Like hundreds of other crafty craftisans out there, I joined Mary Ann Moss' online class Remains of the Day.
I know I'm late getting to this party but I didn't decide to sign up for this until way after it started. I've done some bookmaking and wasn't totally motivated to buy another class. But this one just called to me. And every time I went blog hopping, I'd see someone working on theirs so I just went for it. Well, after watching Mary Ann's tutorials and seeing all the wonderful work the other participants have shared in the Flickr group, I'm really glad I joined! Mary Ann is super inspiring and oh Lordy, I am having the time of my life using up all kinds of odd bits, scraps and leftovers that have been hanging around in my stash forever! Love that! It feels so good to use up stuff!!!
So getting on with it...here's the book in all it's glory, how it will look tucked under my arm as I carry it everywhere I go. Front...

Back...
I definitely went for the very shabby look. I showed it to my husband and he said it looks likes it's 100 years old already. :-)
Opened a little to show the inside of the flap...
I LOVE how this little bit turned out...
It's just a bunch of yarn and ribbons stitched over with LOTS of zig zag and regular stitching.
And then fully opened showing the whole inside...

It's totally wonky but I'm just gonna embrace it. I have learned that when I make mistakes, the best thing to do is to just love 'em. It's the books that turn out less than perfect that end up being the ones I enjoy the most. Why? Because those are the ones I'll use instead of letting them sit on a shelf, admired but unloved. :-)
I used some burlap I found at the bins (thoroughly washed...yuk!) for this book and it's my new favorite material! I love how the ends fray and of course, that brown paper bag color makes me very happy. I also FINALLY bought a free motion presser foot for my machine. I'm not terribly happy with it because it has a spring and with every stitch it lifts up. I don't think they all do that so I need to investigate that a bit.
Here's a close up of the pocket on the inside...
The pocket is a piece of clear shower curtain with a piece of a hankerchief that had a map of Mt. Ranier stitched behind it. Way wonky!
The outside all opened up...

As for the insides, that is still a work in progress. I did get one signture done this weekend though...
Some of my favorite pages already...
This was totally the part that sold me on this class. Usin' up stuff!!! I think I went a little crazy because I didn't give myself too much room to journal or add pictures.And I still want to add words, stencils, rub ons and stickers! I'd better scale this down a notch! Oh well...I'm still learnin'. :-)
Got lots of future pages cut and ready to stitch up so I'm well on my way with completing this project!
Take care and hope you have a wonderful week! I had a crappy week last week between my friend's death and the whole stress-fracture-wearin'-a-soft-cast-possible-surgery situation...but this week holds some promise of being much better. I have today off, it's sunny and I have a massage scheduled this afternoon! And then tomorrow I'm taking a Franklin Covey "Focus" workshop at work! Super excited about that!!!
xo...