October Journal

 Warm greetings dear readers, happy fall!

I finished this journal for October, but here we are already in November.

     Again I'm working with some antique fabrics that I found during my weekend scavenger hunts.

 Warm October

This grungy piece on the cover was salvaged from a needlepoint antique pillow that I tore up

into pieces, then discovered that I liked the look of the back more than the front! You

can still make out a flower, but I just couldn't resist the rough woolly texture.

 

 

I have definitely found a lot of joy in gathering bits and pieces of old fabrics, I have baskets of them sorted into themes or colours. I put on some calming dreamy music, light a candle or two, and then rummage in my baskets, trying not to think too much, letting my hands move unhindered. I start with a foundation piece of cloth, and then begin to build my layers, moving around little bits of material, lace and fibers until I like the composition, then pin it all together.

While making this journal it struck me that I am creating a collage, but with pieces of cloth instead of papers and paint.

                

         

I love using real pressed flowers on my pages, I happened to find some small antique crocheted swirls and thought they added a sweet little texture to my petals.

   

 "There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October." — Nathaniel Hawthorne

Thank you for looking.....xoxoxoxox

I am so happy to finally enjoy the crisp cool autumn air, this always make me want to bake!

Enjoy the season, I'll be back soon with another fall journal.

 

Love, Lisa 

xoxoxoxx

 

Plum Birthday Journal

 Hello lovely ladies. It's my birthday month and as I shared last September a journal I had made for myself, I'm back this month to do the same. As I go on my weekly scavenger hunts I often find random vintage textiles that are of wildly varying colours - but alas - there is a method to my madness (I think!) and these dusty forgotten lovely pieces of cloth come home with me where I wash them tenderly and sort them into baskets. Over the summer I gathered a few plum coloured fabrics and so they all came together in my new birthday journal. 

September

I created a collage of different bits of vintage trims and velvety flowers. I found this vintage silver plated leaf decoration in a thrift store that really made me happy, I thought it added the perfect touch to my cover of of fanciful flowers.

I made a trip home this summer where I had time to pull out some old family photo albums.

What a joy it is to see an old photograph and suddenly find long lost memories washing over you. This photograph of me as a little girl made me recall that my very first memories are here in this apartment on Eglinton Avenue. I distinctly remember my very young self looking up in absolute wonder at very long crystal clear icicles hanging from the eaves of the entrance. Winter is such a magical time when you are young. I also remember my Dad taking us to a nearby park where we would ride a toboggan down the icy hills into piles of fluffy snow.

    

    

                                          
           

 

         

I'm already playing with my next basket of fabrics in fiery colours of burnt orange, rusty golden browns and dark rich reds, in anticipation of my favourite autumn season. I'll be back with another share. Thanks for looking and I hope you feel inspired.

Love, Lisa xoxoxox

 

Departing summer hath assumed

An aspect tenderly illumed,

The gentlest look of spring;

That calls from yonder leafy shade

Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,

A timely carolling.

No faint and hesitating trill,

Such tribute as to winter chill

The lonely redbreast pays!

Clear, loud, and lively is the din,

From social warblers gathering in

Their harvest of sweet lays.

Nor doth the example fail to cheer

Me, conscious that my leaf is sere,

And yellow on the bough:—

Fall, rosy garlands, from my head!

Ye myrtle wreaths, your fragrance shed

Around a younger brow!

Yet will I temperately rejoice;

Wide is the range, and free the choice

Of undiscordant themes;

Which, haply, kindred souls may prize

Not less than vernal ecstasies,

And passion's feverish dreams.

For deathless powers to verse belong,

And they like Demi-gods are strong

On whom the Muses smile;

But some their function have disclaimed,

Best pleased with what is aptliest framed

To enervate and defile.

Not such the initiatory strains

Committed to the silent plains

In Britain's earliest dawn:

Trembled the groves, the stars grew pale,

While all-too-daringly the veil

Of nature was withdrawn!

Nor such the spirit-stirring note

When the live chords Alcæus smote,

Inflamed by sense of wrong;

Woe! woe to Tyrants! from the lyre

Broke threateningly, in sparkles dire

Of fierce vindictive song.

And not unhallowed was the page

By wingèd Love inscribed, to assuage

The pangs of vain pursuit;

Love listening while the Maid

With finest touch of passion swayed

Her own Æolian lute.

O ye, who patiently explore

The wreck of Herculanean lore,

What rapture! could ye seize

Some Theban fragment, or unroll

One precious, tender-hearted scroll

Of pure Simonides.

That were, indeed, a genuine birth

Of poesy; a bursting forth

Of genius from the dust:

What Horace gloried to behold,

What Maro loved, shall we enfold?

Can haughty Time be just!

September 1819

by William Wordsworth

New Autumn journal

 Hello and a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers, and warm greetings to all those abroad! We feast on roast turkey and count our blessings on this day; family, faith, love and friends to share happy times with.

 

I wanted to share my latest book, inspired by the fiery colours of autumn, as the trees turn all sorts of warm reds, orange and gold. The size is smaller that I usually make, and I love it, it fits nicely into your hands, and can be brought along with you as you go for a walk or a drive in the countryside. It's so soft and lovely, I used some thick soft brocade and pieces of a beautiful gold and crimson Indian dress that I thrifted.

'Ode to Autumn'

 

This is a small collage I made using a vintage photograph, and little bits of the fabrics

I was using in my journal. 

I created the cover as a sort of tri-fold, where there is an extra piece of the back cover that is folded 

at the very front of the journal, or here, at the halfway point. On the under side of this flap is a 

lacey pocket to tuck a note or a photograph into.

 Many relaxing evening hours were spent ripping and sewing and piecing this journal together :)

I hope it inspires you in some way. I have most definitely found my joy in working with fabrics, 

and creating books that I will treasure over time has really brought me happiness.

Fall, Leaves, Fall

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; 

Lengthen night and shorten day; 

Every leaf speaks bliss to me, 

Fluttering from the autumn tree. 

I shall smile when wreaths of snow 

Blossom where the rose should grow; 

I shall sing when night’s decay 

Ushers in a drearier day.

 

- Emily Brontë

 

I'll be back in December for another share, I am working in navy blues, silver and gold.

Sending many blessings your way, thanks for looking!

Hugs,

Lisa xoxoxoxo

September Birthday journal

 September has always been my favourite month of the year, and not just because it's my birthday month! I have always loved the changes in the light, the air; and to me, a sense of a new beginning. I created this journal as a love letter to September (and to myself), to write down my thoughts and dreams at this beautiful time of the year. 

 

After gathering a pile of some vintage linens and a pretty deep mauve coloured skirt bought from a thrift store, I created a lot of collaged paper that I had tea dyed and inked, and then sewed some fabric scraps into signatures and also as pockets on some of the pages.

I decided on a soft fabric cover and added some lace and ribbons to tie the journal together. I handmade the flowers by taking strips of same fabric and running a long gathering stitch down the center, gathering up the strip of fabric, and then winding them into a circular flower shape. I sewed the gathered fabric together at the bottom, and then hand sewed them onto my cover. 

Here are some photos of the signatures:

I had a tiny light bulb go off in my head one night, and thought to add several strips of sari ribbon to use as a book marker, and then found this adorable little magnifying glass to add a little whimsy.  I sewed a small lace pocket on the right page so that when not in use, it can be tucked away.

Thank you for looking! I hope I have inspired all the journal makers out there.

I'll be back next month with another autumn inspired book.

 

Love, Lisa xoxoxox