Hi and welcome 😎 It's a bright sunny day here and there's just enough snow on the ground to make my backyard look lovely with all kinds of tracks made by my nocturnal friends. Today I'm sharing with you a literal and figurative squirrel project!

Narrative Textile Bookmaking

I did it again - for the last month I've been attending an online course with the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. The course was taught by Teté Montero. It's been interesting but I didn't spend as much time on it as I would have liked. Among other things, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do and how. It's now slowly coming together, after the course is finished!

Here are the first two pages that I've made for the book. They probably won't be the first two pages of the book but they are the foundation on which the book will be made.

My first page, still a work in progress

I've used free motion quilting (FMQ) to make both of these. I'll eventually be adding hand stitching and embroidery. Both of these are on hand-dyed fabric. The pink one was a corner of an old tablecloth that was gifted to me. I didn't use any fusible web - I just wanted to stitch!

For the squirrels, I'm using some upholstery fabric that I received this fall from an artist friend. It's all polyester but feels like velour. I was able to remove the backing from them, so it's not as thick.

The second page still needs the second squirrel

I don't know the squirrels' names yet but they'll let me know when they're ready! The story is a version of Aesop's (ancient Greek) and Jean de La Fontaine's (17th century) tale about the ant and the grasshopper. In French, La cigale et la fourmi is the only poem that I know by heart. I've always thought it rather mean so I've created a kinder version. The original versions are about planning while my version will be about cooperation.

Close-up of the playful squirrel

My story is about two squirrels who live in the same neighbourhood. The playful squirrel loves colour and has a beautiful treasure of pretty things in their nest while the busy squirrel works hard to amass what is needed for the winter.

There's not much else to share with you right now except for my first squirrel template and pictures of the two squirrels that visit my backyard😊

Template of a squirrel in three pieces

I realised last night that I didn't have a picture of a squirrel on a fence (i.e. not eating!) so I took this one this morning. Now I'm ready to trace and then add the squirrel to my second page.

Squirrel on a fence posing for me!

I'll leave you with more squirrel photos.

Eating Squirrel 😋

Perched, eating squirrel 😋

Another eating squirrel? 😉

What I learned

I really need to be more realistic when I decide to take another class. I knew that a course in December would be pushing it and I was right. It was still a good class and I'm not sorry that I took it since it's encouraged me to start my first narrative book.
I guess that's where the value in taking a class for me lies. At this time, I'm comfortable with many techniques and sometimes what I need is the encouragement to believe that I can do it.
Courses often help me figure out how or where to start and then ~~force~~ help me to focus on the project.
Most of my best pieces where created based on a class that I took - and many are from TextileArtist.org.
When I take a class, the teachers often want us to make samples but I know that if I only make a sample, that I'll probably never make a real piece from the class. That's why I usually just jump in and make a more elaborate piece than what is requested.
It also takes me longer and they're usually finished long after the class is done!
I've decided that my next step in this project is to write out the narrative for the story. It might not be what will be in the book, but I want the whole story before I figure out how to add text to my pages.
I've also realised that there are many ways of creating a narrative textile book. So once I have my story, I'll know how to continue.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 511 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was another productive week! Thank you so much for linking up😊. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

This week Gail of Quilting Gail used her leftovers of Peppermint Sprinkles to make a Fractured Paint Box quilt. What a happy, festive quilt! She quilted it using her rulers as well as some lovely FMQ feathers!

Gail's lovely Fractured Paint Box quilt

The back of Gail's Fractured Paintbox Quilt!

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts used some lovely scraps to make her latest quilt, "Signal Sam". She used her walking foot to quilt squiggly lines 2" apart.