It is the time of year for turning out wee gifts. Because the recpients of these do not read this blog, I can show you some I made at the weekend. Last summer I acquired several blank notebooks. I say ‘acquired’ — what I really mean is that in a moment of mild insanity I bought twelve of ‘em. Clearly the combination of the words ‘stationery’ and ‘sale’ has a rather odd effect on me….but these were notebooks of a pleasing size and excellent quality. They also possessed unpleasant vinyl covers, which was obviously why they weren’t selling. Anyway, I have been making lovely new fabric covers for them and can now show them to you in their much improved, vinyl-free incarnations. The covers are based on Tania Ho’s simple pattern in Anna Torborg’s Crafter’s Companion. I like that book for many reasons and particularly enjoyed it’s discussion and photography of different crafting workspaces.

Anyway, a book cover was the perfect use for this tasty scrap of fabric:

I just love those little birds. I also used up the last of my scraps of red and orange silk. These made a super-luxe cover, but then I got over-excited and attempted to embellish it with a fab print of some ladies in 1920s cloches and coats having what seems to be a delightful time:

Machine applique is not my strongest point…and boy did that silk want to pucker up. I have almost managed to convince myself that the quality of the fabric makes up for the deficiencies in execution….

But my favourite cover is this one:

I’m such a sucker for Amy Butler.

Heres a shot of the silky interior. You can see what satisfyingly solid notebooks they are. Buying twelve wasn’t bonkers at all now. . . was it?