More handy spreads in my Hands AB.

Sorry there is no WOYWW (what's on your workdesk Wednesday) today, but I still haven't showed up to all 130 or so people who provided links last week. I got so far behind, I couldn't catch up, only made it to about 80 people, which is not a good average. That's why I simply have to sit out on this collaboration until I have a few projects finished.

Speaking of projects, I was talking on the phone yesterday with my friend Halle about her joining Margaret's Dress Up Project and beginning with her January dress. As we were talking, I told her that I was having some design issues with her birthday gift and she actually GUESSED what I was making for her. I didn't give her that much information, but she knows me so well (even though we've never met), she was able to guess the project. Although I'm not going to show any of the project I'm making for her, here are a couple of pages that, when folded, make four spreads in my Hands AB and are similar, although less elaborate than what I'm making for Halle. My plan is to make three of these pages, sew them together and glue them en masse into my Hands altered book. Click on any photo for a better view. These were scanned and are far better quality than my camera takes.

All images are scraps from magazines, books, newspapers, etc. On the left are security envelope squares over which I sewed magazine images and a quote to a newspaper page. The assembly was attached to a sheet of yellow paper.

On the right I sewed a cover from a 2003 magazine. Yep, I've been collecting hand images that long. There are two pockets

to slip pieces into. Here I've saved some of the painted paper I created earlier in the day and an image I intend to sew in the next folio (a folio is one piece in a signature). Don't know if you can tell, but they are in two different pockets.

The inside two spreads are also sewn. On the left, I've folded over a part of the image from the previous side, then added a magazine image and a title that matched in color to the image. I used a straight stitch except around the globe. This is all freehand, but not with any special foot or feed dog. Just me pushing the sewing machine in the general direction of the piece.

On the right, I started by coloring some white cardstock with color mists that I cut from the piece that now sits in the pocket on the back, then added two "hand gesture" images, all of which I sewed to a dictionary page, then sewed to the yellow background.

I really love sewing these things onto the pages and I don't have to worry that the image/piece will fall off if the glue doesn't hold, or if the glue will warp the piece, or if I have the patience to hold the piece until the glue dries. I hope to make more soon, but today I'm going thrift shop hunting for fabric and whatever surprises I can find. And of course, I'll be taking my camera with me.

Even though I'm not participating in WOYWW, I am featuring one of the participants. Wipso was one of the first people I met during WOYWW. She and her sister Twiglet both participate, and it was from them I learned about dumfing. Want to know more? Visit Wipso's blog, aptly called A Stitch in Time, where she not only talks dumfing, she also shows some of her wonderful sewing pieces she makes as a successful seamstress in her hometown of Shropshire in the UK, as well as her beloved dumf. And yes, I want a dumf. It's definitely a wish list item.