OOTB (Out Of The Box) Day

Yesterday, I shared that my mother did paper tole many years ago. I think the following is one of the BEST pieces she did.

 She used a special composite...that glistens...to make the snow. She also used something to make the ice look glossy. She spent SO much time on this piece....one for me and one for my sister, Linda. She painstakingly cut out the thin branches of the tree and if that weren't enough, she carefully glued on bits of weed to make the branches look as though they had buds.

She also added weeds to look like the grasses around the pond and other places to make the work look more realistic.

She even made the chimney look as if smoke was coming out by adding batting.

Today was a day to work on my Out Of The Box homework. Before I headed down, I noticed that the house felt a little chillier than usual. When the weather got nice, we turned off the furnace. I looked at the thermostat. WHAT???

No wonder it felt chilly! But....just like I baulk at turning on the air conditioner in May (seems too early to have to do that), I also baulk at turning the furnace back on once it's been turned off. So, that meant starting fires in the wood stove and fireplace. Truly, it was just the kind of day that was nice to have a fire going.

My OOTB project parameters were to use triangles and neutral fabrics. My first task was to decide what to do. I was inspired by the April work of one of the other ladies in the class. I decided I wanted to make a journal cover. Next, I needed to draw out the plan for a block that would be large enough to use for a journal cover. I also colour coded it for the 5 fabrics that I would be using to make the block. I attached a swatch of fabric for each of the five colours.

 I then used my printer to make a couple of copies that I'd be able to cut up....sort of like paper piecing but not exactly so.

Once I cut out each section, I spot-glued it to the corresponding fabric, and then cut out the shape with the 1/4" seam allowance added.

It then sewed the sections together to get a block.

I squared up the block, put borders on (in order to have at least 2" larger than the book as is necessary for the making of the cover), added some decorative stitching on all of the seams, and included some embellishments (ribbons/beads). That is as far as I got today. Hopefully, I can finish the project before my class on Sunday.

Oh...that reminds me....I will be away tomorrow night. I will be back home sometime Saturday evening, but I don't know if it will be too late to blog. We shall see :)

And on that note, I wish you all a very good night!

TTFN