Showing posts with label agenda cover. Show all posts

Thursday, January 09, 2025

A Different Kind of Agenda and Fabric Cover

Hi and welcome 😊! Winter is officially here. I've had to go out most days and my sandals and jacket have been put away until Spring! We don't have much snow but it's definitely mittens weather - I bought myself a perfect pair of mittens before Christmas and then got a very warm hat and scarf...so I can brave the cold, if I have to! I hope that you're keeping warm if winter has arrived in your area. It's the perfect excuse to stay inside and play!

A Different Kind of Agenda

Since I barely used my agenda last year, I wasn't certain if I should bother getting a new one and making a cover for it. I've been making a new agenda cover since 2020, so it's become a lovely tradition, but is it worth it if I don't use it?

I did have the perfect fabric that I bought last year from my artist friend Connie. So, if not an agenda, then what? After thinking about it, I came up with the perfect solution (I hope - we'll see at the end of the year!) I made an Upcycled Traveler's Journal that I can store booklets to take notes or sketch and a small agenda.

2025's Traveler's Journal and Agenda

Inside the 2025 Traveler's Journal and Agenda

I think that this was the most fun that I've had making the agenda cover because I also go to make the Upcycled Traveler's journal. We've been cleaning up our books, so for the cover, I used a book that I wasn't going to re-read. The Traveler's journal consists of a cover with elastics to hold booklets inside. This allows the traveler to remove a booklet and not have to lug the whole journal around.

This was a very upcycled project since I also used the fabric from a favourite pair of PJ bottoms to make the lining.

The lining of my journal cover is from upcycled PJ bottoms😍

I used the first booklet to make notes on how to make the journal cover. The course I use is from Craftsy and I make it at least once a year, but the fabric needs to be cut based on the size of the journal. Since it's very easy to get it wrong, I write all of the measurements down. My first project of 2025 was a huge success!

The first booklet contains my notes on making the journal cover

I bought a package of 6 lovely, handmade booklets from Italy to use in my journal. I often find them at Home Sense. They are small and perfect for this project.

Journal cover and the handmade booklets used inside

This is what the Traveller's Journal looks like without the fabric cover. I removed all of the pages and then glued on a piece of upholstery canvas to keep the spine strong. I then pierced four holes at the top and bottom of the spine to place the elastics. I also added an old envelope to use for odds and ends.

Original book pages removed and spine reinforced with canvas

You can see the elastics at the top and bottom of the spine

Here is an image of the entire covering fabric that I FMQ. I was feeling very Zen so I followed the lines of the stamps, filling each set with a different pattern. I then quilted some gentle loops in the borders.

FMQ the beautiful stamped fabric

One Monthly Goal

I managed to miss the January One Monthly Goal link up by a day, but I'm still going to include it in my post. I'm trying to be more organised about my quilting and art making, and I figured that this would be one way to help me along. Of course, I'll have to write it down in my agenda and then read the agenda to link up on time 😁!

I've just finished embroidering the Snow Happens panel. I now have to turn it into a wall hanging for my DIL. Here is the embroidery before it was ironed.

Snow Happens embroidery, ready to be made into a wall hanging

What I learned

As I mentioned, I've been making a quilting agenda cover since 2020 but last year I used my agenda until July and then it lay hidden under a pile of papers on my desk. I am working on sorting my studio, including that pile of papers but since I use my phone agenda all the time, the paper agenda is a bit redundant. So having a tiny agenda to mark down deadlines (like the OMG!) and other quilting challenges, etc. might be enough.
I have been working diligently to finish the first Project Quilting challenge. I'll be ready to post on Sunday at the latest, but if all goes well, probably on Friday or Saturday. I'm really excited about it, so I hope that you'll check out the post when it comes out!
I still have my 2025 planning post to write...before the January 15th deadline. I've been really thinking about it. I need 2025 to be more mindful and less about frantically chasing squirrels!
To sum up, I've been thinking about how to work more mindfully in 2025. Hopefully the steps I'm taking now will lead to success. 😊

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 514 of Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks so much for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Preeti of Sew Preeti Designs is having a rough time. She did so well in 2024 on the quilting front - let's wish her success in the other parts of her life! Here was one of my favourite quilts.

Preeti's Pesto Mushrooms

I've seen most of Gail's quilts since she links up at Free Motion Mavericks on a regular basis. I don't remember seeing these (I think?) Those are such cute giraffes. These quilts were a part of the Twilight Blog Hop in October.

Three great quilts by Gail. Why make one when you can make three?

It's now your turn.

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

School Agenda Cover on Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome to week 568 of Free Motion Mavericks. At the end of January I made a school agenda cover for my niece while she was visiting. It was quickly done and it's now keeping her organised in Copenhagen! 😊

School Agenda Cover

When I told my niece that I make a new agenda cover each year, I saw her eyes light up. Of course she was too polite to ask, so when I figured out that I had enough time to make her one before she went back to school, she was thrilled. She came over for tea and then we looked at fabric. She sure is her parents' daughter - she choose a black gradation with silver triangles.

Front of my niece's school agenda cover

Back of the school agenda cover - FMQ with triangles

I don't have any progress pictures. Here's a pictures of the lining and then of the open agenda. In the first image you can see that the side panels are made up of the same fabric as the front. However, my fabric wasn't long enough so I pieced it and then added decorative stitches to highlight it.

Side panels with decorative stitching and the lining

The open agenda

Finally, here is a photo of the front and back of the open agenda. The FMQ is easier to see when the flecks of silver are less prominent. For the FMQ, I made a couple of wavy lines and then quilted linked triangles and repeated four times.

School agenda cover open to show the front and back FMQ

I don't usually know much about my fabric but in this case, I bought 6 fat quarters from the same collection. It's called Snippets by Chelsea Design Works for Studio E fabrics. I had purple, pink, red, bleu and teal, but she chose black!

What I learned

Since I've made many quilted journal and agenda covers, it was fairly quick to find the information that I required to make it. It's from a Craftsy course, Free Motion Quilted Gifts with Christina Cameli.
Over the years, I have written lots of comments in the instruction PDF. These have been very useful. However, I didn't realize how thick an agenda can be compared to most of the journal covers that I've made. I also had to take into account the rings that hold the pages.
This agenda cover was very tight. Since I didn't give it to my niece until the next day, I used a book making trick. I very carefully added clips around the sides of the agenda and then covered it with a few heavy books. This helped the agenda flatten out and stay closed.
When I made my own agenda cover a few days later (PQ 15-2, Sky colours), I made the cover an extra inch wider. It was probably too much and the cover is a little big, but it's not too tight!
I find that when I do something that isn't part of the original design, like piecing the side panels, it's good to actually highlight them as a design feature. I was lucky that the piecing of both panels ended up at roughly the same spot. I used a different fancy stitch over each of the the seams.

Free Motion Mavericks

As always, thanks to everyone who linked up!

Donnalee finished reorganizing her stash and closet and found some lovely fabrics that she made into table toppers and runners.

Lovely table toppers and runners, made from "found" fabric!

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts had two of her quilt patterns published lately. Kashvi was published in Make Modern #55, while Sunshine Garden, is in Annie's Scrap-Happy Quilts. Congrats!

Kashvi - published in Make Modern #55

Sunshine Garden by Preeti

It's now your turn 😎

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Project Quilting 15.2 - Sky Colour, Challenge 2

Hi and welcome to my second challenge of Project Quilting (PQ), Season 15. The theme this week is sky colour - "take inspiration from the colours of the sky, but exclude or use less than 10% of the usual blue" (cerulean). Thanks Trish for this great prompt and Kim for hosting!

A landscape and sky for my agenda cover

For the last few years, one of the first projects that I've made in January is a new agenda cover. They've had many interesting, colourful fabrics that are usually hand-dyed. This year I combined my agenda cover with the PQ Sky Colour challenge.

Front of the agenda cover - landscape with the setting sun

Agenda cover - back

This is the second agenda cover that I've made this week. My niece was in town from Copenhagen and I made her one. I'll be posting about that one on Free Motion Mavericks next week.

I started by creating my landscape over a piece of thin cotton/polyester fabric as a base. I went to my scrap box of batiks and picked out anything that might look good. It didn't take me long to figure out what I wanted and then pin everything down.

Thread used to FMQ the landscape

I let the landscape sit overnight and in the morning, I made minor changes to some of the areas, especially the setting sun. I put a batting under the piece and started free motion quilting (FMQ). Nothing fancy, just following the landscape to give it texture and to stabilize it. I didn't use any fusible webbing and I did get a couple of minor puckers, but nothing serious 😊

A closer look at the finished FMQ piece

Time to trim the landscape and make an agenda cover

Once it was all FMQ and the pictures above were taken, I started putting the agenda cover together. Because I had just made one for my niece, I didn't even look at the instructions and just went for it. I'm thrilled to say that I only made one minor mistake which was easily fixed.

I used a fun and colourful batik to make the side panels, and a dark blue ocean fabric to make the backing. I also remembered to affix my small fabric name tag to the front.

The side panels of the agenda cover

Here is what the landscape looks like. The purple at the top looks more like navy blue, but it really is dark purple.

Agenda cover made with a landscape and
wonderful sky colours

What I learned

I did add a thin strip of cerulean blue (I love that word and I'm working on learning to spell it!) at the beginning of the sky. I wanted a clear separation between the sky from the landscape. I'm quite sure that this is less than 10%.
I love colourful skies and I'm quite happy with my sunset.
It was fun to work with batik fabrics - it had been a while.
The FMQ went well and when the fabric moved and created an open space I just added more fabric on top! That's why I love art quilts - they are so flexible!
I also didn't like one of the areas of the sky that I had FMQ - so I did the same thing and added a strip of fabric to cover it up 😊
I made this agenda cover slightly larger than it should have been. This worked out perfectly since it's quite thick. This avoided the problem that I had making my niece's agenda cover.
As usual, I managed to forget about Project Quilting until Wednesday, when I read Sandra's post that she added to my linking party. Who needs a week when a couple of days will do? I now have a reminder on my phone for the Sunday that the next PQ challenge starts...and not just when it's due.
Are you wondering why I actually have an agenda? So am I...but I do love to write notes about the smaller projects that I'm working on, instead of in a sketchbook that I may or may not find....yes, I admit it - I have a huge information management problem. 😁