Sunday - day of rest?

No, today won't be a day of rest...I did that yesterday. For my Michigan friends and family, I'm having some of my health issues I had last fall...so not to sound like a complainer we'll leave it at that! UGH!

Here is my nature journal quilt (8 1/2 x 11") for February. The background was chalk applied on milk soaked muslin. I free motion quilted the leaves then painted some of them.
This is my March nature journal quilt. The dark hole at the top is actually the quilt cut away and beading around the edges. I used paint sticks on freezer paper stencil to make the trees.

So, I finished the start of (now that sounds strange doesn't it!) my latest project which is creating an Art Diary. Back home I have some large, plastic sleeves that I keep different techniques I've tried, which is nice. But I got thinking after seeing Linda Kemshall on QA tv showing a fabric book she made of her art quilts. Why not challenge myself to make an art diary of my techniques rather then small pieces put into plastic sleeves. So I did..hence, the "finished the start" of comment. I made the cover and 1st page of my Art Diary which I'm showing here. I'm going to put a slide show on m blog for those who are interested in the process/progress of each page. I really had fun with this 'self challenge' and perhaps it will inspire others to do the same either with their journal quilts (8 1/2 x 11") or similar to mine which is approx. 18" x 18".
Here is the cover of my Art Diary. I took a pieces of commercial fabric and free motion quilted it; I added metal washers then I used a foam roller and applied Liquitex lt. blue violet soft body paint on top of the washers and quilted piece; I painted the wording with White Mist by Stewart Gill.

Closeup of my Art Diary cover

Cover page of my Art Diary

The 1st page started off with cotton sateen (from Joanne's) and bamboo batting with no backing; I started the quilting with a twin needle just 'willy nilly' using cotton thread; then I continued quilting using a dark blue rayon and Sulky 30wt cotton, variegated thread throughout the piece; I mixed fiber reactive dyes with print paste and covered the entire piece; after 24 hours I rinsed out the dye but decided it was too dark so I mixed up bleach and sprayed the entire piece then panic set in and I quickly rinse it! It did become a lot lighter which was ok. After it dried I added some metallic threads to outline the butterfly I had drawn with threads.

So this is page 1 of my Art Diary! I'm going to put grommets on the left edge so I can attach the Not sure what page 2 will end up being but I'm looking forward to it!

Closeup of page 1