I haven't posted for a couple of days but I have been making art. I made a pair of collages yesterday but they have so many layers of gel medium and PVA glue on them that they are taking a long time to dry out. I will show you them when they no longer have opaque white blobs - probably a day or two. Today I have been making another book, different to the last one. It is all constructed but I am still assembling text and images for it.

A fortnight ago I bought the book Mixed Mania in Hobbycraft in Stockport, then I went into the Starbucks next to it to read my new book over a cup of coffee. This is not unusual. But I was so grabbed by the projects in the book I left my coffee unfinished and went straight home to make a start. I began at the front of the book and worked my way through it, trying every single project. This is very unusual.

In the last two weeks I have made paper cut-out dolls, decorated paper, inchies, textured backgrounds, doodles, mini-artworks, a self portrait, a reliquary doll, a quilted clutch purse, a mixed-media doll, an art quilt, a fabric journal, as well as the textured collages and the book I can't show you yet. I invented orc stitch, non-dominant hand embroidery, drawing with a toothpick dipped in ink, and some ugly doodles of rats and seagulls which then kept cropping up with my work. I started keeping a dream diary and drawing on that for artistic inspiration, which has been very productive.

Fortunately I have a well-stocked art and craft stash and I have hardly bought any materials for all this. In fact, I can't think of anything I bought just for this. I either already had the materials required, or I was able to improvise and substitute.

I feel no urge to slow down. I am keen to continue and probably complete all the projects in the book. I already have a few other books lined up I would like to attempt projects from, although there aren't any other books I want to work through cover-to-cover as I have with Mixed Mania.

I'm interested in doing more exciting things with textiles. I'm interested in altered objects (altered books, altered clocks, furniture etc.) I want to make more 3d objects. More assemblage. Diptychs/triptychs. Boxes. Drawers. I want to work bigger. I want to make an altered long case clock!

I said all this was going somewhere. I still don't know where. But the journey is very exciting.

Fabric-covered journal. I have never done any bookbinding before, although it is something I have always wanted to try. I really enjoyed making this book and I am sure I will make more.

I dreamed about the woman, and I woke up with the song lyric going through my head. Sometimes, one of the hardest things about making art is deciding on a subject. My inner critic tries to have her say, telling me that the subjects I choose are too hard, or too lame, or hackneyed, or just plain wrong. By using images from my dreams, I take control away from my conscious thought where my inner critic speaks, and hand control over to my unconscious thought. My unconscious thought is a much better artist than my inner critic anyway, and a lot more fun to be with.

I've just got to share this wonderful poem/incantation my sister Stephanie wrote for banishing that poisonous toad, the inner critic:

Inner critic,

negative spirit,

be quiet!

You're a pest,

and I have bested you.

I see you for what you are;

an attention-seeking, jealous, spiteful sprite.

I will listen to my well-wishers,

who bless me with kisses

and hugs and warmth.

Boo,

Shoo,

Off with you now.

From A Roker Artist.

Art quilt, based on a dream I had about a wolf (who was also a woman) and her two cubs running away from something.

I had particular fun doing the rats (the triangles around the edges of the quilt). I wanted to hand-stitch them on with jagged, rough-looking stitches. I called this stitch "orc stitch". But I am an experienced seamstress, and when I am not paying close attention I automatically produce tiny, neat, even stitches. To prevent this I developed the technique of "non-dominant hand embroidery". Non-dominant drawing and painting is so last week, darlings!

I'm working on my next mixed-media project - a 2' square art quilt. It will be based on a dream I had about a wolf (who was also a woman) running away from something with her two cubs. I have started out by drawing the wolf and the cubs with my new favourite method - a toothpick dipped in ink. Toothpicks are horrible drawing implements. They are messy and scratchy and blotchy and unpredictable. Scraping them across paper is a sensation similar to running your fingernails down a blackboard. But the results seem to match the tenor of my dreams lately in a way that no other medium can.

Anyway, I am quite pleased with the drawings so far. These will be scanned and copied onto fabric which will be stitched to the quilt. But I might also do something-or-other with the drawings themselves because they have something about them.

Mixed media doll. I had a wonderful dream a few days ago in which I was in a sort of "Pirates of the Caribbean" type adventure. I was boarding galleons and seizing treasure, beaing chased through wharfs full of half-naked stevedores and escaping by jumping into the sea and swimming for my life. It was thrilling, but never scary. I made a note of it in my diary when I woke up.

When I saw this project in Mixed Mania, the doll's locks and beads reminded me of Johnny Depp in "Pirates", and I decided to theme the doll after my dream. My son Sam looked at her and asked "Is it Calypso?", who is also a character in the same movie. So I have named her Calypso.

A quilted clutch purse covered with objects, images and words that boost my self-esteem, e.g. running medals and ribbons, compliments that really boosted me and my graduation photo.

Beautiful wire-wrapped and beaded glasses by my sister Lindsey. View her bespoke jewellery on her website Paraphernalia.