Odd Projects

I've just been working on a few small things. 

I wanted to feel like I was getting something done so I machine quilted this little scrap quilt.  I guess that's the plus side of having a pile of unfinished projects.

And, of course had it Cat approved. Thanks Cassandra.

 And did some more topographic line doodles.  It's sort of meditative and easy to sit a couple minutes, often talking to someone, and just draw lines. Hills, valleys, lakes, rivers, mountains, shorelines, islands, cliffs and whatever I imagine.

This is another of the pearl cotton hand quilted pieces I work on when I'm watching TV.  I finished the edges of this small piece and plan to use it as the cover for a small book.

And this is the 'ugly' experiment completed.  I wanted to try a 'stack and slash' patchwork technique but didn't want to use any of my 'favorite' fabrics on something I might not like so I picked out of my stash 6 of my least liked fabrics, the 'uglies'.  I've see some really impressive and attractive stack and slash quilts and it looks like a fun technique to use but I didn't find it to be any less work really and the end results don't make me happy.  My vision/brain craves at least order and loves some symmetry with that and it would be nice if my favorite colors were involved. Maybe this wasn't a good test. If I liked the colors and prints in the quilt I might be able to overlook the disorder of the whole object.  Maybe.

This is one of our sleepy bees hanging out under the marigolds overnight. With their help I'll have all the seeds I need for flowers next year.

Thanks for reading.

Aileen

Handmade Books

A few years ago I decided to learn how to coptic stitch bind my own blank books.  I had recently purchased a beautiful coptic bound journal with stiff leather covers and it was a rare find. I like the look of the exposed binding. I love how coptic bound books lay completely flat when open. I wanted more but choices were few and far between or too expensive for my budget. so of course I thought, "I can do this myself".  And that is basically true but achieving the high standard I appreciated when I see these books takes practice and quality materials.  Well, I have lots to practice on but quality materials will come later when I've practiced enough. 

I recently finished a number of coptic bound 'practice' books and a couple other books.
This is what I have been doing:  

Other Non-coptic books I finally finished.
Denim fabric covered booklets with colorful painted pages:

In the process for cutting paper to size for the coptic books I ended up with a large stack of accurately cut mini sheets of paper. Something most people might throw away. But what I see is paper for tiny books. I have plans for this paper.

Plans for Mini Books:

2" x 4" sheets and 1 1/2" x 3" sheets

2" x 2" book in progress

Check back later to see the Mini Books completed! They are so cute.