Ta Da! Sound the Trumpets! I'm Finished!

I did it. I did it! I finished my last page of BJP 2007.

This is my May page. It's based on my Grandma O'Keefe's wedding ring quilt. You can see my posting about that quilt here . The quilt caused a bit of a ruckus in the family with some thinking it was a valuable heirloom and it didn't help when my dad said two (that I know of) granddaughters would get to have it when he died. Well, with it almost hitting the trash bin as we were cleaning Dad's garage out, I somehow brought it home and still have it. We didn't get much from our grandmothers as other grandkids managed to get it instead. Grandma O'Keefe's stuff I'm afraid to say, probably went for drug money. Sad but that's the way life goes sometimes.

I wanted to see if I could do this like a charm quilt where every piece is a different fabric. I succeeded. I couldn't do fringe or too much texture as I was emulating fabrics - old fabrics. Some of the ugly-coating-coming-off pearl beads were the last from my mother. I figured this was a good place to use them. The two hearts in the middle are for my grandmothers. The fabrics are from their aprons we saw them wear so much.

I was going to sew all of these pieces from the year into a round penny rug table topper. I have changed my mind. I always cover up a table with junk and projects so it would never be seen and I didn't feel anyone else would ever want it in that form. Instead I am going to put them in three groups of four and sew them, still penny rug style, to a backing and put them in three matching frames. I think this will be a better way to display them all.

And now, I can go on to October 2008 guilt-free. Yay.

BJP started

Well, it's June 2nd and I am underway on this month's page. I have decided to use my dad as the theme for this month since his birthday was June 4, 1918. While he was very ill I traced his hand and am finally using the tracing. I have reduced it to fit on a 6" circle of blue felt. I am putting a purple heart and flag on the palm as he fought for his country during WWII and received a purple heart for an injury he received during the war.



After retiring from the military, he became a gardener for San Diego City School District besides constantly working in his own yard so his handprint will be in green.



So far that is as much as I have planned. I have already changed some of what I thought I would do as of yesterday so nothing is written in stone. If it isn't set in beads there is change possible!



The first picture shows the page underway. Yes, I have paper on the top side besides the bottom but I do have a reason. The top paper has the main pattern which I am transferring by outlining with beads rather than try to draw on felt. I will tear it away after the outlining is done.The flag only has a single line but that can be winged from there.



The second picture shows the beads I have gathered for this page. I certainly won't be able to use all of the types chosen and I may pull others but this is a start. I drilled holes in some seeds I had gathered from a tree in my dad's yard (I believe it was a breadfruit tree); they are on the tray but probably not visible and I will paint them if I use them. There are also some tiny shells on the tray as my dad was born in and loved Hawaii.







The third picture is a closer view of what I have done so far and the fourth picture shows how much I did while I was waiting for the first three


pictures to upload onto my blog - I am a VERY

slow beader! I am also on dial-up.

So far the felt is beading up very pleasantly and easily. I decided to put the backing paper on just to be on the safe side.















Now, the paper pattern has been removed so I can fill in the shapes.
















Well, my flag ended up a little askew but I am not going to redo it. One thing to know about me is I am not a perfectionist! I like quality and try to do a good job but perfection is never my goal. In fact, I tend to do something a little off on a project that looks a little too mechanically perfect. You will see I prefer czech seed beads over the japanese beads although there are times I will use them, even the delicas.

Penny Rugs (no permission)

Well, I found the information I needed to see if I could post a picture of a penny rug from a book I have but since I do not have a publisher of my own I do not qualify. So the only pictures I can post are of my own sample rug I am currently working on. It is in bright modern colors unlike traditional rugs but the technique is the same. I hope this helps anyone wondering what these rugs are.

Penny Rug Sample Project

I have never done a Penny Rug and since I want to do my Bead Journal Project (BJP) with this technique I thought I would do a trial run sans the beads. I am hoping to post the progress on this blog with pictures. I will say so far it is a fun, easy, relaxing technique. Felt is easy to work with and this is definitely not too technical so if someone needs some downtime from a more difficult project this is one to try. Of course, when I get to adding beaded pieces that will change while the basics will remain easy.

This is my basic plan. Yes, this is as good as it gets. I have most of it in my head but if I just leave it there I tend to forget it so I have to jot something down. Besides, why get carried away with a plan that almost always changes as you work with it.

Now, I have chosen my colors of felt and thread, cut out my circles and layered them on the background. I have embroidered a red star on each of the smallest circles (red circles of felt would have been too small). Below is a close-up of this stage.

Currently I am stitching around the flower and then around it's circle. To do that the circles can be pinned in place so things don't get mixed up but I tried putting a small dab of "YES" glue in the center of the back of each circle and am weighing them down with a book on top of them till they are dry. Then I can start stitching them to the background.

I am not the best person for giving directions. In the past I have given recipes to my daughter and left out key techniques assuming she knew them. It caused some gravy to have more and more cornstarch added as it wouldn't thicken. No, it wouldn't because it has to come to a boil and I forgot to tell her that!! Hopefully I do better with the musings on this project so no one gets confused.

I finished all the circles, trimmed the green felt and placed it on a background of yellow both to hide the stitching on all the circles and to give a final edge. Below, the finished project. I enjoyed this sample. Wait till I use larger circles and do beading on each one for my BPJ pages.

And here is my rug in use!

Penny Rugs

I have been asked what Penny Rugs are and gave a quick explanation on the blog where I was at the time.

To quote Country Living's Handmade Country book, "In ninteenth-century New England and Quebec, penny rugs were as popular as hooked rugs, but they are less well known today. Some say large copper pennies were used as templates for the earliest penny rugs, hence their name. Made by combining circle-and tongue-shaped fabrics, the rugs are commonly displayed on tables or walls because they are not durable enough to stand much foot traffic. Penny rugs are usually decorated with a blanket stitch, and sometimes the coins and tongues are embroidered or appliqued as well."

If I can't get permission to show a picture from their book I will make a small rug and post a picture of my own. I really love the folk-style crafts although I usually update them for our modern times.