A few weeks before going on holiday I was told that my day job (as a Global Design and Development Manager) was no longer sustainable ... a fancy way of saying that I was being made redundant. Which kind of sucks but, having sat on the other side of the table in the past, I quickly moved past being angry and upset to being pragmatic albeit still rather sad. The paperwork was completed the day before we travelled to Dunure so I had lots of time to start looking forward as I sat on the beach looking across to Arran. Those glorious sunsets being symbolic of one part of my life ending and another one starting ...

But as part of moving forward there has been a lot to sort out - a car (I am going to really, really miss my company car!), a mobile phone (thank goodness that I have kids to help sort this one out!), broadband (just don't ask! total nightmare!) and of course money stuff. I feel like I have spent the whole week either filling out forms or being put on hold on the phone. Despite being officially unemployed I have only managed about 10 hours in the studio. But those few hours have produced a miniature quilt that I am happy to show at Festival of Quilts. I decided I didn't like my first attempt so I started again and actually made two more pieces. Below is the piece I like. It is called Vestiges.

I wish that I could take this opportunity to become a full time studio artist. Alas we still have a hefty mortgage so I will be spending the next few months looking for a new job. Happily my redundancy pay will keep the wolf from the door for a while so I can take my time. Which means that, now I have sorted out most of the 'stuff' that needed doing quickly, I can put in more hours in the studio. Or I could just sit in the garden drinking good coffee and enjoying the summer!

Today is our last full day in Dunure. The weather is still glorious but I was beginning to feel a little miserable at the thought of leaving the cottage, and the beach, and the views and the pub ... Until I opened my email and read that Ruins 5 has been shortlisted into Fine Art Quilt Masters! Serious happy dance going on! Time for an early gin and tonic made with Rock Rose hand crafted Scottish gin.

The weather here in Dunure continues to be glorious - if this proves to be the best couple of weeks weather this summer then I can't think of a better place to spend them! But you can only sit in the sun reading books and eating ice cream for so long ....

My fourth handmade book is bound using Coptic stitch. The front and back covers are stitched to the paper signatures leaving the spine of the book exposed.

I realised last week that I didn't actually have the tools I needed to do a good job on this book. But thanks to internet shopping I was able to buy coloured linen thread, eyelets and a wonderful new tool - a Japanese screw punch. I could have just used an awl to make holes in the front and back covers but that would not have looked as nice as using eyelets. Bookbinding may 'just' be a 'hobby' for me but if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well!!

The weather in Dunure has been glorious. So much so that I got a little sunburnt on Monday - pink is definitely not my favourite colour! But every cloud has a silver lining and in this case it meant staying indoors for some of yesterday making books. As hobbies go this is seriously addictive!

My second book was constructed in the same way as the first but I used cotton rag paper for the pages and a bookbinders waxed linen thread for the stitching. I'm much happier with this one - the paper fills the book a bit more and the thread looks more 'substantial' on the spine.

My third book is A4 rather than A5 and I added some detail to the front cover. Because I had converted my hand dyed fabrics to book cloth I was able to glue the layers in place and did not need to worry about them fraying. The longer spine meant that I could be a little more creative with the stitching. I used the linen thread again and introduced a variant on some of the long stitches. Working on a larger book was a bit awkward at times (could have done with a third hand) but the results are worth it!

We've just started a two week holiday in my favourite place - Dunure. It was grey and raining off and on yesterday but today we work to sunshine, blue skies and crystal clear water. I started my day with a cup of coffee sat on the beach - perfect!

I'm giving my hard working sewing machine a holiday as well (otherwise known as being serviced!) so I've brought my bookbinding stuff with me. I had a lovely weekend making bookcloth and making my first book cover in April. Today I have finished my first book. I have used long stitch to sew in the signatures (folded paper pages to you and me!).  I didn't overload the book with pages as I figured I needed wriggle room for my first attempt at stitching. I used a thick 12wgt yellow thread but I think a thicker thread might have looked better. I'm pretty happy with the result!

I realised last night that I hadn't blogged for about 10 days despite promising myself that I would blog at least once a week. I told myself that I had a good excuse - the day job has been a little distracting but I have still managed to get about 13 hours a week in the studio. So why haven't I blogged? Maybe because it is not a fully formed, hard to break habit yet? The answer, for me at least, is to keep going, just in the same way that I keep going into my studio to work even when I'm tired or distracted. I turn up and do the work! So what have I done in the last 10 days. Well the good weather lasted longer than expected so I have about 12 square metres of gorgeous fabric to cut into 'bricks' ready to build more Ruins pieces.

And I worked on a miniature piece that, if I like it once finished, will be entered into the miniatures category at Festival of Quilts this summer. Stitching a piece that is only 30cm square is so much easier than working on my recent, mammoth, Ruins pieces!

There's a saying 'make hay while the sun shines' which would be a silly way for me to fill my weekend. I don't live on a farm and I'm already suffering with hayfever. I prefer 'make breakdown screens while the sun shines'. The weather is glorious and I've taken full advantage this weekend to make and print off multiple breakdown screens. In between, as the screens dry out, I have sat on my new garden furniture drinking good coffee and contemplating life. Only in the UK could that furniture have been covered in snow 2 weeks ago!

The contemplating hasn't been particularly productive but the breakdown printing has. Lots of lovely new fabrics for my Ruins series.

I used the back wall of my studio to photograph Ruins 5 as it is the only space I have that allowed me to do so without using a wide-angled lens. I had to move music system, CDs etc out the way but this seems a small inconvenience compared to finding and possibly hiring somebody else's white walled studio / gallery space. This is about the widest piece I'll be able to photograph with my studio in it's current configuration. Would that stop me working on a larger piece in the future? No - I think I work best when I don't set constraints, when I let each piece be the size the piece wants to be.

I was planning on re-hanging Ruins 5 in our living room but have decided to leave it in the studio whilst I continue working on another large Ruins piece (on the sewing table) and whilst I consider different options for small Ruins pieces (on the design wall). There is something energising about surrounding myself with work from one series. It fills my head with new ideas but also helps me evaluate work in progress with a more critical eye. Another benefit of working in series rather than on isolated pieces!

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted as I have been busy finishing the latest piece in my Ruins series. It combines elements of Ruins 1 and Ruins 4 but on a larger scale. The piece is 299cm wide and 102cm high and is going to be a devil to photograph! But it is a great example of how working in series is allowing me to gain confidence as an artist. Time is precious and I would not have started a piece of this size without being confident that it would 'work'.

Quite by coincidence I've read a couple of blog posts this week that talk about working in series. The first is by Lisa Call in which she shows some of the final pieces in her Structures series. This series was started in 2000 and has resulted in 200 pieces. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it! It is really interesting to see how more recognisably 'Lisa Call' the later pieces are.

The other post was by Elizabeth Barton. She makes the case that working in series is not limited to abstract art; it can be representational as well. She illustrates it with pieces from 3 of her series. Unlike Lisa, Elizabeth used quite different styles in some of her series.

Both artists teach courses on working in series and Elizabeth has published a great book on the topic.