Fun and Fabulous!

Thank you for all the fun and fabulous chatter about Max's birthday Pocket Book! And it even sounds like some of you might make a book of your own! 

Looks what's fun and fabulous in my kitchen! The first photo was yesterday....

....and today it opened up! 

Pocket Book

I'm nearly finished with Debbie C's joy journal....but a week or so ago I shifted gears and worked on another handmade book...this one for Max's 3rd birthday. For those of you who don't know...Max is the son of my goddaughter Emily. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin and will be a big brother soon. The new baby is due to arrive in April.

I made Max a Pocket Book. Happy Birthday Max! 3 is my favorite number!

I repurposed a very loved copy of We Hide, You Seek that was a cast off from the Emerson Elementary School Library where his grandmother (my lifelong friend Becky) worked. It was likely headed for the landfill.

Many of the pages were held together with scotch tape but the colorful drawings captured my heart.

I collaged the cover with small cutouts from the book saving my favorite larger images for the inside.

I glued them down with a glue stick...then topcoated it with medium.

I have been adding fused fabric to the insides of my journals to create strength for stitching. For Max's I did a little patchwork of colors to coordinate with the cover.

Then I stitched in concentric squares...

just like I did for Diane's colorful joy journal cover.

This animal page was one of my favorites. I ironed fusible webbing to the back of the page...then cut it out and fused it onto the inside of the front cover. 

The book has pockets on every page...and in the pockets are two sided tags with images from a sticker book I've had for a long time. The stickiness of stickers was kind of weak...so they are all reinforced with glue.

 Max can find all the hidden images in the pockets.

There were lots of butterflies in the sticker book....so many of the tags have a butterfly on one of the sides. You know how I feel about butterflies these days.

I used another recycled book with nice sturdy paper to make the base pages. 

I reinforced the pages with images from the We Hide, You Seek book folding the papers around the base paper to create extra strength on the edges and along the centerfold.

Then I folded up the pocket which also has a double fold to create strength. 

In addition to the fold up pockets......others are also glued in. 

Many of the pages also have side pockets that are fold over pieces.

I saved the card catalog pocket from the original book...

and tucked it in the pocket on the back cover....with a little note to Max.

Here's Max painting a big 3 for his big boy birthday party! I wish I lived closer so I could have gone to the party this past weekend.

I don't think this 3 is going to fit in in the Pocket Book...but it's going to look great on the wall

Three years ago! My how time flies! 

Handkerchiefs

 Winter is hanging on here in Maine.

I thought these were snowdrops...but my plant app tells me they're winter daffodil. Either way....they'll be just fine. 

I enjoyed the comments and conversation about tatting after yesterday's post. Linda shared this comment: 

I saw my first tatting as a school child - the lady janitor was sitting and tatting in quiet corner in our elementary school once and I happened by. I was fascinated as she was shuttle tatting lace edging on a handkerchief. She was friendly and kind and let me watch for a couple of minutes before shooing me onward. Stuck with me for many years. 

I couldn't love Linda's memory more. These were Dorothy's handkerchiefs....with their tatted edging.

Dorothy was a school teacher....and apparently it was proper to give your teacher a handkerchief as a gift at the end of the school year. Dorothy made her own...but she was gifted many more. After she died her handkerchiefs were spread out on a table at a family reunion...and we all got to pick several. 

I chose the tatted ones...and a few others that were hand embroidered. I've used some of them over the years in projects...but I still have several that I'm holding onto.

I adore Dorothy's handkerchiefs...but I think they aren't doing any good being stored in a drawer. I think they should be used and shared.

In Honor of Dorothy

I've been thinking about tatting since I shared Debbie's stash yesterday which included a couple of sweet tatting projects.

There was a bit of it in Susan's stash...and I added this little daisy to a collage that I tucked into her joy journal.

Paul's grandmother Gunderson (Margie's mom) taught me how to tat. I never got as good as her...but I made a handful of lace over the years. This pink lace is something grandma Gunderson made.

I think I was the only relative to show any interest in learning....and I have such fond memories of that precious time with Dorothy. She was so patient with me as my fumbly fingers got the hang of this delicate work.

I pulled out my little red tatting shuttle today to see if my muscle memory would kick in. Although I still know how to do it....I could tell after just a few stitches that it will be too hard on my hands. More tatting is not in my future.

But I will keep my eyes and ears open for someone I might be able to pass this onto....in honor of Dorothy.

It was windy and a bit chilly today...and it would have been really easy to just stay tucked in at home. 

But Paul and I headed downton for the protest...and we are always glad we went. I am hoping next week's NO KINGS protest is bigger than ever! 

Hers and Mine

It's the first day of spring! I had the windows open for a while...not because it was all that warm out...but because I burned my homemade crackers. But the fresh cool air coming into the condo made my heart sing! And it's kind of ironic that Jay and Janice are coming for dinner and cards. Jay is the Assistant Fire Chief in Falmouth so he's familiar with house smoke!

My neighbor's crocus are popping though! Hallelujah! 

I have a good start on Debbie C's joy journal. She was one of the people who requested a blue and white journal....but she also sent me some of her own papers. They were sitting on the dining room table for more than a week as I pondered where her materials would take me. 

I'm off and running now.

On this first day of spring...I'm celebrating this very spring-like serendipitous hers and mine pairing.

This is HER little tatted card....and MY little leaf snippet I had sent to her in her Ounce of Joy packet. The leaves match perfectly....so they will hook up in the journal

I know Debbie from Hancock Church in Lexington. She's an artist herself...but more as a knitter and embroidery artist. She is requesting more of a finished book with places to tuck more precious things she finds rather than blank pages here and there. I can do that!

Debbie's things are mostly on the left. They're pretty things....delicate things...feminine things. And on the right are all the things I sent her in the Ounce of Joy give-away several years ago. As a knitter...she didn't quite know what to do with them....so they've found their way back to me. That made me chuckle and got me thinking....how many other people had no idea what to do with their Ounce of Joy? 

My first thought was to trade some of the bold snippets for softer...more delicate ones. I will certainly add a few soft things from my stash....but to honor the challenge I'm going to incorporate at least a little bit of ALL of these snippets. That will be my creative challenge this time...too pull together hers and mine.

A warm welcome to a couple of new blog readers via Cherie! Cherie wrote a lovely post about her joy journal on her own blog....and I was so touched. You can check it out here on her quilting blog....but then keep scrolling to see her beautiful quilts. 

https://seemorequilts.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-wonderful-gift.html

I just learned that Lily has been following Cherie's quilting blog for a little while. Lily was another joy journal recipient. Lily lives in Alaska...Cherie in Pennsylvania and I live in Maine. You just gotta' love all the creative connecting!!! Pure joy!

And Susan in Scotland just received her joy journal today! My heart is full...and I have an evening of friends in front of me! 

Look!

Look at what's popping up in my garden! 

And look what's starting to open!

  

And look who spent several hours playing with me today! Liam and I had a great time...and he cut up nearly every piece of cardboard in the condo with the Chomp Saw! It's just fun to cut stuff up!

A big shoutout to all of you grandparents who do this on a regular basis! We were busy!

Creatively Connecting

Cherie and I had a Zoom call this morning....and it was so nice to put a face to a name and to hear more of the back story of her choices for her joy journal and for me to share more about my process. Our mutual fondness for textiles was clear as well as the joy that we both find in making things for others. What a treat this was!

I think there are enough of you who have interest so I thought I would share some of the pages in her journal. The rest of you can get a head start on your day. 

Before I knew anything else I knew the first page was going to be Cherie's dad's doodle. I also knew I was going to cut out one side and fold it into a page. What I learned in today's Zoom is that he doodled all the time...even on napkins in restaurants then gave them to the wait staff. He's a legend for his doodles...and Cherie chose this one for the journal. 

I always pause for a moment when I cut into someone's art....but she said to go for it! 

This...by the way...was the only actual piece of regular paper Cherie provided. And at this point I still didn't know how I was going to hold everything together.....but lots of ideas were going through my head. This is where it started.

On the back was another doodle of a bear flying off with balloons with the caption 

Oh my I did not plan this! Look where the caption landed on the folded page! I didn't plan this either! The fold was completely determined by how wide the front flowers would be for the cover. Serendipity!

  

The second thing I knew I was going to do was cut her quilled tree card in half. That also was a little unnerving. 

But it was too wide as is....and then I could use it in two spots. I stitched it onto a piece of cardstock to create the fold and tucked it in as a page.

The other half has the fold on the right side and opens out....and it worked out well. 
The photo is a bit blurry because it's a screenshot from a video.

Using the color scheme from the cover I went to my scrapbook paper stash and pulled several pieces of medium weight paper in all kinds of patterns. Books need paper...and I needed something to stitch the clothing tags to.

I wanted the tags to stick out just a bit...and layer up and down the side of the journal on different pages.

It was like putting together a puzzle.

I do love mixing patterns....and I went a little crazy in Cherie's journal!

Tucked behind that second page were the first two trees.

They were like a little hidden surprise!

Cherie included a tiny gift bag that I cut up and made into a little pocket....

it was the perfect size for one of my little share your joy tags.

I used every single clothing tag....and every bit of ephemera Cherie sent. 

And I'm so tickled where this caption landed...with no planning on my part. This page got a tag too.

There are several more pages....but you get the idea. But my favorite moment may be on the back cover where I used this monogram of Knowledge, Wisdom and Truth that came from the inside edge a men's shirt. Such a beautiful hidden detail.

Using scraps from a previous project...I worked it into a little fussed quilt block for the back cover. I really wanted to stitch it...but I didn't think about it before I fused it. If I stitched it after it would have messed up the free motion on the back. But I think it's the perfect finish for this charming and personal joy journal.

I learned today that Cherie actually collects men's shirts and I was able to see her impressive stash in her cupboard this morning on our call. This quilt is made entirely of men's shirts! Isn't it gorgeous!

If you're still reading...thank you for walking through this journal with me...it was a joy to create. And I thoroughly enjoyed creativing connecting with its new owner! Pure joy!