Journal quilts - 1 and 2 next steps

So, on my last post I showed you how I prepared the background fabric for my first 2 Journal quilts - a favourite background technique I use quite a lot.

The next day I cut the background into the quilt sizes 12 x 8 inches horizontally - in itself a challenge (not the cutting, but the orientation!  Instinct wants me to go profile not landscape!)

Then, with the words I had brainstormed in mind (I have pinned this to the back of a cupboard door in the studio to prompt me) I set to work.

And it just flowed!  I love it when that happens.

For the first little quilt I used words from a weekend paper supplement - there was an article on a daughters descent into schizophrenia.  So I grabbed snippets of some one else's memories - not mine - and other words and dates.  The words could mean something to anyone, or not - and ditto with some of the random days.  Certainly for the dates here I could not tell you what I was doing - those memories are lost.

I just snipped and arranged.

Then using Mod Podge because it has a nice opaque finish and coloured with the purple Brusho Ink I glued the snippets of paper down.

Meanwhile, and because it was all flowing so well, another idea came to me.  When she was little my daughter had a lovely pair of little pink ankle boots.  I don't know why, but I remember them so well.  But I don't have a photo of them.

So, I found a photo on the web of a similar shoe and made a tracing of it.

Which I then turned into a very simple pattern.

The shoes were pink.  I had no pink fabric, but I did have some pink paint and some extender.  So I painted my own fabric, and then used the pattern above (reversed in one case to make a pair) to cut the shoes.

A bit of pink felt for the laces and dark pink felt for the soles.

And then using a lovely variegated cotton I stitched the welt of the shoes and finished the end of the laces.

Here you can see them placed on the background, but not attached yet.

Now both little quilts are ready for stitching (and indeed quilting for they are just background papers here).  That is the next stage.

I am going to post this on Nina Marie's blog (a good read in itself and a lovely way to share with other people).  I would be really interested to have your feedback, though you might want to wait for the finished pieces.  I promise you I will get them finished quickly and the little finished articles posted for comment.