It's in the Mail

I just realized I have been really bad about showing the postcard swaps I've been in!  I belong to a couple of on-line groups that trade postcards pretty regularly.  Sometimes someone suggests a theme and sometimes not.  So here is what has been going on lately.

For this first one, the theme was "Blue".  Ha!  Do I ever have a lot of blue in my stash!  I was experimenting with a fabric technique from Threads Magazine (In the "Master Class" regular feature by Lois Ericson in Issue #140).  It involves laying fabric on a grid (like a cooling rack from the kitchen) and poking the fabric through holes, then ironing a fusible backing on to it.

I made two (as you can see from above), but this is the one I sent to my partner.   You might notice that this is not exactly the same as the first photo.  Why's that?  Well, it's because I ironed the backing on upside down!!!  You know - the part with the lettering on it!  Oooh boy.  Well, it looks good either way - right?

So.  Moving right along.  The next swap was an "open" theme, so I could pick whatever I wanted. 

I started out with lace bits and other snippets for the background.  These bits were mostly left over from Serafina's wings.

Then I found a clipart of bird silhouettes and picked three goose shapes.  These shapes really appeal to me and they made a great applique for the postcards.  After some hand embroidery, I stitched a fringe-y yarn to the edges and there you go! 

Here is a close up of one of these.  I sent one off to my swap partner and the others to a couple of friends for birthday and such.

Now, the real purpose of these swaps is so you receive cool postcards in return!  So what have I gotten?

This one from Debbie S.  Some cool layering and quilting.

And this one from Gina (after a detour of sorts.  Thanks for persevering, Gina.)  Gina does some nifty crazy quilting.

 

One of Sarge's recurring questions is, What are you going to do with this stuff?  In the case of postcards, I have the answer.  I put them into a small photo album - 6x4 inches is the perfect size - and I enjoy looking at them!  Even the album is fun to look at. 

 

All those fibers are from a tag swap I was in a couple years ago.  I keep the album on my worktable and the postcards are easy to leaf through when I need a quick break and/or uplift!