Journal Cover

DONE, DONE, DONE.  I have finished a journal cover and I have something made for every month of the Stocking Swap.  Now I just have to decide if I want to make another one of the items I have made or go with what I already have.  Since I have a few months, I will probably make some extra items so I can pick and choose which gift I send to my swap partner.   I have choices in every category except the stocking, ornament, journal cover and pillow cases.  Oh, yes, and the table runner.  I really, really like my table runner and I might just have to keep it.  Which means, I will make another one to swap.  The pictures below are my journal cover.  I started playing earlier this week and just sewed some fabrics together, added some more sewn together fabrics, quilted it and tonight, I bound it and hand sewed the inside flap down.  (that doesn't sound right, but the part of the cover the journal slides into) 

This cover has no definite front or back so the user can decide which side he/she likes best.  I may try to make another one that has a definite front to it, just to see if I like it better than this mixture of fabrics.  I may also look to see if there is a pattern or suggestions to making a cover to see if there is an easier way to put the binding on those open edges - light bulb!!!  I guess I could have treated it as a quilt and done just one binding all the way around the rectangle.  Huh.  I didn't do that - as you can tell by my rambling and talking in my head to myself.  I put a binding on the two ends - different fabrics - and then added a top binding and a bottom binding totally separate from each other.  Then I had to leave a bit of fabric to each end, turn the ends in, tuck them under and stitch them down.  Would have been way, way easier if I had just done one continuous binding all the way around.  Okay, it's a definite.  I will be making one more journal cover, just so I can get the binding done properly.  I won't say correctly, because the way I did it worked and it looks good.  Plus I love having two different bindings on the front and back flaps.