Journal-Making for the Fiber Artist class

Taking a break from picking out counters and tiles and painting...I am mad at myself because I went all the way to Raleigh to pick out tile for the backsplash this morning, and then spent about an hour at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get a new paper towel holder, door hook, and some other stuff. First I was mad because I have about ten coupons for 20% off at that store, and did not bring any of them. Then, I got to the check-out, and there was no wallet in my purse! After the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was lost or stolen, I realized I had been looking in it for stamps this morning and left it out on the counter. They would not let me write a check without my drivers license, even though the license is printed on the checks. So, back home with nothing to show for my trip except for the number of the tile I selected.


New topic: I am signed up to take another online class, this time with Sue Bleiwess, Journal-Making for the Fiber Artist. I have to say that even though I am an English Major and like to write, I have never gotten into the whole journal-making/scrap booking craze. Some of them are gorgeous, but seem to have so much embellishment with paint and doo-dads. How would you ever write anything on a page that has paint and stamping all over it?


Then I realized that you can attach things, like letters and mementos, to the journal pages. What sold me was a journal Sue posted on her August 18 blog post with love letters from 1881 to 1883. Sue preserved the letters so you can read them by inserting them in pockets. I started thinking: my father's love letters to my mother during World War II would be perfect for a project like this! The paper is not too lovely, since it is the V-mail paper used by the Army, but each letter had lots of illustrations and little cartoons that my father drew. Some day I want to get hold of these and some other family archives, and make them into a book.


I am finding out that journal-making requires almost as many supplies and fun things as quilt making. I hope I enjoy this process after investing in all this new stuff!


I have actually only kept a journal twice: once on a trip to Germany and Austria in 1976, and again in 1981 when I was a young mother with a new baby and a four-year old. Blank journals were not exactly prevalent back then.

The European trip is recorded in the long, spiral-bound books with the monkeys and the dachshund. One of them has no back, and both have rusting around the spiral binding. Strange-looking cover art, but , the dachshund is German, right? I actually bought these in Munich, and the price is marked 1.25. That would be marks, or about 75 cents back then, I think. The baby days journal is in a nicer, corduroy-bound journal. It was $1.98. There seems to be a theme to most of those entries: sleep deprivation! Ha- this should be required reading for anyone who thinks they are ready to have a baby. But it is fun to flip through and see some of the funny things Bryson was saying at age four. He called elevators "alligators," and called every bridge "undone bridges" from the "London bridges" childhood game. I had forgotten that!



My new journals will be much prettier, and more interesting with more than just my hand-writing to see as you browse through. And I see that several of my blog friends are also signed up: Fannie and Lynn! And I am so impressed with our instructor, Sue. I wrote an e-mail with a question about the supplies, and had a reply with links and product photo within five minutes!

Got another customer coming in with three quilts in a few minutes. I begged her to ignore the toilet in the driveway and also the one now residing in our living room. Ain't remodeling fun???