Rain rain go away!

Oh, why must it rain today?

I was getting used to wearing sunscreen and sandals. Nevermind. Here are some cheery things from the last few days - some wooden flashcards with faces and vegetables that I might turn into badges, and a couple of new diamond collages for Etsy.

Did anyone just see this in the paper? Amazing!

My second quilt

I started this quilt for my friend Liz this time last year, and finally got round to finishing it on Friday! It's not the finest thing ever made but she sent me some pics of it in situ in her beautiful house and it looks great I think. The coloure are a bit more grown up than the first one but still bright and fun. Hurrah!

Catch of the day

I remembered this morning that there is a huge sale at the Salvation Army centre 4 miles out of Cambridge this week. I'd noticed the sign last week but totally forgot over the most hectic weekend I've had in ages.

On Friday, 13 of us jumped on a train to Edinburgh to run the marathon in team relays (my bit was 4.7 miles), and it was such an amazing experience. The heat was pretty unbearable - a freak 25 degree weekend in Scotland - but all three teams did amazingly, finishing at 3h 58mins, 4h 17ins and 4h 19mins. SO proud!

Today's haul of treasures was my way of treating myself and includes a sweet collection of old bottles, all decorated with lettering from local companies like Cambridge Lemonade, some early plastic dishes, and some vintage Corningware, an original pencil drawing of a boat and Hohner Melodica. The whole lot for a fiver, brilliant. Now if I could just lose the aching in my legs my day will be complete...

Political type?

Another great second-hand bookshop in Cambridge shuts this week. Galloway and Porter, one of the cheapest places to get paperback classics and obscure art books also has a large collection of interesting old books and ephemera, and at the weekend I found this fascinating piece of history.

Soldiers of Lead was published in 1948 for use in the Labour Party to advise on how it should be using type in a persuasive way. It's beautiful, and I would have been absolutely convinced if my vote were cast purely on typographic merit!

Weekend bargains

Some little bits and pieces I picked up at a car boot sale yesterday. I spent £1!

What shall I do with the scandinavian-looking pieces? I daren't use them on the table in case I get food on them but they're too cute to stash away somewhere...

Happy Day

Today I had a day off.

These sunny hand-painted cups and saucers are now on Etsy.

Phew

I just wanted to mark today as the day I handed in all my second year work for my degree. I'm now two thirds of the way through and it's equally exciting and terrifying. I worked really hard this year and have had some great successes I think. I was so chuffed the moment I handed it all over and felt all the more special for being with lovely friends doing the same.

Bring on Summer, holidaying in Istanbul, reading on the beach, barbecues and bare feet on grass - but first - celebratory drinks!

Echo and Narcissus

This is a series of prints I've been working on based on the tragic greek tale of Echo and Narcissus. I've used a mixture of lino printing for Echo and flat perfect colour for Narcissus who falls in love with his reflection in the story. I really like the second print which shows the mother and child, and the reflection of yellow as a metaphor for love which I use through the sequence. I's probably really unclear still so I'll be taking quotes from the story and using them to title the prints to help the viewer along a bit.

I'm quite glad it's all done at last, it was quite a mission planning it all out and getting it done. Phew!

geometry rocks!

Oh wait, that's geology isn't it? Well, no matter. I'm working on an ABC of geometry, shapes and that kinda thing for a uni project.

The written side of our course this semester has been called Writing for Images and has been really fun. The submission includes two original written pieces and a visual piece developed from a third piece of writing. I've gone with my informative alphabet we did a few weeks ago and am going to work up 8 or so images and keep the rest roughs - apparently that's OK. But who knows, I might try and finish the whole lot over summer as I think it would make a lovely border for a child's wall. I'm making each letter a square 7 and 1/2" so they could be rearranged into a poster format too.

I really enjoy painting paper with acrylic for collage like this as you can be precise with your palette, but today I also used a toothbrush to flick paint to give a bit more texture. Simple but effective I think. Thanks Eric Carle!