Here is the completed piece "A Good Book". The text is cut out and appliqued onto a stitched background. I used stencils and reverse applique to construct the "illuminated" letters using silk and metallic thread to enhance it.
Mr Bedford's signature is printed in the bottom left hand corner.
This piece will be exhibited in the Weaver's Gallery, "The Beauty of Books", Ledbury, during the poetry festival from July 2nd to July 14th.
And --- I've updated my website at last!

I've been working on more ideas for my piece which will be included in the Exhibition at Weaver's Gallery, Ledbury, in conjunction with the Poetry Festival. The exhibition runs from 2nd July to 14th July 2013.
I have had so many books to sort out. They were my father's collection. The experience was overwhelming. They were so precious to him but I don't have the same connection.  However, I feel bound to look through every one. I like the idea of recycling the pages but find it hard to destroy a book even to move it on into something else. If they are damaged, that is easier. I made a large piece of fabric paper collaging it together with wax and thread. The book was Letters of Dr John Brown and actually is really interesting if incomplete. The pages are quite small and there are attractive spaces between paragraphs. This has now become the background for my new piece.
There were several books in the Everyman series published by Dent. The book is truly beautiful. There are quotations and beautiful intricate designs decorating the pages. Inside the front cover of The Life of Samuel Johnson was a signature H. Bedford 1906. I realised that I had known this man. I remember visiting him and his wife with my family when I was very young. The memories are extremely hazy but I remember he gave us boiled sweets - and their garden was quite dark with a huge holly hedge at the bottom.
So what a good job I looked in that book. I've used the page with the Milton quotation and the publisher's stamp as the inspiration for my design.