Fabric Postcard and Books, Books, Books

I have been making fabric postcards today for Valentine surprises. Can't show most of them, but here is an unlikely Valentine I made for my soon-to-be-six years old grandson. (He does not read my blog yet, as far as I know!) Nothing too icky and pink for him. I did use some of my new mixed media experiments in this one: hand-painted lace and rick-rack,and a bit of stamped satin ribbon. The big spongy looking plant is hand-dyed silk ribbon gathered into a sort of yo-yo and stitched down.

I have always been such an avid reader from the time I was little. When I was about seven, my little brother Tim got scarlet fever. Back then in the fifties, that meant quarantine for the whole household, except for my dad who had it himself when he was a child. I think there were five children in the family then, all under eight. That's when I got hooked on library books. My brothers and I read every Hardy Boys Mystery and I read all the Nancy Drews, Boxcar Children, and everything else I could get my hands on.

My obsession for reading continues today. I have not caved to purchasing a Kindle or other e-Book reader, although I am considering the idea for when we are traveling in the car at night. I do listen to audio books while I am sewing upstairs. Our county library carries audio CD's, which you can order over the Internet and pick up at the local branch.

Currently I am reading a wonderful book with the unlikely title, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I think I read about this one in our Sunday newspaper. The whole book is a series of letters between a feisty post-WW II British female author and the people of the Channel island of Guernsey. It is a fascinating glimpse of life under Nazi occupation for the Guernsey residents, and during the Blitz for residents of London. I highly recommend it! And I know you want to find out about that crazy title!

My son introduced our whole family to Amazon wish lists before Christmas, to which you can add items from any website. I have continued adding to mine as I find books or other items that I want to own. Then, when there is a special offer from Barnes and Noble or other bookstores, I have a list of books ready that I want. So, this week I got two new books from my wish list.

The first one, Creating With Fabric, is very timely. I had not reviewed this book's contents before ordering, and was delighted to find more than twenty pages devoted to my art quilt mentor, Pamela Allen! Many of her quilts are showcased, along with a step-by-step tutorial on her quilt-making process.

Also included are other delightful artists and projects, lots of great eye candy!

The other one, Thread Work Unraveled, is going to be a fabulous reference for machine stitching and quilting. The author, Sarah Ann Smith, is a frequent contributor and advisor to the Janome 6500/6600 mail group. I have been very impressed with her expertise, and have read raves about this book. I need to go through it and do some thread work experiments with my new machine.

All in good time!

My Idea of "Altered" Books

Well, as an old English major and school teacher, I am a big reader and an advocate of reading to children. Our little granddaughter, Lily, will turn three during our vacation to the beach. I spent some time doctoring up some cute books that I bought for her birthday.

The first is 1001 Things to Spot in Fairyland. I collected lots of pictures of Lily and other family members, resized them to fit the illustrations, and hid them among the fairies, princesses, and castles in this book.


Sometimes I replaced the head on a drawn figure, and sometimes had them popping out of the scenery. I drew in a few wings and antennae or other little additions to match the drawings on the page.
The next book was Zinnia's Flower Garden, which has cute illustrations amid gorgeous garden photographs. I added some shots of Lily with my zinnias and other flowers from summers past.

The last altered birthday book is A Rainbow of My Own, by Don Freeman.

Lily's head nicely replaced the little boy's head on the title page picture.

Another excellent choice is Oh, The Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss. I doctored this book for son Dave when he graduated from high school. We had many, many pics of Dave making faces and wearing funny things on his head, and they fit in perfectly.

I have used acid-free glue-stick, clear contact paper, and gel medium to adhere the images. The contact paper still looks great after ten years. The gel medium made some of the pages a little sticky, but will probably adhere the longest.

I will let you know if these projects were a popular gift!