Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Monday, February 10, 2014

My first journal cover


I'm behind the curve on the trend to make covers for journals and ipads, kindles and all the other electronic stuff that I don't have. I probably never would've made one except for a challenge issued by my art quilt group. So here is my first effort. I like it enough to probably make a few more.


It started when I needed something to hand stitch while watching the Olympics. I had some scraps in my stash that I used for these squares, then I hand stitched them onto a black background. At this point I hadn't decided that I was going to use it for a journal cover, otherwise I would've made the background bigger.
 

After I decided to use it for a cover, I looked up a bunch of tutorials online and pieced together enough general directions to come up with my own. I also pieced together scraps for the batting. 

I extended the cover's size by adding this lime green for the back.


I found the perfect button in my button box. I think I bought it at a quilt festival somewhere along the line. The elastic loop is a hairband, which I saw used in several tutorials. 


It's also time for a bunny update. Here is my daughter's cutie, Frankie, who was home for a visit with Grandma over the weekend!



Have a colorful day


4 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

Love the way you incorporated that lime green. Do you get to keep it for your own journal? Not sure why we are so intimidated by such a simple project, but I too was looking for directions, patterns, videos for something similar and found something I liked that was for a composition book. Now that I know the basics, I could adapt it to any size book - even a sketchbook. These are such great projects for showcasing the bits and bobs not worthy of a full quilt but not worthy of the trash either.

Lynda said...

Sherry, Love, love, love this. This has given me an idea. Thanks for the inspiration this cold morning.

sonja said...

i too am a batting piecer-upper and journal cover lover and maker.small and regular composition books get covered with odds and ends and quilted just because. some days i make covers and Then cut paper to size making signatures that fit! your covers are yummy!

Judy Ferguson said...

I feel like such a loser. I don't have covers on any of my sketchbooks or journals. And my batting scraps are taking over my storage bin, and all those little scraps of fabric are taking over my shelf storage. And I just sit here, reading blogs. And I don't have any cute pets.