Triangle of Life

I once read an article on the triangle of life applied during an earthquake. The theory is to look for these triangles or voids and take shelter there instead. For example, if there's a sturdy cupboard against a wall, there would be a triangle of life right in front of the cupboard should the ceiling collapse as a single piece. Then, the ceiling would be propped up at one end and on the floor at the other, leaving that void. One of the examples they gave, other than sturdy large furniture, was to look for stacks of paper. Paper cannot be crushed and can withstand a lot of weight. So, it seems, a stack of newspaper would do at such times.

Thank God we don't have earthquakes here.

One other thing I know about paper is that it's heavy. Very. Especially when I have to lug it around.

I brought these to the NUS bazaar. There were a few queries but no one bought them so I'm listing them in Tiffany's Shoppe. Other than these 4, there were many other books so it was really heavy yesterday. Today, I'll just bring a fraction.

Just a bit of update about yesterday. I couldn't decide whether it was a non-event or eventful day, LOL! While there were very few customers, quite a number of people walked over and did a double-take at my stall then proceeded to walk past till I realized that the toilet was behind me. On my left was clothes. In front of me was clothes and on my right was, clothes. I had a quick glance around and it seemed like out of about 15 stalls, about half sold clothes. There was a stall that intrigued me 'cos it sold something that sure looked like bubble gum. I like bubble gum though the constant chewing would result in aching jaws.

But I get ahead of myself so let me do this chronologically. I arrived too early 'cos I went out with DS and DD. I tarried at the bus-stop doing my crochet till it was about 30mins before the official start at 9am. My first impression when I arrived was, is it over? LOL!

There were quite a number of tables/stalls all over the Central Forum. Some had tarpaulin-covered items, some were bare tables. Bare as in bare wood top with collapsible frame. Some had chairs next to these tables, some had none. Also, other than me and a group of undergrads, there were no other vendors. Anyway, I stuck around till on of the students pointed out my stall to me. OK, so with my punctuality, I ended up with the dubious honour of being the kiasu one who set up shop so early. However, less than 30mins after I completed, the rain came. With the gusty winds sweeping through the void of the Central Forum, rain was flying in, stuff also took to the wind. I kept evertyhing but set up shop again about an hour later only to sit there and crochet and crochet and crochet. On the upside, I had an enjoyable time getting to know the other vendors. Perhaps this was my triangle of life yesterday, my breathing space. Well, one more day today. Hopefully it'll be better, yup? *grin*

Have a blessed day!

First two

These are the first two books of this year, I think. It's been a long while since I've made a hardcover journal and this time I decided to have mismatched covers. Well, almost. I have another 3 on the way so you might see what I mean when I post the pics. I especially like the blue one. The blue sky contrasts with the dark blue denim print of the back cover. I thinking that I like the back cover more, LOL!

Made with acid free papers (except the ladybug paper). White papers are from sustainable forests. 192 pages, 6 signatures, 7-hole, coptic bound.

Have a blessed day!

How green can you go?

I have this fondness for notebooks. Not that I journal a lot or doodle a lot but somehow the feel of the paper or a cute cover catch my eye and make me stop and have a look.

I buy less notebooks now. Just bought some recently, but not for myself…phew! Now we have fun creating our own, using materials we can find at home or those in the mail. Waiting for mail is different now…LOL!

These 2 are A5 notebooks. Five signatures of 7 white and 1 green cover sheets bound using the coptic stitch. This is for someone who likes green :-). Green fabric cover, green thread, green cover sheets, sustainable forest paper. Circus print is made from linen and floral one from oxford cotton. 220gsm endpapers are green too :-)

Have a blessed day!

Booked

I made these on a whim, inspired by fabrics that arrived recently from US and Korea. Brightly coloured and coordinating quilting fabric made from super combed cotton. Some of the Timeless Treasures prints are cute to boot. Alas, I’m running out the 7oz interfacing so I have limited quantities of these on hand. Until then, feast your eyes on these

Each of these have a machine-quilted cover and lined with coordinating or contrasting fabric. Some have page markers with beads attached. All have 6 signatures of 8 folios giving a total of 128 pages that are stitched to the spine using criss-cross longstitch. Some have coordinating coloured paper inside. Two metal snaps keep the flap closed and prevents dog ears. Can you spot the camouflaged snaps?
I didn’t take many pics of these ‘cos I intended to bring them to the KKH bazaar on 18 Oct. If you’d like to know more, just send me an email.
Have a blessed day!
ps: If you wish to learn how to replace the paper when you’ve filled all the pages with your writing or doodling, you can either purchase a PDF copy of the tutorial of how I made these and do it yourself, else we can arrange a class at the current going rate of S$10/hr for a maximum of 3 persons, materials excluded.

Green thumbs

More than a month ago, I chanced upon a very pretty garden at the foot of a HDB block in Choa Chu Kang. It was a public area but tended with TLC by a resident. It was evident that a lot of effort went into the maintenance of this place with the myriad of flowers and even a fruiting olive tree. After admiring and asking lots of questions, he let me pluck some seeds to bring back and told me to go back in a few months for the orange colour flowers that had yet to bloom.

DD planted them a few days after I came back with the seeds. We waited and waited. Nothing sprouted. We waited some more, nothing. One fine day, I decided to water more freuquently than usual and the seedlings came! This is the 9th and the latest.

 Made these 2 today, in between weeding the seedlings and other distractions.

This is all green. Green exterior, green lining, green stitching (well, at least the ones on the spine), green deliberately-mismatched metal snaps, green paper and green page marker. I machine quilted the cover for fun :-)

I think I have more than 4 colour combinations of this linen print. This is the pink version. An older post shows the green version. Maybe I'll make a series :-) Criss-cross longstitched six signatures of paper from sustainable forests.
Have a blessed day!

Taking notes

I used to enjoy taking notes during lessons, writing in longhand with felt-tipped pens in various colours to highlight the different points. I doodled when I was distracted, or wrote almost verbatim when I wasn't. It was really fun then to fill up pages and pages of fullscap with notes. At that time, I drew more joy in having a stack of neatly written and colourful notes than having a complete set of notes for their contents. Of course, it helped during revision that I could read what I wrote.
If you're a student, I strongly encourage you to take notes. It helps with rentention of what the teacher has said and keeps you focused on the topic. You can even practice your handwriting, whether the speed or the neatness. You'll even get new friends who'll want to borrow your notes.

I've been busy the past week with these notebooks. All hardcover coptic bound notebooks with a mixture of white and coloured pages. You can't see it from this pic, but I like the book on top in bottom right pic. This group has pictures of patiserrie cakes that are so pretty, like a menu. Printed paper is from Tang's Art, if you're wondering.
Have a blessed day!