Duly Noted...

After swapping large squares of hand-painted or stamped fabrics with a fiber group, my next challenge is how to use them. When I saw this beautiful hand-painted piece made by quilting friend Kandace, I knew I needed to free-motion quilt it with red metallic and neon yellow threads. I used bobbin quilting to keep the metallic thread from breaking as it went through the machine. Because the thread that will show is coming from the bobbin, a direct no-stress path, it means working from the wrong side of the project. I'd already done some quilting from the front side, so it helped define where to put the metallic stitching lines. The fabric is so abstract and modern, that I somehow really liked using the vintage image printed on fabric with it.

Once I finished quilting the piece, I combined it with this flocked denim to make a binder cover. Blue denim is the standard, but there are lots of other colors and prints in the fabric shop, so that was a welcome surprise.

Journals and notebooks are my "go-to" project for combining interesting materials along with notes and memorabilia. I had the opportunity recently to teach a journal making class at a quilt group. I brought along this display to show students the wide array of possibilities when making journals and whet their appetites.

And this display shows class samples. We made a gate-fold fabric journal with pockets to hold all sorts of note cards, post cards, and special mementos. The class was lots of fun, and most of the students had never made a journal before. I assured them that this would not be the last!

We collaged covers on a piece of felt, and then stitched on pockets on both the outside of the journal and the lining. So each journal holds quite a bit. This crazy-quilt style with a butterfly makes for an appealing cover.

I may have shown this notebook cover awhile back. But I like it so much that I've made several more. It covers a humble composition book and makes it look quite upscale. It's funny, but as many notebooks and journals as I make, I don't write in them very often. I guess I do my writing here on the blog. But coincidenatally, blogging friend Mary Stori also posted about making notebook covers this week. She does lovely work with wool and hand-printed fabrics. Check out her covers here. There is something very satisfying about making these journals and notebooks. I have lots more hand-prints, so I'm sure more notebooks will be coming soon.