Last Post of 2025

The white amaryllis bulbs have started blooming and they're DOUBLE blooms (a happy surprise).

I also finished up my Christmas accordion journal named Tis the Season.

Many of the included bits came from an online swap I participated in.  

The rest have been accumulated over the past year or so, waiting for the right time to gather them into a journal.

The large Santa head was fussy cut from wrapping paper.  Wrapping paper pieces were also used as the foundation layers on the 34 pages.

Random, disparate elements eventually combined to make an interesting-to-look-at journal.  

Now it can be packed away with the rest of our holiday decor (that goal has shifted into the first couple days of January as our new phones are scheduled for delivery late today and their set up plus activation with our new carrier will consume most of our brain cells for the next day or two).

All of the amaryllis stems have at least four and some as many as six buds AND there are two more bud stems growing which means there will be another wave of flowers in January.

* * *

Wishing each and every one of you a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve/Day along with thoughts of wellness and creativity for the coming new year.

Quiltdivajulie

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p.s.  I've spent quite a bit of time cleaning up the labels in my sidebar - there were just too many.  A few linked to only one post (!) 

I've also shifted the labeling for my paper-related projects to 'journal + year' instead of by project name, which none of us can remember anyway.  

If for some reason a label doesn't take you to the post(s) you're thinking of, you can always type your search into the Blogger search box in the upper left hand corner.

He Loves It

This was one of the gifts I gave DH for Christmas - he is SO happy with it.  

He has at least three other King Arthur bread / baking books and we were concerned there might be too much repetition but there isn't, which makes him even happier.

The first recipe he decided to try was Norwegian Lefse (potato flatbread 'pancakes').

Thin almost like a crepe, they're delicious with a bit of butter and jam along one edge before being rolled up.

We've eaten several and have frozen the rest to see how they fare. 

I spent some time putting together another accordion journal using Christmas items, some of which came from an online swap.  

I'll try to do a video flip through once it is finished and before it is packed away with the rest of our December decor.

I've also been harvesting back issues of magazines for two longer term projects.

One will involve a journal filled with scrappy paper nine patches.  Modeled after the Scrap a Day (origin unknown but found in many places online), I'll create one nine patch each week - or more if the squirrels insist.

The other will be created with scrappy circles (1.5", 2" and 3").  Some will be in a grid, others will be scattered, and time will tell which other arrangements are created (squirrel input guaranteed)

* * *

Be back in a few days when there is more to share.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Just because the space exists doesn't mean it has to be full."

Allie Casazza

No Sew November Journal - Finished

My No Sew November accordion journal is done.  The month of prompts was hosted by Meg of Meg Journals (posts on Substack and videos/playlist on You Tube).

This year she didn't go with the one-prompt-per-day-means-one-page-per-day-approach.

Instead the early prompts focused on creating base layers throughout the entire journal and then progressed from there.

I found this to be a much less stressful approach and one that didn't fill me with the urge to shop for "just the right item" for any given prompt.

Instead I found myself happily searching through my stash and actually USING items I've been saving (who knows why I had skipped over them before).

I added three flip pages (this one created with a heavy weight post card to which I added vintage photos, quotes, and some marks).

Finally I found the perfect use for my stash of textured papers - you can see them in the background of every page.

Security envelope scraps, a bit of velvet ribbon, scraps of painted paper, and a map scrap turned into this handsome page.

The adjacent page shifted in color palette but mirrors the overall feel of the journal.

Another combination that pleases me.

T is for tea (and textures).

A selvage edge scrap, a word cut from the cover of a magazine, a washi ticket stub, a map scrap, and more texture paper plus a tag and a sticker - soothing but with so much to visually explore.

There are many other pages I could have included in this post, but these are enough to give you a real sense of this journal's vibe and contents. 

I'm beyond delighted with the end result.

* * *

There's a"not quite finished" journal post for An Unfolding Story pending as well as what will be a finish-reveal post for Trouvaille (next week).  Progress is happening simultaneously on many fronts.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing."

Marc Chagall

One Day at a Time

As I prepared to leave our upstairs home office,  the morning sun shone on my quilt rack and I was struck (once again) at the power of quilts to make us smile.

Top to bottom these quilts are:  Vivacious (2016), Words to Live By (2017), Amish Strings (2012),  Scrapbook Quilt (2018), and Epicenter (2018).

Both of my Christmas cacti now have buds!  This one will likely be the first to bloom.

This is the third year for these plants - the longest I've ever managed to keep a Christmas cactus alive.

And because this phrase uttered by Meg Ryan/Kathleen Kelly from You've Got Mail is my mantra once Daylight Savings Time ends each fall . . . 

. . . our fall decor includes this 4-foot tree in the foyer decorated with autumn berries and a few pale sunflowers with loads of pumpkins in DH's wood bowl on the lower shelf.

And this year we put up the big tree a month early and decorated it with creamy color pumpkins, more pale sunflowers, and picks with cream and gold beads.

More twinkle lights definitely make the evenings better.

* * *

On the finger front, I'm now wearing a single bandaid and allowing the finger to get wet (thus needing to change the bandaid) instead of strictly keeping it 100% dry.  It will be a few more days before I dare to go without a bandaid (I don't want to snag it open again) but life is getting easier now that I can use all 10 fingers.

In the interim, I've done a full inventory of my Glide thread and rearranged the contents of the Ikea drawers in my sewing room so that the threads can each be seen at a glance (no longer massed together with half of the cones upside down).  It's been one of those things I've put off when it wasn't that hard and didn't take that long but definitely makes life easier.  (why is it that we do that over and over?)

I've also done some collage in my No Sew November journal and a bit of writing in my creative common placing journal named An Unfolding Story.  I'm also cleaning out files, boxes, and drawers as I work and will be making another batch of paper snippet strips to use the overflow of scraps.

Sewing and quilting are on the horizon now . . . just a few more days until the bruise/ache in the finger tip eases up.

Quiltdivajulie

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"If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate.  Give in to it."

Mary Oliver

Monday, Monday

We spent Friday evening handing out candy at Young Man's house while he and his parents went trick or treating.  The giant purple bucket has been used at their house every year and we have a photo of Baby YM laying atop that year's candy (he was NOT happy about it either).

We refilled the bucket twice more before calling it quits when the official hours for trick or treat hours ended - so many children!

There's been no sewing or quilting as I cut the tip of my index finger (left hand) while slicing a turkey breast - the bulky bandage is definitely awkward.  Another few days and I'm hoping the bulk will be reduced.  Thankfully I had gotten the October things put away and November's out before the knife slipped.

I have committed to participating in Meg's reformatted No Sew Journal November.  Instead of creating a concertina journal from scratch, I'm going to use one of the purchased accordion journals I have on hand.  She's shared the first prompt's video and I like her new approach (not a page a day but more of a whole journal process).  We'll see where this goes as the month progresses.  

I've also signed up to participate in iHanna's Fall Postcard Swap.  These are my envelopes and labels for the addresses.

And these are part of the series of ten postcards I'm making.  

Mailing doesn't happen until later in the year, but I want to get these done so they're ready to go when the address list arrives.

Younger son and I spent a few hours volunteering at the annual local quilt show Saturday morning. We were unofficial docents in the historic house - so many interesting people with even more interesting stories about their ancestors and, in some cases, how they intersected with the family who previously owned the manor house.

And then we spent the rest of Saturday afternoon watching the tree crew and their crane take down a fully mature red oak tree from our neighbor's back yard.  The section on the street above was the uppermost section of the treetop.  Just over three hours later the tree was gone, the street was clean, and the crew had gone home.

Here's to the week ahead . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Perhaps some detours aren't detours at all.  Perhaps they are actually the path."

Katherine Wolf

Two Projects Completed - Photo Heavy

A while back I posted about painting an old book cover and binding vintage papers inside . . . 

At some point, I started gluing things into that journal but then set it aside.

Last week I rediscovered it and started gluing more things into it.

I found this fun graphic in a retrospective article on Jell-O and couldn't resist including it.

A page from an old Sears catalog and a bit from a cut apart doily.

Paper lace and map scrap on one side, old nine-cent stamps and a ledger paper scrap tucked in a glassine slip-sleeve on the other.

There's a long-ish quote written inside the note card that's tucked into the envelope. A reproduction vintage postcard graces the other side.

There are a lot more pages in the journal but these illustrate the vibe and look. 

Seeing the Journal of YES finished makes me happy.

And at some point I had started another accordion journal which is also now finished.  I didn't start out to create two different journals with essentially the same color palette, but that is how things ended up.  Some things can't be pre-planned.

The entire blank journal was first collaged with a wide mix of security envelope papers.

(note - the three landscape photos will need to be double-clicked to see more detail)

Here's a peek at another section of the journal . . . 

And here's a third section.

Desktop calendar pages, stickers, magazine cut outs, paint chips, ticket stubs, altered slides, washi tape, punch out shapes, and so much more were included the Secret Garden journal.

I think this spread might be one of my favorites  in the whole journal since I used to collect teddy bears and had an old one like this that my maternal grandmother won as a child at a street fair.

Here you can see more of the scrappy envelope background, along with one of Cicely Mary Barker's flower fairies, and a glassine sleeve with goodies tucked inside and out.

I like this spread a lot, especially the scrap from an Aflac envelope.

(can you guess which one it is? look for the duck's footprints. . . )

* * *

With both of these finished, I hope to move back into the sewing studio.

(although there's a stalled Nancy Drew altered book project that I've finally figured out how I want to continue on with that might become my evening playtime. . . )

Busy rest of the week/weekend so I probably won't post again until next Monday.

Quiltdivajulie

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"In the end, she became more than what she expected.  She became the journey, and like all journeys, she did not end; she just simply changed directions and kept going."

R.M. Drake

Lizzy - a Finished Journal

Lizzy, the journal, is finished.  

This is the accordion journal's front cover.

The postcard lives in the small black envelope.

I added the sticker and stamp to the postcard's back so when a viewer flips it over, there's something interesting to see.

We all need to remember to leave a little sparkle wherever we go, whether it is something as simple as a smile or even a spoken  thank you. 

This is the back cover, at which point the reverse sides of the accordion journal pages become accessible.

The dragonfly sticker has a bit of gold in it which reflect when the page is moved.

The background is one of the postcards I've been creating with scraps using the masterboard technique.  

I found the Cuban postage stamp in my stash.

I love this quote from Mary Oliver.

And this is the final page.  (thanks to Lynne for the awesome sticker).

* * *

Hoping to get the rest of the horizontal seams sewn on Repose and get the quilt top pressed and, if pressing is still a problem, then I'll get Logophile pin basted.  It has been rolled onto the pool noodles since September.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Creativity is making marvelous out of the discarded."

Unknown