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The Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors had an article on how to turn an ordinary office file folder into a little book with pockets for journaling. I don’t know if it was because it was an office supply or an opportunity to make a book or both, but I could not resist making one of my own.
Two pocket journals made from folding and sewing a file folder.
Since I want to be working in my art journals more, I decided to make a journal-prompt journal. Instead of journaling on the tags (as is done in the CPS article), I put different starting points or prompts on the back of my tags, an idea I got from the book Visual Chronicles by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino (see pp. 30-35).
I used a blue file folder and covered it with some pretty papers I’d collected.
Two of the pocket pages in my blue journal.
Then I made a bunch of tags by layering images ( from my own photos, magazines, old calendars, and scrapbook papers) onto cardstock or other heavy paper. On the back, I wrote or stamped my prompt (things like “Lessons Learned” or “I Feel…”).
Journal prompt tags
I enjoyed making it and had some ideas of other things I wanted to try, so I decided to make another one for my sister. I made her a blank version of the journal, putting in tags without any writing on the back so she could write “Happy Thoughts” of her own on them and make it into a gratitude journal. Her favorite color is red, so I used a red folder.
Gratitude journal; the tags are just waiting to be written on.
Firsts for this project were: 1) sewing on paper with my sewing machine and 2) using an office supply to make a book. I had a great time and love the results.
Update: just learned you can also make booties from duct tape. (Thanks, Deb!) I will try this for patching these since they are developing holes already (on the top of all places! She’s really dragging her feet).
My beloved German Shepherd Cora, who is now 13 years old, has been diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy.
We had a feeling that something was wrong. Cora’s back end just isn’t working like it used to. She stumbles, trips, and can’t make it up the steps sometimes, all symptoms of her condition. There is no treatment for her at this point beyond TLC and today’s post is about one way I am taking care of my dear aging dog.
Because her back legs are getting weaker, Cora drags her feet a lot. For some months now, the two middle nails on both of her back feet have been worn down to nubs. If she walks on a hard surface, she’s in danger of scraping her nails down to the quick and bleeding. This has happened several times in the past, and I walk her as much as possible on grass as a result. But even these precautions haven’t been enough. Yesterday, she scraped one of her knuckles on the walk and bled everywhere. Time to do something more to protect her dragging feet.
I looked at dog booties at the pet store and didn’t like them. They seemed plastic and impersonal, so I decided to make them myself. Here’s the short version of what I did.
I traced her foot and added 1 1/4 inches along the seam line to allow for her foot and a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Then I took a pair of my old jeans and laid the pattern on the leg at the bottom, using the hem for the finished edge so I wouldn’t have to sew one myself.
My pattern pinned to the leg of an old pair of jeans. When I cut this out, I kept the hem, even though my pattern doesn't extend that far.
I was thinking about how to get velcro in the right places for the closure when I came up with a simpler solution: ribbon ties. I cut pieces of ribbon about 10 inches long and pinned them in place so they would be sewn into the seam. If you try this, make sure you don’t catch more of the ribbon in the seam than you want.
Pinned with ribbons on the right side. I tucked the ends through the opening to make sure I didn't catch them in my seams by accident.
After that, I sewed my half inch seam, going over the beginning, end, and sections with the ribbon a few extra times for strength. I trimmed down the seam to more like 1/4 inch wide, clipped the curved part, then turned them inside out and pressed them for good measure.
Tah dah!
The last step was to put them on the dog, and they fit just fine. When we went for our walk, I discovered the ties work best if you wrap them past each other and tie them on the far side so that the ribbon goes all the way around the dog’s leg. This gives a snug fit and keeps the booties from sliding off. Cora didn’t seem to mind them at all, and she came in with her nails and feet intact. Success!
Most of my projects tend to be big and complicated and take a lot of time. As a result, I have plenty of WIPs (works-in-progress): novels, quilts, me… 
So I’ve decided to post about a bed quilt I’m making even though it isn’t finished yet, because it could be a long time before it’s done.
Back in 2001, I was part of a quilt block exchange group in the Tompkins County Quilters Guild. We made maple leaf blocks using batik and batik-like fabrics. I came up with an unusual layout for the blocks not long after I received them, but I didn’t actually put them together until recently. I love blocks on-point (so that they look like diamonds instead of a grid), so I found a way to do that with the blocks I had. About half the leaf blocks in my quilt were made by friends. The rest were made by me.
The observant may have noticed that not all my leaves look the same. I intentionally made some wonky blocks using the techniques in Cut Loose Quilts: Stack, Slice, Switch, and Sew by Jan Mullen, and I really liked the results. To me, the odd angles make the leaves look like they’re dried and curly — like real leaves lying on the forest floor. So I mixed in my wonky leaves with the regular ones for a more interesting quilt.
My goal is to make this quilt big enough for our king-sized bed, which means it needs to be a lot bigger than it is at the moment. The final quilt needs to be about 100″ square, so I have to make the center section wider and then add a border or two. I’ve decided to make two strips of blocks to go on either side of the center panel. I couldn’t face making another leaf block (even though it’s been years since I made the last one), so I choose another pattern that goes with the outdoor, autumnal theme: flying geese. I already have a few done…
My current goal is to have this quilt finished within ten years of starting it, which gives me at least one more year. Ideally, though, it’ll be done in time to go on the bed for this coming fall. I’d love to have autumn leaves scattered in the bedroom at the same time they are falling outside. But I still have a long way to go.
I’ve been in craft-mode lately (as you can tell from recent posts). I’m taking a vacation from more serious projects and letting myself goof off, putting together little things for the fun of it, like the Christmas ornaments I finally finished.
Last week, I stopped in the local quilt shop and was struck by a cute pattern on the counter: Henrietta Turtle, a pincushion designed by Heather Bailey. The pattern hopped in my bag and I was cutting out fabric before I knew it. I made two turtles at once, one for me, one for a gift. I think the total time involved per pincushion was one to two hours (a very rough estimate). Here are the ones I made:
Before I put it together, I didn’t realize that the turtle actually rests on her stomach, not her legs. The gusset for the stomach looks like it makes the legs the only point of contact with the table, but when you stuff it, the tummy bulges out and winds up being the support.
I found this pattern rather fussy – lots of directions about where and how to clip the curves, for example. I probably made things hard on myself by using regular stabilizer instead of the iron-on kind, but it was all I had available at the time. I also quickly got frustrated working with the tiny pattern pieces to make the cute felt flower that gets sewn to the shell, which is why I wound up improvising my own designs instead.
In the end, the turtles did not come out as nicely finished as a would have liked (a couple wonky seams) but the worst of it is hidden under the shell.For some reason, when I stitched up the stuffing hole in the back, I gave the poor critters scoliosis. Still, it was a fun little project do, and I particularly enjoyed picking out the fabrics and making the embellishments.
P.S. For those wondering why I made myself yet another pincushion this year, all I have to say is: you can never have too many pincushions.
This Christmas I received a handmade gift from my friend Kelleen. You may remember that together we took on a pincushion project last spring that I despaired of ever finishing. It included tiny counted cross-stitch on linen that I thought was going to make me go blind. I did eventually complete the project. How I laughed when I opened my present and saw that my friend had tackled this challenging pattern once again, this time to make me a sewing box that matches my pincushion!
My new sewing box with crazy-making tiny cross-stitch on the lid.
The box after it is opened up - lots of places to put things
Kelleen actually made the cord that draws the sides together when you close the box, and she says that turned out to be the most time-consuming part of the project. She got me the perfect present: something I love having that I would never have made myself. Thanks, Kelleen!
