Friday, January 31, 2020

Finishing up One Monthly Goal - OMG

I can't believe that it's the end of January. It was pretty intense quilting wise. I finished my two Project Quilting and the Winter Blues project with very little time to spare. That's how I live dangerously. 😊

January's OMG 
A journal cover for my quilting agenda

My only other goal for January was my One Monthly Goal - to make a journal cover for my quilting agenda/notebook. As I'm writing this, I'm still not sure that it will get done in time. You'll find out by the end of the post (which has to be linked to the OMG linky party by tonight at Elm Street Quilts), or it will be my February OMG. Find out what happens....Can I write most of this post, go sew up the journal cover within 9 hours???

My FMQ piece for a journal cover
It took me a few days to find the fabric that I wanted to use for my journal cover. So many choices.... When I looked into my box of hand-dyed fabrics (mine and stuff that I've bought), I decided that these would be perfect for FMQ a journal cover. Most of the pieces are fairly small so they could be used for art quilts, but this is a nice alternative.

This first piece is so much fun. It was hand painted, printed and or dyed by Gunnel Hag of Colour Vie (see Related links below). Gunnel is an amazing fibre artist who gave a talk to the Out of the Box Fabric Artists Group a couple of years ago. I bought some of her fabric paint as well as a few beautiful pieces of fabric. This is the funkiest one.

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the fabric before I started FMQ, but you can see most of it here, as I started quilting it. I just love that there are many things going on that I could work around. It helped to separate the fabric into quilting areas.

The fabric by Gunnel Hag, before it got totally FMQ
The threads I used were all variegated - from Superior Threads, King Tut and Rainbows and from  Wonderfil, Konfetti. The fabric was a joy to quilt and I got to use a bunch of different designs.

I started off doing spirals around the circles (above) and then slowly moved towards the left image. Since it was more structured, I used boxes within boxes and triangles.

Adding more structured designs
I added triangles around the triangles and then pebbles around the word "Red". It was fun changing threads and seeing the different effects.
Triangles and pebbles around the word "Red"
In the un-quilted fabric, you can see a faint image of ferns or maybe spruce leaves. I went a little nuts with these. I started by just outlining the larger one but then kept on adding thread. For the other two, I restrained my enthusiasm (I got bored!)
Adding colour to the ferns
Faint outline of ferns














I added small swirls around the ferns to try to emphasize them. It might have been more effective if the thread had matched the fabric!


It was then time to outline the word "Yellow". By then I wanted to use simpler designs. I used wavy horizontal lines around the word "Yellow". In the pink above I used a design that I don't know the name of - I call them j's and f's because that's what the motion feels like when I make them. Finally on the left side I made some meandering swirly flowers. I considered using matching thread when I got out of the yellow section but it was lovely to see the effect of the yellow thread on the green fabric.

Yellow and pink at the top
A finished agenda cover

Yes, I just made it. With only 5 hours before the OMG linking party closes, I'm now showing you the finished product. 😊

This is the third journal cover that I've done, and it would seem that practice makes things much easier. I followed Christina Cameli's class on BluPrint and made lots of footnotes.  

The finished front of the agenda cover

The back of the cover

The back and front of the cover
Agenda cover with fancy fold-over elastic
For this cover, I even added a ribbon to keep my place.
My quilting agenda and notebook

What I learned
Cutting the fabric was the most difficult part!
  • It took me 4 hours to FMQ this fabric piece and only one hour to make the journal cover - and things went without problems.
  • I made tons of notes for myself so that I can keep making these journal covers easily.
  • I had to cut some of the FMQ fabric - it was difficult. I like what I chose but I'm sorry that I didn't keep more yellow and pink in the final piece.
  • I would also have liked to have the back of the cover be the front, but the word "Red" would have been upside down.
  • I never throw these extra quilted pieces out, so one day, you may see that lovely yellow incorporated into another piece.
  • Do you know if there's something I can do to make the ribbon a little stiffer? Would coating it with ModPodge work? If you have any ideas, please let me know.
Related links
Linking parties
I'm linking up to Elm Street Quilts' One Monthly Goal Finish for January. It looks like I made it 😊 I will also be linking up to Free Motion Mavericks with Muv since it's her week to host the party. Make sure that you go link up too! Midweek Makers, Colour and Inspiration TuesdayPut Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Finished Friday, Friday Foto Fun, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Beauties Pageant, TGIFF, Peacock Party,

Dione scored a rainbow for her Outback Weather Bingo with this project! Check it out at Colour and Inspiration Tuesday

Project details


FMQ agenda cover
Pattern and instructions by Christina Cameli
8½" x 6"
Techniques: FMQ, sewing
Material: hand painted, printed and or dyed cotton by Gunnel Hag, fold-over elastic, agenda




16 comments:

  1. That’s definitely COOL! Re: the ribbon...is it truly fabric ribbon? ModPodge makes a “specially for fabric” line. I got mine on Amazon,

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    1. Thanks Judy. I have some fabric ModPodge, so I will try it. I'm always rescuing ribbon from packaging. They can be so cute :-)

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  2. It's awesome!! I can see why it was hard to know where to cut for the journal, every area is so unique.

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    1. Thanks Chris. I am really loving it as a cover for my quilting calendar/journal.

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  3. That quilting really really makes that fabric piece come to life - I love it!

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    1. Thanks Alycia. It was a pretty amazing piece of fabric to begin with!

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  4. Love that quilting! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish.

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    1. Thanks so much Patty. I'm so glad that I can finally use it!

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  5. Interesting question. There is fabric starch and stiffener but I am wondering about using the pressable vinyl or nailpolish. Just an idea.

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    1. Thanks Kathleen, I think that I'm going to have to experiment with each of these to see what works best!

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  6. What an awesome journal cover!! If you weren't happy with the various segments of the piece, make see-through templates to "test out" the various areas of your quilted piece before cutting.

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    1. That's a good idea but I'm always too impatient! Generally I'll try stuff out with pen and paper but I can't even stick to the plan, so it's not always such a good plan!

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  7. Beautiful hand dyed fabric and your quilting is outstanding. Definitely perfect for the fabric. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.

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  8. Hello Andrée,

    Absolutely love it!

    Love, Muv

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Hi! I would love to hear from you and I will try to answer you. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a message. :-)