Sometimes it's a curse

Sometimes the long drive to work can be a curse. My mind jumps all over the place and when it gets stuck on something it's a bear getting my mind off of it. Especially if it's a sad thought. But today the long drive was a blessing. On the good days I do my best designs and inspirations in my head. I realized that my bead journal is actually about my journey through Mom's life, not her journey. So I named January "I'm on My Way".

January BJP

I finally decided on a name for my journal quilt. It's called Life's Journey. I finished January yesterday and can't wait until I start next month's page.

I finished beading the page yesterday but I don't want to overload you all with numerous pictures so I'll post the final picture when I get it finished. Since I will be quilting each individual page instead of waiting until the whole thing is done I've been trying to come up with an idea on how to attach them all. I'm leaning towards doing a beaded edge like I did on my peacock purse. Then when I get the next page done I'll just weave the 2 edges together.

I'll post again when it's finished

I am almost finished with my first page. I love this new idea of quilting my pages. I'm not going to bind them until I figure out how I'm going to connect them.

They say every dark cloud has a silver lining. I didn't realize how true that was until yesterday. I had finished all the beading on my journal page and I needed to glue the thin cardboard piece to the back to make it sturdier and then glue the back material to it. I didn't have any my usual glue that I use on the ultra suede so I used a white glue that hubby had. The glue seeped through to the material and it warped the cardboard. It was a total disaster and the page is ruined. My daughter suggested that instead of a book I should make all my pages into a quilt. I really love this idea and I could kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. Now my insert will be quilt batting and there is no glue required :)

Bead Journal

Every year a group of beaders sign up to do a Bead Journal. The challenge is do to one page a month. I decided to sign up this year and mine is dedicated to my Mom that I lost last year (I can't believe I'm saying "last year" already). Here is the start of the first page. I'll be adding more progress pictures as I get them done.