How to fold a quilt...

Did you know that you should ALWAYS fold a quilt on the bias. Check out Becky Goldsmith's youtube video to show you how that's done:  

When fabric is folded on the straight of grain, the fibres are more prone to damage which leads to permanent creases forming in your quilt. I know I've heard this before, but this time I took notice

Now I have a stack of quilts in my cupboard folded on the bias and when I found my Christmas quilts, I left them unfolded in preparation for their appearance at my house in December.

Stitched Paper Daily Art Journal : pages 6-11

For my daily journal, I'm still using collages begun in 2011 for the most part, but a few pages made from scratch here as well. 

2011

click on any photo to see it larger

Love that blue flower - organza stitched over old book paper.

2011

The above was a brand new page. Included a copy of an email from that day - it's a good way to keep a record in your journal of what you were thinking. If you missed my post about the Simply Delicious Quilt see it HERE.

2011

2011

Wasn't much room on that last page, but was able to add some fun stitching and enough words about a day to make it part of the daily journal. Talk to you again soon.
See all the posts about this journal HERE and in my Flickr Set HERE.

New Inspirations

I'm having one of those times when I'm thinking {being distracted by holidays, books & screens} more than doing! Here are some things that have caught my attention lately :
I love our library - this arty book is inspiring and not where you might usually look :

A children's book, this is catalogued in the nature section. However, I'm thinking it might be better with the books about art journaling. With ideas for lettering, drawing, and prompts, this is an inspiring book for adults as much as children.

This next one is set to inspire you with new ways of looking at your world and capturing it through photographs. It's practical as well as creative.

Take a peek via Amazon HERE

And I'm checking this one out as well :

Peek inside via Amazon HERE

They have a fun beautiful mess blog too - and here's their 20 Favourite Photography posts.
As the end of the school year is in sight, and the prospect of time in the holidays is on the horizon, I've also been thinking about classes....can't do it all, but doesn't hurt to look ;-)
At Craftsy, you can get access to a number of FREE online quilting classes. I thought this one looked interesting :

I've shared Elizabeth Hartmans' blog before : Oh, Fransson! She also has free tutorials on her blog from which I made this quilt :

And in the art journal world, Dina Wakley and Dyan Reaveley have brought out an online class together - 

US$75 - find out what you get for your money HERE.
What are you inspired by lately?

Weekend fun

We've had a weekend in Rotorua recently so thought I'd share a post of captioned photos of our time away to inspire you with our lovely New Zealand scenery. I also made a couple of crafty magazine discoveries.

1st stop : Brown Sugar Café - Taihape

Heading north - Desert Road and that lovely mountain

Morning view from our holiday accommodation : Lake Okareka/Rotorua

Good breakfast here at the Fat Dog Cafe 

Lovely Tui sculpture to admire while shopping

New Magazine discoveries at McLeods Booksellers

These 2 Dutch magazines are divine - full of lovely images, some good reading, and I'll be able to chop them up for beautiful additions to include in my journal when I've had my fill of reading. See more about Daphne's Diary HERE and Flow HERE. 

View of Lake Tarawera

The Green and Blue Lakes are very pretty if you catch them on a sunny day...
we didn't!

Eat Street - night time dining choices.

Good food and nice beer samplings for the boys at Brew
- craft beer award-winning bar

Walk in the Redwoods Forest

A fun walk

Beautiful bush

Lunch at Solace before we travelled home

It was a wonderful relaxing time. 

Stitched Paper Daily Art Journal : pages 2-5

So excited about this new daily journaling project. This was my first page 

Pages from my 2011 project have now been turned into stitched paper daily journaling - click on any photo to see it larger : 

2011

Sept 2014 complete

2011

click on any photo to see it larger

Some of the pages have very few words - I like to just enjoy looking at the interplay of colour, images, and stitch - love the tactile nature of stitch as well

2011

2014 complete

Sew Wild technique here :-) Back view of this page so you can see the stitching

I keep my old sewing machine needles so when they get too blunt for stitching on fabric, I use them to stitch paper. I don't do anything special - just lengthen the stitch if I am doing straight sewing and make sure the paper is reasonable thickness - like scrapbook paper or watercolour paper. Otherwise, as you can see, decorative or zigzag or messy straight stitching all work just fine.

2011

2014 complete

I am loving both the {almost} daily practice and how these pages look when complete.

Holiday snaps

Last week we spent a couple of days and nights in New Plymouth - 3 hours from Palmerston North.

Fabulous weather and a great way to end our school holidays.
Recommended cafés :

Fat Cow Cafe : Just before you get to Hawera

Arborio : View to the sea - upstairs by Information Centre

The Federal Store Cafe : Devon Street

Good shopping treats for me on the way :

Jackie's for Scrapbooking in Inglewood :
Cute cheap stamps and half-price masks

and once we got to New Plymouth : 

Verge Art & Design Gallery : Sweet earrings and a clear plastic bag
that will find its way in as a layer on an art journal page :-)

The Artshop and Egmont Framing : Lovely paper and cheap printmaking tools

Gorgeous jewellery store : Shine (286 Devon Street East)
Lovely earrings, cheap cute stamps, and wrapping that
will find its way into my journal

I also love Kina - but no purchases there this time...On proof-reading the above, I realise how often I have said cheap! Feels good that I'm still living by my word for the year "Thrifty".
Good walking - we were blessed with gorgeous blue skies :-)

Te Rewa Rewa bridge

Time at the beach

Coastal walkway

Some time for art journaling collage

Beautiful mountain views

and finally got to visit Dawson Falls - a short drive signposted from Stratford on our way home.

And now we begin school Term 4