The year of making postcards... part two

Having shared with you some of my favourite postcards of the ones I have received, it's time to share some of the ones I've made that I particularly like. On the whole, I haven't been unhappy with most of the cards I've done, but some have been more fun or more inspired than others, so here is a handful of favourites. I'm sure my choices say something about me, but what, precisely, is a matter for some debate :)


Fabric Painting - June 2007 Challenge on Arts in the Mail


Trees - BQLPC, June 2007



G is for "Geese" (Flying Geese, of course) - Arts in the Mail, June 2007


Picture Frame - Arts in the Mail, May 2007



Circles - BQLPC, April 2007



Open Theme with Charm - FAI, Feb 2007



International Women's Day - Art Quilt Forum on about.com, Mar 2007


Open Theme - Quilting Forum on Delphi, Jan 2007

Sunny (for once) Saturday's roundup

Postcard round-up: the funky lady is Olivia's finished postcard for the kids' swap on ArtsintheMail - she did the edging and added some jewels in strategic places. The airplane card is for the Summer Swap, and is by Melinda, who says it's 105F where she live - no wonder her sun is blazing hot. She's used a combination of paper and fabric to great effect. That card actually came yesterday, but I forgot about it, as I got sidetracked with the list of my favourites.... The triangle card is for the triangle swap (duh) and is from Diane B, who recently lured me into joining a new group (the Fiber Art Bits group). And finally, the tea cup with flowers is from Roberta, and is for the Open Theme Swap for EuroQuilt - a bit belated, but a nice card nonetheless. And I'm not that bothered about late cards (as long as it's not the same person time and again) - after all, we all have times when life scuppers our plans to create art.

And now, on to what I did myself today. First, I put the border on the floral quilt, and pieced the backing (of which I have spared you a photo as it's not at interesting), so that's ready to go be quilted. Hoorah. We might actually make the deadline of 21 July with time to spare. And I got my inchie charms ready for posting - strung them into groups of five and added tags, so they can go out on Monday - they aren't due until some time in August, so I feel good about those...




I also did some work on one of the CCRR pieces - this is Marijke's piece, and it has already had several things done to it, so I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, I just knew that I didn't want to dye it, as it has subtle tie-dye patterns in it which would be lost over-dyed. Then it told me it wanted to be stamped, which I thought was sensible of it, so I've stamped with two different small stamps in purple and a kind of orangey gold colour, and in the centre a larger stamp which is very similar to one of the smaller ones (oh, and if you were wondering if you can stamp on top of a silk hankie, the answer is yes). I still have to iron the fabric to heat set the ink (it's fabric ink) but basically, it's done now, and I think it looks ok. whew.



And finally, I backed & edged the washer postcards - I did this while Olivia arranged the jewels on her card. This is my perfectionist (about this sort of thing) daughter - yes, I really did edge six postcards in the time it took her to arrange a small handful of jewels. OK, maybe only 5 1/2, but still. So they are all ready to post on Monday, except for one, where I don't have the address yet. And I started quilting and putting the finishing touches on these oriental lantern pcs for ArtWeMail's open swap in July. I did four of them, all fairly similar to this - took ages working out if I wanted to add anything - angelina, sheers, netting, and in the end, decided on some brads (star-shaped) in the solid colour bands. I think it works. Anyway, the decision is made now and I refuse to second guess myself over a bunch of postcards... :)

For Peggy, and others who want to try postcards...

Peggy, thanks for your comment - I have no email address for you (your comment comes anonymously) so I apologise for answering you in public like this - but then again, there may be others out there interested in what you asked, which is how to get started making postcards & find groups to swap with. I swap with a number of different groups, some of which are closed, but some of which are public groups - the main three of these public ones are FiberPC, ArtsintheMail and Fiber Artist International (of which I am currently acting as moderator) - they are all yahoo groups and easy to join. I have also recently joined a group called ArtWeMail, but I haven't actually completed a swap with them yet - I'm sure it will be fine, but just haven't been there long - it's a new group. There are others out there, too; I'm sure a search on yahoo for fabric postcards would bring up more. If you are new to postcards and/or not that interested in making lots of cards in a single swap, at least to start, I'd probably recommend ArtsintheMail or FAI as good places to start - FiberPC tends to have larger swaps, often of 10 cards, whereas the others usually have 5 max, sometimes fewer.

In terms of how to actually physically make postcards, there are tons of sites with references for techniques - a google search of "fabric postcards" is probably the best place to start. Essentially, you can do almost anything you like, so long as you have a stiffener of some kind in your card (Peltex and Timtex are commonly used) and finish the edges in some manner. But in terms of what goes on the front of the card, well, you've seen some of my collection - I think it's safe to say that anything goes...

Oh, and if anyone wants to talk to me off the blog about this, leave a comment including your email address or email me at katelnorth at yahoo dot com.

The year of making postcards...

So I was reading Joanna's blog last night and she recently did a look back at some of her favourite cards she has received in the two years she has been swapping postcards (some are great - have a look - and she promises to list some of the favourites she's made, too, though she hasn't got to it quite yet) and I thought that would be a great idea for when I get to the end of the first year I've been swapping cards. Then I looked back at my gallery and realised that I did my first proper swap in July 2006, which means, ta da - here I am, one year swapping cards. I did a rough count of the card I have received, and it's about 175 to date, almost all of which were swapped for other cards - a few early ones weren't and there are a few miscellaneous ones which were swapped for something else or sent as a thank you, or for winning a draw.

So, in no particular order, here are ten of the favourite cards I have received so far. I should say that I did make a conscious effort not to pick multiples by the same people, though there were several cases where I liked more than one card by an artist very much. I should also say that I could probably do this exercise again next week and come up with at least half of the selection completely different!



left: Freida, right: Judi



left: Mandy, right: Celia


left: Cobi; right: Amy



left: Beth; right: Janet



left: Kandy; right: Sheila

Maybe on Sunday, when I'm exhaused from working at the school summer fair I'll post my favourites of the ones I've made myself. As there's no chance I'll do any sewing on Sunday, anyway...

Possibly the best wrapped parcel ever...

Rather a lot of lovely things in the post today - three postcards, of which more later, and this great fabric, which I bought from a friend who is clearing her stash a bit. It's all civil war repros, all in purple (obviously). I have in mind to share a bit of it with my friend Cathi in Ireland, when we go to visit them later this summer - perhaps we can work out some kind of collaborative project or something with some of it. I got it at a bargain price, so I'm looking forward to doing something with it, just not sure what yet. It all arrived beautifully packaged in possibly the best wrapped parcel ever - it did take a while to open, but I tell you, it looked completely pristine - clearly a parcel to be reckoned with...


As far as the cards go, there was a card for the triangle swap, from Julie - she has cleverly portrayed the Bermuda Triangle on her card, complete with skull and crossbones, which is a little hard to see in the photo. The next card is from the open theme swap with ArtWeMail, a new group, and it's from Jenny. She's used felt, a wide variety of couched threads, decorative stitching, and so on. And the London card is from Evelyn in Germany. Obviously, for the London swap, which is on Arts in the Mail.


And as you can see, I made some good progress on the commissioned quilt - managed to get the entire top centre pieced today (virtues of choosing a very simple pattern). Tomorrow I am at school the whole day, preparing for the fair (on Sunday - please god the weather is ok), but on Saturday I should be able to get the borders on (I am adding a 6 inch border of the hollyhock fabric that is in the centre of some of these blocks) and the back pieced. And then, back to the things I have other deadlines for - am I glad I got a bit ahead in June, as that means I don't have to panic now. Whew.

CCRRs and a new commission

Good stuff in the post today - I got this postcard from Diane, to the theme (wait for it) Blue. She's used a wide variety of blue stuff, and it's come out nicely. I particularly like the stitches on top of the angelina, but as usual, Angelina doesn't photograph brilliantly. I also got two CCRR (complex cloth round robin) pieces from Alice - this one, which belongs to Marijke, which it's my turn to work on before going home to Marijke - DD1 Sarah thinks it wants stars; I'm considering. It's heavily textured, so I think it might want stamping. As usual, I shall put it aside and wait until it speaks or until it's the deadline, whichever comes first (usually, thank goodness, they speak first).



And I got this one (below) which is my own CCRR, come home to live with me. It started out like this, and has since been screenprinted (the letters) by Marijke, stamped by Kelly and had a lovely silk hankie fused to it (this is quite subtle and very hard to see in the photo) by Alice. And now, the problem is, as always with these things, I won't want to cut it apart and do anything with it. I really must do something, though. I am thinking of doing a year long journal quilt project (one a week) later this year - small size - maybe 6x6 or 6x8 or something like that (or maybe a variety of sizes, but all small), and it occurs to me that some of the complex cloth pieces I am doing might make nice backs to the pieces - or partial backs, if I decide to print out a statement about each one as I do them. I'd still have to cut them up, just not so much. Anyway. For the moment, it will go somewhere where I can look at it in my sewing room, as I really like it.






I also had a slightly frantic email from a friend who wondered if I could put together a quilt for her mother, who lives in an assisted-living facility, which unfortunately is closing, which means she will have to move yet again - the thought being the quilt may help cheer her mother up a bit. The catch is, the moving date is the 21st of July. Luckily, I have checked with my friendly local longarmer and she can actually squeeze a quilt in for me, so it's just (just!) a matter of piecing it.





After some thought and consultation, it was agreed to do something floral, if possible using some wildflower fabric (of which I do have a little) - not that I mind fabric shopping, but as time is of the essence, I'd rather be able to get started straight away. I've decided to go for something very simple, along the lines of the sketch on the left, though obviously the colours are different (fabrics on right). This will be my main project for the next couple of sewing days, though I do have a few other small bits to take care of as well like edging the washer postcards and getting my charms sorted and posted out. Yes, I do have other quilt tops I could work on, but I am always happy to help out a friend, especially a friend who is paying...

Contest winners!

Well, many thanks again to those of you who played along with this little contest - I hope you had fun guessing stuff :) Oh and, I didn't mention them on my blog, but thanks also to Vicky (3 guesses right) and Jo (2 right), who were late (ish) entries, but WERE in the draw.

Anyway, I wish I could send everyone who commented or guessed a postcard, but I only have 5 going spare, so the five winners are: Karol Ann, Leah, Myra, Caroline and Dani. Send me your snail mail addresses, ladies, and I will put your card in the post later this week (confession: I still haven't edged them yet - stuff keeps coming up!)

And watch this space, as I think I might run some more contests, whenever I can think of a thinly veiled excuse for a little fun. The next one will be my blogversary draw in August, but even after that, maybe a couple of postcards up for grabs, or some inchies, once a month or so - that is, if anyone would be interested, LOL...

Oh, and I bet you want to know the answers, right? Here you go:



Top left: things with holes (washers, beads, sequin punch); bottom left: shiny things (washers, foil, gold lame fabric)

Top centre: things which are round (sequins, washers, buttons); bottom centre: things which start with W (woman, washer, weaving) (this was the hard one)

Top right: things which are silver (aluminium foil, silver textured paper, washers); bottom right: things which are metal (washers, safety pins, watch gears)

And now for something completely different

Here's an experiment for this latest Africa block - I used the expanded square technique I tried out the other week to see what it would look like on actual fabric, and I kind of like it. It's actually a little less in-your-face in person than in the photo, but it is still very striking. It's very different from the previous African blocks, but I figure if Karol Ann and I can't use it in our quilts, it would always make a nice pillow or something. You can just glimpse the second one to the right - I haven't quite finished the applique on that one yet, but Karol Ann's will be in the post tomorrow.



And also got this card in the post - it's actually for the Picture Frame swap - apparently there's a type of bingo in the US called a "picture frame" bingo - who knew? But a clever interpretation. The card's from Kaye, and makes a nice addition.

A (very) little sewing & lots of rain

Here's one of my July blocks for the birthday block swap - this one is for Linda, to match one of her rooms - red and green on cream, but not bright reds and greens, but rather the more country, muted ones. I hope I have matched that request well. I need to press it and fix one tiny thing which will otherwise bug me :) but it's nearly good to go. Completely hand-pieced, as it was my telly project over the last few nights.

And I got this triangle postcard today from Beth M, which I love - she made the triangle stamp herself using foam shapes - how clever is that - and yes, I'll be trying it out.

Didn't get much sewing done during the day (or any, in fact) but I did go pick lots of fruit and veg and make a strawberry pie - most of which is now gone... (the pie, not the fruit & veg).

Oh, and another thing for Canadian Girl - here's one idea of how to display inchies or similar - isn't this great? But then, I love most everything Sara (Fabric of Meditation) makes.

Hey, Canadian Girl!

Someone yesterday asked (don't know who it was, as it was an anonymous post, though she did say she was from Canada) what a gibbon is - this is not some obscure English quilting term - this is the stuffed toy on Sarah's postcard - it's a kind of monkey with long arms. She also asked what one does with inchies once one has them. When I figure out the answer to that question, I'll let you all know...

Scotties, Inchies, Gibbons, Girls

So, here's the Scottie dog top - I finished the bow ties and decided to put them together alternating direction so they formed rings. I was considering adding a black strip down each side, but now I'm not so sure. I need to lay it out on Sarah's bed when she isn't around and see if it's too narrrow or not. But still, nearly done - it won't be quilted until the autumn though - that's when I've booked a slot to longarm it (myself).

And today's playing was with tinies - these are the proverbial inchies - one inch square. Not quite as fiddy to play with as I thought - especially the edging, which I thought might be a bit tedious, but was ok. I have developed a method :) which involves starting with a 2.5 inch square - hence four of each design. I'll definitely be doing more of these, as they didn't take nearly as long as I thought they would.



And I started working with the girls on their cards for a kids & grandkids exchange on ArtsintheMail. Sarah's card is finished, and will be going to Dylan in New Zealand. She took a picture of her toy gibbon holding a sign that said Rock On, and set it askew on a blue background. She then added glitter to the words and cotton wool to the gibbon's fur and covered the whole thing in a blue net, and finished with a decorative stitch. I gave some suggestions and supervised, especially her first foray into using the rotary cutter (yikes) but she did the work herself.

Olivia's card is very different and very Olivia. She cut lots of bits out of some novelty fabric I have of shoes and bags and then made a person with it. In the end, we decided to use glue to hold it down. Next step will be some angelina, I think, and maybe some glitzy bits. We'll probably work on it some more next weekend, as I doubt we'll get much time in the week.

More contest updates

A big thank you to all those lurkers out there who have taken my plea to heart and decided to have a guess at my little contest - and to those who have just commented or emailed to say they are mystified - nice to hear from all of you, whichever camp you are in! Here's the updated list of people who have been enterred into Wednesday's draw:

• Caroline (3 guesses right!),
• Di
• Barbara in Florida
• Peggy in Quebec (happy Canada Day, Peggy!)
• Dani in Lincoln NE (1)
• Myra (3)
• Anne B
• Papoosue
• Karol-Ann (who now has 5 correct guesses - I defy her to get the sixth!)
• Leah
• Anne W
• Nola

Oh and if you have any free time - ha ha, what's that - be sure to check out these ladies' blogs - a few of them are new to me, but some I have been reading for ages and would sure miss.

And now, off to check the weather forecast, which is what I logged onto the computer for (today, it's raining, I worked that out by looking outside, but I want to know if it's EVER going to stop!) - and then some sewing. Hoorah.