Summer Journals

I have a large collection of artisan journals, and these two are a couple of my favorites. Both came in these tins.

The idea I had for making some fabric journals this summer includes finding and recycling some old tins to hold them like these two.

I use old tins all the time to hold thread and trims, but I've only decorated this one with a little crazy quilt I made from some fabric scraps. It was once a tin of nuts that my guy got as a Christmas gift. So that's the idea -- making fabric journals and store them in decorated tins. Before I make the journals I'll need the tins so I can size them appropriately.

Up Ahead for Summer

I decided to look at everything I want to do this summer besides work on the linen quilt (which I will probably need another four or five months to complete.) This is (almost) everything, clockwise from the bottom left: repairing some crazy quilt pieces, making some cutwork pieces into a bag, quilting a small wedding ring quilt top, working to refine and better execute my first original embroidery design on some cut quilt pieces, making another slow-stitched beach bag, repairing an embroidered tablecloth, and of course my annual art quilt.

I'd like to make some fabric journals as well, but I need to collect some more materials for those. I'm also aware that I'll be lucky if I get half of these projects finished before fall arrives, but I like to challenge myself.

Each summer I've been making an art quilt, which arguably could be the linen quilt I've been working on, but I had another idea I want to try out. This is just the pile of materials I sorted out for this one project; I may add or take away from it as I keep thinking through the idea.

While sorting I found three pieces of beautiful watercolor fabric remnants and a hand-dyed swatch that I've wanted to make into a bag for a while now. Since I'm taking a long break from the linen quilt, this is where I'll start.

Linen Quilt Update

I'm going to take a two-week break from working on the linen quilt, mainly because I'm on the brink of creative burnout again, and there are some smaller projects I can do that will refill my idea well, I think. I did okay this week, however, and finished another row of blocks.

I'm at the same point I was with my first linen quilt, where I've made some mistakes I really don't like (two smaller patches, which are easily fixed.)

I also feel as if I'm running out of steam. That's why I'm going to set it aside for a longer break, so I can get over myself.

I also know I'm not a particularly spontaneous person, so all the improv and in-the-moment work becomes a bit tiring, especially when I'm working on a bed-size project. I start doubting myself.

I've finished embroidering about a third of the quilt, which is very good progress considering how busy I am with the day job right now. I also still love the project; it's just time for a major break before I stop feeling the love. :)

The back of the quilt may be my favorite part of the project. Anyway, that's it on the linen quilt for the next couple of weeks.

By Design

These little wildflowers grow by the fence in my backyard every spring. Although I'm not a fan of anything yellow I always like seeing them bloom, and they were on my mind as I started a little embroidery design project.

My idea was to make a pretty bookmark, so I took a cutter quilt strip piece and started embroidering a simple design.

My lettering needs work, and I might straighten the wildflower stems a bit, and get rid of the bloomless stem on the right side, but I'm pretty happy with the overall design. I'll make it again with some changes, and then draft the embroidery design into a stitch map and write up instructions to go with it.

For Me

I've been saving three triangles of a beautiful watercolor print fabric for a time when I needed some inspiration. Thing is, what can you make out of three triangles? So I added a swatch of hand dyed recycled fabric that I thought went nicely with it, and pulled a lavender silk ribbon I've also had squirreled away.

I wanted a project bag for myself, so I decided to cobble everything together to quilt and embroider with some holographic Sulky and some variegated perle thread.

The bag turned out really pretty, and just the right size for a small summer project I'm planning to do this month.

Since I give away almost everything I make I do not feel guilty putting this together for me. :)

Finished

This week's break project, a wrap for my new lists journal, evolved quite a bit during the embroidery phase. Front side.

Back side.

I didn't worry about making it perfectly square, so it's a little wonky. But I like that.

For the backing (or lining) I used an overdyed tea towel I'd been saving for a while.

Journal Wrap

For this week's linen quilt break project I decided to make a cover for my 52 lists journal (not because I don't like the book cover; I'm still playing with ideas for the summer art quilt.) This is what I've put together so far, totally improv. Still have no idea what it will look like when it's finished.

I continue to have problems stitching without a clear, concrete plan in my head. I'm trying to get around that mental barricade, too. Not planning is good for me, even if the end results aren't spectacular.

I think I can call myself an organic textile artist now, however. :)

Down Sizing the Future

This is the smallest quilt I've ever made (with a penny to give you scale.) It's a bargello, made from tiny scraps from a much larger quilt that I made five years ago (you might recognize the fabric, Theo.) What I remember most was wrestling with my lack of skill and how hard it was to piece with 1/8" seams. The quilting was also a challenge because every stitch I took looked huge.

While I've been working on my linen quilt I'm still struggling with my execution and quilting limitations, so in a sense size really doesn't matter. I also have a house filled with the quilts I've made over the years. Since I live a stone's throw away from the tropics we don't need even the quilts I've already made. And, of course, my arthritis is only growing worse, particularly in my hands.

Subconsciously I've been working toward smaller projects, I think, for all those reasons. This may have to be the last year that I make a traditional quilt for myself or art's sake. From now on I might limit myself to gift-only quilts and scale down my art projects. That doesn't make me sad for some reason, maybe because I'm more about art quilting these days. Art can be any size.

Shrieking at My Laptop

The Japanese drama series In Time with You is probably the best low-key, slow-burn romance I've ever watched, and the most infuriating. There were several times as the storyline progressed that I actually yelled at my laptop and then walked away from it so I wouldn't punch the screen. It also had the most satisfying wrap-up of all time, I think, in Asian romances, which made up for all my frustration.

Since high school Yo Mitarai (Rika Adachi) and Ren Ishida (Jin Shirasu) have been best friends -- the real deal, too, as they confide everything in each other, laugh and enjoy themselves like pals in every way, and otherwise support each other's ambitions and dreams. Long-term, genuine male/female friendships seem to be extremely rare in Asian cultures, but Yo and Ren make it work.

In the present Yo works as a section chief at a luxury shoe brand (she has a thing for shoes, too) while Ren is a rising star at a property management company. They seem very happy with their lives and their friendship. As Yo turns 29 and is still unmarried, however, she freaks out a little, which leads to her making a bet with Ren. Whoever gets married first will get a very nice cash wedding gift from the other friend. What she doesn't realize is that Ren has secretly been in love with her since high school. Things only get worse when a conniving temp at Ren's workplace decides she wants to marry him, and then Yo's heartbreaker ex shows up to try to make ammends for the terrible things he did to her and get her back.

If it wasn't for the friendship between Yo and Ren I probably wouldn't have finished watching this drama, as Conniving Temp annoyed the hell out of me, and Heartbreaker Ex was quite possibly the biggest, most manipulative scum on the face of the planet -- and both Ren and Yo seemed incapable of resisting their traps (Yo especially -- God, I wanted to smack her a thousand times.) I thought both were too intelligent to fall for this crap, too. Yet a lot of Japanese culture comes into play in male/female romantic relationships, and I think both of our main characters were handling too much (emotionally speaking), so I hung in. It was worth it, too, as the resolution of the drama is both realistic and wonderfully touching. Available to watch on Viki.com.

Linen Update

Slow going this week working on my linen quilt. I'm trying to avoid repeating designs that I've already done, so I tried experimenting a bit, with mixed results.

For some reason when I slow stitch I like to work very densely in complicated patterns, but I need to rein that in and do some lighter stitching or this quilt is going to weigh a ton. This block was me indulging myself a little, and then going airy and simple around the densely stitched area.

I'm doing a little better with creating even French knots, so I added rows of them between my feather stitching on this patch. It's only so-so. If I don't use this stitch because I'm afraid of it I'll never master it, but it still makes me very anxious.

Solo Meals

I'm trying to eat vegan or at least meatless three days a week now, which means I can pretty much eat whatever I like versus having to make meals to suit my guy's tastes (he doesn't suffer; I cook a separate meal for him.) I like these days so much I may increase them to four or five in the future. Anyway, here is everything I ate on a typical meals-for-me-only day:

Breakfast: 16 ozs. of sugarfree cranberry juice, a banana and a toasted everything bagel thin (about 1/3 the size of a regular bagel) with vegan cream cheese substitute. I usually just have juice and fruit, but I needed to use up these bagels before they go stale.

Lunch: Orange sugarfree sparkling water, four vegetable egg rolls and a cup of organic microwave white rice.

Dinner: Cherry sugarfree sparkling water, a bowl of my homemade veggie bean soup, a small romaine salad, and another toasted everything bagel thin with plant-based butter spread (normally I would bake some rolls to go with the soup.)

It's not very exciting, I admit, but it's fairly healthy and light. I'm going to make and freeze some more veggie bean soup once I clear some space in the freezer, as it's nice to have for my solo meal days.

Rain & More Rain

It's been raining almost every day now, and summer has arrived, so I'm trying to remember to back up my work every day onto a stick (hurricane season habit.) We haven't had any power failures yet, but I'm sure they're coming -- that's part of life in the country, too.

One of the reasons I love this place is the rain. We're prone to more of it because of all the lakes in our county; summer's sweltering heat makes them evaporate and fuel afternoon thunderstorms. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, it's raining when I go to bed. Nothing makes me sleep better than the sound of rain and thunder.

Lunchtime

I've been trying to find some meatless options for my lunches, as I would rather not eat almond butter sandwiches forever. So I decided to try some frozen food products this week, and took pics of the product and what it actually looks like after preparation.

I've tried several of Amy's brand products in the past; nearly all of the vegan products are pretty bland. I do like broccoli and cheese on pasta, however, and while I can't have a lot of dairy a little portion of cheese sauce won't hurt me, so I thought this might be good.

The cheese sauce is actually very strong, and the whole dish was quite heavy; although a reasonably-sized portion I almost couldn't finish it. I don't understand why cheese-sauced pasta has to be topped with breadcrumbs. Is that a Midwestern thing? Anyway, not bad, just very filling.

I grew up eating a lot of Cuban and islander foods so this vegan burrito bowl appealed to me right away.

The actual dish is a little unsightly -- okay, a lot -- but tasted very good. The level of spiciness, which I would put at 7 on a 1 to 10 scale, was surprising in that it didn't overwhelm the flavors of the veggies and rice. I finished it with no problem and I'll probably buy this one again, although I may add some of my own white rice to it next time. On its own it is pretty spicy.

Asian food is my favorite, so I had to indulge in these veggie egg rolls. The pack came with eight; I made four and used my own gochujang-soy sauce blend for dipping, as I'm not a fan of sweet and sour sauces.

These were my favorite of the three lunches; they were delicious, crispy and light. Four was just enough for one portion for me so I can make two lunches out of one box. I'll probably get these once or twice a month.

Bagged Them

During my long break from working on the linen quilt this week I recycled these estate sale patchwork blocks and turned them into gift bags.

Here are the finished bags. They're also made with all recycled or reused materials, as I used scrap muslin for the back fabric and handles, scrap batting, and vintage thread for the embroidery.

This is the back of the largest bag, also made from scrap muslin and vintage perle thread.

Those We Leave Behind

Amor is an interesting if sometimes confusing Korean film that tells the story of a man whose lover is dying of a terminal illness. The story is told from the man's perspective as he copes with the responsibilities of supporting his girlfriend during her final days, fulfilling her wishes, making the necessary practical arrangements and trying to cope with the loss.

The man, Tae-Woo (Jung Kyoung-Ho), seems almost detached in the beginning as he deals with the impending death of his lover, Hee-Yeon (Jung Yoon-Sun), but through the actors' lowkey yet excellent portrayals you soon realize just how much they love each other. They're also orphans, so they have no families to help them get through this (something that deeply resonated with me, too.) Just as Hee-Yeon is growing sicker, Tae-Woo finds a mysterious mute woman (Mina Fujii) who seems to have collapsed at his workplace, and does what he can to help her.

This movie was short (less than 90 minutes) but it felt much longer. I didn't understand the role of the mute woman until the end, and my interpretation is a still a bit fuzzy. I'm not even sure if I want to recommend it to others because it is so sad, and we have to cope with enough sadness in the real world right now. I did think it was very touching and rather reassuring in that kindness and love are never wasted on anyone. Available on Viki-com.

Journaling & Surprise

I want to make some fabric journals this summer, so I invested in Tilly Rose's Daydream Journals. I'll do a proper write-up once I've read the whole book but I can already assure you that it's wonderful.

I've fallen into a rut with my journaling, too, so I invested in 52 Lists for Calm by Moorea Seal, a guided journal that I think will help me.

Finally, the two vintage linen pieces my textile haul seller included as thank-you gifts for me in my last order have a tiny, odd cutwork design on them that I couldn't place until I put something dark behind them.

Surprise -- they're little birds. :)