Fabric Pages for a Memory Book

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Thought I would show you a couple of things I am working on presently. Here is a quick shot of fabric pages which are to be made into a Memory Book. Each wonderful lady in my sewing group made a memory page (actually two and you will see what I mean in a minute). The pages are approximately 6" x 8". We were to make a page that reflected us for each other. For example: I can look at my friend, Jan's, page for me and immediately tell it is Jan's - her colors, her choice of stitches and the way they are worked. They are all so beautiful and unique.

Using the page I created for everyone, I will show you what I meant about two pages which will be one, a front and a back. Below is my front page. First, I chose the color of the dupioni silk I wanted for the base of my pages - it just had to be dupioni; and my choice was a Victorian old gold. I then hand-dyed some lace and cut it up to make the motifs I wanted to use on the upper and lower portion of the oval center piece. The oval center piece was made separately. I crazy-quilted and stitched the oval, added the silk print, and then more trim and embellishment. When I placed the oval on the page, I added a couple of small layers of warm and natural batting to give a quilted and 3-d texture. I used another hand-dyed trim to edge the oval and then added beading.

The back of my page is below. I manipulated a scanned image to get some pastel sepia tones and then printed it out on silk. This is the picture of the little girls at the beach holding hands. This image just spoke to me. Since we live so close to the shore here in southeast Texas, we have had the good fortune; our little sewing group, to have a sewing retreat right on the beach in a rented beach house (actually owned by my X-husband - a story for another day :-), but yes we still speak). So, this picture just said what my heart wanted to say to all my wonderful sewing friends - "Sharing the possibilities, friends, heartfelt sisters, true blessings in my life." I printed this out on silk organza so that I could fringe the edges just for a bit more texture. Can't you just see the visions in the minds of these little girls as they peer off into the distant waves?

I then added the trumpet vine flowers because that is a native plant here in Texas which I just adore; and the spider and web - well, that is good luck, of course, in crazy quilting! The spider web is actually done with an iridescent metallic and is not white although the picture tends to make it look so.
Well, I immediately took my pages, blocked them and put fronts with backs and stitched with metallic gold thread in a nice decorative stitch all around them so they would be together until I was ready to proceed with making a front and back cover and determine how I wanted to put the book together. Oops! That would have been just fine, but my dear friend Barbara, came up with a beautiful design technique for the book pages that I love, which means taking out all that decorative edge stitching. Now, you are probably saying - what, no way! Yep, I have already started the daunting task. Barbara came up with a way of putting the pages together where you could easily view the front and back for each individual artists at the same time instead of flipping the page over and without having to put grommets in those beautiful pages. And, as we often do in crazy quilting - I am going to "share that idea" :-) It is actually quite an honor to have your idea shared - right Barbara :-) No, really, it is quite an honor and quite normal in the crazy quilt world to share - supplies, ideas, stash - everything. I promise I will show you in complete detail each and every page once I have them reset and ready to bind into the book. They are all just stunning and represent their creators so well. This book will indeed be a treasure!

Yesterday I mentioned what a dreary day it was Tuesday and I forgot to show you this picture I took as I was coming home from a long day of errands and sewing with my friends. When I was a little girl and learning about God, I always thought that rays of sunlight like this were God peaking through the clouds. After all as a child, I envisioned God like the sun - so bright and immense. It is so beautiful when you see the rays of sunlight like this. To me this is just another sign, like His whispering in the tree tops, that He is always there, keeping watch over me and it is so encouraging. All we need do is look around and we can see so many signs each and every day.

This is not the best picture, but this is shot of my beginnings for my Valentine swap project. I plan on this being a fabric Valentine card.
I am just getting started, but don't think it will take too long - it will be approximately 5" square. I will keep you posted with my progress.
Have a great day!

Oh, I wanted to tell you about Quilting Arts TV.
Check out the link. Quilting Arts, its editor, Pokey Bolton, now has a TV show on PBS. They are featuring wonderful artists. Fun, fun, fun!