Halloween Journal

 

I know it's really early, but I wanted to make a Halloween themed journal for my oldest granddaughter.  She really likes Halloween and spooky things, and since she's in school now I thought she might enjoy having a little journal.  By the time Halloween comes around she'll be in second grade, so I think she'll be a reasonable age for a little journal.

The cover is made from an old cereal box.  I used cotton fabric, heat 'n' bond, and tissue paper (the kind for gift giving, not for nose blowing) to make the book cloth.  On the last one (my husband's journal) I used featherweight interfacing on cotton cloth and I didn't like the results as well.  It was a bit harder to work with and didn't bond as well.  I like this method better.

The end pages are made from scrapbook paper I bought at Hobby Lobby.  They don't do "Halloween" but the orange and black circles give a nice Halloween look anyway.

The text block is made from 12 sheets of orange printer paper that I had on hand.  It was constructed as 4 signatures of 3 sheets each. I sewed them together using thin yellow crochet twine and a curved upholstery needle.  I trimmed the text block using an old rotary cutter that I only use for paper.  It worked better than I thought it would, actually.

It's a thin little journal, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I hope that she will like it.  I don't plan to give it to her until October.

Four Corners

One of my oldest friends is going to be a grandmother for the first time, and this quilt is for her soon-to-be-born granddaughter.  I finished the binding about 10 days ago, but I just got the label on it today.  I'm thinking that I might pre-wash it before I give it to them.  All the wrinkles from the folds bother me a bit and pre-washing baby items seems like a good idea, so that new parents have one less thing to worry about.

This quilt is made from a quilt top that I made back in 2020.  It is one of the UFOs that I wanted to get finished this year. The finished quilt is 40 inches square.  I machine quilted it echoing the seam lines around all the concentric squares.  It is a pattern that I designed myself and have used for a little quilt for one of my grandsons, too.

Old Journal New Cover

 

When my husband was in high school, his girlfriend at the time gave him a journal.  She gave it to him with the idea that he would write his poetry in it, but he never did.  Once he was in graduate school he decided to use it as a reading journal, where he wrote down his thought on the books that he was reading.  This was just the first of many reading journals.  

However, with time and use the text block broke (It has "perfect binding") and the outside of the cover was looking much worse for wear, so I decided to mend it for him.  It now has a repaired perfect binding, new end pages, and a completely new cover. 

I re-glued the text block and reinforced it with some cheesecloth, to try to make sure it stayed together. The book cloth is made from leftover cotton quilting fabric with featherweight interfacing fused to it.  The cover boards are cut from Canson art board that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  It was thicker than the chip board they had and I wanted to make sure it was nice and sturdy. The end pages are scrap-booking paper from Hobby Lobby.

I'm still very new to book binding, but I like the idea of it.  I guess with time we'll see if I like the reality of it.