Dear Violets- Here is my "inchie"! WHEW!!!!!! I am happy to have my design worked out and 
They are pretty, aren't they? 
She has been practicing, so I know that she will be diligent getting things done quickly 
....and a few wonderful little poesies, too:
Haven't used this paper in a very long time. I designed it years ago for a wonderful company called PrintWorks. We did quite a few special things and won a few awards, too, for stickers and papers and I miss all of that creative collaboration.
Happy Birthday to my new friend, AMY, who turns 40 today!
The one on the left is from Danielle and was inspired by the same images in Selvedge that Joanna loved, as well, and printed it out, cut it out and made a card herself! (on right)
Rummaging around various baskets of fabric I came across a piece I had squirrelled away that had belonged to my grandmother. When I was a little girl she had made the most gorgeous gown for my Sindy doll out of it. I had loved that dress, the blue and the gold use to make me so happy, knowing that Sindy would go to the ball. So I thought I want a dress out of this, but there wasn't quite enough. So I copied the design of Katie's (Armitages) apron that I had got from her (thank you) and made this bit of cloth into something that I can wear everyday and pretend that the carriage awaits. The house filled with the smell of my grandmother when making the Sindy Doll Blue Apron, it was quite strange.
And Tina, being particularly goofy pretending to water the heather plant with an empty pitcher.
Dear, dear Clare, we hope that things are going well and that you are finding good balance in all the chaos that is "FAMILY".....
A lot of the time how you were regarded at Hailsham, how much you were liked and respected, had to do with how good you were at ‘creating’.
Ruth and I often found ourselves remembering these things a few years ago, when I was caring for her down at the recovery centre in Dover.
‘It’s all part of what made Hailsham so special’ she said once. ‘The way we were encouraged to value each other’s work.’
‘True,’ I said. “But sometimes, when I think about the Exchanges now, a lot of it seems a bit odd. The poetry, for instance. I remember we were allowed to hand in poems, instead of a drawing or a painting. And the strange thing was, we all thought that was fine, we thought that made sense.’
‘Why shouldn’t it? Poetry’s important.’
‘But we’re talking about nine-year-old stuff, funny little lines, all misspelt, in exercise books. We’d spend our precious tokens on an exercise book full of stuff rather than on something really nice for around our beds. If we were so keen on a person’s poetry, why didn’t we just borrow it and copy it down ourselves any old afternoon? But you remember how it was. An Exchange would come along and we’d be standing there torn between Susie K.’s poems and those giraffes Jackie used to make.’
‘Jackie’s giraffes,’ Ruth said with a laugh. ‘They were so beautiful. I used to have one.’
page15 Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Some books just take a while. This one's been siting by my bed since Christmas 2006. I ignored it, but Flu has come to our home and forced me into my bed and the book took its chance, broke out of its pile and got right deep under my skin into my soul. Highly recommeded. Joanna
