I have just completed making my very first fabric journal.
Over the past few months I have been round the world on my netmobile/blogbuggy several times over admiring journals produced by other textile artists, and decided this was the sort of project that would really suit me!
I decided that my theme would be ROSES.
And then I realised that it would make a perfect gift for my niece Tina, whose proper name is Cristina Rose.
Tina has a significant birthday on Tuesday - her BIG 4 0.
And as if that wasn't enough, she will be having her birthday all that day and all the next day......
You see, on the night of her birthday Tina and Brandt and their three children will be flying to Hawaii. And when they get there the next morning, it will still be Tuesday the 18th September.
When I started planning the journal, I went through my stash and gathered together all sorts of bits and pieces with a rose theme.
And I printed off some of my favourite and well-loved sayings about roses and flowers, thoughts I felt would appeal to Tina.
Some of the embellishments I used are ones I have had for years, just waiting to be showcased in a project like this.The little "Dorset button" brooch, for instance, in the picture above, is one I made a long time ago.
On one of the pages I featured the other 'roses' in the family. There was my Aunty Rose (my godmother) whose real name was Stella Rose. Then there is Sienna Rose, Tina's 7 year old daughter. And my 18 year old grandaughter Sarah (Tina's 2nd cousin) has Rose as her second name.
This silk ribbon embroidery (and the one on the cover too) were done by a lady who used to live on Norfolk Island many years ago. She gave a lot of her craft stuff away when she left, and I inherited a couple of her unfinished projects, still in the embroidery frames.
The book involved both handsewing and machine sewing.
It was lovely to be able to use this very old bit of crochet, made by Great-Aunt Charlotte many years ago. On that same page is a Rose scented sachet that I have had in a drawer for ages - it still has a lovely fragrance. Hence "Take time to smell the roses."
My collection of floral upholstery fabric samples came in handy for the page backgrounds.
It was lovely to use just a few of the doileys in my rather large collection.
This page below uses some shadow work embroidery I did to keep my fingers busy during a trip to Cairns about 9 or 10 years ago!!!
Actually, I must confess I still have enough "rose" embellishments etc to make several more albums!!
My brain is now racing, trying to think of a theme for my next fabric journal. But perhaps I will not even go for a theme, but just use things and colours I love.
Meanwhile, Tina has instructions to go to my blog on her birthday (one of them) so she can see her present, which will be a complete surprise!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!!!!
2 comments:
Wow! This is superb I'm so impressed and so will Tina be when she receives it, truely it's beautiful.
I do LOVE it. It is far for special than I ever could have imagined. Thankyou so much Mary! I didn't know great Auntie Rose was Stella Rose, that is very special and was on the short list for Sienna's name. Thankyou again, Mahalo from Hawaii. Love Tina
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