The Sketchbook Project and Wm. Morris Updates

 Fire damage to The Sketchbook Project collection hasn't been as extensive as first thought but it's still bad. Books have been damaged by smoke and water as well as flames. So far I haven't learned what caused the fire. Some books will be irretrievable, others can be salvaged. The new library space in St. Pete has begun to take shape. Undamaged books are going onto shelves. Apparently the whole of the Tiny Sketchbook collection was safe (that's two year's worth of submissions I think). Those unloading boxes and assessing damage are wearing N95 masks to protect themselves from mold and smoke as much as anything else.

 

  The GoFundMe drive has raised about 2/3 of the monies needed to get The Sketchbook Project back on its' feet in Florida. Every little bit helps. 😊

Meanwhile, the quilt top featuring the William Morris style prints has been completed.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Hopefully the intended recipient will be too! 

I sashed and bordered the blocks with a blue+green Fossil Fern print.The top finished up at about 66" square.

 I took the easy road out and purchased a creamy extra-wide print for the back. 😁 

I've also purchased a new rotary cutter. Actually, I bought two but the first one didn't work out. I've returned to an Olfa cutter that has a slightly plump handle. Turns out you can wear out your rotary cutter, not just the blade - who knew?! The washer mechanism had so much slop in it that I couldn't tighten the blade adequately anymore. I'm having a much easier time cutting strips and patches now. Still have to pace myself to keep from aggravating the tendonitis in my left elbow and the carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand and forearm but it's progress. As long as I stay out of toxic fumes I'm a much happier camper these days.

Tragedy for The Sketchbook Project

I thought I would give you an update on Starring William Morris today. When I found the following in my inbox this morning I had to take a detour.

On Monday, February 28th, the moving trailer that was transporting the entire Sketchbook Project collection from Brooklyn to St. Pete (Florida) caught fire while driving through Baltimore. We are incredibly thankful that everyone involved in the accident is safe and not hurt.

 We are pleased to report that around 70% of the The Sketchbook Project collection was saved by volunteers and firefighters who heroically moved the books off as fast as possible at the scene. Following, community members from a local church helped move each box of books into their parking lot one by one. The majority of the unharmed books arrived in St Pete today and are safe and sound. We are beginning to assess the damage, but we estimate we may have lost around 7,000 books of the collection and most of our supplies that helped us operate as an organization.

Those of you who have been with me for a long time will remember that I've participated in The Sketchbook Project a few times over the years. Most recently I filled in a Tiny Sketchbook with an abecedary. Prior to that I embroidered travel trailers for each page. Those are the two that stand out in my feeble mind. There were others. 

I found The Sketchbook Project community to be very welcoming. Participating helped me to see my own artistic vision more clearly. I value the growth I've experienced and their ongoing mission to foster creativity in others. My contribution to their GoFundMe drive is minimal, but every donation takes them one step closer to setting up a new library and starting up their programs once more. If this resonates with you I invite you to throw a few pennies in the pot along with me. 😊

A Tiny Sketchbook

Those who have been visiting The Magpie's Nest for years may remember that I've participated in The Sketchbook Project a couple of times. I don't draw, but fill my sketchbooks with fabric, stitches, and words. Once the sketchbooks are filled up (whether or not they are full) they get sent back to the Brooklyn Art Library to become part of their permanent collection. Some of the sketchbooks have gone on tour around the country. The Tiny Sketchbook Project was introduced to facilitate taking sketchbooks over the pond to Europe a couple of years ago. I was very tempted to try one of the little sketchbooks but life kept it from happening. I was delighted when they offered a second round. 😀

Themes are suggested but artists are free to go wherever their muse takes them. I decided to write a Tall Tale in the form of an abcdery. Like this:

At this point my book was barely half full. So, I composed another abcdery.

I just realized I left out Q! That was meant to be 'Quality.' Phooey.

There you have it. 😁Now to get it in the mail. (Deadlines are wonderful things.)

SAL in April - Sketchbook Reveal

What with one thing and another I haven't done much needlework since the last Stitch Along check in. I may have put a few stitches in one of the pillowcases I'm embroidering. But the big news is that my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project is finally complete, assembled, and ready to return to the Brooklyn Art Library. 😊 Let me give you the tour...

Front Cover

First page

This is the middle of the booklet.
You can see where I hand stitched the pages to the cover.

The final page. The quote may not be exact; I didn't take the time to look it up.

Inside back cover

Most of the returning sketchbooks will have a vertical orientation. Obviously mine doesn't, but I had to succumb on the inside back cover. I don't feel that my photographs give an accurate representation of the colors in the backgrounds or the cotton embroidery flosses I used but this will have to do.

For my next SAL project I think I'm going to dedicate my efforts to the embroidered block of the month that Joy is sharing. I whipped up the first block shortly after receiving the pattern. I was anxious to start on the second block but then life got in the way, as it has a way of doing. Now I'm suddenly two months behind! Time to get back on that particular horse. 😉 In the meantime, you can see and enjoy a wide range of needlework being done by the other members of this Stitch Along group. We check in every three weeks so our next "meeting" will be on 6 May.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina,

Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Mary Margaret,

Heidi, Connie, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Tony, Megan, Timothy

The Last Caravan

I managed to complete the Hobbit caravan before all work came to an abrupt halt. Taadaa!

This makes number eight. Here they are again, not necessarily in the order in which they were made or in the order in which they will go into my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project.

I had planned to at least attempt mounting them in the sketchbook this past week. That was before I took that undignified fall in the middle of our street (see previous post). Because of their shapes my sketchbook will have a horizontal orientation when I finally manage to get it together.

At this point I'm just planning to use my machine to straight stitch the panels to the pages of the book (which I have disassembled to make that process easier to accomplish). 

In the beginning I'd thought I would dress up the perimeters of the embroideries with rick rack or ribbon trims. I see now there really isn't room, nor do I want to fuss with that anymore. I just want to get this puppy done and on it's way to the Brooklyn Art Library! My body has to heal a bit more before that can happen unfortunately.

Here's another look at the embroideries, probably the last time you'll see them.

Again, I'm not sure they will go into the book in this order. This is just how they ended up on my design wall to have their pictures taken.

I've been using the the three-week stitch along hosted by Avis to keep me on task with these travel trailers. I'm going to have to come up with something new for next time! (That won't be a problem, trust me.) There are a whole host of stitchers participating in this SAL, all over the world. We've had a couple new folks join us this month too. Everyone is working on their own needlework project, although two members are currently at work on the same cross stitch kit. Welcome to the new members, and if you'd like some motivation for making progress on your stitchery visit Avis to get on the list. 😊

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina,

Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Mary Margaret,

Heidi, Connie, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Tony

Unexpected Progress

I recovered enough from whatever the latest toxic exposure was to finally do some work on my Hobbit travel trailer for The Sketchbook Project. You'll recall it looked like this last Sunday for our Stitch Along check-in (see previous post):

Now it looks like this: 😊

The only problem is that all that work on the roof has caused some trouble with my left wrist and hand. Hopefully a few days of other activities will allow for whatever healing needs to take place.

Last year I was making 8" sawtooth stars and 16 Patch blocks in conjunction with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. There were some leftover scraps and patches from that effort which made it fairly easy to start piecing again.

Mind you, I didn't do all this in one day! I actually started with the ships last week and have been adding stars and 16 Patch blocks gradually since then. One of these days I'm going to have to start creating one or more quilt tops from these blocks. Our outdoor temperatures are beginning to rise so I may be able to put my design wall extensions back in place soon to allow for larger work to take place. We've even had a couple of days of sunshine that make it feel more like spring might just show up afterall!

SAL in February

It's been three weeks since our last stitch along check-in. I have no trouble believing that, I just wish I had more to show! I've been distracted with quilt projects and didn't even get started on the latest caravan for my Sketchbook Project until yesterday.

I've been wanting to use this particular silhouette ever since the beginning but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Last month Kate made some suggestions for future trailers; one of them was a perfect fit. First though, I had to reduce the design from the original, more than once.

The larger image on the bottom is the original. The little guy at the top is the one I traced off. I'm having to keep these stitcheries within a 4" x 6" format. Here's what I have so far:

Can you guess what it's going to be? The colors in the photo are not quite right - of course. The foundation fabric is a light green, the outline so far is a combination of two different gray-purple hand dyed flosses, and the window and door will eventually be that warm yellow. There may not be room for a lot of detail on this caravan but we'll see. 😉

The stitchers in this group span the globe. Most will probably have updated their blogs by the time mine goes live. There's all sorts of needlework taking place in this SAL. I hope to take the whole tour this time; last month I was too ill to pull it off. We're welcoming a new member this month, Sunny, so be sure to stop by her blog!

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina,

Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Mary Margaret, Heidi, Connie, Jackie, Sunny