A Couple of postcards

My friend Sandy cut her finger - bad.

So I sent her this jungle...with a bead lady.

This one got to be 3-D.

 Gave it to Doug and Ann for good health.

Wet Paint in St Paul had a postcard challenge.

My postcard was in the window with a bunch of other postcards offered by other artists.

 

I have more recent postcards - just can seem to load them.

I'll try again later.

Have a creative day.

A couple of things

The Textile Center has an annual exhibit inviting any members of the Textile Center to show some of their work. Usually it's only one piece per artist. The really nice thing about it is that it is not judged.

 

This is my piece for this year's show.

The container has a fiber landscape all around it using fabric, mesh, beading, and thread painting.

The fishing pole is a dried Echinacea stem which is really sturdy. A good thing since it has to hold up a giant fish!

                                       (That fish must be all of 4" long)

This is just a photo of my selvage ball.

Every time new fabric gets used in my studio, the selvage gets cut off and wound around the ball.

It changes colors every time I take the time to add to it.

 

 

Seven Quilts for Seven Grandchildren

This year my challenge and pleasure was to make a quilt for each of our grandchildren as a Christmas gift. And the task was accomplished!

 

I made the fronts and the backs and Nancy Birger did all the quilting on all seven quilts - one right after another which is a HUGE favor. Most quilters don't have the inclination - and usually the time to do that kind of thing. I know that Nancy put a number of quilt customers off till January just to help me out. The other customers quilts were not Christmas

 

So here they are for you to take a look:

 

 

Ryan Charles - 14 years

Ryan is the oldest of the "tribe" and has leadership qualities. 

I thought this quilt looked quite tribal.

Isabel Rose (Izi) - 13 years

Izi loves to be cozy and values her family history - so she got a very special quilt.

Twenty five years ago our daughter Carolyn wanted to have us make a quilt together. She was off to college with no sewing machine so we put all these pieces together BY HAND STITCHING. It was put away for those 25 years for various reasons. After making final touches and making the back for this one, it finally made it's debut as Isi's gift.

Cepeda Rose - 10 years

Cepeda is into a huge variety of artistic endeavors so her quilt is made with many colors of hand dyed and hand printed fabric.

 

Zachary Mark - 9 years

Zach is our brave and lovable grandson so his quilt pictures a variety of wolves howling at the moon. The wolves are printed on a soft-to-the-touch flannel.

Savannah Rose - 8 years

Savannah is our puzzler and reader. This quilt has several squares with news articles written by and about cats (cute). The border is one Sudoku after another. 

 

Lily Michelle - 7 years

Lily is a little lady and loves all the things that go with that.

She loves pink and pink she got!

Francesca Simone (Frankie) - 6 years

Frankie completes the tribe with her amazing wit and colorful personality. She got the Road Walkers quilt with the main center design from a pattern by my cousin Arlene Walsh.

 

 

 

Aaaannnnd we're back.

Using scraps as teensy as these strips on this postcard
add dimension, color and interest.
They are actually cut from fabric (also teensy scraps) that had fusing on it. The butterfly is actually 3-D with the wings lined and the body fused onto the postcard....I think. It was made in the spring and sent to someone. I've made several butterfly postcards - each one different.

Tricky little four-legged guys. They can climb straight up!!!!

Another postcard

My friend Peg had cataract surgery recently

so I made this postcard for her.

I wanted to make it personal by using the color of her eyes

but couldn't remember what color they were!!!

So, duh - use ALL the colors.

That's what we're about in Minnesota Contemporary Quilters anyway.

Plus it made it so much more fun.

BTW: www.mncontemporaryquilters.net

 

 

It's interesting how different shapes direct the creative thinking.

For example: The eyelid scrap was exactly the shape that went on the card. It was a double piece.

The eyelashes were exactly that long

and doubled to make them stiff.

They were easily cut with points.

I have drawers filled with all sizes and colors of scraps

that are already backed with fusing.

That's what is used...

...and often they dictate what the design will be.

 

Here's what is written on the back: (sing it)

 

 

Keep those little scraps! You never know when you need them!!!

More Postcards!

More fiber postcard coming off the machine!

I'm the Sunshine Lady for Minnesota Contemporary Quilters and send out words of encouragement or congratulations.
Some postcards and greeting cards are made by other members of MCQ and a lot are made by me.
Here are some of the latest:

About 15 years ago I was at a play day at Susan Stein's home.

We did some stamping that day.

This fabric has been waiting "in the wings" for that many years.

Yay! finally a reason for being!!!

This is supposed to show hope and newness.

 

The petals are made from two fabrics fused together, cut, pleated and tacked onto the postcard.

A button makes the center.

This one was for someone getting knee surgery.

Lots of fusing.

I tend to save just about EVERYTHING

including little, tiny strips of fabric -

 as long as it has fusible on the back.

The butterfly is from a print fabric fused onto another fabric and  then fussy cut.

The body of the butterfly is fused onto the postcard and the wings are floating.

 

It's been very fun to mess around with machine quilting on these postcards.

They are small, and so are non-threatening

for a beginner like me.

The Tree Project.

So here's the deal:About 30 of my quilter friends accepted a tree challenge presented to us by Wanda Shelton. We all got a basic pattern with only a couple of guidelines as to where the trunk began and a couple of the branches started. When we finished our tree, we were instructed to divide the tree into four quarters, mark them as #1, #2, #3, #4. We got to keep the lower left quadrant and left the other three to be drawn by others for their piece.

The tire swings are made with toy tires from a motorcycle from the Dollar Tree and hung from the branches by a string of beads.

 

That's mine on the lower left.

Lower right is Judy Lewis'

Upper left is Edith Dalleska.

Upper right is Andrea Johnson.



So now I'm going to try to make the pieces relate to each other without changing the original quarter too much. Maybe a few leaves cast to other quarters or beads. As it is, the upper left quarter was a little short so I added a little piece and scattered a few clouds across the top.



So the above is a 45 second video - don't know if it will come out as a video but will try.

A Corset for Marge

My friend Marge had a huge back surgery this past week. She has to wear a tight corset during the recovery time so I "had" to make her a post card:

Then, from Aunties Marion and June, some chocolate is tucked up from the bottom - hiding inside the corset! 
Hope Marge likes it.
The corset is tacked onto the lacy background in six places - each corner and then the waistline... so chocolate could be inserted of course! and then the lace bosom is a straight stitch all the way around it to hold "things" together.

And one more thing....

I brought the latest postcard to show the Aunties Marion and June down the hall. Auntie Marion said " You could use it for a mask!" and we all tried it on and laughed at ourselves. The now mask needed a little spot for the nose to protrube so I cut a little arch and finished the edge. Wah-Lah - a mask!

"Masquing Our Nap"

Think I'll make some more.
Always liked the idea of fantasy masks.

Cepeda gets "postcardy"

Our granddaughter Cepeda decided she wanted to try her hand at making a postcard. She found some fabric in her favorite colors and just put it all together on her own. She asked me to add the word love but the design is all hers.

Then with the leftovers and selvedges she quickly did this one:

 

I love those color dots in the selvedges too.

They're so design-y. Yay Cepeda!!!

"Here's Lookin' Atcha"

Okay. Now MY brother needs a postcard. He just had his retina reattached and is still in pain from an unusual kind of proceedure - plus his eye is swollen closed (doctor isn't worried).

This eye postcard has 3D eyelids (should have made one swollen closed - but they're supposed to be my eyes....) much the same as the eyes in an earlier wall hanging titled "Alligator Shoes". Hope these eyes don't creep him out too much. They're kind of "clowny". Oh well.
Here it is:

"Here's Lookin' Atcha"

 

And here's a side view to see the raised eyelids:

Sigh-A-Narrahhhhh

 

The Tree Project

Wanda Shelton has presented a challenge to whomever wants to take it; it's the Tree Project. Wanda prepared a basic pattern of a tree with only a few guidelines. We make one complete tree any way we want to. When we are finished with our tree, it will be cut into criss-cross quarters. We then will keep only one quarter of our original tree and receive the other three quarters from three different other trees. I think there may be about 25 participants so there should be some interesting results.
Here is my beginning:

The thing I didn't remember before fusing the tree to the background was that it would be sliced down the middle. Therefore, there isn't really a good 1/2 inch seam allowance there. Oh well, I'll make up for it somehow else.

 

More branches were added (fused) and texture was added using very narrow strips of fabric. Actually the strips were from another project that required strips and instead of opening up the fabric, I just cut the fold right off using about 1/8" to 1/16". Those left-over strips were sewn on using a hemming stitch that leaped over the top every six or so stitches. Kind of couched it on...sometimes piercing the strip.
Next will be the leaves.... and MONKEYS! I'm looking for smallish toy monkeys to add to the tree.

Toe the line

I just found out that another brother-in-law has had serious health problems... he had to have part of his toe removed. So I'm sending a post card to him in Atlanta.

"George Toes" 

 cotton applique with thread painting.

This little exercise sure has been fun to do. I recommend it.
However, it does NOTHING to lighten the stash - in fact, it fluffs it up and multiplies like crazy!!!!!

Numbers 11 and 12

Number 11 was really fun to make - even got that ol' Bart Simpson and his baby sister in it.
BUT - and it's a big BUTT - I JUST MADE A HOUSE CARD!!!! It was #9. What th.....?!

So immediately, #12 - the bird of paradise took shape using some of the already cut-to-shape pieces in the fused ready drawer. Amazing how that makes a person think of a new design. That one only started with the black wing which lay on the backing for a day before more pieces joined in. I took my cue from that black wing and shaped other pieces to follow suit. When all was done, it still needed more feathers in her cap so I just drew them on. Oh well.

Here they are:

 #11 - "Feelin' Groovy"    

 

#12 - "Flying High"

                                                  
One of the next ones needs to have a little different shape. I'll work on that.

Number Ten

Just got my studio in a better working condition thanks to Wanda Shelton and Sharah Gannett. Yes, Sharonahhh, there IS a floor in there - and I saw it today!!!!!
So this evening Number Ten was accomplished using some of my really fun scrappies.
Here ya go:

#10 - "George"  Cotton strip quilting

 

It's difficult for me to keep color value in mind and it shows in this piece. The composition in this one is okay but the colors all blend together. ...I still like it tho. The window is from a photograph taken in France and the shutters actually shut on this postcard. The photo was printed using an ink jet printer onto special cotton cloth produced for this purpose. Here ya go:

#9 - "Ouvre la Fenetre" (Open the Window)

cotton, photo print window, lace flower applique.

 





 

So. That's it for today. I'm about 3 or 4 behind - but we're not going to get picky here.

Numbers three through eight

Okay. Here's the start of posting I said would happen. My brother-in-law is in University hospital for a three week treatment time and it gave an opportunity to me to get back to the sewing machine.
I imposed a personal challenge on myself to make a postcard a day for 21 days in hopes that it would be enjoyable for b-i-l and also in hopes of getting my "mojo" back in the color and design world.

It wasn't until the first postcard was sewn that I realized that the upper tension on the machine was virtually non-existant. It was the weekend so I had to go to the ever lovin' paper (I love paper) for the next two. Of course, immediately I was behind two postcards. Never mind, "we must persevere"!!!

I brought the machine to Johnston's Sales and Service on Lyndale Ave S and 64th Street. They had it fixed for me that same afternoon!!!! Here's their web site:
http://johnstonssalesservice.com/
They cleaned, oiled and repaired the upper tension and it runs like silk now.
I recommend them.
Commercial over.
Here are some sort of fuzzy photos of #'s 3-8. Didn't think to photograph the first two. They'll come later - AND I'll use the tripod from now on.

#3 - Self Portrait. Paper

#4 - Rooftop Dancing. cotton fabric and foil moon. Thread drawing.

#5 - Lake Minnetonka. Cotton, metalic mesh, shiney see-through filmy stuff.

#6 - Hot Jungle. Cotton. Thread drawing.

And what is behind the flippity flaps?.....

#7 - Peek-A-Boo! It's Betty!!!  Cotton. Thread drawing.

#8 - Fall On The Hill. Cotton, thread drawing.

 

 

That's it for now. Hope you like the show.