I was in a Sushi restaurant waiting for my takeaway order when the idea came to me, and I sat there sketching different ideas in my little notebook, aware that people were walking past trying not to let me see their interest. I have to have a notepad and pen with me at all times. All kinds of things go into it: recipes, e-mail addresses, design ideas, "to do" lists, day-diaries of holidays, room measurements, word translations. My friends laugh when they say "you must read this book" and out comes the notebook and pen. "You're so organised!" they tease me, then 2 minutes later, "have you got a spare bit of paper?" Teehee.
I continued the planning on the MRT (train) on the way home. Mostly people don't like to be seen to be nosing into what other people are doing, but the old Singaporean man next to me had no such inhibitions. If he had been able to speak any English, I'm sure he would have given me some advice, but he had to content himself with smiling, pointing and nodding. Bless him. The Singaporean version of the "nutter on the bus" syndrome. It follows me around the world.
I hand-cut and inked the flower petals and bracts, and used the Silhouette to cut the stamens and the title. I can tell you that those tiny letters took blinking ages to cut and stick on - SO fiddly! And just when I was sitting there holding the "s" in tweezers with my nose 3 inches from the page and my tongue sticking out of the corner of my mouth, Heffalump Child decided that would be a great moment to knock over something large and breakable just above my head. I didn't bite my tongue. Just. And I managed to find the "s" on the carpet, unpick the fluff and re-glue it. No tongue this time - it was busy muttering unholy sentiments.
So with thanks to the encouragement of my friend on the MRT, here's the finished result. Am I the only one who is going to be humming "Flowers of the forest" all day now?
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