Quilted Scrapbook Tutorial

If you know my mother, you've seen a book like this at least once. I'm here to walk you through it, so you can have your very own quilted scrapbook.

You can use any size binder from 1" to 3". For this, I'm using 1" books - they are not for family archival. These are for a friend who is hosting an orphan for a month, and luggage space is at a premium.

I just have to wax eloquent for a moment about this fabric. I wanted something tween boy-ish, but with something that would also work for a grown woman who is a confessed girly girl. When I found these packs of fat quarters, I thought they were pretty awesome from the bits I could see. BUT, I didn't open the packs until I was ready to do the books. So I didn't really know what they looked like until I opened them to get going. I AM IN LOVE! Ok, I say that about all the fabric I buy, but this one makes the hall of fame. I want to make .... anything and everything out of this fabric. I wish there was enough for clothes. The neon batiks just speak to me.

Ok, back to the real tutorial. Open the binder, lay it flat, and measure out quilt batting. I like low-loft, you don't necessarily want it super puffy. HOT GLUE! It's a blessing and a curse. Glue the batting down, starting with the corners and working your way around. Trim off the excess.

As for the cover, you can go simple with a single piece of fabric to cover the whole thing. If so, just glue in place over the batting. I went with a paper-pieced quilt block pattern. There are great tutorials and patterns available online or in books or kits. Follow the pattern and make as many pieces as you need. Four of the heart block were enough for this 1" binder, but when we used it for my brother's wedding book that was a 3", it needed a border all the way around to fit. Once you've got the front done, pin and sew a coordinating fabric to the back, then glue in place.

For the inside of the covers, cut pieces of posterboard to fit about 1/2" shy of the edges. Cover with coordinating fabric. It can be the same as the outside, or different, depending on your taste. Also, depending on your book and your taste, you may want to glue in some ribbon or something around the binder rings. just to hide the book-y feel. Definitely do this before putting in the inside covers, otherwise, it's a real pain! Glue the inside covers in place by running a line of glue around the edges of the covers, and zig-zag glue all over the binder.

Now, you're ready to decorate the outside. If you went with a plain fabric front, the world is yours. Add an applique, an iron-on picture, something cross-stitched or embroidered. Glue on beads, flowers, ribbon, whatever. If you went with something quilted, just remember that more is not always better. With the incredibly bright and busy print of my fabric, I kept it simple. On the one book with the yellow border around the heart (which is for the boy) I didn't add any embellishments. On the book with the pink hearts, I used a silver and white ribbon to accent and bring out the heart shape. Simple.

All done! Enjoy your work and the frosty beverage of your choice!

By the way, this and real life are part of what's kept me from blogging since Thanksgiving.

I'll catch up the rest of it as soon as I can.

CARNIVAL!!

The carnival was AMAZING fun!!! Everything went extremely well, despite having to move indoors due to cold, windy weather. I was incredibly pleased with my booth - the Library of Congress!! Everyone else seemed to love it to, and the school's curriculum coordinator asked for my display to put in one of the labs! How awesome is that?!? I'm so pleased, I just can't stop grinning.

The travel trivia game went well also. The kids and parents all liked it AND learned something. We ate too much fabulous food, played games, and overall just had a good time with good people. We really do have a fantastic school community.

I'm dead tired now. Trying to keep my eyes open. Not succeeding. Have a great weekend!

Nov 19, 2010

Ok, I'm a day late. Sue me. You get 2 posts today anyway, so shut yer piehole! (Wow. Yer is a word recognized by AutoCorrect.)

Anyway, after a hell of a start to my regular workday yesterday, I came home and got my stuff together for carnival. That didn't take near as long as I thought, so then I put a couple beers in the freezer, and sat back to sew for the evening. I honestly can't believe I was ready for the carnival the day before.

So, I finally finished the detail on the lord a leaping. Then I started on the lady dancing. I might have these ready for Christmas after all! Yay me!

Too Tired

I am too tired for pictures today. Recap: I finished putting all the book titles on the shelves. They are awaiting their final putting together phase - that will be fun - 8 feet of paper taped together! I finished stenciling in the quotes for my "stone plaques". I re-colored my First Aid poster so that it's truly red and not pink. I looked up trivia about the LoC, North Pole, AK, The Peabody Hotel, and Kissimmee, FL. I promise, it will make sense come Saturday. IT WILL. My to-do list is looking much shorter and more manageable now. I also gathered all my work equipment for tomorrow. I HATE going to the Strip and ad-changing those drug stores. They piss me off!! I think it's time for a muscle relaxant and bed. Srsly.

Nov 16, 2010

Ok, let's talk about all these. I'm to a point where a lot of things are getting done because I'm finally in the final stages. Or maybe I'm misleading myself - that's certainly not out of the realm of possibility. ;) First - the First Aid station sign. Self explanatory. Second - the brown board - my "stone plaques" - there are two of them. They will each have a quote from the Library of Congress about education on them by the time I'm done. Third - my encyclopedias! OMG I am so in love with these! I don't know precisely what it is about them, but they are my absolute favorite and I just love how well they are turning out. Fourth - the monkey blanket, which was shipped out today after I tied it this morning. LOVE the silly monkey fabric. Fifth and lastly - I'm not sure why these were still on the camera, unless I didn't get them up last night, but this is a finished book panel before titles. Which I have been working on today, obviously, with the encyclopedias. Slowly but surely, these will be ready by Saturday morning!!

So here are today's projects, although I don't have pictures of all of them. I finished the painting as seen here. Now all that's left for this section is to let it dry and then write in the book titles and authors. I did get the teddy bear from last week framed, but forgot to take a picture before I boxed it up. And I got the baby blanket to go with it sewn and washed, but it's still in the dryer. I also glued the yarn for the ties, since the last time I used this yarn it totally disintegrated in the wash. I will tie it tomorrow and take pics. I'm so happy, it turned out GREAT! Anyway, now it's late, and I need to get to bed.

Here's the almost finished lord a leaping - I'm missing the thread color for some of the outlining. Guess I'm going to Hobby Lobby tomorrow! YAY!

This other picture is of a project I'm doing for PTA. If you can guess what it is, great. If not, well, you'll find out what it is later this week as I have to have the project finished by Saturday for the carnival. Actually, even if I go to Hobby Lobby for thread, I need to finish this PTA project more. I will be painting for the rest of the week.