August Recap and September Begins

In August I finished Journal for Joy - a scrappy eclectic glue book celebrating all sorts of things that make me smile.  

Holus Bolus, the first of the four Macnas series bonus quilts, was finished.

A stack of harvested Asian bits were transformed into a themed accordion journal.

Pieces and parts were cut, sorted, and pinned into pairs for Scrumdifferous.

I finally finished the long pending Squirrels altered book.

And the set of six reversible scrappy strip-pieced September placemats that were cut out on August 1 had their bindings finished on August 31.

Along the way there was also a lot of stash shuffling and editing, multiple donation boxes were sent out into the world, and the studio squirrels raised a ruckus leading to two more new quilt projects that truly need to wait until after the last three Macnas series bonus quilts are finished.  

And finally, continuing with my year-long series of monthly back yard photos, here is one taken early morning September 1st.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Most people don't want to be part of the process, they just want to be part of the outcome.  But the process is where you figure out who and what's worth being part of the outcome."

Scottie Pippen

Crazy Week Ahead

Holus Bolus did get pin basted over the weekend.  

It measures in the 48" x 64" range and I was surprised how much easier it was to pin baste than the quilts in the 52" x 72" range.  I didn't think those few additional inches would make that much different, but it certainly did.

You can see how I used the extra rectangles from Yutori (no. 13) in the back.  

After only minimal pondering, I'm going to use Glide in Robin Egg to quilt Holus Bolus, the first of four bonus quilts from the Macnas series.  

(I've added a label in the sidebar for those bonus quilts)

Still considering how to do a recap for the Macnas quilts.  Hopefully by the time the fourth bonus quilt is finished I'll know what I want to do.

On the paper side of my creative life, the pink and green journal is done -- this is the cover (the back cover uses the other half of this page from an old calendar).

I added the journal's name cut from a magazine and a bit of woven trim to the title page.

I love how many little bits of this and that from so many different sources were used (meaning they're no longer in the stash).

I have hoarded this black and white asemic writing tissue and now I wish I had more of it after using it.  

I also left several pages with open space in case I find more unique bits along the way.

There's one more two-volume journal lurking in the background that involves threads, notions, sewing, and quilting.  All in good time.

* * *

Now about that crazy week - DH has a contentious board meeting for his woodturning guild, a day of setting up for the three-day visit to his guild by a woodturner from the UK (one day of demonstrations and two different all day workshops) plus an evening meet and greet event.  There always seems to be a lot of drama the week of his meetings . . . 

There will also be lots of driving to and from appointments, a celebration of life gathering for the office manager at Davies Manor (where I serve on the board and volunteer), a hair cut, back to school night at YM's school (I'll stay with him so the parents can attend), the evening meet and greet, and transporting younger son to and from his volunteer activities and a bonus class at the library.

Not sure how much time I'll have in the studio - maybe enough to get the bobbins wound for Holus Bolus and a bit of clean up between projects.  Time will tell.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Having a luck dragon with you is the only way to go on a quest."

Falcor (from The Never Ending Story)

The Squirrels Have Done It Again

The wide back on the left has been waiting in the closet for ages and the squirrels are on a rampage to USE what is lurking.  As usual, their one thing led to the next.

The fabrics above will be used to make two quilts - one using the wide back and the other backed with the black and gold paisleys.  When I thought there would be just one quilt, I had started calling it Color Burst - but when the second "sister" project developed, I needed another project name.

The wide back quilt shall be called HAPPIFY (verb - to make happy).  The current plan was inspired by Gerful (2021) and Vivacious (2016).  I'll use black on white prints as the alternate fabric.

The paisley backed quilt shall be called ENTHRALL (verb - to capture someone's attention or fascination; to charm or captivate).  At this point I'm thinking about making another version of Poppyseed's baby quilt (that baby is now nine years old).

All of this will happen next year, unless the squirrels keep making trouble in the studio.

Downstairs, I've switched our seasonal decor from July's "Red, White, and Moo" to August's "Back to School." 

With Young Man now in fourth grade (!!) our decorations continue to evolve from his ABC building blocks, crayons, and coloring books to classic black and white composition books, colorful pencils and erasers, a big bowl of scrabble tiles, and the like.  

And when I started to clean off my art table so I could drape the backing and top in order to roll them onto the pool noodles, I found myself drawn into the beginnings of a long-planned pink and green joy journal.  There is something deeply satisfying about cutting and gluing in order to turn paper scraps into a visually pleasing, cohesive something.

* * *

The good news is that the drafting table is now clear and Holus-Bolus WILL be pin basted over the weekend.  

It's time to move those four Macnas bonus quilts forward.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Be the attitude you want to be around."

Tim DeTellis

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

-----------------------------------------------

"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

Summer Has Arrived

One of the most visual ways to know that summer has arrived in our area is blooming crape myrtles.  They've been close to flowering for the last couple of weeks but in the last two days the blossoms have burst forth.  

Our's happens to be this deep rosy pink color but others around town are blue-violet, pale pink, a vivid red violet, and white.

A couple of weeks back, DH re-did the bed in front of our front porch.  The aging, overgrown hostas had been attacked below ground by the voracious moles that bedevil homeowners here.  

These new hostas are planted inside flexible stainless steel mesh bags to protect them from any future mole invasions.

(to help you visualize - each bag fits perfectly inside a 5-gallon paint bucket)

Several of the displaced hostas were relocated into the large above ground pots in our back yard and our next door neighbor gave the rest of them new homes.

The hanging basket purchased for this hook back in the early spring did not thrive; so when I found this trailing mandevilla much like the one that did so well last year, I bought it.  So far it seems very happy.

The outdoor plants are holding their own but with the temperatures now settled in the mid to upper 90s with humidity in that same range, I am staying indoors as much as possible.  

I've finished my DIY wreck this journal project, the one I named Bricolage  (in art or literature, construction or creation from a diverse range of available things).

This page follows the title page.

And those arrows point to this facing page.

I'm happy to report that I actually followed these directions (more or less).

When I first read this prompt, I immediately thought of the rhyming book we read over and over again with Young Man.  

I just couldn't resist the idea so I went with it.

I've previously shared the two page spreads for pink, red, blue, orange, black/white, and yellow.  This is the spread for green.

I really enjoyed creating the journal spreads that were filled with so many random bits and pieces.

Highlighters and a permanent black ink pen were the tools for this spread.

I clearly do a better job of quilting my liberated nested spirals than I do drawing them on paper; but even with the sticking pen issues, I like the way this turned out.

* * *

My next studio goal is to piece the backing for Paint Party (Macnas series no. 12/13) and get the quilt sandwich pin basted.  

I'd love to have the quilt finished before month end but I'm not going to get too upset if the finish runs over a day or two into July. 

(and yes, this backing yardage is a different  fabric than the one I had set aside earlier)

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"There are no wrong turns.  Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk."

Guy Gavriel Kay

Another One of Those Weeks

I'm honestly not sure where this week went - lots of cleaning, sorting, editing, and trashing apparently ate up more time than I thought.  

That said, I've spent evenings playing with my papers as a reward for all that work.

Bricolage (my DIY Wreck That Journal project) is beginning to come alive.

It continues to surprise me how the smallest bits can make or break the vibe of any given page.

Stickers, fussy cut images from a wide variety of sources, text clipped from books . . . 

. . . even packaging elements from the grocery store or elsewhere - they all make a difference.

The flower fairies image is from a thrifted reproduction book I found a year or so ago.

I laughed out loud when I realized how fun it was to put the fussy cut spotted leopard (cheetah?) next to this tea bag envelope turned pocket.  

(each of the pocket's inserted strips has something fun glued onto the reverse side - no sense in wasting a great surface)

And while yet another thunderstorm raged last night, I worked on this two page spread.

Back when I was creating Abecedarium, I cut out way more ransom letters than I needed and this was a perfect opportunity to actually use many of them.

* * * 

Over the next few days I am determined to finish pin basting Morning Fog and get it quilted/finished.  

I also need to get "finished" outdoor photos of Xanadu while it is not raining (we have rain predicted every day now for almost a week).

One thing at a time . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"HOPE is a discipline."

Mariame Kaba