friends that a lack of enthusiasm for our favorite past time is a common complaint. I put my own lack of enthusiasm down to a busy life, work and family don't leave a lot of time to do anything else. I have to make the best of my available time. One way to do that and get maximum satisfaction from that is to make small things. they get finished.
I am doing a book making class at Ballarat so I am confident I will not be bringing home a pile of raw materials that will still be waiting to be used this time next year like the fabrics I dyed last year that are still sitting in my studio waiting to be turned into the jacket I have planned.
I wonder if our modern lifestyle is one of the reasons so many of us are suffering from the blah's. I want to do so much, yet lack the time and then when I have the time I lack the enthusiasm and the initiative to even start let alone finish. I read and wrote about Getting things done excellent advice from Mary Gordon and Micheal Nobbs. I need to go back and read it again and get organized. I'll talk to you again after I get back from Ballarat.