Tag Archives: journal-making

Dec10

Flowery journal

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Flowery journal

I finished this journal today. It’s SO much easier putting one together when you know who it’s for. The cover was made a while back, and I had added some watercolour-painted paper and some pages from an adult colouring book. I decided that this would be a gift for one of the ladies at work who is leaving soon, so I added some plain sketchbook paper and some gridded paper. One of her interests is pencil drawing.

I added an insert for the middle of the book that was made in a similar way to the crochet hook roll I made recently for my new KnitPro Waves hooks. It uses the same fabric as the cover, fits perfectly inside, and has two pockets on the left of the spine and six pencil slots on the right.

I do hope she likes it.

Dec4

Happy Friday

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Happy Friday

Hi all

It was a beautiful sunny day today, but cold. Last night we had freezing rain and when I was driving to the dentist to get my tooth prepared for a crown I was sliding a little on the road, despite my new winter tires.

The dentist spent a long time reshaping my tooth and getting a 3D scan of my mouth for the new crown to be made. It wasn’t painful and I wasn’t stressed out but I was glad when she was done. Afterwards I had a walk around the neighbourhood, cosied up in my new winter coat and a crocheted grey beanie with a neon yellow pompom! First hat day of the winter.

Once I’d had my exercise, off I went to my sewing room. I finished the Christmas journal, which I think will probably be the Secret Santa gift for work this year. Below are a few photos of some of the pages.

I called that one done, and started adding pages to the flowery cover I showed you last time. It’s not quite full enough yet so you’ll have to wait to see that one.

I’ve finished two balls of the Cygnet Chunky on my Turtle Dove swoncho now. The yoke is growing bigger and bigger – by the time I split for the sleeves and body I should have about 300 stitches.

It’s definitely good Netflix knitting – or I should I say “Knitflix” (I know, not an original joke)!

What do you like to watch on Netflix? Recently, I burned through five seasons of Lucifer, then watched The Queen’s Gambit, and now I’m on Dark. When you’re knitting, the fact that the voices are dubbed isn’t a big deal because you’re not always looking at the screen anyway. Better than subtitles anyway – you have to watch for those!

Dark is a German series. It has quite a convoluted plot, and without trying to be too spoilery I find that watching people walking/crawling through caves makes me feel very claustrophobic and tense. I shall have to choose something lighter when this show is done.

Whew, feeling tired and it’s not even 9pm. I went to bed really late last night, forgetting I had to be up early for the dentist appointment. And tomorrow and Sunday I have work so need to be well-rested, so I’m going to say ta ta for now. Have a great weekend!

Nov29

Fun finishes

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I had a fun evening last night making some Christmas-themed masks to wear at work.

We are all thoroughly fed up with covid and mask-wearing and all of that shit but I am cheering myself up with my fun masks. One of the fabrics looks like knit stitches, so you know that appeals to me. The others are just pretty Christmassy ones in non-traditional colours, which again is definitely my thing.

And this morning I experimented with a bit of buffalo plaid flannelette, some faux fur and felt, and made this GNOME mask. The lining is quilting cotton.

I haven’t put it on my own face yet, but it looks good on Sally!

I sent a photo to my sewing friends and they loved it – I’m sure it’ll give my co-workers a good laugh too.

I’ve also finished another journal cover. I spotted a quilt block that someone had made yesterday and they said it was from a video by Darlene Michaud. It’s called Wonky Selvage Christmas Tree and of course I just HAD to make one.

I really like this idea and can see myself making more.

I don’t think I showed you these two journal covers yet, either. I need to tea dye a bunch more paper so I can finish them.

Also, exciting news! My yarn arrived from Wool Warehouse and it looks like this…

Cygnet Chunky in Blackberry

So my swoncho is well underway – the pattern is Turtle Dove and I found it on Ravelry (link to my project page). I have already knitted up one whole ball and started the second.

I swatched with a 10.5US/6.5mm needle because I didn’t have a 7mm in my Knit Picks set, and I liked the fabric I was getting. My gauge is 15 stitches to 4 inches rather than 14, so I am following the instructions for the Large to get a Medium. There is a LOT of ease written into this pattern which makes it less fraught!

I hope that life is going well for all of you. Happy crafting! After all, our creativity and crafting is often our sanity-saver, right?

Nov5

FO: denim rag quilt, and more journal play

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Hello my crafty bloggy friends. How are you?

I have been spending lots of time at my sewing machine. After my last post, I quickly finished the rag quilt that I had in the pipeline. This used a huge chunk of my stash of old denim jeans.

I managed to get all the sewing done in one afternoon. It helped that I had some 505 temporary basting spray because sewing the squares together was a heavy job. Three layers per square (denim and two flannelette) times two equals a tough job with the walking foot on the machine. I made sure to switch to a heavier duty needle and a longer stitch.

As I wanted the denim side to be the “right side” all my seam allowances ended up on that side. I turned every alternate square a quarter turn, so that the deer print on the back looked more interesting. And then I spent ages clipping the seam allowances every half an inch, most of which I got done in the evening. There was just a bit left to do next morning, and then I tossed it into the washer and dryer to fluff up the snipped bits.

I almost forgot to say that my seam allowances were 3/4″. I decided that it would be better to lose a bit of size overall and to have a fuller fringe effect. I love the result!

The next thing I played with was a picture created with scrap fabric. When I was on my retreat at the beginning of October I made a very rough sketch of the view from my bedroom window. I attempted to recreate it by using cotton strips, raw edge applique and free-motion quilting.

I started with the sky, which is actually my favourite part. It even has some tulle stitched over the top for a bit of a misty texture. The mountains were next, then the fields of trees, fruit and vegetables. This is appliqued onto canvas and would make a good journal cover!

Talking of journals, I made another cover today with, once again, the raw edge applique technique and some sugar skull fabric. The colours I picked out for the outside were inspired by the skull cotton.

That took me about three hours! I think with this sort of modern print and clear colours, it would be more appropriate to use regular white paper rather than tea-dyed for this journal. I shall have to think about how to decorate the pages though.

I’ll be working the next four days so that will seriously limit playtime in my sewing room, but I hope I will be back soon with more fun stuff to show you.

Oct25

FO: Cat Journal

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As promised, here is the finished cat journal. Above, it is held closed by thin elastic. Aesthetically, it could be prettier, but I do like the idea that as the journal is used and filled with fun stuff the elastic will stretch to hold everything in safely.

The pages are letter-sized copy paper folded in half, dyed with tea or coffee or spices, or painted with watercolours.

Here’s what they looked like before putting them in the book.

This is the fabric I used for the lining of the cover. It’s a rather amusing puppy-themed one that looks like a newspaper.

That was fun! I have already cut the canvas and lining for another one, this time with a sewing theme.

Oct15

Playing with fabric and paper

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Playing with fabric and paper

I’ve been watching quite a few YouTube videos this week from various channels and getting so inspired. I just had to try journal-making using some of the ideas that I learned.

I made a small journal with a denim cover and a fabric inner, and added pages using a variety of different kinds of paper that I had lying around the house. I used cast-off half zippers, buttons, fabric, greetings cards and envelopes to embellish the pages. As this was my first attempt, I didn’t go overboard, but I want to make more of these with a better plan in place.

I managed to fit this project in today between the stages of making our Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, it’s late. I was working all weekend and decided that today would do. Out of five of us, only one was working, so it was the most convenient.

This morning, I made the vegan double-layered pumpkin cheesecake (from fatfreevegan), cut up the root vegetables and sprouts, and prepped the stuffing and chestnut lentil loaf. I then had some time to spare to go and play in my sewing room. Later on, I baked the food, made salad and gravy, and we stuffed our faces!

Mr Fixit was busy outside while I was cooking. He was patching the driveway and unblocking gutters! We went for a walk after dinner, which was much needed, despite the wind and rain.

You may have noticed a new FO on the dinner table – a pumpkin crocheted with the other skein of Berroco Espresso that I had in the stash. It’s a medium-sized one, and nice and squishy.

I hope you are enjoying some temperate weather, whether it is spring or fall where you are. We went to Costco yesterday and they had cosy warm coats with faux fur-lined hoods and micro fleece-lined pants/trousers. Yes, I did buy both! Once I tried that coat on, I just had to have one. I feel like whatever the weather throws at me this winter, I will be toasty!