Tuesday 12 November 2013

Some Sewing

A few months ago, the iPad stand I made got involved in an autism incident consisting of a lot of eggs being smashed in the kitchen. I chucked it out. My life is too short to hand wash raw eggs off small textile items!
I have missed it though. It was really useful for cooking, watching TV on iplayer etc and even hands free reading.

So, I finally got around to making a new one. I have seen quite a few different online tutorials for these stands since I made my first one and this is a bit if a combination of all of them. I am hopelessly slapdash with sewing, working it out as I go, no pins and measuring by eye. All bad habits I know! 
I think it turned out ok anyway and I'm using it all the time. 


The fabric is reused from this top,


originally bought from Dark Star Designs.

I also did this little owl cushion whilst I had the machine out...


...it's another tea towel pattern and although quick to do, because of the shape, I actually used pins!

Saturday 2 November 2013

ARC October

I am more or less on time for this month's Artful Readers Club link-up. (I am actually 2 months behind but let's just ignore that for now)! The ARC can be found at 
http://art-and-sole.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/october-arc.html?m=1

When I chose my books back at the beginning of the year, I had just seen 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' by Laini Taylor whilst browsing the young adult section in Waterstones. I don't know why it caught my eye but it did and I added it to my list. I actually ended up listening to the audiobook version for this months book.

'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' begins in Prague where we are introduced to the main character, Karou. Karou is an art student with an unusual life. She is able to perform some small acts of magic or 'wishes' and has been raised by the, actually real, fantasy characters whom she is always drawing in her sketchbook. She performs tasks for one of these characters, Brimstone, although she does not fully understand what the purpose of the tasks, the collecting of teeth, is.

'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' is the first book in a trilogy and as it progresses Karou learns more and more about her life and where she is from. I found it totally enthralling and could not stop listening. (In fact, I downloaded book 2, 'Days of Blood and Starlight' straight after finishing it). The characters are fascinating and the storyline is really different and engaging. You can probably tell that I really loved it and would definitely recommend it!

My artwork is inspired by Karou's hamsa's, which is not something she understands at the beginning of the book, her blue hair and various other aspects of the mystery of Karou's life.