A 100 Day Project made into two textile books;a Make Nine finish

A revisit to my 100 Day Project from 2023 resulted in a two-volume set of stitched and collaged textile books. I learned the slot-and-tab binding technique through this year’s 100 Day Stitch Book project, and decided to use it to compile the individual stitched and collaged compositions from 2023 into a finished piece—a book. Learning from the experience with the 100 Day Stitch Book, the assembly for these two books was smooth and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.

100 Day Project 2023.
Volume I (left) and Volume II of stitch and fabric collaged compositions.

The new books required covers

With 18 compositions to work into a textile book (a lot of pages that would make a very thick book!), I decided to divide the compositions into two volumes. This made the assembly more manageable and allowed the compositions to relax and expand on the pages.

Making two books/volumes required making two [new] book covers. With these newly stitched covers, I was able to document the name of the project. This is the cover for Volume I (a 12-page book + cover) …

Cover for Volume I. Measurements: 9.75” x 9”

… and this cover is for Volume II (an 8-page book + cover).

Cover for Volume II. Measurements: 9.75” x 9”

In my group of stitched compositions, I had one partially finished page. I decided to finish it so there would be less blank pages. This made a total of 19 compositions divided into two books.

• Volume I: 12-page book with 11 stitched compositions.
• Volume II: 8-page book with 8 stitched compositions.
• Front and back covers are in addition to the inside pages.

A partially completed page from 2023 was finished in 2025 and added to the book.

The inside compositions/pages were all 9” square. The front and back covers, as well as the inside front and inside back covers, were cut slightly wider, at 9.75” x 9”, to accommodate the spines. 

View of the book spines.

View of the front and back covers that wrap around to create the spine.

Discoveries, notes, and tips

To make note of a few things for future slot-and-tab books:

• All the pages are yarn-dyed fabrics [from Diamond Textiles] which are a dream for hand stitching.
• The surged edges of the book’s pages helped when turning the signature right-side-out.

Sewing past the corners on each side.

• When sewing the signatures, I sewed off the edges at the corners (rather than pivoting and turning). The stitch line was used as the guide for turning the corners right-side-out.
• I love the stitching on the backs (wrong sides) as much as the stitching on the fronts! So, I took photos of the compositions (fronts and backs) before assembling the signatures. 

Back sides of two of the stitched compositions.

• The paper folding dummies were extremely necessary as the slot-and-tab assembly does not follow the conventional pagination scheme for book signatures. 
• I’m thinking about adding a pocket in one of the books to hold the paper dummies.

Paper folding dummies for pagination.

Four-page signatures.

Here are a few of my favorite page spreads.

Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. 

Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. 

Page spread. 100 Days of Stitch and Fabric Collage, 2023. 

The left page on the spread (below) was the newest composition that was started in 2023 but completed this year.

The additional, new composition is on the left.

A Make Nine 2025 Finish

These textile books are fulfilling one of the UFO prompts for Make Nine 2025.

Make Nine 2025 “UFO” prompt.

Make Nine 2025 tracker. June 1, 2025.

The last page of Volume II.

I’m happy to have these stitched compositions from my 100 Day Project from 2023 in book form. And I do see more slot-and-tab textile books in my future.

Create Daily Tracker 2025, entering the summer season

Today is June 1 which means the first five months of 2025 are behind us. We’re entering the month of June and the summer season. Here’s a check-in on the progress of my Create Daily Tracker for 2025, with five months completed.

January - May, 2025, Create Daily Tracker.

Tracker analysis

January - May consisted of 151 days.

• 100 days were spent on the 100 Day Project for 2025 [Jan. 17 - April 26], the 100 Day Stitch Book. If I spent a significant amount of time also working on another activity that day, I included a small box of with another color in the box for that day.
• 31 days in January were spent working on the January Junk Journal project.

The percentages of time spent on various activities were:

• 5% sewing and garment construction.
• 7% free-motion quilting, which was mostly charity quilts.
• 11% was spent on art projects—painting, collage, art journaling, etc.
• 12% on knitting/yarn projects
• 18% piecing and patchwork
• 40% slow stitching and mending; this includes the 100 Day Stitch Book, and the last half of the Winter of Care and Repair Challenge that started on the Winter Solstice and concluded on the Spring Equinox.

11 days (7%) are marked as Finishes—completed projects from any/all of the above categories/activities.

January - May 2025 creative activities.

With the completion of this year’s 100 Day Project—which involved a lot of hand stitching—the remainder of the year should balance out the percentages of each activity. Unless, however, I stumble upon another enticing slow stitch project in the upcoming months.

Revisiting my 2023 100 Day Project: the book assembly

While learning how to do the slot-and-tab bookmaking technique for this year’s 100 Day Stitch Book, I’ve decided to revisit my 100 Day Project from 2023, 100 Days of Fabric and Stitch Collage, and make those compositions into a soft book as well. In the 2023 100 Day Project, I completed 18 textile collage compositions and now I have a good way to assemble them into a book.

Folding dummy and textile compositions for a new soft stitch book.

Preparing the signatures

I have 18 completed textile collage compositions (book pages) from the 2023 project. After my experience with a 20-page (plus cover) slot-and-tab book for my 2025 Stitch Book, I’ve decided to make two books out of these compositions.

Figuring out the page spreads and the signatures was quite challenging. In order to work with 4-page signatures—and not have too many blank pages—I finished this additional composition (below) that was started back in 2023 but not completed.

This composition, finished this year, is an additional page for one of the books.

I’m also designing and stitching covers for both of these books… an additional time commitment.

Layout and collage prep for one of the book covers.

I’m excited to start sewing the signatures and see the collage compositions take shape into a book form, but I’ll have to finish stitching the covers before assembly can begin. I hope to make significant progress over this Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Beginning free-motion quilting class, August 1-3

Do you want to quilt your own quilts? Does free-motion quilting pique your interest? Would you like to learn how to free-motion quilt using your home sewing machine? If you answered “Yes!” to any of these questions… join me at the John C.Campbell Folk School in August for “Intro to Free-motion Quilting.”

Intro to Free-motion Quilting on your home sewing machine, August 1-3, 2025.
John C.Campbell Folk School.

Beginner level, no experience necessary!

This is a beginner level class.  No prior free-motion experience is necessary, but students must know how to operate a sewing machine. We’ll start with the basics and discuss the tools and techniques to get you up and running with successful free-motion quilting.

Free-motion quilting on a domestic sewing machine.

Topics include

In this workshop, we’ll discuss a myriad of topics for successful free-motion quilting, such as

• quilting terminology
• sewing machine set-up
• threads, fiber content, thread weights
• needles and needle sizes
• choosing batting and preparing the quilt sandwich
• helpful tools and supplies for free-motion quilting
• tips for creating your own free-motion designs, and more.

Free-motion quilting designs.

In the Folk School’s spacious and well-lit quilting studio, students will learn and practice continuous line patterns that can be used with traditional or modern quilt styles. Should you be inspired and so inclined, the studio can be opened in the evenings for additional free-motion quilting exploration.

Practice makes progress

One of the ways I like to practice my free-motion quilting is with charity quilts. Here are examples of cuddle quilts (a guild community service project) and kitty quilts (that I donate to local veterinarians). 

Free-motion quilting on a cuddle quilt.

Free-motion quilting on a cuddle quilt.

I often bring a charity quilt top for demonstration purposes and go back to the quilting studio after dinner to spend time with the feed dogs dropped. 

Small charity quilts are a great canvas for practicing free-motion quilting.

With practice, students can easily achieve continuous line quilting designs such as these.

Kitty quilts for the local Cat Clinic.

Sign up for a weekend of free-motion quilting at the Folk School

Spend a weekend at the Folk School, learn a new skill, and meet new quilting friends. Sign up for this “Intro to Free-motion Quilting” weekend workshop (August 1 - 3, 2025) on the John C. Campbell Folk School website. There are limited spaces still available. 

View of the Folk School campus from one of the on-campus houses.

Nature abounds on the sprawling 270-acre campus of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. Soak up the beauty and learn free-motion quilting, too. I hope to see you there!