Stitch at Home Challenge

I learned about the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design (what a mouthful!) a couple of months ago via the Fiber Talk podcasts. I was especially intrigued by their Stitch at Home Challenges because, obviously, stitching at home is what I do most - as opposed to taking classes in public or traveling or anything much outside of my home. I couldn't pull anything together for the challenge that was in place when I first learned about the School although I did have an idea I would have liked to have brought into existence. The new challenge, however, is right up my alley. The theme is Healing and Reflection.

At first I found this theme a bit overwhelming. There are so many possibilities, so many facets to this topic (which is why it makes such a good theme I suppose). But it wasn't long before I was rescued by something I've done nearly every day for the past 18 years: Morning Pages.

If you've read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron you'll know what I'm talking about. Her book is basically a self-help manual for stuck artists or those who don't think of themselves as artists but are besieged by creative urges. A friend of mine introduced me to the book and suggested we get together with a couple of other like-minded friends to work our way through the book. This was back before my MCS diagnosis. We were a small group, only four of us consistently as I recall. It was very helpful to have the group though. Without the accountability they provided I would never have done some of the exercises suggested at the end of the chapters. But by far the most valuable thing I took away from my time with Julia and her book was Morning Pages. 

Essentially Morning Pages is 30 to 40 minutes spent writing, by hand, first thing in the morning. Before there's been any input from the outside world to influence your thoughts or feelings. It can be a difficult practice to establish but I've come to rely on it for a variety of reasons. I write three pages a day in a cheap, 10.5" x 8" spiral-bound notebook. I vent anger or frustration, I come up with ideas for new projects or solutions for current efforts, I confess my fears and anxieties. There are days when it's hard to come up with anything to say and days when my pages are full of gratitude. Not only have Morning Pages and the Artist's Way helped me to feel more confident in myself as an artist, it's helped me to come to terms with my circumstances. In short, I dump or dream on the page and am healed in so doing. But how to represent that with fabric and thread?

I decided to make a textile book, a sort of replica of the notebooks I have filled over the years. There may not be a lot of needlework on the pages but this is one place where I don't feel the pressure to do more than is necessary. I have selected text prints from my stash to create the pages for my book.

Each print is symbolic of one way Morning Pages have helped me to heal. My intention is to use embroidery to clarify or label the pages.

Obviously I've used some ribbon and trims too. Most of the decorative needlework will be on the cover, I think. Right now I'm not sure what the cover is going to look like. That will come in time. Probably when I've finished with the pages. 😉

Another Page

Here's one of the spreads in the journal I'm making.

I wanted to narrow this page down just a bit before I started working on it but in the process I ended up tearing into the page. To make that repair I folded another used Color Catcher over the edge of the page, covering the tear, and zig-zagged all over it. Before I did the stitching I had already decided to fold the corner of the Color Catcher over to I could pin the button in place. The stitching was done with a varigated thread.

Some of the zig-zagging was done from the back, to secure my dyed ribbon in place:

The raven is the center of another of the truffle papers my son found on clearance for me.

With very little in the book so far it already seems bulky. This is a side view with the art boards I will be using for the covers just laid in place.

I found the perfect place to keep the journal and all its potential parts and pieces:

A lunch box my Darling Daughter gave me at Christmas time!

Meanwhile, I've been dealing with vertigo and migraines this week. Hoping for improvement over the next couple of days.

Stitching

I have been sewing in my journal, both by hand and by machine. Since I have to avoid glues if I want to remain viable there will be a lot of stitching in this journal!

I discovered the work of Scott Smith in an autumn issue of Art Doll Quarterly. Amazing stuff. Of course his Halloween characters are what I like the best so I bought a set of his postcards. They're not something I want to part with but I wanted to do more than leave them in the envelope they came in. This journal seems like the perfect place for at least a couple of them. :- )

So here I have hand stitched one in place. The postcards are pretty stout so I used the sewing machine with an unthreaded needle to poke holes in both the card and the journal page. That made the hand work much easier to accomplish.

There was a narrow strip of the watercolor paper leftover when I created the pages for this journal. I folded on half of that narrow strip into thirds to create the mini pages in the photos below.

The spider image is actually a mini cupcake or truffle wrapper. I flattened it out and stitched it in place using the sewing machine.

Scott included one of his business cards with the postcards so I punched holes in it and tied it to the opposite page. Not sure what will go inbetween the business card and the spider. Oh, maybe that's the place for a web!

I've had to clear away the journal making supplies so I could do some piecing. I think I need to put the journal on the back burner for a bit, let things stew a while and see what new ideas bubble up. So I've been into my precut patches to sew up Shoo Fly and Hole in the Barn Door and Broken Dishes and Flying Geese. What you see below is about one day's worth.

At the end of my day yesterday this is what I had on the design wall:

That strippy bit off to the side is the first "block" for a new quilt idea I'm playing with. Hopefully there will be more of that soon!

More of My Journal

In one of the signatures of the journal I'm making I've included this greeting card. I gather it was intended to be a birthday card of sorts. The message inside simply says "Wicked Cool." Works for me! The yellow in the card nicely echoes the yellow on my journal pages. That was a happy bit of serendipity.


What I needed however, was a way to cover up the business graphics on the back of the card. Some of it was trimmed away when I shortened the card to make it fit but I really didn't want all that other stuff showing.

My solution was to take a used Color Catcher sheet - conveniently dyed to a shade of blue that works with the blue-gray on my journal pages - and make a sort of pocket or built-in sachet out of it.

First I stamped the words onto the Color Catcher, then trapped some dried rosemary from my own garden between the folded sheet. It's all stitched down to the greeting card, and the rick rack was added last to sort of dress it up.

I've got a couple more pages I can show you after I get them photographed. I don't consider them done exactly but at least they have been embellished a bit. It may be years before this particular journal is completely filled up. ;- )

First Steps in Making a Journal

I signed up for Carole Brungar's journal making class after I saw the journal QuiltDivaJulie made during her time in the class. While I was waiting for the right watercolor paper to arrive I brewed up some teas and tried them out on sample paper to see what colors I would get from them.

This happens to be the blueberry tea. I also brewed rose hip, peach, and China mountain green. Oddly enough, the China green tea produced a very yellow hue. I had a blast brushing and spattering it onto the paper.

It's more yellow in person than in the photo. Below is the other side of the paper dyed almost exclusively with the blueberry tea. It's sort of a brown-gray in person, partly because I used a layer of the rose hip tea in some areas.

I also soaked this bit of ribbon in the blueberry tea. It was stark white before its bath.

I've torn the big sheet of watercolor paper into strips for pages and have begun to embellish the pages. Turns out that making a journal is not like making a quilt, at least for me. I tend to start a quilt and keep working on it until I reach a solid stopping point. With this journal I've been doing a little bit at a time and then I have to leave it until the next day or so. Granted, I only have a vague idea of what I want to accomplish with it and the whole thing is a new experience for me. All the bits and pieces under consideration are taking up valuable real estate in the studio however. I've got to figure out a way to get more done or get more sewing in or something. There's altogether too much chocolate being consumed out of frustration!