Friends Forever....a fabric book

"She unwrapped the brown paper parcel, beautifully tied with pink velvet ribbon and smiled at her friend. "I'm so excited!" she said as she set the paper and ribbon aside.

She pulled layers of peach pink tissue paper and tuling aside until the gift lay on her lap. She gasped and tears filled her eyes. "

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This fabric book started as a simple canvas "book" altered by hand to be a special heirloom honoring the beauty of friendship. Details abound..."pockets" for tucking special photos, letters or keepsakes into, pretty vintage and new papers, antique lace, vintage millinery, a vintage ad, rhinestone earring, vintage sheet music, an old key and so much more. The perfect gift for a dear friend. You can write something on every page or you can leave it blank for her to write in.

You will also receive a "tea"-colored fabric pen for writing directly on the fabric, if you desire.

The book is approximately 6x7" and has 10 pages. If you are interested in purchasing this book, please go HERE.

Art Quilting Studio

Earlier in the year I heard about a new publication that Stampington & Co. was releasing, called "Art Quilting Studio," and immediately I was intrigued! I love sewing. I love art. My favorite things to make these days are things that combine my love for these two things. So this publication seemed right up my alley! I submitted a piece that was my response to a quotation that Stampington published as a "prompt" for quilters to respond to:

"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. "

-The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

My submission is called "I Saw You" and I was THRILLED to see it featured in the premier issue of Art Quilting Studio (June 2009...it's on newstands right now)! Here's the first page of the article and there's a "blurb" about me/my piece down at the bottom right of the page.... And here's the page with my piece on it! It's the piece on the bottom. :)

Here are some more pics of the piece that I took before I sent it in and a bit about how I created it...

I started with the idea that the piece would be in a frame (minus the glass) so I cut a piece of vintage linen to the appropriate size, just larger than the frame so that it could be held in by the little metal tabs on the back of the frame. I sewed quilt batting to the back to give it some "body" and then sewed new and vintage lace and vintage sheet music (yes, you can sew paper to fabric!) to the linen.

I printed out a vintage photo of a group of girl onto a fabulous product by The Vintage Workshop: Inkjet Linen Fabric Sheets. You can find this product HERE. I have used a lot of fabric sheets that you can print in your inkjet printer but this is my very favorite product, especially when working on "vintage-looking" projects. The linen adds to the "aged" appearance and gives it a marvelous texture. I can't use anything else now!!

I used a Ziggy photo marker to "color" the dress of the girl in the front row and then sewed the photo on linen fabric sheet to the piece.

A vintage 1920's love letter I bought on eBay a few years ago has gotten lots of mileage. I cut this snippet out that reads "I saw you" because it perfectly encapsulated my interpretation of the quote from The Little Prince. I wanted to show how, throught the eyes of love, even a "black and white" girl pops into color!

I added lots of vintage favorites...vintage millinery roses, a button I covered with a rose I embroidered on linen, a new heart-shaped "buckle," vintage lace, vintage tickets, a piece of vintage jewelry, very old buttons and delicious vintage tatting. Each piece represented the "dance-theme" of the photo and the feeling of a deep, nostalgic love.

My husband, James, distressed the frame for me, as well as some simple wood "appliques" I bought at the craft store. Putting the finished piece in the frame was one of those wonderful moments where I saw a picture in my head jump into real life. I live for those moments!

So that's it! I just had to share this exciting news. I'm already planning some new things to submit for the next issue!