Making an envelope book

Oh what a sheltered life I have led to get to this great age without knowing how to make my own books! Its a bit of a seductive sidetrack..... Takes me away from the "real" work but has been fun. This one is no great shakes, but as a first attempt I've learned alot and would do some things differently next time!
I have learned:

• To make good use of bits in my stash - like heavy paper store carrier bags. old maps and my samples for the cover etc
• Accuracy, accuracy and accuracy!
• As a displacement activity it certainly beats housework

My book cover is one of the very first stitch samples I made in September. I used a linen sheet of my Grandmother's and dyed in a plastic bag, It was meant to be black but I clearly got the recipe wrong!

 The pages are papers I've had for ages, a map of the Grand Canyon,and wrapping paper from Thailand and  a carrier bag from Joules.

I have used some left over linen to create the stitched spines.

Now I just have to master the tricky bit of getting the spines attached. Then I can post a picture of the finished article!