Quilted Journal Covers
I've been a displaced artist a bit this summer while contractors are renovating my studio space. That means that rather than spending my day in my noisy, dusty, hot studio, I've been camping out in the dining room to work on my various projects. I've completed a couple of deadline projects, and the scraps have been everywhere. Rather than stuff them into a bin, I've been trying to use them up. One of my scrap busting projects has been to make quilted journal covers.
I have long been a fan of journaling, but I'm trying to avoid buying a new notebook every time I get a topic idea. One thing we have a lot of are old school supplies. My kids are older; one is off having a life and the other is home while attending college, but I still have a cache of unused or slightly used notebooks, etc. Particularly composition books. The paper inside was never used, of course, because even though the supply list assures us that we must have 15 composition books to start the school year (despite the fact that Target is out of stock, and I'll have to pay an arm and a leg to get the proper number) the kids only ever used the first page of one of them. I digress. I guess I'm still a little bitter about school supply shopping.
Back to the scraps. I've got some lovely scraps of the Trinkets line by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics. You can see the project I made with this fabric in the December issue of Quick and Easy Quilts (Coming soon!) I gathered up a few of the scraps I had laying around, and made a little panel. A large piece of background fabric, with a pieced bit at either end was perfect. I did a quick bit of walking foot quilting, just straight lines across the piece. Then I put it all together, and have a lovely journal cover. I'm delighted with it, and my newly christened "Reminder Journal". This is where I write down happy achievements for when I'm feeling down. Once in a while I feel blue, and forget all of the great things going on in my life. Now I can flip through my journal and give myself a little boost.
The inside flaps are Coco fabric by Michael Miller Fabrics. They are too good to go into the scrap bin. (That project is coming out some time in 2022)
I also made a journal with an appliqué dachshund, using some cleverness and the Gingham Dog die by Accuquilt. If you want the dimensions I use to make my covers, or to see a detailed tutorial, you can find one here. This one contains my notes on my watercolor and postcard projects.
If you are looking for a great gift idea, consider quilted journal covers. A rather simple panel with just a small amount of piecing and quilting really looks quite fancy when popped around a composition book. I think I might make some for my nieces and nephews.