Three Finishes to Share

Like my fabrics, I've been working over the past month or so to USE a lot of the accumulated paper stash.  Finished journals take up much less space than their array of raw materials.

This first project involved a purchased accordion (concertina) journal, items harvested from two different magazines, a few postage stamps, and woodcut images from my favorite next-to-the-computer calendar.

This is the front cover.

You can see here how I used vintage rice paper book pages to cover each of the accordion's pages.

This is a sample of the way I finished out the interior.  

One set of "sides" feature winter images from the calendar and compatible magazine cut outs.  

The other "sides" feature non-winter calendar images and magazine cut outs.

Making this was quietly satisfying and the end result is very restful to flip through.

The next finish has been a long time in process.  A thrifted book had its pages removed so I could insert new pages using vintage ledger papers.

The first pages acknowledge the inspiration for the genesis of SQUIRREL!

The rest of the pages contain all manner of squirrely items.  Text from a North American animal handbook, greeting cards, stickers, drawings, comic strips, and so much more.

This spread shows the squirrel/nut-themed washi tape I found and some old squirrel postage stamps.

I used pages from a thrifted kid book for the front and back interior covers and facing pages.  I cut more images from that book and another to use throughout the altered book.

I deliberately left open spaces and lots of envelopes so I can tuck in additional items as they are found; but for now I'm calling it done.

The third small finish (literally) was to add my bits to a Bricolage Factory "tiny journal".

This photo shows the scale and one cover.

I worked my way through one set of pages before turning the journal over and working back through the pages with text, etc. facing the opposite direction; much like viewing an accordion journal.

A scrap of painted piano roll and a snippet from a larger design . . . it was fun to work on such a small scale.

This is the other cover featuring a bit of washi tape saved from an envelope that came in the mail.

* * *

I've decided that Nimiety and its scrappy pieced backing are going to Many Hands Many Hearts organized by Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.  I had fun making Nimiety and used up a lot of strips and leftovers in the process, but I think it has a better life ahead as a comfort quilt (or two should they decide the back would make a good top).  

Holus Bolus and its back have been rolled on to pool noodles.  I'll get the batting cut and rolled onto the third noodle so pin basting can happen in this week.

One stitch, one scrap, one thing at a time.

Quiltdivajulie

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"You can do it like it's a great weight on you, or you can do it like it's part of the dance."

Ram Dass

July Recap

Last month I spent time sorting and restacking the yardage in my stash.

There was also considerable editing done, along with culling scraps in the resource boxes.

This photo shows just how much space was cleared as a result.  The right half of the third shelf down is no longer filled with fabric.  

That same right half on the bottom four shelves no longer houses fabrics but a few magazines waiting to be harvested for my journal making adventures.

(the stacked drawer unit and Raskog cart were also cleaned up/out since the paper stuff accumulates even faster than fabric does)

I pulled out these fabrics to make a set of six reversible placemats for September.  

These fabrics were set aside to make a set of five utility mats for our December living room.

And these greens from the stash/resource boxes will become a set of six placemats for use next March.  The reverse side will be made using blocks Lynne sent after finishing her Field of Dreams quilt.

Ruska, a gift quilt, was quilted and finished.

Paint Party, no. 12 of 13 in the Macnas series, was quilted and finished.

And Yutori, no. 13 of 13 quilts in the Macnas series was quilted and finished.

There was also a squirrel invasion in July that led to this quilt top named Nimiety.

I also created Nimiety's scrappy pieced backing.  Both the top and backing are currently rolled onto pool noodles to be pin basted and quilted sometime this month.

No photos for this but I also emptied and sorting the overflowing box of leftover quilt backings and assorted other bits and pieces into six different project boxes for future quilts inspired by designs/patterns I've stashed but never used.   I don't plan to dig into any of these until next year aside from some cutting of pieces and parts as time permits.  But after staying so focused on finishing, it felt good to make plans for new scrappy adventures.

I also moved the two studio plants outdoors for the summer and changed the lower curtain fabric (the other yardage had faded over its 3 year life in that window).

The nearly 5-week month and lots of hot steamy weather that kept us indoors clearly made for more studio time than usual.

* * *

And because today is August 1, here's the monthly photo of our back yard.  The grass is the greenest it will get this summer, the neighbor's crape myrtle adds a big pop of color, our black eyed Susans are at their peak, the azalea bush has grown and filled in so much in the last month, the coleus in the large pot are thriving, but the in-ground hostas as struggling with the intense heat and hot sun but they'll recover later in the year when the weather moderates.   

(The temporary fence is there because we've had the grand-dog for the last two weeks.  Keeping her out of the dirt makes life much easier, especially when the dirt turns to mud.) 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Clutter is the enemy of clarity."

Julie Cameron

Where Things Stand

This is a photo of Ruska, a Camp Sefton collaborative quilt from earlier this year, laid out over my drafting/cutting table; but the photo was taken from the back side.  

I had to clean up my paper art table so the top and later the back could drape overtop and stay flat for rolling onto the pool noodles.

Ruska is now fully pin basted and I've chosen the thread color.  This is going to be a very hectic week with a lot of coming and going but I hope to fit some quilting time in the gaps.

Meanwhile, Nimiety is now a quilt top - 52" wide x 72" long.

And after a bit of a tussle, the scrappy pieced back has been pressed.  

This is the center section that shows all the different fabrics.   

Here is the top for Yutori, no. 13 in the series of 13 Macnas quilts, laid over the drafting table ready to be rolled onto the pool noodle.

This is a BEFORE photo of the backing for Yutori . . .  

And this was taken after the finished back was pressed.    

At this point, both Nimiety's top and back AND Yutori's top and back are rolled onto pool noodles, ready for pin basting . . . I just couldn't stick Nimiety in the waiting to be quilted closet when the top and back were freshly pressed, so I'm going to quilt it before I start on the four bonus quilts from the Macnas series.

Quilting these 3 will be a breeze compared to all this prep work.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Dwelling on negative thoughts is like fertilizing weeds."

Norman Vincent Peale

Random Progress Teasers

Since taking this WIP photo, Nimiety has become a full fledged flimsy.  

Once the finished top has been pressed, I'll get a photo of it on the design wall.

I've also constructed a seriously scrappy pieced backing for Nimiety. 

It, too, needs to be pressed before I take flat-ish photos of it.

It has felt SO good to actually USE some of the leftover backing pieces and fabrics from the resource boxes; and in doing so,  I've found my next liberated scrappy mission once the remaining Macnas series/bonus quilts are finished -- LOTS more scrappiness and hopefully a lot less overthinking.

While digging in the stash, I pulled these fabrics to make a set of reversible placemats for September when our seasonal theme is sunflowers and apples.   

I also pulled yardage to make a new set of five reversible utility mats for our December living room (fireplace mats, end table toppers, and a runner for the cedar chest).  

The current set is six years old and I'm very tired of the print I chose back then.  Clearly I have the fabric to make another set, so that's what I shall do.

* * *

Elsewhere in the studio, I've made the bindings for Nimiety, Ruska, and  Yutori.  

Ruska will get pin basted this weekend -  right after I finish the rest of yet another edit/sort of the stash.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"It is a happy talent to know how to play."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Squirrel Alert

I read THIS POST from Alycia a day or so after it was posted.  

The next thing I knew, my studio squirrels had gone from being quiet to being on high alert / code red / defcon 10 / etc.

As soon as I read Alycia's post, I knew exactly what to do with this waiting-in-the-closet mash-mash array of 2.5" strips left after sorting out the ones used for YUTORI.

In less than 24 hours, I had edited that crazy assortment and cut roughly 2/3rds of it into rectangles.  

The scrappy yellow rectangles were ALL cut from resource box fabric pieces. 

The black dotted strips will become binding and the wide back( that had previously been slotted for Paint Party) is just too perfect for this squirrel project, which has been named NIMIETY (noun meaning excess; overabundance).

The squirrels wanted to keep going, so I've made blocks for the first of three columns.  

The scrappy 4" x 6" blocks on the right are sorted into groups of purples, greens, blues, and oranges.  

The blocks with a scrappy yellow rectangle are sorted using those same parameters.

There's no easy-to-explain logic for my 16" x 24" blocks.  

I just know they're making me happy, so I'm glad the squirrels decided Nimiety was worth getting excited about.

Quiltdivajulie

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"The world doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?"

Picasso