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Sew La Tea Do! Yes! Our book! It is called 'Sew La Tea Do : 24 Favourite Things To Sew!'

You likey? I likey! I have been a bit quiet over here because I had an epic few weeks finishing off 40 pages of how-to diagrams for our lovely designer Michelle Mackintosh to chop up and position within the text. It was really epic! But so much fun. I am the luckiest gal to be able to work on this project with such ace people.

So here are some behind the scenes photos for you to peek at. In these shots you can see me and Michelle Mackintosh (our designer) and John Laurie (photographer) and Chris (photographer) and Ari (son!) and Jane Winning (from Hardie Grant, my publisher) and ME!

These shots were taken in Melbourne at John's studio at at Roxy's house in Healesville where we shot a whole lot of gorgeous stuff. It is so lovely to look back over them, because we had such a wonderful time and worked together like the total dream team. Sigh. Happy days.

It's such a long process to write an instructional book and make it look lovely too, and not like a crappy text book from Year 8 Home Ec. But it's a great process. And I think that we have made a really gorgeous book, even though it's still being tweaked and proof-read and all that kinda gumph. Here is how it kind of goes, in case you are interested...

Come up with idea : have a meeting
Publisher takes it to their acquisitions meeting : (yep, another meeting)
Get the go ahead : have a meeting
Decide on the projects and format : at a meeting
Start work on some of the projects
Send some of the project sketches to pattern maker : after a meeting
Work like a demon sampling all the projects
Make changes : post meeting
Make all the projects again
Write all the instructions for the projects : while making the projects again
Have a meeting
Have another meeting
Make the projects again for the photo shoot so that the final samples are exactly what we want
Day packing props for shoot
Photo shoot : Four days and two meeting prior
Spend day unpacking props
Edits come through from editor : edit all text and projects
Lots of chats with designer and editor
6 days of making diagrams
First pages come back from designer via publisher
Go through pages making any final changes
That's where I am up to now!

We still have lots more things to do like finalise the cover design and finish the patterns (their markings and instructional bits and bobs and labelling too). And then the Publicity Machine will kick in in a month or so and I'll be chatting til I am blue in the face about all things crafty. And then... in October... the book will be in store! And not just our store. Good stores everywhere. Hurrah!

So why don't you make a book. Don't you think? If you want to? I think you can. So get going!

xx Pip

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