April Recap

Almost a month since me last post . . . now where did that month go?!?  Well, I have been busy, so how about a little summary?

Art Journal Emporium

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but I subscribe to Tangie Baxter’s AJ Emporium and we have a lot of activities geared to inspiring creativity.  Plus, it’s a lot of fun!  Check out the box in the right column if you think you might like to join, too.

One of the activities I take part in is a monthly Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap.  Here is what I received in April:

The Daily Art Dose

I decided to do lettering practice for April – here are some of my favorites:

Emporium Book Club

Yet another activity is the Book Club.  This month, our book was “Art Journal Courage: Mixed Media Techniques” by Dina Wakley.  Check out some of the things I created with the help of this book!

Digital Scrapbook

Since I’ve “discovered” the joys of Photoshop Elements, I’ve used a lot of family photos to create layouts suitable for memory keeping.  One way I keep focused is by joining on-line challenges.  The challenges mean I’m not doing things in any kind of order, but that works for me just fine!

Quilting

In spite of how it may look with all that, I DO have time for a bit of quilt making – just a bit!  These blocks took most of the month, but they are mostly done.

And there are three rows ready to be stitched together:

This is just a sampling.  Whew – makes me tired to look at it all together!  I’m ready for May, though.  Bring it!

The Book

First I want to thank you all for the encouraging comments on my last post about 2009 goals.  Oh my gosh!  People are watching!!!!  Nothing like a little pressure, huh?

So, for the last little while I've been teasing you with pictures of the memory book I was working on.  Now for the finished work as promised. . . I do try to keep my promises.

Here is how it all came about:

My Dad died this spring, at the age of 90.  We went through so many pictures in preparation for his service that I wanted to do something to preserve the memories they invoked.  So I decided to make a memory book for my Mom. 

In true Liz-fashion, I started gathering pictures, fabric, and ideas - but no deadline!  I even drew up a mud map and had the cover completed (one side) in June. 

 

Now, for most people, if they say they have been working on something for six months, you would think that they have done a bit of work on a monthly or weekly basis and steadily accumulated completed pieces.  Liz doesn't work that way!  Oh no!  I did the cover, then several months later I cut out more pages.  Then I scanned photos.  Then, well, there is always something else to do - "I'll just finish this up first."  You know how that works?  Hint:  it doesn't! 

Fast forward to December.  I now enter into a sewing marathon hoping to have a finished book for Christmas day.  If you have been reading this blog, you noticed that I did not post an awful lot last month - only the aforementioned teasers really.

But I made it!  So, Mom has the book - and I got some wonderful hugs and kisses - and now it is time to share it with the blog world.   There were 18 pages - NOT necessarily in the order shown below (blogger/wordpress and I don't always get along!):

 

I wish you could see it in person.  Photographs do not do it justice of course, and there are too many details to share effectively or efficiently on the net. 

I learned some things that may or may not help me in future projects:

• Preparing a sketch ahead of time really helps!  The "mud map" is what allowed me to do the stitching and fusing in the short time I ended up with.
• It would be easier to plan ahead when choosing thread colors so that you can stitch everything using that thread at the same time.  I must have changed thread six times per page - at least!  And I never exaggerate!!
• Fusing photos and cheap, meltable ribbon on the same page is a bad idea!
• Hand embroidery is fun and a nice touch, but you need to have more time for that.  There's that PLAN word again!
• My Dad would have gotten a kick out of some of the pages.  Wish I'd started a lot sooner.

This project was both fun and stressful.  I worked through some grief and had a lot of happy memories.  I loved experimenting with my sewing stitches and new ways to display the photos.  I would love to make more of this type of book - but not yet!  I have a huge backlog of projects and work to get through now!!!  Not to mention my 6 tasks in 6 weeks list . . .

Whew!

I made it!  The memory book is finished, wrapped, and under the tree.  They don't call me the Princess of Procrastination for nothing! (I wanted to be Goddess of the Last Minute, but Robbi Joy Eklow has already taken that title.)

So here is one last "teaser" photo.  My dad was a Shriner and I did a facsimile of his fez for the book.  Those french knots represent jewels on the original lettering and emblem.  I did - briefly - consider doing some beadwork.  But Jeez!  I need to retain some sanity!

Mom will receive this book tomorrow and I hope it is a good gift for her.  I'll have a box of kleenex nearby, just in case.  After things settle down I will share pictures here of the book itself.

Now, I am going to enjoy Christmas Eve with Sarge.  As a child I was eager to get to bed early so Santa could get here sooner.  Maybe we'll try it this year!

Merry Christmas to you all.

Doing It The Hard Way

That seems to be my motto.  I'm not sure why!  If there is more than one way to do a task, you can bet I will choose the harder one!  Not on purpose, mind you - I am usually trying to pick the lazy way!

Case in point.  Working on the memory book, I decided that prairie points was the only way to frame this photo.  No real reason; it's just what I decided.  I'm making it up as I go along, you know! 

Two problems came up right away:  (1) working with small squares of fabric would be pretty tedious, and (2) I've never actually done prairie points before!  But - I have worked with ribbon before, so let's make a prairie point-ish ribbon border!

Now, I'm not about to cut individual strips of ribbon.  So you will notice that the inside loops are MUCH bigger than the framing loops!  With two colors I would fold one, stitch part way, loop around the other color and fold, stitch, loop.  Repeat.  I'm pretty sure that this method took just as long as real PPs would have taken.  Nonetheless, I persevered ('cause I'm stubborn that way) and following a careful trim we have a decent border.

And a layer of ribbon to cover the cut edges . . .

Uh-oh.  I hate wasting ribbon!  (Yeah, like it's so rare and expensive.  NOT!) 

  Most of you would probably just toss this little pile of scraps.  Not me!  Now I am working on figuring what to do with very short scraps of ribbon!   I'm sure I'll come up with something - and you can bet it will be the most tedious, difficult, and frustrating project I can think up!