Christmas Book Signings start this weekend...

Lost in a Book is going mobile for the festive season. Out and about at Christmas fairs encouraging more and more people to get lost in a book.

It all kicks off this Saturday 1st November at Wetherby Town Hall with the first book signing of the season, so come along and pick up a book, or a sheep... or a book and a sheep...

And what's new from Lost in a Book...? 

Quiet / Busy Books

New from Lost in a Book - some very special 

books for babies. 

 

      

 

Christmas book signings 2014 

• Sat 1st Nov 10am - 3pm Wetherby Town Hall - Charity Christmas Craft and Gift Fair in aid of children's heart surgery fund.
• Thurs 27th Nov 7 - 9pm Knavesmire Primary School - Christmas Shopping Evening
• Sat 30th & Sun 31st Nov Haxby Memorial Hall - Christmas Fair
• Sat 6th Dec 10am - 4.30pm  Tithe Barn Nehter Poppleton Christmas Fair
• Sun 7th Dec 12 noon - 6pm Yorkshire Heart Vineyard Christmas Fair 

Quiet / Busy Book - Trucks and Denim

Trucks and Denim

It's the ultimate upcycling - denim, cut from an old pair of jeans, beautifully softened, then padded for a cover of a quiet / busy book...

 There's a pocket on the front cover to store the trucks, but don't worry they won't get lost - they're attached by colourful cords.

 Are these pockets for trucks? Or are they tunnels, or a terraced road along a mountainside... let the imagination do the rest...

 Drive the trucks between the trees, along the mud road.

 Drive them into the tunnel... or truck shed... whatever you want it to be... make up your own story with your baby.

 But what's this... a flap, a shed...?

 Use the chunky button to lift the flap and find out...

 All bound up in a soft book by Lost in a Book. Because babies need books too.

Christmas Quiet / Busy Book

Getting festive: Christmas Quiet / Busy book, one only available in my Bookshop

 I made an xmas pudding - but not the sort you can eat. The pudding is a flap with a secret underneath...

 Lift the flap and find a mouse, with a cord for a tail.

 Meet Rudolf, with his shiny red button nose...

 Lots of textures here, with a felt snowman, Christmas tree - and ribbons - who can resist the feel of satin ribbon...?

 You can tie the ribbon in a bow... if you want to...

 Colour and pattern contrast. Christmas stocking and a pocket.

Back cover, with Lost in a Book label.

Christmas quiet / busy book

I made a Christmas pudding yesterday - but not the sort you can eat...

This is the front cover of my first Christmas quiet / busy book. The pudding is a flap - can anyone guess what might be under the flap? I'll post more pictures later, because this book isn't quite finished. I ran out of time and inspiration for the last page yesterday,  and I also need to go shopping for a few bits and bobs in festive colours...

Christmas countdown in October...?

OK I know it's still October - but I'm already on a countdown to my first Christmas fair of the season...

On November 1st I'll be in Wetherby at the town hall. There's an exciting list of other traders and crafters, which always makes for a fun day - and there'll coffee and cake - what more could you want?

In my little corner of the fair I'll have books and sheep, possibly a few cats (not real ones - they'll be staying at home), and some of my new quiet / busy books, talking of which... I feel another one coming on.

I wonder what I can come up with this afternoon...?  something festive maybe...

New from Lost in a Book - putting books into tiny hands - Quiet / Busy Books - handmade and each one unique..

Because babies like to pull at things, chew things, and feel different textures...

A Quiet / Busy Book has all these things, bound into a soft book. It's a treasure trove of bits and bobs: button and zips, ribbons and cords, all safely stitched between soft but strong pages, to be discovered and grabbed!

All handmade and everyone different, these books will be going with me to this year's Christmas fairs. 

Handmade quiet / busy book from Lost in a Book

So, here it is, something unique - a handmade quiet / busy book, it kept me busy and quiet for a whole afternoon...

I just had to show you the chaos that went into the making of this book.

But out of the chaos emerged a book...

So the chaos was cleared away, to reveal a new unique book for babies.

I especially like the bear on this multi texture page - he doesn't have a name yet...  any ideas?

I lost the blue balloon twice in the heap of bits, before I got it stitched down - must be more organised next time...

There's even a little zip up pocket for secret things...

...and there we have it, all neatly tied up again.

I love these Lost in a Book labels I had made for my baby books.

So what will Lost in a Book come up with next... ? 

Fighting distractions

I'm fighting distractions this morning, and apparently I've already lost, as I've just noticed it's past noon and I haven't started the main mission of the day, which is to create a quiet / busy book. The delivery of two new books is not helping either - they're sat on the table, just within reach, tempting me to start reading, but once I get lost in a book I won't get anything else done - am I addicted to new books I wonder...? I suppose as addictions go, it's not a bad one to have...

Books for babies, quiet / busy books

I'm always trying to find ways of getting books into little hands, but some parents take some convincing that their offspring won't destroy books. So I looked into writing a board book, as always my imagination took over and I soon had several fun ideas, but was thwarted by the high cost of producing board books apart from on a massive scale... so here's the plan...

Quiet / Busy Books these fun books were recently brought to my attention, and that was it - the sewing box was soon emptied onto the kitchen table and lots of colours and textures were stitched together to make my first quiet / busy book:

And in case you were wondering what became of this book - it went straight into the little hands of a very special little boy... but the good news is that there are going to be more where this one came from...

Coming soon from Lost in a Book - some very special books for babies. 

Author rambling on about getting lost in a book...

So what's the secret to getting lost in a book...?

It's all about finding a book that interests you. Go into a bookshop, either a traditional bookshop, or an online bookshop, have a rummage around, find a book and get stuck in. Don't let anyone tell you what you should be reading, or even what is a good book and what isn't, everyone has different tastes in all things, and that includes books.

Don't even let people tell you not to judge a book by its cover - if you see a cover you like, then pick the book up and read the blurb, if the cover design has been made to represent the contents, and why would anyone design a book cover that didn't, then its a good indication that you'll like the contents. But if that book isn't for you, then try another one... not every book you read will be the sort of book that you can truly lose yourself in, and I mean to the extent where you no longer hear what's going on in the room around you, where people can call you and get no response, but it's worth reading a lot of books in order to find that book... 

So now you know the secret to getting lost in a book, then why not pass it on...  

Tell your friends, tell your family, and most of all pass it on to your children - babies love books, and the sooner they can be read to and get hold of books the better, and don't worry if babies wear out their early books - better worn out than never read at all... A mended book is a loved book! 

 

Setting my imagination free...

This week it's not all about the books - it's also about sheep...

I'm feeling quite optimistic about my online efforts after selling a sheep...!

It just goes to show that you never quite know where you're going to end up when you let your imagination run free - I'm not sure how free I ought to let the sheep run, but, like a book once it's published, I suppose it's a bit late to think about containing them now...

I have a very vivid imagination, and I never know quite when it's going run away with me, I blame this partly on books - a lifetime of reading, being read to and reading to others is a wonderful way of feeding an imagination, so now I've come full circle and am pouring that imagination back into books to share with anyone who wants to read them...

Lost in a Book taking books (and sheep) out into the world

Christmas Fairs and Book Signings - York 2014

Christmas fairs and book signings: Lost in a Book

• Sat 1st Nov 10am - 3pm Wetherby Town Hall - Charity Christmas Craft and Gift Fair in aid of children's heart surgery fund.
• Thurs 27th Nov 7 - 9pm Knavesmire Primary School - Christmas Shopping Evening
• Sat 30th & Sun 31st Nov Haxby Memorial Hall - Christmas Fair
• Sat 6th Dec 10am - 4.30pm  Tithe Barn Nehter Poppleton Christmas Fair
• Sun 7th Dec 12 noon - 6pm Yorkshire Heart Vineyard Christmas Fair 

...there'll be books, there'll be sheep - and a few other things yet to be made...

Sheep shipped...

Not your average thing to do on a Monday morning, but then I like to be different...

I got an order late last night, for one sheep, which I have now shipped - well it hasn't actually gone on a ship, although given this morning's weather I could have done with a ship to sail down to the post office.

... anyway I got to thinking - I wonder why the name sheep is the same for a single sheep as a flock of sheep... maybe it's because sheep are so rarely on their own, that no one saw the need to think up a separate name for a sheep on its own.

Putting books into the hands of babies and children

Welcome to my homepage - or at least an escapee from my homepage...

Where I'll try and encourage you to get Lost in a Book - and to put books into little hands, even if those hands might damage that book, no, not because I want to sell you another one when that one rips, but because I believe that the sooner babies and children can get their hands on books the better. Yes some of their early books are going to be a bit shabby, you may need to mend them with sticky tape at the end of the day, but you're sewing the seeds of a love of books into the next generation... and what could be better than that?

Meet Lucy from But I'm not Sleepy... apparently everyone has a Lucy, though few will admit to having been one at some point in their childhood...

This one is my bestseller - everyone can relate to the title and the picture on the cover. And where do the sheep come into it...? Well you wouldn't believe the trouble counting sheep can get you into... 

New in my bookshop: downloadable knitting patternto knit your own sheep - knit a flock and count sheep as you read the book...

 

Christmas fair list to follow - watch this space...  

Priceless: being told that a copy of The Monster Under The Bed has been read until it's shabby - it's been a loved book, just like a favourite teddy.