When Poppie Cotton sent me a bundle of one of their new fabric lines called Garden Party Fabric, designed by Sheri McCulley, I will admit that I was neck deep in other projects as well as an early spring full of everything to do on the farm. I put the bundle of fabric in a large glass canister jar and just admired it for a couple months. (Speaking of which, I really need to take a picture of my numerous glass canisters lined up with new Poppie Cotton fabric lines this year... I love how they look all lined up on the counter in my sewing room!).
I kept thinking about the fabric and would pull it out to look at it several times each month. Then flower season came for us on our farm and my daughter and I got swamped with our cut flower business. I felt a few times back in July that I was literally smothering with all my deadlines and did I take on more this year than I could handle? (Most of my deadlines are calendared MONTHS in advance.) Also my creative brain completely shut down. Like completely. My sewing became a bit of drudgery trying to meet deadlines, keep things fresh and new and not be looking on Pinterest for ideas. I really like my ideas to come organically and THEN I'll look on Pinterest sometimes to make sure I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel! Ha ha!
One day a couple weeks ago, with the Garden Party fabric tour looming, I pulled the fabric out again. And BOOM! I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Here's the thing. All my notes and drawings for our tiny little flower farm are done on scraps of paper here and there... I always have the best of intentions and start out the spring with things all organized and then I find myself down in our flower field and I'm making notes on the back of seed packets or on a cardboard box. All this gets put in a bin that is carried back and forth with us to the field until the end of the summer comes... and bummer, we've lost all my notes. I know it... I'm a terrible farmer. Obviously our business is very, very tiny... basically fun for my daughter and I and the grand-girls. But still, notes are important. Drawings of things going on in the garden are important. Plans on where we grew things are important.
After I finished it I realized that I wanted some really fun pages in it as well and since I'm not an artist, I enlisted the help of the my artist grand-daughter Jillian! She did some super fun artwork on six pages, as well as a cover page, and this amazing Garden Journal is now all ready for me to use!
A fun side note: a few days after I gave Jillian the journal and some fabric swatches I snuck in her bedroom one day when I was at my daughter's house to see if she had started on the pages. On her floor was her work in progress. (And yes, she has an art desk but she's 15... sitting on the floor is still easy!) I do not think like an artist so it was really fun to see how her artistic brain works! (I know that when I'm working designing a sewing project, I have the same sort of brain... but it is just so foreign to me to see art of this sort in progress!).
I also really enjoyed fussy cutting some of the sweet little prints and making covered buttons that I then glued to huge paper clips! These are adorable as well as useful! If you've never made these before, I highly recommend it! They are a fun project and make a great gift for anyone that is a journal keeper!
Another thing I designed at the spur of the moment was a clear vinyl zipper pocket on the inside of the front cover. This will hold seed packets, loose leaf notes, a pen, etc... It was actually really easy to make and I love that it is clear vinyl.
Of course, as usual for me, one of the things about Poppie Cotton fabric that I always get excited about is the words in the selvedge! They are always fun to incorporate into my projects. I really loved using the words on both the front and the back covers!
And last but not least is the hand quilting I did on the cover. I always love to do some big stitch hand quilting on every project. There is something about it that soothes my mind and just gives a little extra sweetness I think. (Here's a funny for you... I entered this journal binder in the fair. I could not find a category that it fit except for "other quilted item". The lady kept telling me it wasn't the right category... but she finally agreed it IS a quilted item!! I just left it yesterday so I have no idea if it won a ribbon or not! I'll let you know!!)
I love this fabric line and so happy that I was able to showcase it in a fun and unique way.
Happy garden planning (and sewing) my friends!
What a cute idea - love the artwork and the use of the selvedge.
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