crazy quilt b-day card

I turned another year older last week and my San Diego friend Julie sent me a little hand made piece to celebrate. We met when she hosted Betty Pillsbury, a well-known crazy quilt teacher, at her house for a two day class. It was swelteringly hot that weekend but we all jammed ourselves into her family room and had a ball stitching and yakking. That was 1998 (???) or there abouts and we've been friends since. We've done a lot of CQing together and spent a bundle on supplies at various stores and shows. Since my hands got so arthritisy, I haven't done much stitching but Julie is still beavering away at her famously small - sometimes tiny - blocks.

This one is 6.5" point to point, and is just lovely. Small precise stitches on silk fabrics with a few beads and sequins and charms. The muted colors and tiny stitches make the block feel very Victorian. Julie hand tatted the lace on the upper brown seam. The white lace on the lowest seam is vintage bobbin lace (I think) made with thread as fine as a cobweb. Unbelievably delicate.

Double click the pics to see them big so you can really appreciate the seam work.

visiting Julie - the 2014 edition

Last week I spent a few days in San Diego visiting my pal Julie. We did other stuff than what I've talked about here, but this post is long enough so you'll just have to imagine how much fun we had.

As soon as we got to her house, we headed out to see the chickens. I always wanted to keep chickens and will never have the chance, so seeing Julie's chickens is high on my list of fun things to do when I visit. She currently has 2 Jersey Giants and a Buff Orpington (?). Not the least bit sure about that last one but that's what she looks like. They live in the back yard and spend their nights safe in a home made coop with a stained glass wall. It's very cool and I'm sure they enjoy the colors.

After she picked me up at the airport, we headed straight for Dick Blick, a large art supply store in Little Italy. Oh, what fun. I mostly stocked up on pens of various kinds - gel pens, paint pens, water soluble pencils. I'd already brought some art supplies with me, so I also grabbed a Blick zippered pencil pouch cause I knew everything wouldn't fit in the one I'd brought. At least I didn't need a whole other suitcase LOL. I made a little journal just for the trip and worked on it the whole time I was there. As soon as it's all finished, which will be soon, I'll post about it. 

One morning Julie's husband took us out to breakfast in the pedicab. They're both dedicated bicyclists but I was still surprised and delighted to be a passenger in this thing. It was a grey chilly morning but we bundled up and zoomed along. See the row of sleigh bells along the front of the basket? They jingled softly as we went traveled along. It was such a neat experience.

Here's me and Julie with our windblown hairdos on the way to breakfast at the Antique Row Cafe at Adams and 30th. I sure wish I photographed better...

This is from inside the cafe, looking out the door they had propped open. That's our red pedicab out there, awaiting our ride back home. Love this shot.

OMG was this ever good. California omelette and home fries. If you ever get to San Diego, go have breakfast here. Ate half for breakfast and the other half for dinner. Excellent both times!

The sun was out by the time we headed home and we saw this yarn bombed tree after we turned into her neighborhood.

A pretty fence and its shadow on a walk we took Wednesday morning before I left. Love old naturally weathered wood.

Detail of the shawl Julie made.

And most of the shawl draped over my gray jacket. They looked great together but I was unable to sneak the shawl into my suitcase without Julie noticing. In fact, she saw me eyeing it and put it away right after this shot.

Hand feeding the chickens. Can you tell this is a real thrill for me?? They peck the crap out of your hands but I was able to pet one of them briefly so it was all worth it. And it's fun just seeing them up close. Their feathers are gorgeous.

Tuesday afternoon, to work off that huge breakfast, we sat at her worktable overlooking the back yard and made jewelry. These earrings are all made from a couple buttons stacked together. I've been wearing them since I got home. They're so neutral they just go with everything.

This is the needlework seat of a chair that was upstairs in the room I stayed in. My mother had a chair with this exact same pattern on the seat - same color, same everything. Very cool to see it again after all these years.

travel journal, gelli style

In preparation for my annual trek to San Diego to visit my friend Julie, I made a little travel journal, like I do each year. 

Since I was already playing with the gelli plate last weekend, I chose some card stock weight scrapbook papers I liked, then printed on the plain backs of them. 

The gelli plate is 8x10, smaller than the 12x12 papers and the plate doesn't have exact right angle corners, so I found the smallest of the prints, then squared the other papers up to that size. 

Folded them in half, organized them in a way I liked, then did an awful job of Coptic stitching them all together. 

Really awful.

So awful, in fact, that I couldn't stand to look at it and proceeded to cover it up with some of that blasted washi tape I've been hoarding. 

I discovered it's way more fun when you actually *use* it lol.


Also used some tapes to cover the open seams between signatures.

I'm still on my turquoise binge and it's beginning to feel vaguely permanent. As in a whole lot of what I do for the next long while is going to have some aqua in it somewhere. 

I quite like the combination (and juxtaposition) of the vintage-y papers with the more modern abstract turquoise gelli prints.

The first image is the front cover, most of the inside pages are next, then the back cover is the last pic. 

When I get home after my trip (mid Feb), I'll post pics of the filled journal cause I know I always enjoy seeing befores and afters of journal pages. It's fun to see what that blank space becomes.

Jack in white

My San Diego friend Julie lent me a bunch of her old family photos to scan. Among them was this marvelous picture of her father Jack. I just love it. His big grin, his crossed ankles, his little knee socks. Too effing cute!

When Christmas rolled around, I came across that pic while looking for something else and knew I had to do something with it. Julie and I always exchange something handmade, so I printed off the pic and went to work.

I swathed it in old lace, draping and stitching as I went with no real plan. My inspiration was the totally scrumptious things that Suzy makes. Go look at her blog. Scroll thru a few posts so that your brain can really take in the sumptuousness of her work. I can't even imagine how much lace she puts into each project. Gorgeous work.

Anyhow, being such a ohmygodIcan'tuseitallup!!! person, I did my level best to go crazy, but it still looks pretty skimpy compared with hers LOL.

I hung a bit of old chain with a Tim Holtz metal tag that says 'cherish' on it, and glued a fancy vintage button up in the corner. Click to embiggen altho it isn't crystal clear. I scanned it but should have taken better pictures.

The back is a page from a geography book her mother made in 8th(?) grade. She knows I love old paper and actually use it, so she gave me the book. I was amazed. It is so cool. Full of her handwriting and pictures she clipped and glued in. Lots of the red highlighting that you see in the picture. Very very cool.

Julie loved it!

Julie's Christmas mitten

My friend Julie in San Diego makes ornaments each year for her friends. When she was here in July, she had me do some sewing for her, so I knew what the ornys would be this time, but not exactly what mine would look like. It's a very cute little mitten made from Warm & Natural quilt batting and decorated with velvet ribbon, old buttons and a bit of tatting. Love all the greens. Thanks, Julie!

Many of the blogs I follow had Christmas projects made with Warm & Natural. It really lends itself to a vintage look and the edges don't need hemming. I have a big bundle of it in a tub someplace and think I'll make some things during the year so that I'm much more prepared for Christmas 2012 than I was for 2011.

we made books

My friend Julie always visits in July. Julie in July. It has a nice ring. Last year, for one day of her visit, we made some pincushions from a book we got cheap at Barnes & Noble the day before. I have tons of fabric from my crazy quilting days and the upholstery samples worked great. Those were fun, picking out buttons for the centers and admiring each other's handiwork.

When I went to see her in January, we did some dyeing. Came out great... however, I can't find a photo of it, so here's one of us in Old Town instead.

When we were planning her visit for this year, I suggested maybe some fabric journal pages like I've posted about recently. Julie countered with books because she liked the ones I posted from Lenna's little book swap that I posted about here and the next 3 posts after that. That was fine with me, so I ordered up some linen thread for binding, swiped a couple tables from work and set up a book making shop in my living room.

We had a really good time at it and ended up spending two entire days tearing up old books and calendars, measuring and cutting, trying to figure out the various binding instructions. (note to future writers of how-to books - save us all some gray hairs and test drive your instructions by having a person of average intelligence who is completely unfamiliar with what you're doing, actually make one of whatever it is)

the book making sweatshop

We ended up with half the studio supplies out in the  front room. The bird and the dog kept us company as we worked away, and we each ended up with several books to show for it.

I expect I'll use mine for journaling. Julie has no idea what she'll do with hers. She's all into the process now and has made several more books since she got home.

No telling what we'll do next time.

Julie's Where in the World book

made from a freebie calendar of California

made from a calendar of Tuscany

a-journaling I go... vacation journal

There are so many things to try that I often have a tough time narrowing my adhd focus down to one thing long enough to complete it. My stack of quilting UFOs has filled many a Goodwill bag over the years. But when I made plans to go visit a friend in San Diego last January, I knew I wanted to keep track, in some way, of the fun I knew we'd have. In surfing around god knows where on the intertubes, I found a tute on making a quickie journal from a manila file folder. As I'm surrounded by file folders all day long, it was right up my alley.

I didn't take any pics of the thing as I assembled it (gluing, folding, sewing, inking) (doh!) but now that it's finished, I figured I'd post it. Visiting Julie...

Front cover. You can see the tab at upper right. It ends up at the back of the journal.

Pages 1 and 2, scanned. Reciepts from shopping, bits of the trims I bought at Road to California, a sun because the sun was actually out and shining!!!, what we had for dinner, football playoff teams, an accordion of pictures.

Pages 1 and 2, photo 1. You can see the photo accordion. That's a big chicken looking at you bottom center.

Pages 1 and 2, photo 2. Unfolded flyer from that art store, I think. Pic of Julie in her wonderful kitchen making me something to eat.

Pages 3 and 4, scanned. The fish are street art we walked past. Blueberries for breakfast, Mex for lunch, cake for dinner, more trim, a crossword puzzle, bit of a book I bought at the excellent used bookstore, pic of coffee from an old dictionary, more receipts. Upper right corner is a bit of the lace we dyed one afternoon on the back patio. 

Pages 3 and 4, photo 1. Fish pic opens to show another image on the back. Book page unfolds. More little papers stuffed into the pockets.

Pages 3 and 4, photo 2. Just a different angle.

Back cover. Tim Holtz tissue tape. Some journaling using a white gel pen, the one I bought in San Diego.

And that's it. I'm very pleased with it. It totally captures the mood of that trip - colorful with odds and ends all over the place because we crammed so much into just three days.