Always up for a swap

Many months ago I signed up to participate in a Girdle Book swap on the Book Arts Forum. Somewhere in the back of my head I filed away that it was due to be shipped in January but never actually put it on a calendar.
The deadline sneaked up on me (and luckily a few others) and I thought no problem this is going to be easy...
Famous last words right?

I picked out a fun piece of yellow leather, tied a knot in one end and measured out the other end to give a nice hang. Then I untied the knot to make casing the book in easier, finished the book and popped it into the press.
A few days later I took the book out of the press and tried to tie the knot back in.... Much to my surprise and dismay the leather left on the end of the book was now too thick and short to tie into a knot!

It's back the workbench with me tomorrow, to prep a new text block and work on getting Hilke her book in the mail for the swap.
On the agenda for the future is what to do with this book. I know I can save the leather, the text block might be a loss.

Craft Hope for Haiti

I know I've been silent for awhile, but I promise you I've been hard at work here! I have two orders for folio's currently in process and I've finished a book for a swap on the Book Arts Forum.
I promise to do a more detailed check in soon, right now I'm trying to fight off a cold and wanted to share something with you.

I am sure you have heard about the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12th, 2010-today I was introduced to Craft Hope for Haiti, which is an Etsy shop filled with wonderful items that have been donated from crafters & artists from all reaches. Craft Hope is donating 100% of the proceeds to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.
If you're an artist/crafter interesting in donating something to the shop information can be found here.