Sheer cards, scrapbuster blocks

Finished my sheers postcards today - not sure how well they show the techniques used, but I think they came out well. The background is a sunprinted fabric, which then had a piece of (nylon) organza layered on top and stitched randomly fairly heavily with cotton thread (this is important because of the next step). I then used my little soldering iron to remove pieces of the sheer, sometimes cutting right up against the thread - because the thread is cotton, it doesn't burn if you just brush against it. If you hold the iron there for a while and concentrate the heat, it will eventually go through the cotton, but not with a regular touch (same with the background fabric), which is why this works. I then added lovely Oliver Twist threads couched down on top, and some stars which I painted purple and then French knots in more Oliver Twist threads. Finally, I edged with satin stitch, using a different colour on each edge. Ta da! (Apologies to those who've read the description before in bits and pieces, but I thought it made sense to put the whole thing here with the finished cards.)



When I had finished with the cards, I wanted to do some "regular sewing" (i.e. piecing - sometimes there is just something very satisfying about piecing together lots of bits to make something bigger) and as I knew I might get interrupted a lot (kids here, and despite their daddy being home, kids still tend to ask me to deal with stuff - anyone else find that? LOL), I didn't want anything I had to concentrate on too intensely. So I decided to pull out the scrapbuster squares and the black mock sashing - I finished sewing the first two rows together, and added black to about half the blocks for the next row. It all takes a lot longer than it looks, as those black sashing rows are made up of 2" squares, just like the other blocks are. However, I think it's going to look very effective if it ever gets done. The hard part is (as ever) finding somewhere to photograph it from - this view is with it on the floor of Alex's room, with me on the top bunk looking down - not too bad, but will probably only work for 4-5 rows, even if I move the furniture. Oh for a design wall - or more to the point, oh for a large wall which could be a design wall - even if I moved pictures, etc, my largest wall wouldn't be big enough (or rather, my largest wall, which is the one in the top stairwell, which is so high no one can reach the top to remove the cobwebs, probably would be large enough, but as I can only get about 2 feet away from it, it still wouldn't work as a design wall...)