All ready gifted to my BFF so now I can share
my journal journey adventures. I do now know
why I don't do many journal covers or book sleeves.
First off, I found a very nice feature for the front.
It says, "Just Sew Happy". A few false starts later,
it was nicely bordered for the front.
The fabric I chose was a leftover mini 4-patch
piece I had in the block bank.
Measuring against the spiral book,
there was more than enough to cover the book.
I stitched it together and then found that
the blocks I sewed into the cover must had been relegated
to the block bank since one seam of the tiny squares,
hadn't been sewn . I picked the book apart and
stitched up the seam. The next problem was that
the quilter's fuse showed thru as a few of the squares
were undersize.
More picking and some
thin black trim applied on top fixed that issue.
The sleeve ends got stitched in but I managed to invert them
and could not get the notebook in.
So I picked it all apart and tried again.
Now the sleeves were correct but the whole thing was a
bit too narrow!!! Argh.
I got a bit frustrated so I cut out the feature front and
set off to the block bank to find some more fabric.
Some color family strip blocks fit the size requirement.
I stitched three together and lined them
with a cheater log cabin print.
I abandoned trying to enclose the ends,
and did a simple fold and managed to get them to fold properly.
When the feature patch was stitched on, the last task was to
affix an elastic band to secure the pages. The edge of the
applique needed to picked out to insert the elastic and that
is when I discovered that the applique was upside down!
A bit of picking later and all was put right!
It was the longest, simple project I have ever completed!!
I hope your Christmas time was all
you hope for and friends and family
were near. Stay safe and sew on as we get
ready to welcome 2024.
