What the Heck Happened to February?

It just got here and I turn my back for one minute . . . .  Good grief!  OK, so a little bit of flu caused some lost time.  And spraining my foot has limited some mobility.  But, really.  I mean I neither sew nor type with my foot!

At least there HAS been some sewing!

You might remember that I did a series called Serendipity Sunday in 2013, working my way through several books on fabric manipulation.  These three panels have sat on my work pile (and been moved numerous times) and I finally decided what to do with them.  So they are finished!  Some close-ups:

I’ve been working on a quilt using one of Jenny Doan’s tutorials.  These are 12” blocks so it went together really fast!  Waiting for it’s borders now.  Here are the first six blocks:

And another quilt project I’m working on:

The blocks are paper pieced – with a LOT of tiny pieces!  I don’t know why I get into these projects sometimes.  The patterns are from Fandom In Stitches, Alice in Wonderland collection.

I took a Postcard class at the local quilt shop.  Teachers were from the quilt shop, the yarn/weaving shop, local art gallery, and the Janome dealer.  Our little town has some great resources!  As always, though, I need to finish these before they can be called postcards!

So, there’s a few of what’s going on behind the scenes.  A couple other items are still on the camera.  Here’s hoping I get them posted before the end of March!

Wednesday WOW - October 3

If all goes as planned, you are reading this on Wednesday while I am in Des Moines attending the AQS Quilt Show.  I didn't want to leave you stranded, though, so I wrote this post ahead of time and scheduled it to post Wednesday.  If all goes as planned . . . . . . .

[Apparently nothing went as planned!  Ah well.  This way you get an extra post or two.  And I go back to learning how to Schedule!!]

It's about time I caught you up on my postcard swaps!  In fact, as I look through this year's posts I don't find any postcard pics.  Huh!

To begin with, I joined a birthday swap.  There are about a dozen of us in the swap and this is just a few of the ones I received for my birthday in February.

And these are a few of the ones I've sent out so far.  I wish I could show them all to you and tell you who they went to/came from, but that was months ago, and gosh, I can't remember what I did last week!

In July, the theme was "Hats and/or Purses".  I embroidered the silhouette in the top photo, and got these cool origami folded shapes from my partner.

The August theme was "Weather."  That one was interesting because the swappers come from all over the world and everyone's feelings about their weather was different!  Being in the middle of the USA, I made a hot, hot, hot sun!  My partner was from England, however, where they have had too much rain.  Can't you almost hear the rain beating against the window?

That doesn't cover all the postcards from the past nine months, but it is a fair representation.  Every one is I make is a small challenge and every one I receive is a cherished momento! 

Next week we should be back on schedule.  See you then!

Wednesday WOW – er, Thursday?

Three days out of town has resulted in this whole week being topsy turvy!  So . . . what day is it, really?  According to the computer it is Thursday so I guess I’ll have to accept that!

I’m working on fabric postcards.  I believe this is the apex of messy for this project.  Two of the postcards are finished (there on the right) and three are in-progress.  Should get those done soon and off to the recipients next week.  I do enjoy making these little 4x6 projects!

January and Chinese New Year

This month when the Chinese New Year arrived, we entered the Year of the Dragon.  So the theme for Stitchin’ Fingers’ postcard swap was – what else? – dragons!

I made this one for Heike in Germany.   I spray painted the background muslin with blue, using cloud shaped templates as a resist.  Then I cut applique pieces from fabric – including a metalic fabric for her chest and tail – and did free-motion thread sketching to add details.  The final touch was beads for her eyes, and some metal foil claws.

And this is the card I received from Heike.  She also did thread sketching and included a scrap of newspaper from a trip she made to China.  How cool is that? 

This was Heike’s first postcard exchange.  I think she should keep up the good work, don’t you?

Catching Up

Oh my, it’s the new year already!  I probably should be thinking about goals for 2012, but I can’t seem to get at it yet.  I think there are some pieces of 2011 still laying around and I need to clean them up.

So today I am catching you up on my postcard exchanges.  There’s a good six months’ worth that I’ve not shared for some reason.  Good grief! 

For July, I did this card representing the Princess and the Pea.  I thought the theme was Fairy tales, when, in fact it was Nursery Rhymes!  We decided that was close enough.

I received this cute black sheep from Linda.  She made his wool by stitching tightly packed bullion stitches.  It’s amazing!

The August theme was “Snippets” and I created this bouquet from tiny bits of fabric and embroidery.

 

I received this card from Patricia.  The Kanzashi flower can be removed, but I really like it where it is.

 

I took a break in September, but then did this piece for the October “autumn” theme.  If you’ve followed my Sunday posts, you might recognize the fiber etching technique I used here.

Lorraine sent me these two cards a bit late for October.  The top one for “autumn” and the Santa card as a thank you for my patience.   You can just see some of the puffy paint she used.  Pretty cool!

November’s theme was “Hands: A Crafter’s Favorite Tool”.  I traced around my hand and scanned it into the computer so I could make different sizes.

  It looks like Shelley did the same thing – or close to it – for this card that she sent me.

December’s theme – of course – was the holidays.  I had some fabric with these homespun angels which I cut out and stitched to the card along with a few hand stitched snowflakes.  (Sorry about the fuzzy picture.  Don’t you hate it when that happens?)

And I received an angel in return!  Mary Lou embroidered this funny little angel with her snowman friend.  Very cute.

And that brings us up to date and to the end of 2011’s postcards.  I enjoy these swaps quite a bit.  There is always interesting discussion when we choose a theme and I have lots of fun choosing how to interpret it as well as seeing how my partner will interpret too. 

I’ve already signed on for a birthday exchange in 2012 and the January theme.  I really will try harder to post about the postcards more often.  The key word here is try!  LOL!

With the holidays behind us, and my family issues settled – mostly – I can return to my routine and get into the workroom.  Next Sunday I will resume posts about working through the Fabric Embellishing book, so come back and see what happens!

The Postcard Chronicles

After a vacation from trading postcards last year, I have been joining in once again.  However, I haven’t been very good about sharing them with you.  So, time (and beyond) to catch up.

The theme for the first swap was “Girly”.  Now that sounded like fun!  So this is what I made for Teresa:

And I received this one from MaryLou:

For the next swap, the group decided on a seasonal theme.  For most of us, it was Spring, but since some of our swappers are from Down Under, it could also be Autumn.

This is what I sent Michele in the UK.

And I received this one from Linda in UK:

That brings us to June where the theme was “Sundae.”  My goodness, that sounded yummy!  In fact, that is what I stitched all over the background of this card.  It went to Linda in UK:

And I received this from Cat in Canada.  Doesn’t that look good enough to eat?

 

July’s theme is “Fairy Tales.”  Got to get my thinking cap on!

Postcards

It's been a while since I showed any fiber postcards.  I've missed a month here and there, but I'm still trying to swap about once a month. 

Here are some of the latest:

I made this card for Winsome in the UK.  Our theme was fashion.

And here is the one I received from Winsome. 

Then I signed up for a swap using felted fibers.  Some of the swappers have Embellishers, but I tried some needle felting by hand. 

   I sent my postcard to Judy in Australia and this is the one she sent to me.  She was also in a swap with a Fireworks theme, so she combined those two elements.  It has a lot more sparkle in "real" life.

Goodies in the Mail

The last couple of days have brought some special treats in the mail.  I'm like a little kid when there is a gift in the mail!  LOL!

My first "gift" was a postcard from Winsome in the UK.  She was my swap partner for the March Stitchin' Fingers postcard group.  The theme was Let's Go Green.

OK, before anyone points out that this is not Green . . . the "green" in this theme could be either the color Green, or recycle-to-keep-the-earth-green Green.  Got it?  This postcard was recycled from a larger piece that didn't turn out as hoped.  Winsome said she cut it up and used the good parts in postcards.  What a good idea!  And I really like this color, anyway!  There is a lot more sparkle than this photo shows, too.  And you all know how I love sparkle!

This is what I sent.  I chose to use both senses of Green.  The shamrocks are used Color Catchers - in several shades of green.  And the round GoGreen piece is the plastic insert from a pill bottle!  I had fun looking for things to recycle.  It could be addictive I think!

The other special mail I received was another page from the Story of the Traveling Pages group. 

This door is from Chris.  Don't you feel like you can touch the coolness of the stone wall?  And that door really looks weathered.  I posted a close-up on the Traveling Pages site and I encourage you to go see what the rest of the group has been up to.  All the pages have been wonderful!

Valentine Postcards

I took part in a Valentine postcard swap - and Oh Boy, did I get some great cards!

This first one is from Marja in the Netherlands.  She made such a pretty card with what looks like felting and Tyvek.

She also included the cutest little felted bag.  I'm thinking one day there will be a doll who will love this bag!

My "Secret" Valentine was from Sharon.  She was having so much fun embellishing this card she couldn't stop!  I think it looks perfect.

There are fabric hearts, and heart buttons, and gold hearts and pearl hearts.  She called it Marrakesh Romance. 

The envelope had a whole handful of little hearts in it as well.  Plus the cutest little Cuddlepie pin!

I sent off a couple of Valentines myself but I think I got the best part of this deal.  Here is a (bad) pic of what I sent out.

Something in the light made these look much more orange than they really were. 

Next postcard swap?  Go Green!

I'm Having A Birthday

Oh wait!  I already had it!!  So, the best part?  Getting Birthday Postcards, of course!!

From Sheila (no blog),

From Lorna,

From Sue (no blog.  Is that right, Sue?),

From Gina,

From Cindy,

and from Joy.

They are all so different - and sooooo pretty!  Thank you so much, ladies.  It really makes for a special birthday!