After some very hectic and rather stressful weeks, I feel like things are slowly getting under control again. I have managed to meet all the deadlines even with new and unexpected extra deadlines dropping in, so the struggle to get everything done in time was really worth it. Even my little folder/brochure got finished, printed and delivered in time and doesn't look all bad - two of the pictures turned out a little more "technicolor" than I had intended, but I'd say it is still okay. The two important pics and the text have both turned out fine. I'll never, ever work with Quark Xpress, though - I thought I'd do myself a favour and work with a proper layout programme. It did not turn out well. In the end, it was faster making the layout anew in good old CorelDraw, even if that means not as good control over text layout.

Unfortunately, there is no time to lay back and relax - yet. I hope I can get a good writing flash in this week, and I have to finish preparing yet another presentation. And finally write all the emails I didn't get around to write yet.

The weekend will be spent doing things with clay, mostly in service of the Spinning Experiment that will run during the Textilforum, since I need to have a test run first making and then spinning with the whorls we will use for the experiment. Hopefully there will be enough time to do some other ceramic stuff for my own amusement - and maybe a cooking pot or two will come out of the weekend.

Let's say you could not resist the temptation and started netting yesterday. Now you'll need to know how to do the embroidery, right?

The stitch used for the bird motifs is called linen stitch, because it emulates the binding most commonly found in linen cloth: tabby. It is simple darning, first filling in threads in one direction. Then, in a 90° angle to that, you weave the thread in with your needle, alternately going over and under the threads already in (including the threads of the meshwork).

In case you have never tried darning in this way before, you can have a look at Thérèse de Dillmont's instructions, straight out of her wonderful book "Encyclopedia of Needlework". And if you don't know her book yet, consider getting a copy - either an old one, or one of the reprints. Or go for the online version at encyclopediaofneedlework.com. In any case, don't miss out on this book: If I could choose only a single book for textile crafts to keep, it would be this one.

Bonus pic: The netting needle tip, without thread on.

Clickable for larger view

Today is set apart for Current Writing Project - I need to make a little progress on that, plus three of the books I checked out of the library are due back next week, so I need to finish reading them. Since the alternative to writing on CWP is "sorting through paperwork and filing", I'm really keen on getting my nose into these books.

On an unrelated note, thanks to all of you who subscribed to the newsletter from yesterday's post!

I'm looking forward to the weekend so much, even if there is housework to be done. The last half of this week somehow dragged its feet instead of rushing by like second halves of weeks usually do for me.

I'm still working on the flyer and on the paper, and don't have time for much else. And after those two, there are already two other things-with-deadline looming overhead. (I'm in need of a writing flash, does anybody have one to spare?) So in case you are looking forward to the next parts of the Kruseler blog post, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to post the follow-up yet. I know what I want to write about, and it will probably be enough for two posts, but I am still lacking the photos needed (and the time and photographer to make them).

It will come up as soon as I can manage, but it will have to wait until both flyer and paper are further along the way. And thank you for your patience.

My new shoes arrived yesterday. Medieval shoes, of course - hand-stitched beauties made to measure on a replica of historical lasts. (Photos may follow once I find the time to make proper ones.) Now I'm almost through with my wardrobe updates for the summer half of the year - one dress remains to be altered a bit.

Otherwise, I am very well occupied with design and typography of my brochure, preparing for the conference in May and doing a myriad of other small things besides - so I have nothing really interesting or new to blog about. At least there is progress being made in all those areas.

Another day has raced past, and I only just remembered that I am still due a blog post. I have a good excuse, though, since I spent the day on the telephone (work-related) and preparing several pieces of written stuff. There is still a huge list on my blackboard, but at least I'm not feeling all overwhelmed anymore.

Somehow, having too many things to do will not result in frantic activity but in a state of mind (and body) rather like paralysis. Sometimes I wonder why that is so. There were times when I thought it was only me, and a sign of not being up to this or that, but I have found out since that it is a rather common thing. So at least I am not alone.

Overcoming this paralysis can be hard, though - especially when working on one's own in a cosy little study, with the internet and books and telephone and whatever else right there to distract and eat up time badly needed for work. Beginning might seem hard, but once the first task is done, the rest does get easier. But then, sometimes, it is better to take half a day off to sort through things in the mind, even if matters seem pressing.

For now, my list is adequately diminished for one day's work. There are a few things that I want to have finished by the end of the current week, even if I'm not sure this is possible, but I'll try my very best. And I have the good feeling of overwhelm overcome.

After finally designing (and getting printed) a new business card last year, now it is time to get some more promotional material. So these days see me surfing the web to catch up on the do's and don'ts for flyer and brochure design - like the Flyer Tutorials on allgraphicdesign.

I know that for a lot of small-scale freelancers, doing all the things needed for a business (even a tiny business) is exhausting and unnerving. For me, that is not so, and I count myself very lucky for that. While I don't actually enjoy bookkeeping and writing invoices and haggling for money, I know that it is part of the whole package, and I do it for me. Other things, like design work for advertisement or typography for texts? I love them. And it just adds to the beauty of the job, in my eyes, that I get to do something new and refreshing from time to time.

I have the basic concept ready, now I need to write the advertisement texts and spice it up with some pretty pictures. Both text and pictures will probably take a good bit of time, but fortunately it is not pressing yet. I want the flyers to be ready by end of February, so there is still some time to mull over the design in between other work - just the way I like to do these things.