DECEMBER QUILT JOURNAL

Terry sent out the theme for December's Quilt Journal project back in mid- November. "In Grandmother's Kitchen" seemed like a wonderful way to reminisce about holidays past, loved ones, etc.

Today I finished my "Grama's Kitchen" piece which was one of the many projects on my list as I awaited my new foot pedal from the states. I loved the theme Terry suggested but the reality of it was that not many visions of interest popped into my head. Of course it could be an imaginary granny from times past with soups simmering away on the woodstove, etc., but my grandparents were older and had simple but relatively modern (uninteresting???) kitchens. BUT, one thing that kept coming back to me was the can of Bird's Custard in our cupboard that I always questioned why it was there but never used. It had such a distinctive label and always caught my attention as a young girl. That can must have been there for years!, with my mother's intentions to make Nanaimo Bars, but never having to because they were my Grama Gertrude's Christmas specialty. Every Christmas we looked forward to those fantastic treats and to this day they remain one of my favorites. So I got the can from the internet, printed it out and attached it to the center of my design. I followed that with a bit of foil to highlight the can. Then I sewed in the letters that I next discharged with my bleach pen. I finished up with some fill-in freemotion. Now I wanted to wash out the bleach product so did a quick soak to get it out of the fabric, and lo and behold I sadly discovered that some of the color from the custard can also washed out. There are always lessons to learn, aren't there? Next time (on pieces where I use bleach), I will think carefully about the sequence and what needs to be protected from washing. Oh well. While I was at it, I put together a cover for my journal pieces which are now consolidated into a real book with temporary rings of zip-ties. I'll look for those metal rings at our local papeleria. A future to-do item is to print out brief stories of each journal piece and print out on fabric that I will attach to the back of each. I love the stories that go along with our creations...each and every piece and person has an interesting message to convey.