Stitching

I have always loved sewing (hand and machine) and have been very interested lately in art quilting. I'm still a novice and have dipped my toe in by making small fabric paper quilts and ATCs - see here and here.

Wanting to take this further I have read (a lot) and found great classes at The Bramble Patch - they are primarily a quilting shop but do a lot of mixed media workshops. The fabrics on sale are to die for!

Below is a journal cover made from hand dyed cotton which has been stamped and stencilled. The seed heads were screen printed and then foiled. I then added some wadding to the back and finished with a bit of free machining.

I love journals and journaling and have made some more Remains of the Day (ROD) journal pages for the inside of this cover. I learned how to do these from an online class with Mary Ann Moss (she also has a great blog) and just love doing them! They are completely addictive.

I think I am a bit addicted to online classes too as I have also done her Stitched and Stencilled and Stencilry workshops - all very enjoyable, however, I have done less stencilry and more sewing so far.

Anyway here are a few of the pages - they are 'bare' at present - just waiting to be journaled on.

All the pages are stitched together with whatever you have around, made into signatures then pamphlet stitiched into the cover.

  

I have used a mixture of magazine photos and personal ones. The girl at the back is my Grandmother, Maggie born in 1882, photographed here with her mother, sister and two brothers. Her mother was widowed by the time this was taken around 1892.

  

You can always showcase a bit of original 'art' too - see far right an experiment with Brusho.

This is the dog I grew up with, a little Jack Russell terrier called 'Nipper'. She lived to age 16 and this photo was taken near the end of her life in 1973.

Many of the pages have extra pockets and flaps for later additions. On the left here I have used a 'free' junk mail envelope.

My Mum (on the right!) - photo taken about 30 years ago.

A magazine photo and my own during a trip to Crete.

I like my colour co-ordination on this page.

Shakespeares sonnets and Hever Castle.

Love this ant picture - from National Geographic I think.