Happy Birthday to my sister!

Today is my sister’s birthday and here’s a fabric postcard I made for her a few years ago.  I went through a phase where I couldn’t stop making (and mailing) these cards (here’s another one).  They are the perfect little canvas for creativity.  I bought both volumes of Caroline Reardon’s Postcard Quilts.  These are lovely books with really excellent instructions, full color illustrations and templates plus lots of inspiration to help you create your own unique postcards.  Caroline also explains in detail the steps you need to take to ensure your postcard can be sent through the mail (as is, no envelope).  I’ve had a really great time making these postcards over the years and hope you will try one for yourself.  They make lovely little mini-quilt gifts.   A current Google search did not turn up a reliable source for these books at present though you might find them on Ebay (if any of my readers finds a source please leave a comment with details).  Quilter’s Newsletter has an article referencing Caroline’s work with a template for two Christmas designs.

Happy Birthday, Jane!

Love Letters

Last year I was inspired to enter a contest sponsored by Interweave Press and FiberArts magazine in which I created a fabric Valentine postcard, addressed it to my husband, stamped it and mailed it in an envelope to the sponsor.  After the judging was complete, Interweave Press mailed the cards back to the addressee with a hand-canceled postmark of Loveland, CO (where the company is located).  I didn’t win one of the top prizes but my card was one of the ones featured in the magazine article about the contest.

I started with a piece of Timtex as the base for my postcard.  I created fabric confetti from some of my hand dyed cotton by cutting the fabric into very thin strips, about 1/16” – 1/8” wide with my rotary cutter.  I then stacked these strips and cut crossways into tiny pieces.  I applied fusible webbing to one side of the Timtex, scattered the confetti over it and fused into place.  Next I machine embroidered an all-over stipple design which helped hold the confetti in place.  With this as my background I fused the bleeding heart design and leaves on top and stitched them into place.  I used muslin as a backing on which I could write my message and address and finished the entire piece with a bias binding.  All of the materials used (with the exception of the muslin) were from my hand dyed cotton collection.

Watch for a post in the future about creating other fabric postcards.