Showing posts with label accordion books. Show all posts

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Planning a quilt and Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks, week 394. I don't have any new free motion quilting (FMQ) to show you this time. It's been busy but I have made time to play with paper, fabric and thread - of the slow kind 😲. That's a good thing since it keeps me somewhat grounded and calm 😊.

Planning and making a special book

Although I didn't do any FMQ, I am very slowly working on my daughter's Paddington Bear quilt. You may have seen the accordion books that I made a short while back. I decided to embellish and use the accordion book with a flap to record the planning and making of this quilt.

Accordion book with flap - now featuring Paddington Bear

Isn't it gorgeous? I attached the image that I used to make the medallion appliqué, to the front of the book. The flap was sort of in the way so it's a good thing that I had a second copy of the image to make adjustments.

Book with the flap open

Inside the book I added the fabrics that I used for the appliqué as well as the other Paddington Bear fabric that I have and will incorporate into the quilt. The funny looking Paddington Bear image is made up of the hand-dyed fabrics that I used on the appliqué. I added a pocket to include the pattern that I am creating.

Fabric swatches and pattern

The next page includes more of the lovely fabric that I was able to accumulate. Like Paddington, a lot of the fabric travelled from far to get to my home.

More great Paddington Bear fabrics

FMQ design inspiration

As I was dog-sitting at my son's apartment, I took a few pictures of a London towel that they have (as well as pictures of Poppy of course)! I'll be using the images on the towel as inspiration for the FMQ that I'll use on this quilt. A few years ago, there was tons of fabric like this featuring London. I sure wish that I had bought some!

Great images of London to base some FMQ designs on

Here is the Paddington Bear appliqué that I made for the centre medallion of the quilt.

Paddington Bear appliqué

My daughter and I have decided on a variety of gray Kona Cotton for the background of the quilt. I can't wait to go on a road trip to pick some up. I do want to figure out what other Kona colours that I could use on this since it will have real quilted blocks 😲. Yes, I know, I'll be making real blocks....that's how much I love my daughter!

The wonderful Poppy

What I learned

I really wanted to buy some of that London fabric but didn't clue in about where I could use it. The worst part is that I was already planning this quilt at the time!!!
My mother made my son a book with the designs that she used when she made his quilt. I think that it's a wonderful keepsake. As I make more books, it would be a great opportunity to record these quilty ideas and give the book to the person who gets the quilt. This will be my first one.
I adapted my Paddington Bear book by adding a pocket and some extra pages. I'm sure that my technique will get better as I make more books!
I've discovered "good" paper (stuff other than photocopy paper). That could get as addictive as fabric 😍

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome! Did you get to check out Angie in SoCal of the Quilting Reader's Garden blog's finish? She made a table topper for the July Table Scraps Challenge and FMQ it. Way to go Angie!

July table topper by Angie in SoCal

It's now your turn!

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Paper is a fibre too at Free Motion Mavericks

Hi! Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks, Week 392. The title of this post might indicate that I didn't get any free motion quilting (FMQ) done this week. It's the correct assumption to make. I guess that my overseas partner (Muv) and I have that in common - except that she's having a great time on holidays while I'm still in my studio 😊. I did however, play with paper and paint. Wow, what an adventure!

Making Accordion Books

I found another course/challenge to follow. I know....yet another one but I've been having so much fun 😍 Did you know that paper is a fibre? As a fibre artist, this is all part of learning to make and play....ok I'm really trying to justify my taking yet another course, but I've had a wonderful time making these accordion books.

Day 1 - Accordion book with 8 pockets

The 5-Day Accordion Books Challenge is organised by Vintage Page Designs through The Handmade Book Club (you will find the links in Related links below).

I had to go to my local art supplier to find the correct paper. I was a little nervous because I generally work with printing paper - so it was a new experience for me. The organisers gave us enough information that I was able to find the 2 sheets of 22" x 30" paper of the correct weight. I did buy 3 sheets of the paper and I'm glad since I have ideas on how to use these books...but more on that later 😊

Day 1 Accordion book with 8 pockets

Day 1 had us cutting all of the paper so that we would be ready for all of the challenges. I love working with this paper. It's a good weight but not too stiff. It's really perfect for these projects. We cut each sheet in four so we ended up with 8 strips of about 7½" x 22".

For our first book, we also cut up some paper for tags to put into the pockets.

For each day we have a series of short videos to watch. They are really well made and I found them very simple to watch and follow. The organisers also have a Facebook group for the challenge as well as Zoom calls twice a day to answer questions.

Tags or bookmarks in the pockets

Each day also includes a video from a guest artist who demonstrates techniques for decorating the accordion book. The guest artist for Day 1 was a collage artist, Kat Kirby. I will put all of the week's guest artists' links in Related links.

I don't remember the last time that I played with water colour paint. I picked up a set a while back but never used it. I also found some spray ink in my box of "paint supplies" that I never use. That's what I used for the front and back of the accordion book.

Book with pockets filled with tags

Back of the accordion book with 8 pockets

My husband was quite impressed with this accordion book. Since he's always running out of bookmarks, I'll make him one and included a couple of bookmarks with it. He said that he'll fill up the other pockets with the bookmarks he has.

Day 2 Accordion book with 4 panels and flap

I made this accordion book but haven't had time to embellish it. It has 4 pages, a flap and a closure.

Day 2, a 4 panel accordion book with flap

Here's how to close the flap

Accordion book ready to be embellished and used

Day 3 Layered Accordion Book

I made this accordion book but adjusted it to have more pages instead of an inside layer. The inside layer was like a band inside the book. It's pretty but I really want to be able to use these books.

Stitched fabric on the front of the book

I just had to add fabric to one of the books. I cut the fabric and then sewed it onto the paper using the walking foot that was still on my machine. I did increase the length of the thread so that it wouldn't just puncture the paper.

Instead of keeping the layer in, I cut the middle to make extra pages

The book also had a belly band to keep it closed. I stitched fabric to the outside of the band.

Accordion book with belly band

Here are the three accordion books posing in front of my Jag 😊

Three accordion books posing in front of the Jag!

Day 4 is a spinning accordion book while day 5 is a flag accordion book. Both look very intriguing. I'll have to write another post when I've made possibly embellished them.

What I learned

I can see how people who don't want to paint, could have fun using water colours. I just might try more of this one day.
I found that water colours are a lot like painting on fabric in that it doesn't really matter what you paint, you can always add stencils and stamps (or FMQ to fabric) to make it look good....and that's exactly what I did!
I love making these accordion books and I love it when they can actually be useful (to me or others!)
I had to re-attach the button on the accordion book with 8 pockets. Paper is not as strong as fabric so I ended up placing a piece of scrap fabric on both sides of the paper and then stitching the button through these scraps. It should be pretty secure now.
I have a few ideas for using these books. I was thinking that I could use two of them to illustrate or explain Stéphane's Version 2.0 quilt as well as Jeannine's Paddington quilt. I'm sure that I could play and make a variation of these with some pockets to hold things as well as space to draw or write. It would make a great souvenir of the making of their quilts. My mother made a book for the original Stéphane quilt and it's been really useful to the making of Version 2.0.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to Free Motion Mavericks. If you didn't get any FMQ done, you're not the only one, so don't let that stop you from linking up to this party!

Last time Dawn, of Quilting by Dawn, showed us her Sweet Summer Strawberries Quilt. This is my favourite photo of the quilt. What a beauty. If you didn't see it last time, go check it out!