By The Book

The area around my laptop is constantly surrounded by small sticky notes and scraps of paper filled with ideas for quilting projects and tips that I find on blogs or Pinterest. While it started as a good reference, more and more things are getting lost in the shuffle.

There were notes of every shape and size - whatever was handy to scribble on when I came across an idea.

Some of them are sticky notes, a couple of which even found their way onto the back splash in the kitchen. Time to get more organized. A quilting journal to the rescue!

I made this journal cover a couple of years ago but felt that it fit just a tad too snug so I didn't feel comfortable putting it on the table at the Holly Bazaar to sell. It has been languishing in a closet all this time so I decided that I could put it to good use.

I've started collecting all of those odds and sods and transferring them into the book. It just made too much sense.

It's not rocket science but already I'm finding it a big help to have a single resource - it cuts down on digging around for a particular and tiny slip of paper.

It's also nice to be able to enjoy a journal cover that I made as I've given all the others that I've made away. Love the texture of these covers after they are quilted...M

A Little Journaling

Jane has hinted a few times that she really likes the journal covers that I make, and I've been wanting to make one for her, but wanted to ensure that it was a surprise. I figured enough time had passed and this Christmas was a good time to deliver.

Because I don't make them that often there's always a bit of a learning curve when I get back into them, remembering the modifications that I've made to the original pattern and getting the dimensions right. This time was no different.

I spent a lot of time pulling colours that I thought suited Jane and came up with this combo of very organic prints, predominantly in a rose/plum colour.

A little extra detail was added to the inside cover.

And then I sewed it together. It was too small by about 1/8". Doesn't sound like much but it was enough to make it look like a mess, and there is no way that she would be able to switch up the journal once it was full because you couldn't slide it off. Grrrrr.

That meant making a second one. I tried to replicate the original as much as possible and I also included an aqua stripe because she is such a water baby; I always associate her with the lake.

It was wrapped before I had a chance to get a photo so you'll have to trust me when I say that the two are very similar. Not sure what I can do with the first one without lots of blue smoke rising from the sewing room so for now I'll just think on it. I may be able to resize it to a smaller cover, but I'm going to have to be in the mood for that!....M

Pretty Hearts & Another Style of Journal Cover

Another weekend out at the cottage with Jane and we had lots to show for it. It helps that all our time is spent with needle and thread close at hand.

When I arrived she was busy making these seriously insanely tiny little yo-yos - they are about the size of a nickel - so of course I had to make some too, because if you're going to go crazy it's always nice to have company. Believe it or not, she'd like to try making even smaller ones! (My apologies for the lack of focus.)











True confessions time. I have never had much luck making yo-yos, but I have to say that I was acing these little guys. Linda was going to join us on Saturday so we made up enough for 3 hearts to be worked on and played around with a few layouts until we got colour distributions that we liked.

We were so busy doing other things that we ran out of time to work on them again so they have been shelved for another play date, but just to keep you interested, this was her inspiration.

Jane had recently hand pieced together two panels to cover a small journal so I offered to finish it off for her. This is the front...

and this is the back.

I used the same technique as I use for my batik covers and then we found this great postcard print for the lining and inside flaps.

It is really pretty, inside...

















and out; quite Victorian. And ready to use....M

Between The Covers

A very special friend celebrated a milestone birthday recently so a small group of us met for lunch last week to fête her and I decided it was the perfect excuse to make a journal cover. She's a quilter and likes batiks so even if she never writes a note in it she will have some lovely fabric to look at :).

It's been a while since I have put one together so I needed to get my brain thinking the right way again, but it kicked in eventually. I did have to dig up the tutorial once it got to sizing the batting, but after that it was sort of like riding a bike - once you know how it all comes back with a little practice.

I'm getting smarter about cutting and laying out all my strips before I sew and it makes things go a lot more quickly and smoothly.

It seems a shame not to include a little colour on the inside flaps so I added a few there as well to make things interesting.

When it was all wrapped and ready to go I couldn't help but think that this pattern would be lovely to appliqué some day. There's inspiration everywhere.....M

Little Books All In A Row

Well, production for this year's supply of Holly Bazaar journal covers is now complete, and I couldn't be happier. I wanted to have half a dozen made and I've got that plus, at the suggestion of one of the organizers, I made two slightly larger ones to fit the church bibles, so 8 in total. Here are the 6 smaller ones.

I just love them all. I particularly like the play of the random rows of quilting overtop the equally random fabric strips. Here, for your viewing pleasure, a little eye candy:

In my frenzy I completely forgot that I had started this one, so one more to make, but not until after the bazaar.

And here's the makings of a second one (it's like a drug - once you get started they become addictive - you just keep looking for new fabric combinations!).

The place is a bit of disaster during production because there are so many fabrics out, but it's half the fun of it. Now to finish up my little birdies and do some baking...M

More Fun With Journal Covers

After preparing several covers so that I could quilt them in a batch I have to say that I still wasn't totally comfortable with the fusible batting - I was attempting to get it to adhere to only one layer rather than sandwich it - but that connection wasn't great and it made turning things right side out a little tricky, so I decided to improvise and see what would happen.

I found a piece of very lightweight cotton and sandwiched the batting between the pieced cover and it, and then quilted everything before sewing the front and lining together; it worked much better than joining the cover and lining and they quiling & topstitching. It gives the cover a bit more structure because there are now three layers of fabric involved but the covers on this first batch of journal are not that firm so its all for the best.

My machine is older and has never been that precise at topstitching, especially through several layers, so I wasn't liking the finish that I was getting by topstitching everything at the end. I also didn't care to have the few stitches at the start and end of each quilting line showing, so now I quilt it first, sew front and lining together and then hand stitch the sleeves/foldover to the cover with a ladder stitch so there is no topstitching and all the starts and stops are hidden; its a much nicer finish.







This is the thread that I'm using to quilt all of the, a lovely variegated blue/green. I have TONS of it so either I start working onlarger quilted projects or I really go big with the production of the journal covers! The transition in colour creates interesting light in the pieces, giving them more even more dimension...M

Fun With Journal Covers

I've gotten back into the swing of things with the journal covers - I find your head needs to be in the right frame of mind to do them. Like anything else, I guess. After my 'blue phase' I thought I'd venture into the reds and browns and at the end of it all I honestly can't pick a favourite.

Here's the second blue/green combo that I made - I don't think that I've shown you that one yet.

The red one is just spectacularly rich with the deeper burgundy accent and then the blues & greens thrown in.

And the brown/taupe combo turned out to be so warm. I really wasn't convinced that I was going to like this combo at all when I started to cut, but once again I was proven wrong.

It's been so much fun creating new points of interest for each one. There are five ready to quilt now and that always takes them to a completely different level so I'll be back with pics of the finished product.

Have I mentioned how much fun these are to make?...M

Havin' Waaaaaay Too Much Fun!

It's been play time with the batik scraps lately to make more journal covers for the Holly Bazaar and I am having tons of fun. The process is so free. I love watching how the addition of each strip changes the look and feel of the entire piece. It is so engrossing that I find myself lying in bed at night planning different designs/strip combinations. Maybe I should get a life.

It is amazing to me how each each one develops its own personality and I love how the pops of colour against the more muted backgrounds come into play.

No rules - anything goes - fun, fun, fun.

I've got two more covers ready to assemble and quilt...

...similar, but different (actually, this one is upside down). The colours still look a little muted, especially on this one, but they are nice and rich.

I made this little wonky Log Cabin block - it's about 3" x 4" and will incorporate it into the next one, but I'm also thinking that a predominantly red design needs to be tried.

And speaking of needing to be tried, I found this recipe for Upside Down Nectarine Chiffon Cake while browsing the other day and it just looked too good not to try - especially since the fruit is fresh and in season. This isn't the site that I found it on but the directions and photos are good and I couldn't find the page that I worked from originally, so here you go.





It's a recipe from Dorie Greenspan, the author of the book Baking With Julia, and it's delicious, but not the fastest cake to make - maybe the second time around you'd have a better sense of the process and it would go a little quicker. I baked mine for a full hour rather than the time it suggested and it could probably have used another 5 minutes. It is a light lemon chiffon cake with a toasted almond and oatmeal streusel filling, and carmelized nectarines and got rave reviews from the Official Cookie Tester, even without the suggested whipped cream or ice cream...M

Holly Bazaar Test Drive

Journal cover

This is what I was in the middle of when I decided to make my latest baby quilt. Every year as we approach September I start thinking about what I can make for the Holly Bazaar at our church which lands around the first week of November. I'm always finishing things for it at the last minute regardless of how early I start, but I do like to feel that I have some measure of control by starting things a few months out.











Anyway, quite a while back I saw this tutorial that Wanda had posted for making quilted journal covers so I went out and bought a few little notebooks and waited for the inspiration to hit. She uses a lot of large Kaffe prints and batiks and I wanted to try it with the leftover batiks from my Neighbour's Fence quilts. So, as I was busy cutting blocks for my Flying Geese I decided to switch over and try making one of these (does it sound like I have a hard time focusing?).

I have to say that I am quite pleased with my first effort. It did include using a fusible batting, which I wasn't too keen on as I don't have much luck with them, but I did okay. Sometimes Wanda machine quilts them and sometimes she doesn't but I like the look of the quilted ones and I was still a little paranoid about the batting moving around so I quilted mine too. I started quilting in the seams but prefer the look of the thread cutting through the fabric and the randomness of the stitching rows. I had picked up a really lovely varegated green/blue/beige thread when I thought I might actually machine quilt Neighbour's Fence myself (not!) so I used that and it was perfect.

This is the full cover, front and back.















The books are spiral bound and about 6" x 8"; I'm going to check the dollar store for a less expensive one - I think these were about $8 each. Regardless, they feel really nice in your hand. I mentioned that I was making these to the gals that organize the bazaar and they suggested making a few that would fit a bible, so I think I'll try a few of those as well, maybe in more traditional prints. Oh, the options!...M.