Traveling Pages Come Home

The idea behind the Traveling Page swap was, of course, to have a book.  And a book needs a cover - or in this case, a wrapper.

I had all my pages loosely bound awhile back, and I showed you the introductory page I made.  I thought for a long time about how to bind these pages permanently.  Finally, I decided a wrapper would be the best.  That way I could fix the pages in securely and have a decorative spine as well.

For the front, I created a photo collage of several front doorways and then printed it onto fabric using an antique filter.  The letters DOORS are simply fused and satin stitched. 

Probably my favorite feature is the door plate that I got from Alpha Stamps.  The doorknob is the 'button' to hold the book closed!

Here are just a couple of pictures of the inside:

For the lining I have some fabric with the map of the world on it.  Very appropriate!

I really enjoyed this swap and I think I learned lots and lots.  In some ways, I am sad it is over.  But I have all these wonderful pages to look at and remind me of the journey.

Traveling Coming to an End

Hard to believe more than a year has gone by!  But the Story of the Traveling Page is coming to its end.  (If you have not been following us on our blog, go here now to see what it's all about.)

I've finished and posted all the pages I made for the other participants.  And I've shown you each page as I received it.  Now, I am putting them all together.

First step was to create a cover page. . . sort of an introduction:

When you open that front door, you will see this:

I looked at a lot of quotes about doors and this one caught my attention.  I rummaged through my bead and charm stash and - lo - angel wings!  Since I am fascinated by wings of all kinds, that was no surprise.  LOL!

On the back of this page, I printed a brief explanation of the project and a list of the participants:

Very simple - because it is the lead-in for all those wonderful pages!

I have them temporarily strung together.  As you can see, it's rather loose!  I need to decide how to bind them and will probably do a page for the back, too.  This was really a fun and interesting swap.  I think I stretched my fiber skills as well as my imagination.

I can't wait to see how some of the other books turn out!

Wednesday WOW - February 16

I didn't get as much done today as I would have liked to.  This afternoon Sarge had an appointment which meant a trip to town.  That tends to take a pretty good size chunk of time.

Still, I had time this morning to get well and started on the cover to my Doors book from the Traveling Pages.  Can't wait to get back to it!

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.

And Another Door

This one came from Johoanna in Australia.

It's a fairly simple door with some lovely machine stitching.  That flowered fabric for the door suits me perfectly.  In fact, I may have some of that fabric in my stash!

I open the door and this little cutie is asking to go out and play!  Isn't that sweet?  Thanks so much, Johoanna.  This is a great addition to my book!

This swap is nearing the end.  I have two more pages to create and send out (a couple are still in transit) and then I will create a cover and assemble all the pages.  Hmmm.  I'd better start thinking about a door design.  It's going to be tough to do justice to the pages I'm receiving.

Look What Came in the Mail!

A door page from Ruth!  You know the Traveling Pages swap I am in?  This is my door for November.

It came all the way from Montana and I love it!  Ruth did an amazing job at depicting the old West-style Saloon doors.  Can't you just imagine John Wayne sauntering through those doors?

This collection of doors will make a wonderful book.  We are getting near the end of this swap and I need to start thinking about how I will put all the pages together.  They are all so amazing!

Halloween?

I just heard from Carmen that my Traveling Page for October has arrived.  Her theme was "Castles".

Can you tell I was influenced by the Halloween hooplah?  LOL!

I did not start out to do anything dark . . . my usual color selections are bright and clear!   But during my research I saw some castle pictures with a full moon and I kind of liked that idea.  As I worked with ideas the moon grew larger, and the castle got darker!

I started with a photo of the Castle Neuschwanstein. Using my photo software, I darkened the photo and printed it onto printable fabric. After fusing the castle cut-out to the background (already prepared with a nice bright moon) I used free motion embroidery to enhance highlights and shadows.

Here's what the back side looked like after the stitching.

But the piece needed something more. I tried various bat silhouettes, but that seemed too conventional. Never let anyone call me conventional!

Finally, I settled on a dragon shape, which I fused and then stitched over.

For the back side, I had some fairy tale fabric in my stash. I thought the Sleeping Beauty castle would add the right touch.

I enjoyed working with this piece.  It is full of my favorite things!  Free motion stitching, dragons, and a touch of beadwork (for stars)!  I hope Carmen enjoys it, too.

Now to get to work on another September page - the first one appears to have gone walk-about.  Sigh.

Catching Up

As I started to prepare a post about my latest Traveling Page, I realized I did not post about July OR August!  We have to fix that!  So here they are.

In July, my page went to Kath in Greece whose theme is Flowers.  I built a "trellis" of bias strips and meandered green yarn through to represent the vine. 

I found these cool flower collections in the scrapbooking section of the local hobby store.  There are lots of paper and fabric flowers all in the same color range in each container.  The blue caught my eye and that's what I went with!  I attached one to three flowers together and added a beaded center.  Some were fringe beads and some simply circles.  Some green wired ribbon made nice leaves.

I had this cool floral print in my stash for the backing.

My August page was for Maya in India, and her theme is Leaves.

Sometime last year I took a class on free motion embroidery.  In one of the lessons we made leaves and I attempted to repeat those lessons in this page.  I should have gone back to re-read the lesson!  But the page turned out fine - if not exactly what I had in my head!

I used a water soluble stabilizer while stitching and then just dunked it into water (seen here) to remove it. 

Once the piece had air dried and been pressed, I layered it on top of a light fabric and added the individual leaves along with a few beads.

I happened across this quote from Tagore which seemed to fit this page exactly!  I used a graphic frame from the Graphics Fairy and printed it onto cotton fabric, which was then fused to the  same yellow as I placed behind the leaves.

The September page is making its way to the next recipient as I type this.  Once I hear it has arrived, I'll share it with you as well.

Essence of the Sea

My Traveling Page for June was a little late . . . and I'm even later posting about it here.  I think it's worth the wait, though.  I had all kinds of fun working on this one!

This page was for Mandy and her theme is the Sea.

I’ve always had a deep affection for the sea. I suspect I would have chosen it for my theme if I had not already declared Doors! I was born and raised in Kansas – and have returned to it after years away – so I can’t really explain how I feel about ocean waves and sea creatures. The sea seems to cleanse my soul when I stand on the beach and I treasure memories of many vacations at the shore.

I have always wanted to do a piece featuring the seahorse. I started with the image from a seahorse stamp – sent to me by a friend when I admired her work – and stitched it on a separate piece of linen.

 

 

 

 

For the blue coral, I free motion stitched on dissolvable film and then tacked the finished product down before adding the seahorse.

 

 

For texture I twisted netting and couched it down and used an eyelash yarn in feather stitch. Once these main elements were in place, I went slightly crazy with embroidery stitches and beads! That’s my favorite part of working any piece.

 

Sometimes the back of the page is almost a disappointment after all the foofooraw on the front.  But this ocean print was made just for this project!

 

 

 

 

As often happens, this piece did not turn out exactly the way I had pictured it in my head. However, some areas are even better than I thought possible! At least I think so.   I hope Mandy does too.

July page is almost finished!  Just in time to start August.  LOL!

Cinderella, My Way:

Trillian has received my Traveling Page for May, so I can finally share it with everyone else.  Her theme was Fairy Tales, and she specified that she wanted Grimm or Andersen fairy tales, rather than Disney.  

When I was very young, I had a collection of Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales (as well as Hans Christian Andersen) and the book both fascinated and terrified me! The end papers were decorated with trolls and ogres and the stuff of nightmares . . . at least to my young mind! The images remain clear to me 50 years later.  But, of course, I loved the stories!

  I knew right from the beginning that I would do something about Cinderella. My first idea was the pumpkin carriage. But, when I re-read the original Grimm version – there is no mention of the carriage! That was when I remembered that the most fascinating part of the story, for me, was the search for the girl who fit the golden slipper. Yes, Jacob and Wilhelm’s Cinderella wore golden slippers. It might be interesting to learn how it evolved into a glass slipper, huh?

I acquired some collage art from Alpha Stamps and chose Cinderella praying at her mother’s grave as the image in the window.  I appliquéd the plush pillow and a golden shoe which I then filled with beads. The red heel reflects my favorite lines from the story:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!
There's blood in the shoe.
The shoe is too tight,
This bride is not right!

The collage art also included some black birds – although the Wikipedia Grimm’s Brothers version says the birds were pigeons - and I used my photo software to make a repeat and antiqued the color, then printed it onto silk for the backing page.

I really enjoyed refreshing my memories about this classic story.  I think it's a great story in all it's many versions.  Speaking of versions, if you have not read any of Gregory Maguire's slightly 'distorted' fairy tales, "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" is a very different way to look at the Cinderella story.  While I'm talking about favorites - I really enjoyed The Brothers Grimm, a fun movie with a lot of references to the entire collection of stories and a wobbly balance between dark adventure and magical fun. 

I'm busy working on the June page now.  Theme is the sea.  Lots of fun things I can do with that one!

Caffeina

This is the Traveling Page I made for Johoanna in April.  Johoanna's theme is "The Goddess Within."

When I started thinking about a design for the Goddess Within, I was thinking of something very spiritual and indicative of our inner nature – perhaps something shared among all women. As I did my research, I came across some wonderful web sites dedicated to identifying your inner goddess and maintaining a spiritual connection to the world. These were very inspiring. One of them led me to an on-line list of gods and goddesses. On this list, I found Caffeina.

Caffeina captured my imagination like no other name on these lists. I tried to move on to something more meaningful, but Caffeina would not let me go. I realized that I was already a sometime worshipper of this goddess and once acknowledging that, I was hers irrevocably!

There is no clear agreement whether Caffeina is an ancient goddess or of more modern origins – known as a “found goddess.” I will share what I found and let you make your own decision.

According to the Goddess of Random Thoughts!, Caffeina is the . . .

patroness of coffee, tea, and other caffeinated drinks or foods. Caffeina is the Roman goddess of energy, stamina, and determination. Usually portrayed as a beautiful woman rising from a coffee cup, the goddess Caffeina gives clear thought, energy and creativity.

There is a nice legend about the origins of coffee here (scroll down), and a more "scholarly" essay here.  If you wish to revere Caffeina, follow her directions in the Charge of the Goddess Caffeina. 

I made the front of this page using simple patchwork, appliqué, and hand embroidery. I used EQ6 (my newest favorite toy!) to help plan the layout.

 

On the back, I used Shiva paint sticks and a stamp of the goddess Venus to embellish a piece of batik. I used eyelash yarn and a beaded border to finish the edges.

I'm now working on the May page.  So far, so good.   I think you'll like this one, too!  And check out what everyone else has been doing on the Story of the Traveling Page.

Another Door

Today a package arrived from Leiden, Netherlands!  That's not something that happens every day around here, let me tell you!  But I knew right away what it would have inside.

A door from Cobi as part of the Traveling Page swap!  But that's not all!  She also included some photos of "real" dutch-style doors and a postcard from her home as well as a lovely note telling me about this page.

Cobi embroidered these beautiful flowers around the door.   I love the way the colors brighten up the pale brick wall.  And those red flowers are jillions of tee-tiny french knots!  (Well, it seems like jillions!)

But the best part is that the top half of the door opens!  That scene you can see there is on the postcard.  But I can put anything I like behind that door.  Maybe I'll find a Dutch girl to stand in my doorway.

Cobi and I share a fondness for Terry Pratchett's books and this quote is a perfect example of his wit.  It is also a perfect quote for my book of doors that go nowhere!

I'm in the finishing stages of my page for April - after a couple of false starts!  Still having lots of fun with this project!