Lilacs and a New Bookbinding

Lilacs are now blooming and just in time for the Lilac Festival Torchlight Parade which was Saturday night over in Spokane, WA - a little over an hour away from me. I have fond memories of marching in that parade when I was in high school. Always enjoyed band trips and nothing like the sound of drums to get my adrenaline going. Whether or not there will be lilacs the week of the major festivities is always questionable. Will they bloom early or late, or right on time as they did this year? I was delighted that the bush I pick a few blooms off of every year was indeed in full swing and sending out its beautiful scent so I'd have a lovely bouquet for my livingroom this weekend.

And as long as I was enjoying them from my couch, I did a sketch of them in my downstairs sketchbook. Not the first time I've tried my hand at sketching lilacs, and let me tell you, with all those small little flowers making up each large bloom, it is not an easy thing to sketch! It's one of those things that makes you creative in how to portray the general gist. And that vase was fun to sketch as well.

To my exasperation, my handmade book club's next 5 day challenge starts today and of course, I want to participate, but I still hadn't made any of the regular monthly book bindings I have laid out on my work table with instructions and papers. So I set aside more re-quilting of the couch quilt so I could at least make up this Butterfly Binding from January. Members were so thrilled with this one, saying it was quick and easy, and I had some signatures leftover from another project ready to go, so it should be even quicker, right? And handmade paper was suggested for the covers, and guess who succumbed to buying some quite awhile ago and has never used it?

The covers wrap around the first and last signatures, the narrow end glued to the signature and the wider one creating a flap. Holes are then punched through the signature and cover as well as the other two signatures. The handmade paper has bits of flowers embedded in it.

Four needles are used which though sounds complicated, actually makes the sewing easier as one signature after another is attached. I opted to use purple thread to match some of the purple flower bits in the paper.

The result is an elegant slim book with signatures that lie close to each other when open, always a plus. And I opted not to trim any of that flap, but use double sided Scor tape on top and bottom to create pockets. The paper is actually a little thin so it needs that doubling up for a sturdier cover. The size of the book is 9 x 6 inches, and I can see making this in smaller sizes too.

If I had any complaint, it would be that by using 4 needles, you end up with stitches in the center of the signatures that are doubled, but that's a little thing that won't keep me from making this book again. After all, I have an additional 4 leftover signatures to use up and that piece of handmade paper was exactly the right size for a second set of covers.

Intimidation and Insight

Let's start with intimidation. With what was left of my week, I was determined to get out in the nice weather and sketch. I had a place I wanted to capture, and although the view itself was not complicated, the location would put me in full view of traffic along a busy street. Now this would not be the first time I've sketched outside in areas where people and cars might be passing, but for some reason, I found myself intimidated by the thought of doing it at this spot. I'm usually pretty good at just gathering myself up and making myself get on with it, but it took me three days to get over this intimidation. First day, I left all my sketching supplies at home and merely "scoped out" where to position myself for the best view. I was hoping to find a spot where I could sketch from the car - much less intimidating and something I do often - but there was no place where I could get the proper angle. Nope, I was going to have to do it from the sidewalk. Day two, I balked and opted to sketch instead from my front steps again. I'd been eyeing my neighbor's rattan lounge chairs and decided to "warm up" on them.

That turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. Lots of odd angles and trouble getting sizing right. I was so frustrated with how it went that I ditched my original intention to add colored pencil. As an afterthought, I loosely added some tree branches which really seemed to help the overall picture. But boy, this was doing nothing to help alleviate my feeling of intimidation. Luckily, when I looked at it the next day, it looked better than I remembered, and knowing I just had to go do it, I packed up my collapsible stool and sketching supplies and took off for my chosen location across the street from a bus stop shelter flanked by big trees sporting some of that bright spring green I've been seeing and wanting to capture. Did I feel conspicuous? You bet. Did I dread that passing cars might honk at me? Yes, but not a one did. Did I quickly relax into the task at hand, starting with the shelter itself, oblivious to most all around me? Exactly, as how it usually happens. And this fairly easy subject came together with not much problem, a very satisfying session.

I'm sure I've said this before, but I'm not much of a fan of this particular sketchbook's toned tan paper, and a part of me wished I'd just used a sketchbook with white paper. Kind of a live and learn how to work with it. And the rollercoaster of emotion my sketching activities put me through sometimes surprises me, that how can I be so adept one session only to struggle the next. Well, to be honest the same thing happens to me with my quilting. One hopes to build on success, but it's not always a given from one project to the next. And too, if you're not consistently practicing, there are going to be rusty moments.

My studio gallery with quilts both mine and friends showing our quilting paths

 

As for insight, I had an odd experience last week. I'm nurturing a newish friendship, one of my yoga classmates that helped me in the weeks after my back surgery. This out of class time opened the doors to learning how much we have in common and that we wanted to keep doing things together after I no longer needed her help. She had mentioned hoping that she could see more of my quilts than just the ones hanging downstairs and I thought that would be fun too. My upstairs though, particularly my studio, has been off limits to guests for quite awhile, but heck, if I waited until I got it into shape, she might never get to see it. So I just told her to put her blinders on and ignore my piles. But as I moved from design wall to gallery wall to framed work leaning against the bookcase to the quilt on my bed and on the upstairs walls, I experienced something different, a realization how all these quilts represented not just my history as a quilter but also the history of quilting itself during the last 25 years. Showing them to someone mostly unfamiliar with quilting, I realized she would not know that this one's fabric was generated during a surface design experiment phase, and this one a snow-dying phase, and this one the result of burning holes in sheer leaf shapes added for a 3-dimensional touch, and this one stamped with a leaf shape I carved myself. And batiks, do you know what a batik is and it marked a new buying craze for me. Oh, and that small one, it's from when making fabric postcards was all the rage, and these slightly bigger ones are during a journal quilt phase. 

I could go on, but perhaps you could look at your own quilts and see the influence of fads and experiments and the art quilt movement in general. I'm not sure why it hit me the way it did, but it all made me feel a bit unsteady, one who always felt she knew where she had come from and where she was going with all this. Maybe it's because I've not had to talk about my quilting history and techniques for quite some time? Did I feel like a relic? Or did it emphasize how I've gone from one thing to another without settling on any one technique or style? Honestly, this was a totally new experience, and I'm still uncertain what it meant. The insight is limited.

Diverted and Distracted

Late in posting this week, partly because not much has happened since I last checked in. I'd mentioned that I'd made a trip into the somewhat big city last week, something that at minimum takes up 3 hours of my day, but then I had to go again a couple of days later. The first trip really wiped me out - sometimes my auto immune syndrome doesn't mind the extra energy tap of trips like that, other times it hits me with debilitating fatigue once I get home. No way of knowing which it will be in advance or how long it will take to recover, but was glad that the second trip didn't bother me at all. At any rate, I didn't make progress on much of anything before the weekend, although I took a stab at reducing part of a studio pile by getting back to catching up on my documentation files.

There were back to back motorcycle races to watch on Saturday and Sunday so a few more stitches got put into the stitch camp piece. I decided to do the spiral running stitch in the two oblong blotches as well as to squeeze it into the smaller blue circles after I finished a bit of the twisted running stitch. I can see a few more areas where I can work that stitch in, hoping that I will use up that teal rayon embroidery thread. Pondering where I can work in some different stitches like seed stitch and satin stitch and what color thread I might use to do that.

I thought there'd be more to catch my eye and add to my downstairs sketchbook but there really isn't from my place on the couch. However, I realized that in watching tv, I'd become a little obsessed with eyebrows, especially as I watched different newscasters. These are just experiments as I tried to remember some of the ones I'd noticed that were different from the usual arch. Then I found myself adding some full faces which to be honest I'm not very good at. But it exercises one's imagination.

I can report that in the space of a few days we went from bleak winter with nothing showing on the branches of trees to full-on spring with bright lime green leaves unfurling and beautiful blooms emerging. The chokecherry in front of my place obliged with not just blooms but heady fragrance. I'm really feeling the urge to get out and sketch some of the trees around town before the blooms fade. The weather will be heating up again, and I am free of obligations for the rest of the week so I have no excuse not to!

A Little Mending A Little Painting

Look for the orange and blue yarn ties

Not quite a year ago, I was showing you what I called a quilting fail, where the invisible thread had worn through the cotton bobbin in numerous places on my couch quilt. This left me with loops big and small on the right side, loops that my fingers easily caught on when I pulled the quilt over me. In the ensuing year, more of these fails have shown up, and for reasons justified and not, I put off doing anything about it, save to tie a piece of yarn through the loops as I found them so they'd be easier to find once I did mend those places. Well, the loops never stopped showing up and that couch quilt is covered in yarn knots as you can see in the above photo. But honestly, it's difficult to convince myself to spend time mending when I could be working on something new. However, I had a surprise visit from some high school friends on Saturday, and since I didn't know exactly when to expect them, starting the mending on this quilt was a perfect project. And because there are so many breaks in the bobbin thread with the expectation of even more fails, I decided to just requilt along all the stitch in the ditch lines. And even as I rearranged the quilt as I stitched, my little finger found more loops. And there are also some spots where I did a clam shell design in the borders and setting triangles that will have to be resewn, but that will not be over all of them. 

I'm using a sturdy Superior The Bottom Line polyester thread in the bobbin that I think must have come in a grab bag sort of offer from Superior. Surely, I would not have picked this pink thread on my own, but fortunately it blends pretty well with the backing and should be impervious to the invisible thread. There's a part of me that can't believe I'm actually wearing out a quilt, but it really has had almost constant use since it was made over 20 years ago and it has been washed more than the quilts I have used on my bed or the guest bed. I can't imagine what I would replace it with. I think I care too much about the other quilts this size I have made whereas with this one, I knew I was using lesser quality fabric that was some of my first purchases and didn't cost nearly as much per yard as fabric I got in the habit of buying as I got more knowledgeable about those things. After all, I was using a mystery quilt pattern so if I ended up not liking it, I wasn't out much. But I did like it - a lot!

I did do a tiny bit of painting last week. I've had this pussy willow branch waiting for me for well over a month, thinking it would be an easy subject to practice on. I thought I could sketch it with a variety of mediums: pen, pencil, colored pencil, watercolor, brush pens. It would provide a quick study for trying out these different tools. But I also thought about that botanical drawing with India ink class and the sketchbook I used for that. Plenty of pages left so I got a brush and a few drops of ink and drew the above. I was astounded by how easy it was to get this good result.

And because I am a waste not want not kinda gal, I painted a second page with what ink was left in the tiny container. Tulips are not blooming yet but since I'd just sketched those tulip leaves, I thought I'd do a quick leaves and blooms with the India ink. NOT as successful - my up stroke was pretty steady while my downward stroke was not. Oh well, this is supposed to be a practice book, with some sketches a learning tool leading to more success. Thinking of adding some color . . . could be with ink or could be with the Posca Pens I picked up yesterday when I was in the somewhat big city for a doctor's appointment. Yeah, I had a coupon and I keep seeing people using them. We'll see if they are really better than the Painters ones from Walmart.

Warming Up

I've really had a craving to get back to sketching and having this new sketchbook to work in has given me a place to "warm up" as it were. You know, like any skill, if you're not using it on a regular basis, you get rusty and lose proficiency. I'm reminding my brain and eyes and hand how to work together again, and  decided to sketch a couple of things I could see from my couch. Those yoga blocks were great for practicing getting the angle of the lines right and the part of the furniture behind it sized proportionally. That part I did in one sitting while adding the foreground with part of the coffee table with magazines the next day. Then I moved on to the more challenging sketch of my beloved wing-back chair. It is actually more squat with the back not so straight up and down but as so often happens, I misjudged as I added chair to the first lines at the bottom of the chair and soon it was squeezed into a space that needed to be bigger. It's a subject I can sketch again and from different angles, all really good practice.

Feeling a bit warmed up, I headed out to sketch one end of Foster's Crossing, an old freight depot that now houses shops and an eatery. In a recent drive-by, I was so surprised to see that large sunflowers had been painted on the outside and I definitely wanted to try and capture that. This one I did in the toned paper sketchbook that I've designated for architecture and to be honest, I don't like that toned paper. Hard for a novice like me to figure out how to get things to show up on it, although I'm starting to get the knack. The paper will not take wet media but ink and colored pencil work fine on it. I'm trying to work a little faster, not get bogged down in trying to capture every little detail, and when adding color, not fuss as much trying to get a perfect match. I made progress on all that with this sketch but it still took me a couple of hours to complete!

Just as I was ready to sit down at the computer late yesterday for my end of the day check and maybe start this blog post, the power went out. I got an alert that it was a transformer that had blown so questionable as to how long before electricity would be back on. I took a walk and then pondered what I could do before it got dark, deciding this was the perfect time to take a sketchbook and colored pencils outside to sketch this little scene next door. I'd been watching those tulip leaves pushing up but we are far from having blooms or even leaves on some of the shrubs but that tipped over watering can said, we have a story here to capture. I'm getting more comfortable with my colored pencils and so, I enjoy using them more. With this sketch I wanted to practice "cropping" my composition before starting. I pour over the many urban sketcher sketches on Facebook, noting the different styles and what people choose to capture. When actually out sketching, I tend to see a whole building or a whole scene and end up trying to capture it all in my sketchbook, but I'm realizing that is one reason it takes me so long to do a sketch. If I was taking a snapshot, I might still try to get a whole building if it were interesting, but then I'd get some close-up shots as well. So I'm hoping to focus in on subjects and details, practice that cropping as I observe and decide what to sketch.

The weekend was full of motorcycle racing to watch so little else got done. I remembered I had my stitch camp piece sitting nearby and managed a few more lengths of that twisted running stitch. I still have no idea where this is going or what to do with those circles made with the end of a thread spool, but I continue to add in the hopes that a lightbulb moment will ensue. As for studio work, I think a few handmade books are in order, that and the very needed straightening up. I might be able to eliminate some piles or at least find some things that have gone missing, and catch up on my documentation files. I might even discover what my next "continue finishing more" sewing/quilting project will be.

Grandma's Work

I snuck that little bookbinding project in last week between finishing up my taxes. Did them in fits and starts as usual, putting off finalization longer than necessary and letting the state ones nearly trip me up. But they got mailed off Friday and I could return my focus to finishing up Naomi's quilt. I'd laid it out on the carpet to steam the edges before squaring up and it stayed there for more than a week as other distractions presented themselves. But over the weekend I was able to cut and piece the binding strips and trim off that excess batting and backing, and then get the binding sewn on.

You'll no doubt remember that I used the quilting paper to draw out the design for quilting the borders, pinning the strips in place and free motion quilting through them. As I did so, it occurred to me that I might be quilting in some tucks since I couldn't see the surface of the quilt . . .

. . . and I sure did, in just two places though. One more imperfection few will notice I'm sure. And something to file away in my memory for next time.

Because I only had pieces of the blue fabric on hand, the binding strips were only about 28" long. That's a lot of angled seams, and even when I join 44 inch strips for bigger quilts, I always do a test around the outside of the quilt to be sure one of those angles doesn't end up right where I am turning the corner to make a nice miter. I have had those angled joins fall right there at the corner more than once and it is not a good thing. But to my surprise, not one of those joins even came close to a corner! I cut my binding slightly wider than the standard 2" so that there is plenty to pull to the back and cover the seam stitching and allow for machine stitching it in place from the front.

I decided to call it Grandma's Work because that is exactly what it is. It is made of the fabric this baby's grandmother dyed herself and that batik backing is from her stash. The pattern is of her and my design. It is a good representation of an important part of her life, a part that meant so much to her.

I'm still really glad I picked this batik for the backing - it plays so well with the hand-dyes on the front. I still need to ink in some label info on it, but then it is ready to send off along with additional explanations and memories of my good friend that will help her granddaughter learn more about her one day.

A Truly Quick Finish

Leather folder, original trial template, signatures, file folder for cover

I was digging around in one of my floor piles about the time I was choosing paper for signatures for several book projects when I uncovered the leather folder my cousin gave me that held a Moleskine sketchbook that I came to despise - I'd totally forgotten about it. I'd determined to use it up on some daily sketches and replace it with sketchbook paper I liked. A simple project really, but I got hung up on trying to make an exact copy of the Moleskine in terms of size, and the size was odd. It would require cutting down whatever pad of paper I decided to use and adhering to measurements not standard. I mocked up a template the exact size of the Moleskine and fussed with dimensions but got frustrated and put it aside, never occurring to me until I unearthed the folder with template inside that the Moleskine was based on metric measurements, and that I could use the closest dimensions that I had on hand. I checked to be sure the slightly smaller 8 x 10 inch paper would still fit well as signatures, and I quickly made two signatures to press under weights. I remembered that the Moleskine insert had a plain cover made from something similar to a file folder and planned to use the same. Once the signatures were ready, this little project came together quickly.

I'd recently watched a video showing a binding done with a pamphlet stitch and remembered a book I'd done where I was very surprised that one could add several signatures to the cover using only one set of holes in the spine. So that is what I planned to do here. I cut the file folder slightly larger than my signatures, especially in width to account for wrapping around the two signatures' folded edges. I punched 3 holes in each signature - one in the center and the other two a half inch from top and bottom - and lined them up accordingly to punch in the cover.

I was surprised to find that a length of linen thread still on the needle from a previous project was long enough for the stitching. With a pamphlet stitch, the needle enters the middle hole from the outside leaving a tail for tying, then back to the outside through an upper hole, wrapping along the outside of the cover to enter the lower hole back to the inside. Normally one would then enter the middle hole again to pull the thread to the outside to tie off. But when adding a second signature, you slide the needle to one side so it doesn't go through the cover but can now go through the center hole of the second signature where the stitching pattern is repeated. When back to the center, this time the needle can go through the cover, threads can be tightened and then tied off. Quick and easy! Actually I was a bit stunned at how little time I spent on this, me who can turn any quick project into a days-long affair.

And I was pleased that my new little sketchbook was a perfect fit for the folder.

The plan is to keep this sketchbook downstairs on the coffee table. I so often find in the evenings that I have an urge to sketch something but have settled in and it seems too much effort to go hunt down one of my many sketchbooks. I was particularly driven to get this ready for use downstairs right now because from my couch I'd been staring for some time at a bare tree with a splotch of lichen on one of the branches. No other color in this winter scene and I was intrigued. However, for as long as I'd been observing it, I'd only a few days earlier realized that the branch was not part of the tree, but one that had broken off and gotten lodged in this tree. It became the first sketch in my new book. Many more to follow is the plan. And chalk up another one for my "finish more" resolution.

Confessions of a Procrastinating Filer

I have another Austin Kleon blog to share, this one about pilers and filers. It got me thinking about the state of my studio and how I might operate in a perfect world of my choosing. At first, I immediately said, well I'm a filer of course. But one look in my studio would have anyone else saying that I'm a piler. Well, maybe when I'm working the piles stack up, like in the above photo when I had so much spread out working on those art journaling pages. But that all got put away, the papers especially into that bin, which is a type of filing. Piling is temporary, filing is my default action.

Binders full of quilt documentation files

I perhaps got my first taste of filing as a grade school reader when my mother took me to the library to find books, and I eventually was introduced to the card catalog. I adored using the card catalog, especially as I got older and used it to help me do research. I have to say I miss it quite a bit, even though computer searches are supposed to be faster and more efficient. You're talking to someone here who hated using a slide rule in one of my high school science classes and used to race a friend to see who could come up with calculations quicker, him with his slide rule or me with pencil and paper. I usually won. Anyway, I've always enjoyed organizing things, and most of the paid jobs I've had required filing and organizing. Right up my alley.

Pile at the end of the table example 1 & 2

So how to explain that my studio has always fallen victim to stacks and piles instead of everything neatly filed away? I DO know the answer to that and procrastination is a major culprit. I can sort what happens when I enter my studio with something into these categories (see? I even "file" my actions!):

1. I don't have time at the moment to put/file the thing away in its proper place - I'll do it later.
2. I'm not entirely sure where it should go - I'll need more time to decide its proper place.
3. It is something I want to get to soon so don't want to put it away - out of sight out of mind.
4. I've run out of room in the proper place for it and need to add more or reconfigure my storage.
   

These are excuses and it is why things get so out of hand. I almost laugh at number 3 which sounds valid at the time but soon those things I don't want to forget so leave out are soon buried under even more things of the same category. And how many times have I said and acted upon "If I just had the right storage units . . ." only to end up in the same quandary on down the road as I add more interests and more supplies/materials?

Some of what is in this pile is from when I moved into my current location. It's where I ran out of steam as well as ideas of where to put these last things unpacked. I've never gotten back to it in ten years, although I do occasionally dig down there to take a look, no more sure where to "file" these things than when I first abandoned them. What is on the top became a combination of #2 and #4. Those handmade books I've been learning to make? What are not gifted I really have no place for, my bookcase being totally full. I know others in that online group have made small bookcases to set on a counter or store them in a bin. I have so many bins of various sizes and uses as well as drawers that I've run out of room for more.

But in reality, this kind of chaos does bother me, especially when I go looking for something that I think I know exactly where it is and it is not. So much wasted time looking. I'd much rather everything be stored like my fabric, filed with a system I settled on long ago for most of it, several baskets for others of specific kinds and a narrow but tall chest of drawers for all my reproduction fat quarters; I pretty much can go to my stashes and put my finger on exactly what I'm looking for in short order. This goes for the majority of my tools and marking pens and tapes organized in that hardware cabinet of drawers my late husband gave me when he ran out of things to file in his work area.

And yet, there are still places where some fabrics are laid out on the floor (one of a kinds that I didn't want to fold) and bags of silk ties waiting for me to "file" them with the rest hanging by color in the closet, and a project or two that I think I will get to sooner than later, that combination of nowhere to put them and not wanting them out of sight out of mind.

According to psychologist Linda Silverman, “Filers” tend to be verbal/sequential thinkers and “Pilers” tend to be visual/spatial thinkers." But what if you're both, as I think I am? Austin seems to agree, that it depends on what you are doing whether a file or a pile suits your needs:

"All of these “versus” type situations can be rethought as spectrums and/or creative tensions. There are times when I want to access that sequential part of my brain and bring order to things, and filing does that, but there are other times I want to access my visual brain, and piles help."

I agree. I work in both worlds. But honestly, not all of my piles can be justified as furthering my creativeness. They are just signs of my indecision and resulting procrastination and I really need to clean them up. Perhaps consider it spring cleaning if nothing else.

How do you see yourself, as a filer or a piler or both?

An Optimistic Travel Spread

I finished up my art journal travel spread and it was an enjoyable experience. I am very pleased with the outcome - lots of open space, minimal added collaging to the images laid down, little covering up and layering. My tactic was to revisit plans for trips that got waylaid when my back got so bad, remind myself of where I thought I'd like to go, by car and train and boat. Whether or not I'll actually be able to take any of these trips, see any of these places, it was a shot in the arm to remember them and why they were on my list.

As an aside, I caught myself automatically using some of my quilting lessons as I arranged things on the page, thinking to balance where different items were placed to help move the eye but particularly to balance colors. Once I added that brown rock on the right, it was picking up the brown in the moon but I kept thinking there needed to be more brown making the connection. That is why those torn strips of brown paper got added, and they also seemed to add to the sense of travel with their horizontal alignment. I thought the same thing when placing the Canadian flag - need to add more red somewhere. That's why the exuberant lady in the red convertible got added. 

The sprayed acrylic background worked well, except my Uniball Gelly pen in white struggled to write over it. While perusing the small art supply section of my local Wal-Mart, I checked to see if they carried Posca pens. Posca Posca Posca is all I've been hearing for some time now from the various multi-media artists I follow. It's essentially acrylic paint in a pen that comes with various types of tips. I've often seen it used to add text so maybe I should give in and get one. I was not surprised that Wal-Mart didn't have them, but they did have these Painters pens which sounded like the same thing. Never one to really know what colors I want, except this time I knew I needed white, I decided to get this 5 pack.

Not surprisingly I suppose, my trial with the white one was disappointing. I knew from the many videos I'd watched that these need to be shaken and then the tip depressed to get the paint moving. I did this only to have the paint run freely out of the pen when I depressed the tip on a small sheet of paper. It was very thin and immediately spread off the paper. The tip was also extended quite far out after shaking so I am wondering if this particular pen has a default. I haven't taken time to check the others. Once I felt I had the flow of paint under control, I lettered over the gelly pen "Oh Canada" and was surprised at the uneven coverage. As I said, the paint seems very thin. On closer inspection, I see this brand is made by the Elmer's glue company which means at least it is made in America, but perhaps I should go for the tried and true Japanese company's paint pens if I decide this is an option I'd like to have around.

How about you? Any of you have experience with Posca paint pens?

More Art Journaling

I'm somewhere between restless and listless, focused and dreamy. Maybe it's a bit of spring fever, me needing a change of scenery when the scenery isn't seeing much change. However, I was quite delighted last week to see that the access road running from my sidewalk route along the dog park was now free from snow, even the big pile at the entrance gone and I could spend at least part of my daily walk on softer (but not muddy) ground.

Part of my restlessness no doubt is tied to these art journaling spreads I want to complete before clearing the work table so I can cut binding and square up the baby quilt. This first one goes back to the altered book I've been working in, that smaller format that sometimes feels cramped. The theme is the one I thought I was going to use for Laly's retreat but turned out to be unsuitable for that. Still, I had images set aside and a few things I wanted to try out in this place where it doesn't matter. First up, covering the text on the page with teabags. I keep saving them, keep wanting to use them because their color is part of my personal palette, but so far I haven't been terribly happy with what I've tried with them. I had really hoped they would knock back the text more but once the gel medium was dry, they were very transparent.

Next I arranged my images and there went any interesting things the teabags might be adding as my images pretty much covered the spread. I used a pen similar to a Flair pen to write around the images why what they represented would never be pursued. You can probably make out the "Get Real!" I wrote at the top which was the thing that dawned on me after I'd collected them as dreams I could pursue. The image in the lower left is cut from a postcard. I'd wondered if perhaps it was too thick to use, and it definitely was. Now I know. Sorry for the glare.

Now I wanted to see what would happen if I covered the spread with the thin layer of a napkin, something that was shown in one of my handmade book club lessons. In that case, everyone was using white napkins with colorful images. The white turned translucent when adhered with gel medium but I wasn't sure my plain dark teal napkin would still let the things on the page spread show. So I did this small sample and it looked like it would work.

What didn't work well was getting the napkin on the page. I used the suggested ways of gluing a little at a time but a napkin is quite unruly, would not go down where I wanted and I kept pulling it up to rearrange. I think that caused two things to happen: 1) I think the gel medium on the napkin pulled up some of the ink off the images and 2) I think even though I tried hard to get an even application of gel medium over the page, some of it may have dried before the napkin hit or wasn't there at all. Most of the images are very difficult to see and some text showed right through while other didn't - a very uneven application. Well, I DID want to knock things back and give a dreamy quality to it, as evidenced by the two words I added on top of the napkin: Me Dreaming. The camera had a difficult time deciphering all this and I tried to fix it as best I could so you could get the idea. But overall, this was not a successful experiment and I am very unhappy with the result. But now I know - using napkins is not for me! Teabags are still in the mix.

I had better luck moving on to my big art journaling sketchbook. I'd not done anything with the covers initially, but had since come up with an idea for them. I have some spray acrylics and lots of stencils so I went to work. I used a light and a dark blue, repositioning the stencil 180 degrees before spraying with the second color. Very pleased with how this came out. Again, the camera was struggling, making the left edge of the cover much lighter than it really is.

Never one to waste, I decided to see if I could transfer the paint on the top of the stencil after each color application onto the back cover. Not a lot of paint so the transfer is very light but that's ok for the back.

And now while the paint was out, I opened the sketchbook to a blank spread and created my first layer for a new journal page. I'd been thinking of ways I could add paint as a first layer other than with a brush which I'd not enjoyed or had much luck with during the retreat. I had planned on trying a brayering method I've seen but now with the success of the spraying on the cover, I decided to spray away on this spread. And I am SO happy with the look.

That dark blue is just what I wanted to set off that moon image that I'd wanted to use on my retreat page. Now it works perfectly for a new optimistic travel spread and I've started "auditioning" more images. Maybe collage isn't really the look I want, as I find myself reluctant to even think about what could go in the "blank" spaces around my images. We'll have to see how this evolves.

National Quilting Day

So did you remember that Saturday was National Quilting Day? Share with me how you spent it, whether it was working by yourself, with a group or out in public. I used to do the public demos with my quilt group but lately I just make sure I spend at least part of the day in the studio working on a quilt, generally for someone else. This year I used that time to finish the quilting on the border of Naomi's quilt. Now to tear off all that paper!

I did get brave and quilt her name into those four corners of the center area where the quilting design did not reach. Now it is ready to square up and bind. Gotta put away a LOT of art journeling stuff first - the table is still strewn with ephemera and supplies. By the way, are any of you still struggling with the time change? I have enough trouble getting up in the morning as it is without moving the clocks ahead.