HighFiber: children's book

Showing posts with label children's book. Show all posts

Sunday, October 2, 2022

Tearing Down, Unloading and Building New

Just when I thought I was done with the book, the printer complained about the resolution on the back cover and wanted me to replace the artwork. The back cover looked fine by itself. (Note: This is just a screen shot of the PDF, so not a good representation, but just to give you an idea.)

I put in a couple of hours trying to replace the back, but every time I saved the full cover to a PDF, the back cover looked pixilated (all while the front looked nice and sharp). I had noticed a few days before that they have a new service called "templating," which just takes your artwork and puts it onto the template they have to use. It was going to cost me another $21 to get InDesign for another month, so the $99 for templating sounded pretty good. They said to allow three days for the service, but they were able to get to it right away. I will use it for all future books!

I decided to use slightly smaller type for this book. It already went over the length of the previous two books by ten pages. Using smaller type shortened it enough to get it into 70 pages.

Our vet nabbed me when I was in the office to pick up some medication for Rocky. He remembered seeing my iPhone tote/pouch and wanted to see if he could pay me to make one for his mother. I work for love but not for pay, so I said I would make one for her as a gift. She went to the University of Nebraska and wanted their colors. I finished the knitting in a couple of days.

The logo would be very difficult, because of the thin lines.

I was able to find an embroidered patch that will fit the pouch. It's on the way to me.

The felting was fairly quick and easy. I put it into a zippered pillowcase and washed it in hot water with detergent. I threw in a towel, so it wouldn't be lonely and set the washer for a small load. Then I ran it through the dryer until the towel was dry.

The Hinterland Pullover might actually get finished before winter. I picked up the stitches for the second sleeve.

Remember the shower that was ripped out to be replaced by a closet? (Photo from July, when we put in the new shower where the old soaking tub was.)

We found a good construction worker to build the closet for us. He was working on a neighbor's front deck. Charlie had a look at what he was doing and recognized good work. Monday he started on the closet. Let me introduce you to Joshua:

I have photos of the whole process, but this is a quick summary. The walls were up about midweek.

Then by Saturday, it looked like this:

We have boxes of cedar paneling we've been moving around with us since we lined the master closet in our home in Dana Point about 1987. I don't know if we have enough of it to do the whole closet, but we can buy more if we need to.

The front and back decks also need some work, and while we're at it, we decided to have our workers take down the cover over the hot tub (which leaks, so we can't use it). This is what it looked like three years before we ever saw the place.

The structure wasn't very well designed and was starting to lean. We were afraid it was going to fall over. Joshua's buddy, Vinnie, got most of it down on Saturday.

Charlie is taking the old greenhouse apart. It had collapsed in the middle (probably during some snowstorm) long before we took over the place, and we've never used it.

While we're tidying up the outside of the house, I decided it was time to get rid of the old chicken/rabbit hutch that had been left behind by some previous inhabitant. I listed it on Facebook Marketplace for free and gave it to the first person who responded. We had a total of 15 inquiries before I could mark it sold. It needed work, but she was just going to use it for her indoor bunny so he could spend some time outdoors when the weather is nice. Perfect! "Panda" has a new outdoor porch.

We've also had this tetherball pole in our front yard ever since we moved in. The ball had split open, so we threw it away. I listed the pole on Marketplace, too, and another young woman came to get it. The person who took the pole had a ball, but the base of her pole had broken; we matched up a good pole with a good ball for two little girls who love to play tetherball.

It was a bear to get the thing into the back of her pickup truck, but Joshua helped.

Sunday Joshua and Vinnie worked on putting up the doors on the old closets. (We had taken them off because they opened INTO the closet, making it impossible to put anything in that space. Who does that?)

In news of the Beaverton boys, they got spruced up for photo day at school.

Then on Saturday they participated in the Special Olympics. I love this photo of Soren. He has great form!

Olympian Gail Devers was helping with the Special Olympics. Here's Soren finishing his relay race and getting high-fives from Devers.

I'm sure this was Rocky's last "Blessing of the Animals." He continues to go downhill, but we have him on an anti-inflammatory every day and a mild sedative at night, which is helping him sleep. He still enjoys his food, so I don't think he's ready to move on yet. It took both of us to manage the dogs during the service. Rocky stayed in the stroller except for during the blessing. I took this screen shot from the video of the service. This is Dusty getting blessed, and Charlie is holding Rocky. If anyone got any good photos, I'll post those.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our other books, Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Finished knitting and felting (fulling) the iPhone pouch for our vet. Still working on the Hinterland Pullover (some progress made) and the EmPower People Kerchief is still hibernating.

What's on my loom: Dust, but I plan to make some placemats.

What's on my sewing machine: Still ready for back of T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In We've Got Email! the dolls have a meeting to discuss their new email address. Pauly is uncertain at first whether he should be included or not, but he's definitely needed. He may not live with The Writer and the rest of the gang, but he's in the stories...an important addition!

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz.

What's in my wine glass: Cala de Poeti Sangiovese 2017. Really good with pizza.

What's my tip of the week: Hummingbirds don't need red food coloring in their feed, and it probably isn't good for them, since it isn't good for us. I mix one part sugar to four parts water to fill my feeders. If you need it in a hurry, you can divide your water and mix part of it with the sugar and microwave it for a few seconds, then add the cold water to it after the sugar has dissolved.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers take a bigger cut. If you want to order an autographed copy, email me at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Monday, September 13, 2021

Fixing Mistakes

First an update on the Taina Shawlette:

You may remember this from last week:

I got that far, then turned the page and discovered that I had misunderstood the directions. Then I went and looked at some of the photos of other people's versions of this project and realized what I had done wrong, so I frogged 84 rows. I'm not back to the row number I was on when I found my mistake, but now I understand the instructions. (As I always say, I'm getting to have that fun all over again!)

The second trailer rug is more than halfway done. I put cardboard strips between the two rugs, so with some luck, the borders won't draw in so much. I really need to get a temple.

Bye-bye's eyes arrived, and I sewed them in place. He tells me the world looks very different from 1975, when he lost his eyes. He's a Steiff bear, and these eyes are very close to what he had when he was new.

I cleaned another one of the Fisher Price My Friend dolls. This is Mikey. He was the cleanest of the four dolls, so he was easy to clean up. I used baking soda on a damp washcloth rubbed on his vinyl. Then he went into a lingerie bag and ran through the washer with a load of clothes.

Two more to go!

The proof copy of Emil came. After seeing it printed, I'm thinking of changing the cover. It looks a little plain, when compared with Mariah. I think it's because there's nothing in the background of the photo.

I'm thinking of using this photo of Emil.

I was also disappointed in some of the photos on the inside pages, which came out darker than I expected. I don't know if this is something they can fix when they print the copies or if I need to increase the exposure on the original photos. The printed photo on the left is the same as the photo on my laptop screen, to the right.

I also discovered that I had accidentally used the wrong font type and size on the credits at the beginning of the book, and one of my chapter titles was a bigger size than I had used elsewhere, including the first book. It will be a lot of work to fix it, but I know I will be happier. I'm really glad I got the proof copy.

Our air quality has been very bad because of the forest fires in our state, but it rained late in the week and Saturday our AQI began to fall.

We were able to go for a walk on Saturday, our first walk in 10 days!

We started out with Rocky in the stroller, but he clearly wanted to get out, and he ended up walking more than half of the way. He has been getting around much better, and he has been off the pain and anti-inflammatory medications for nearly two weeks.

I'm not letting him go out at night without a flashlight and a leash (and someone at the end of the leash), so maybe he won't get injured again.

We finally got a set of matching kitchen chairs. We had two chairs at the table, and they didn't match. These chairs actually fold up, but we think they look nice enough for regular kitchen chairs. Now we won't have to "borrow" chairs from the dining room so more than two can sit in the kitchen.

The choir has been meeting for practice, socially distanced, masked and all vaccinated. Yesterday we sang in person. It's a lot more fun than recording an individual video for someone to put together.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Taina Shawlette.

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Mending.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A little more progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app.

What's in my wine glass: Red Diamond Mysterious, 2016, from Washington State. Another wine with a black label with red trim that I love.

What's my tip of the week: Mask wearing fog up your glasses? A tiny drop of baby shampoo on the inside of the lenses, rubbed around and then wiped off, will help you see clearly.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from booksellers worldwide. If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment, and that's 50% of the price when you buy there. Other bookseller take a much bigger cut. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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Monday, July 26, 2021

Finished Objects and Other Things

Tuesday I was able to take the rugs off the loom. Here they are before I cut them apart.

I finished the second rug first. All it needed was tying knots to keep the fringe in place.

The other rug was the first one woven. I found some missed warp threads, but I'm not going to worry about it. (I dare you to try to find them!) I did better as I got more experience, and I didn't find any in the other one, although I found and corrected a few while I was weaving and it was easy to fix.

Now I'm ready to warp the loom for rugs for the trailer. I can use the same tie-up, just fewer warp threads. I plan to use the black, turquoise and grey cotton yarn for warp and throw in some white, just because I still have some. The warp will make vertical stripes, which I think will be pleasant. The yarn is Sugar 'n Cream (black, grey and white) and Peaches & Creme (turquoise).

I don't have much quilting cotton and Indonesian batik left I want to use for rugs, so I may have to break down and buy some cheap cotton to use for this. I'd like to use mostly fabric that's yarn-dyed or where the color bleeds through to the wrong side, because when the fabric is printed on one side and almost white on the other, I feel I have to fold it with the wrong sides together as I work, so most of what shows is the print. That's tedious. I have more than half of the warp wound. I put the warping board on my stove, with a towel underneath to protect it.

I don't have a nice place to hang it on the wall where I can use it, but this works well, because I don't have to bend over or reach up high, and it stays put while I work. All that's on it in this photo is my guide string. Here it is with the fourth set of warp threads:

Just one more set to go.

Here's the warp I've already wound and taken to the loom.

I finished another project for Pippa, still as part of the Knit-Along in the Goetz Doll group on Ravelry. This was. Layer Cake. I thought I would get 8 sts/inch with the yarn and needles I chose, but it was closer to 7 sts/inch, so if I make this pattern again, I'm going to go down to a 2.25mm needle.

Here's the back.

It's totally seamless, which I love. No sewing up to do.

Saturday I fixed my favorite Indian Red Lentil Soup recipe, using our home-grown chard. I made garlic naan to go along with it.

Life in the doggie nursing home has calmed down a bit. Rocky is off the pain medication and the antibiotic as of a week after his surgery and seems to be doing well. He's getting around better, too. Now it's just the regular medications and eye drops to do. It's much easier to keep straight! Our groomer has agreed to break up Rocky's grooming appointment into two parts at a time separate from Dusty's to minimize the energy he has to expend all at once. She will wash and brush out one day and the next day we will go back for the clip.

The weather has cooled off enough for us to go for walks along the trail early in the day or in the evening. We need to take water, though, and a spray bottle filled with water, too, in case the pups get too warm. Rocky rides in the stroller most of the way, but he really enjoys it, and we let him out to walk on his own for short periods. We use the Walk for a Dog app when we walk, and periodically they make a donation to Best Friends, the dog-related charity we picked out. It's supported by advertising.

Things on the trail are interesting, as usual. There is often something new to see. The Little Library has been there for as long as we have lived here, but this is new:

We did see Oscar, but I didn't get a photo. Dusty was interested in making friends but then thought better of it.

This is fun. These people have a little sign at each knothole in the fence, as well as a birdhouse on each fence post and a clever little weather vane (upper left). The thing that looks like a mailbox says, "Messages." The wire basket sometimes holds informational brochures. A knothole down at child level (not in photo) says, "Peek-a-boo!"

This was also new, next door to the people who invite you to look into their garden. I can only guess it is meant to depict what happens to people who look over their fence. The dark pair on the left was wet from the knee down on the left leg. I suspect that a dog was leaving a commentary on the display. Dusty wouldn't go anywhere near these creatures, though.

The same people have these signs on the fence a little further to the right. The yellow sign on the left says, "Bigfoot got a baby dragon for a pet. I am not happy with what it is eating!"

Quite a bit of time was taken up with working on the new book. I roughed out the layout. It looks like it's going to be two pages longer than the first book.

Where's my blog: If you have been following my blog and want to continue following, I recommend you go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Um....I may have a WIP somewhere.

What's on my loom: Getting ready to warp for Camping Raggedy Rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Sweatshirt for Pippa

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A little more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Hair Today, Curly Next Week? Part One."

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg. Now listening to The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg, also on Chirp.

What's in my wine glass: Placer Andaluz Chardonnay 2020.

What's my tip of the week: I like to turn my yarn that comes on cones into center-pull skeins. It's a bit difficult to get the cone out of the yarn. Here's what I do. See where the cone sticks out above the yarn? I turn the yarn over and whack it on the counter a few times, then try to pull the yarn away from the cone and down on the side that's up (the base). I might need to repeat the procedure a couple of times, but eventually, it will come loose. After it's out, I pick a piece of yarn from the hole and pull it out. (I hadn't figured it out when I used the grey cone. I have the working yarn coming out of the wrong end, and it sometimes tangles.)

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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