Journal Quilts

I'm taking a journal quilt class right now at Quilt University. Journal quilts are just small quilts that can be anything you want them to be. I'm doing them to try out new techniques and try to do some things without a pattern.

My first quilt is all about not having enough time to do all the various things I want to do. Not necessarily the most artistic quilt, but it was my first one, and I was happy with it. I tore all of the strips with writing on them to go with the idea of being torn among activities. I also did a bit of bobbin work that doesn't show up very well - this is where you put a thread in the bobbin that is too heavy to go through the needle, and then stitch from the back so that the heavy thread is on the front.



Then I decided that I want to make a series of journal quilts around the alphabet. I started with A is for Apple, but I won't do the rest of them in order - my next one will be P - Pear. I rubber stamped ". . . is for . . ." I stenciled the "A" and "APPLE." I appliquéd the apple, stem, and leaf after drawing them myself. I used my own hand-dyed fabrics for the apple and the leaf, and also inked them to make them look more like I wanted them to look.



I'm hoping to get my next one done tomorrow - I've already got some ideas for it.