Catching Up

I received word that the last of my Traveling Pages arrived safely, so I guess I need to catch up on sharing them with you. 

In September I made a page for Juliette in the UK whose theme is The Seashore.   Unfortunately, the one I made in September did not arrive!  So, I set about making another one.

I am not very big on doing anything more than once.  You won't find me doing numerous "variations on a theme".  I'm more of a "been there, done that" kind of gal.  So I had to think pretty hard about doing another seashore page.  In the end, though, the page turned out to be the same . . . but different!

This is what the first page looked like . . .

and this is the second page.  I used the same layout and mostly the same fabrics.  But, I learned from my mistakes and I think the second page turned out better.

I had some slubby yarn that I glued down to create water foam.  A few french knots  and pearls added even more texture and will ensure it all stays on the beach!  Fortunately I have a fairly decent collection of sea-themed buttons/beads and there was plenty to choose from.

In November I did Cobi's page which is Art Nouveau.  We were watching a TV show one evening about chrome and one example illustrated was the Chrysler Building in New York City.  I knew right then I would have to use that for my page.

I had a piece of thin metal in my stash that was meant to be this building!  I searched the internet for pictures of the building and chose a view that seemed to be typical.  I padded the white fabric to allow the metal to be embossed and stitched over the top of it.  Then shapes were fused and embroidered to represent other city buildings.

The interior of the building is as much a classic as the exterior, so I printed a photo of the Art Deco elevator doors onto fabric for the back of the page.

My last page was for Elizabeth and her theme is Windows.  This seemed an appropriate way to end the project as my second choice would have been windows.  Elizabeth tells me her second choice would have been doors!  Are we on the same page, or what?

Anyway, choosing which style of window to do proved to be the hardest part.  I've been taking pictures of windows for several months and sketching ideas. 

Finally I decided to use my imagination and create a “fantasy” window. I imagined a forest dwelling that is as much tree as it is cottage. Tree limbs form the window frame and a colorful flowering vine twines up and around. 

I started by “painting” an interior fireplace scene onto muslin using Shiva Oil Paintstiks and Micron pen, plus a fusible cat on the hearth. Then I fused fabric with a window cut out over the top. I arranged a few twigs from a wild plum tree in our yard around the window and embroidered the flowers liberally.

Whew!  That was the last of the pages I made for others.  Now, I must consider how to put my "doors" together into a book and start working on a cover.   This has been an fascinating adventure and I've learned so much!  Researching and creating pages for the various themes has been so much fun.  And the pages I've received from all over the world have been soooo interesting!

Don't worry.  I'll show you my finished book.