Some Sewing

 Hi everyone. Happy Thursday.

Today would have been my mother's 94th birthday. In honor of my Mom, I thought I'd share some sewing I've been doing. She's  the one who taught me to sew, and even  though she taught me this skill so I could make clothes, I really don't enjoy that kind of sewing.  I used to make a lot of my clothes back in my teens and 20's, but  now I much prefer to do more creative sewing.

Right now I am working on a cloth book about autumn. Here's a few snippets of my messy sewing. By the way,  I just love messy sewing, and it's how I sew best too.  GRIN!

When I started sewing this top page, I ended up making the fabric a bit wrinkly. I should have put some interfacing behind it before I went to my machine. My bad- 😕 I don't like wrinkly fabric even if I like messy stitches., but I'll get it squared away when I sew the fronts and backs of my book pages together.

This above photo is part of a page with an abstract flock of birds, and below is a peek of one of my favorite pages that has a big sunflower. The sunflower was from a set of felt "crating additions" that I bought. It had a sticky on the back that I peeled off, and then I added lots of glass glitter (something that was big long ago) into the center.

I'm not finished yet so what you see is incomplete. I still have some beads and other mixed media bits and pieces to add. I also need to sew my pages together and bind this book. There will be more to come in future posts.

Let me finish up today's post with a few more photos from my visit to Bedrock Gardens last week. As I mentioned yesterday, I went by myself  because I really wanted to take some photos and not get bogged down in conversation. It was a lovely walk around on a beautiful summery day.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

A Tribute to Mom

 Hi everyone. 

I hope everyone is wrapping up a good week and weekend. Today is a big day in my house. It is the 4th anniversary of the kidney transplant. And the good news is the hubby is still doing well. My "little kidney that could" (as the doctor still refers to it), is doing its job perfectly. And the one I have left is working very well for me too. Smile.

I had fun but busy week. And I wasn't busy with yard work either, even if I could have been. 

My week's highlights included a beach walk. Pretty soon the beach will become a different place for a few months, and even though that doesn't means beach walks are over, parking is going to change  since towns want parking stickers or paid parking.

Now that I am fully vaccinated and the 2 weeks since my second injection have passed, I did a couple of things I have wanted to do for quite awhile now. First of all I was able to get together with some also vaccinated friends for dinner. It felt good to be able to enjoy some good food and company inside just like in the "old" pre-covid days. 

I was also able to go see my mom and visit in her apartment. They were limiting the time I could see her (an hour), and I did have to check in before I could go upstairs, but I hadn't been able to see her since last October when outside visits ended.

She was looking and sounding good too. (I talk to her on the phone frequently, but it is not the same as getting to see her.)

The visit was perfect timing too since today in the US  it is Mother's Day.

 

I thought I would share this cloth book I made many years ago and found in a bin in my attic last month. I was inspired to make this book by the fat quarters I used.  It is perfect for today since it has a vintage woman's theme and is probably how most people used to (or maybe how some  still) picture their mothers.

I printed vintage photos on fabric for these pages. The printed image on the right was black and white. I colored it in.

This book was pretty simply made. I cut 4 squares of thick interfacing, each 4 x 4 inches (10.6 x 10.6 cm) in size. I then cut my fabric into 5 x 9 inch ( 12.7 x 22.8 )rectangles. 

I folded over the edges of my fabric rectangles and ironed them. Then I pinned in my thick interfacing squares, one on each side of the fabric rectangle, leaving the center of the fabric rectangle open. I didn't want it to be stiff so I could fold it there to make the center of my book.

I stitched in the interfacing while sewing in the folded in seams in place. Then I stacked all the rectangles and stitched down the middle to hole my page together create my pages.

I'm not sure where else besides the US it is Mother's Day, but I am wishing all you mothers, whether you are the mother of a human, a cat, a dog, plant or any other living thing, a wonderful holiday.  And if it isn't Mother's Day in your country or you aren't a mother of any sort, I still wish you a great day.

And of course, enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

Oh Paris!

Hi everyone.  Happy second half of the weekend. 

May has started off a bit windy in my area, but today it is at least supposed to be a little warmer than yesterday.  Plus the sun is shining.  

Today I have some assorted art to share with a Paris theme. I'll begin with this tag for Country View Challenge with the new theme of We Will Always Have Paris. 

Tags are a great way to warm up my creative muse. This one was made with lots of ink and stamps, as well as that pretty blue flower.

I am also going to link up to the Anything Goes challenge at Tag Tuesday that Valerie has chosen.

And since I'm on a Paris theme, how about some Paris inspired art?

This is my link to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's   Second on the Second post  as this little cloth interfacing book was posted in May of 2009.

Here's the links to the original posts: Friday, May 1, 2009 and Saturday May 2, 2009.

And of course, my Paris book has a few French words. Which is a language, so if you have a language  art journal page, you should join this month at Art Journal Journey and Elle's language challenge.

Hope you are having a great start to both the new month and your weekend. 

Thanks for visiting.