Last year I bought a diary, to help me plan my newly self-employed activities for the year. I had great hopes for it. I planned to write down all the weird and wonderful national days, like National Kazoo Day and Inane Answering Message Day (28th and 30th January respectively, if you’re interested) or World Three-Legged Zombie Day (ok, that one’s yet to be confirmed).
I intended to plan and schedule blog posts, dyeing days, shop updates, accounts days, and lots of other things besides. It was a great plan.
Here’s a fairly typical diary page from this year:
It’s not that I have nothing to do.
It’s that I have So. Much. To. Do that I haven’t got time to write anything in the diary. I did fairly hit the ground running in January, and it’s been pretty much non-stop ever since, but it’s mostly reactive activity rather than planned activity. Fire-fighting is exhausting, and I see now that I do really need to set aside some time to plan things better. I’ve been so busy this year that I haven’t found the time (and if I’ve had the time then I haven’t had the energy) to make the art that I thought would be possible.
Next year I really must make time to use the diary for effective planning and scheduling, because all work and no play is no good for anyone. There are Skillshare classes I want to take. I want to become more proficient with Procreate. There are all kinds of messy mixed media avenues I want to explore. I want to make sketchbooks and draw more. I will schedule and ring-fence play times. All play and no work is no good either, of course. I will also schedule strategic planning meetings with myself and maybe even a weekly team meeting (can you be a team of one?) It’s a good plan. Let’s see if any of that works.
So I’ve bought another diary and next year I will try again. I will only use it for planning, not for writing my life story as it unfolds. It will be a purely administrative tool, holding and measuring time, and will let me see how I can use my time better.
All of the above has been a very lengthy – and probably very dull – prologue to the real content of this post. As you may know, I like to make covers for books. Just because. Making a slip cover for a book is quite quick and easy – you just need something long enough to wrap around the book and under the front/back covers and something an inch or so wider on each long side.
I placed a few scraps on a foundation cloth. The ragged vintage lace down the spine was exactly the length I needed. I always think if something fits exactly without needing to be cut or shaped, then it was probably meant to be there. The lines are fairly straight, but the photo is a bit crooked.
A little hand stitch here and there and it was soon done.
I stencilled 2024 onto a piece of painted card and attached it by over-laying a scrap of sheer tulle that has little dots on it and just stitched around the edge:
Once the stitching on the front, back, and spine is complete, you can turn the long edges down so that the height of the cover is about 1/4″ longer than the height of the book. I just tack the hem down with tiny stitches on the surface because you won’t really see the wrong side.
For the wrap-around edges, I usually just try the book cover on the book, wrong side outwards, folding the long sides around book and then closing the book to make sure it’s not too tight. I can then mark the outer edge with a pin and oversew along the top and bottom edges to create the slip case for the front and back covers. There are lots of other ways to do this. I’m sure there will be many tutorials online for making book covers like this one.
Turn everything right side out again and the book just slips nicely into the cover.
I like it.
And there we are, fit for the future. I can see next year coming and I’ll be ready for it.
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Gorgeous!! I’m a big fan of making book covers for all the many notebooks/journals/sketchbooks I use too 😂😊
never enough, right? 😆
Very nice 🧡 I’ve never kept a diary or journal… if I did mine would end up blank. 🙃
It’s more for recording what I’m going to do rather than writing about what I’ve done, but I hope it will be useful. I guess I’ll enjoy looking at it if nothing else 😆
Yes that would be me 😁
I think that I have come up with a great journal solution, because I hate it when I have a diary and it’s 90% empty pages. It’s a bullet journal technique, with my own twist.
Start with any book of blank pages that you like. Number each page. Then dedicate 2 or 3 (or more) pages as an index. Then start your diary, and chart out a week over two pages that face each other. Divide each page into thirds – I find it helpful if the line doesn’t cross the whole page. Put Monday-Wednesday on the left, and Thursday and Friday in their own sections on the right, and have Saturday and Sunday share the last third. Write the name of the day and the date on each slot.
When you start a new month, make a note in the Index, e.g., Page 99 = October.
I don’t like to plot out dates in advance, because sometimes I don’t use the journal for a while, or, I’ll decide that the week was lightly used and I’ll just cross out the dates and write new ones. This way, I don’t have blank pages, and the index lets me know where to find things. And I can be in the middle of a month and come up with an idea I don’t want to lose track of, so I’ll give a blank page a heading, write down the idea, and make an entry for it in the index.
No more wasted diaries, and I can use any book that I like.
That’s an excellent idea Robin. I should have said, of course I will use the (mostly) blank diary for something, or I’ll paint the pages and use them for collage material. One of these days I will try and commit to journalling ‘proper’ just to see how it feels.
I really like this idea and I’ve seen this Format as well.
Beautiful work! You are ready. Here’s to 2024!❤️
I’m probably as ready as I’ll ever be 😄 And yes, looking forward to a whole new year of adventure.
I have kept a journal or diary for most of my life, in the early days at age 9 it was the Dear Diary type which I filled every year until I was 13 when I moved onto composition notebooks which I filled and by the age of 60 I had 75 volumes filled, in addition I kept a pregnancy to the first 5 years journal which my son now has, he’s 42. I have kept garden, needlecraft and quilters journals along the way. Writing was my first passion, about 5 years ago I went on to collage along with my journal entries. Now at 68, I find my hand embroidery pieces have become my journal, I have a project journal where I can record all the information on a project, add swatches of fabric and photos. I used it some times, mostly I record each project I start in a composition notebook, usually the start and finish date, fabrics, thread/floss and embellishments used. Even that can be such a burden on my time, I would rather create something which makes me happier than writing about it. In July of 2024 on my 69th birthday, I plan to burn all of my journals. It will be my way of releasing 60 years of a life lived the way I wanted to live it and my son won’t have to deal with all the fallout once I cross over the rainbow bridge. I will keep on stitching together my life in pieces until I can no longer hold a needle. Whatever you choose, enjoy the process, once it feels like a burden it no longer serves you. Your journal cover is beautiful I wish you many good days of creative entries.
Goodness, I love your response. I used to keep a standard diary as a child and into my teens, but on re-reading them later I found them so boring that I destroyed them all. Now of course I wish I hadn’t because I can barely remember those years. I do sometimes wish I’d documented my life better – but for what reason I can’t explain. I have no children, and no one to pass anything on to.
I wonder how it will feel to burn 60 years of writing… I imagine you will have very mixed feelings about it when the time comes. I too will continue stitching until I no longer can – I hope for many more years.
Next year this diary will just be for time management; I’ll put the more creative work somewhere else. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all develops. And likewise, wishing you many more days of gathering the pieces of a full life.
Hello Karen,
I had to smile when I saw your “typical” page – very similar to many of mine…
But I am getting better at using a notebook, in which I put the date when I make an entry. Mostly when I start something, what thread or fabric or yarn, etc and some notes of its progress and the date it is finished.
I am quite new to your website and am very much enjoying reading backwards. Thank you for sharing your beautiful creations. Your journal cover is inspiring and I wish you much joy in its use. ps. I love “little bird”.
Thanks so much, Elizabeth. This diary will be strictly utilitarian, just to make me make time for what’s important. I think a notebook documenting work is a really good idea; I’ve done that a couple of times when there was research involved but I should do it more often. Birdie pincushion is probably my favourite thing in the whole house. Thank you for reading the blog – enjoy rummaging 🙂
LOL. My journaling has been so sporadic. Next year I turn 60. I have great plans for keeping track of things and writing about it. Saying a prayer…
Let’s wish us both luck 🙂
This is lovely. I bought a blank journal to use as my making notebook and made a stitched cover. I have not been as consistent as I had hoped but it is fun to see my plans and ideas. I think it will last me three years.
An excellent idea! A blank notebook can last as long as it needs to.
I remember when I was still living with my parents, and they were running a business and I was running a different one, but we all kept getting involved in both of them, we used to have “board meetings” once a week after breakfast for a while. I think it helped, but for some reason we didn’t stick with it – probably more of the firefighting you’ve correctly identified as a hindrance to progress. Sending encouraging hopes that you have better stick-to-it-iveness than we did!
ha, I do like the idea of board meetings and fully intend to have regular meetings with myself, however ridiculous that turns out to be. Next year I’m determined to work smarter, and I *think* better planning will help. At the moment the business is driving me, whereas ideally I’d like to at least have the illusion of being just a bit in control 🙂
The best laid plans, hey…I do lists a lot, but perhaps if I planned more, the days wouldn’t get away from me? But I love free flow!
hoping to pin down all the time that’s currently eluding me 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous Karen! You have such a keen eye for design, texture and colour. Your work always looks organic and effortless even though much thought, work and skill goes into your art. I always feel a sense of inspiration once I have read one of your posts and admired your latest creation. Thank you for sharing your art and process.
thanks so much 😊 To be fair, this was actually pretty effortless 😁