Seasons Theme Post Card Group 2009

 

This post card is dimentional and reminded me of little Cotton flowers just after they open. Quilted and outlined with sewing. A neat little poem on the other side, too. Another lovely card.

 

On the beach and off comes the bikini top, very cute card, pieced and quilting.

 

pieced and quilted and all the colors of summer, golden sun and lots of flowers. A very lovely card.

 

Applique and machine embroidery on a hand painted fabric. Lovely card that is evocative of summer moving in to fall near a wooded wetlands.

These are four of the postcards in the group. There will be more to come. This is one of the most fun things to do with fabric, these little works or art. I'm so happy to be in the group...

Post Cards are a coming in!

This cute little Mutts cartoon came yesterday. Gosh, Art imitates Life again!



I have to be fair and not share the postcards until they have been seen by the others. But I can show you this one since everyone has gotten one.

It is made in celebration of the strawberry season in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia. All the California Strawberries seem to be done for with the summer weather, but British Columbia is booming along now. The Sioux Nation called June the Strawberry Moon. It's a lot nicer name than August, "the Moon when the ponies grow long hair". or something to that affect.

PC's finished and out the door today, Yay!

 

I'm not getting a very good satin stitch out of my machine but I'll have to figure out why. It looks like absolute trash. Usually my old machine does very well. Maybe it was all that fleece sewing this past Spring? Time for a tune up! Then again, maybe it's the Gutterman threads. She doesn't like them nearly as well as her favorite floss, Mettler. What a picky little wench is this Nina.

Books. I finished reading The Captain this morning. We had gotten woken up very early again, and that makes three days in a row around 4:30. Something is chewing on our house, and it sounds like a Beaver! I'm sure it's probably only a raccoon since they have been known to do this in our area. We must serve it an eviction notice in the next few days. The small rodent is gone, gone. But this is much bigger and a whole lot clumsier. We live in a big Urban area for Heaven's sake!

So, anyway, I'm off to the Post Office, and then to the Dentist's, this time to see the gal with all the picks and shovels. Ouch! But she's very nice and very gentle, too.

Postcard Factory

Buggy Pile- cut from fused fabric.

 

Little happy suns created in Paint and printed on fusible cloth sheet. The green papers are the fused ones for the address side

 

Flower background fused and sticking on the little bits and pieces.

 

What is left to do now is to fuse the backs on, satin stitch around the outsides, and then to write in little significant words about the Season; then I will hand address them, put them in a clear envelope- thereby making them impervious to machines that mark them and stain them - and put a stamp on the outside of that clear envelope. This whole thing is a lot of fun, really.

People who work in the post office are wonderful, but their code reading-processing machines will sometimes leave unpleasant marks on the fabric. Oh yes, I have paid extra for hand canceling but the post cards were sent to a main office - everything goes there apparently, so they got marked up because they were not hand canceled there. The reason? Nothing gets hand canceled at the main facility, that's why.

I know, it should add to the allure, those battle marks, but many of us don't like the way it detracts from the beauty of all our work. That's quilters for ya!

PS to Baby Luann, if you would like a postcard of ALL bugs.. just let me know and I'll make one for you. Bugs are cool!

Even more Postcards!

 

Gail's interpretation of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" Beautifully done!

 

Obie's Interpretation of "Evening Out" by Juarez Machado. Beautiful and what a Whoot!

 

Pina's interpretation of "The Sun and Moon" by Raphael. Stunning!

We've all been talking about ways to display the post cards and the ideas are flying!

More Post Cards

 

Jackson Pollack (just take your pick of any of his):-) Vicki called her PC, "3 Friends at the Art Museum". Hilarious! This convo has absolutely gone on, let me tell ya... hahaha

 

Eve's interpretation of Monet's Countryside. Beautiful and a First Postcard for Eve, as well. Huzzah!

 

Munch's "The Scream" My own interpretation of the motivation for the screaming damsel.

Picasa and I are fighting again. I hope to win soon

Ok, this is a RANT! sorry, it just grew and grew....

I can't upload pictures from Picasa ATM. So, the post cards for the Famous Painting Interpretive round of our Post Card group are on hold, and so are the pictures of knitting progress. I'm going to switch to TypePad if this keeps happening, I swear it! Now that Google owns Flickr in some back door way.. check out the bottom of the screen sometime when you log into your blogspot.. they may be trying to force you to put everything into flickr. That means they will stop supporting Picasa use, like they did with Hello, a very sweet little program for uploading to blogspot and other on line things.

Knitting report, sans pictures.

Purple Hempathy sf gloves are up to the first stockinette rows. And yes, that is the color in natural light. I could eat them they are such a delicious color.

The Waterlily SF gloves are on their way up the thumb. They will go very fast because the yarn is worsted weight.

Jane's Hedgerow pattern sock is up to the pattern rows and it's just a lovely pattern. What can I say about this? It's just a terrific sock pattern. ABFAB!

Lanna Grossa boot socks also into the stockinette but the colors aren't fast in showing off. So, as more is knit, they will be more inclined to show off.

Gretchen progresses slowly. She is, after all, a lady, and a lady cannot be rushed. She will take her time and in an elegant way, unfold her beauty.

Drops Aran is still last in the running, and of course this is because it's the most intimidating! But, within his lifetime, I so want to give this gorgeous sweater to DH. He is just such a nice fellow and so patient ( and lets me buy yarn, books, and needles whenever I want to).

I'll try those photos one more time, but if you don't see then soon, you can be sure there is a big BLUE STREAK over California, drifting out over the Arizona Desert with the prevailing winds.

Amen, and Well Said...

Thank you, Meribeth!

Peace is truly the gift of the season. It is the defining characteristic of the kind and compassionate Prince of Peace whose birth date is celebrated. For my part, it's time to crank up the old Victrola and play some carols and get out of this funk.

DH has become intrigued by UGLY quilts, so I've saved back some of the ties to make roll up ties for three Ugly quilts. He wants to help with the stitching and stuff.

All my patterns are going except for a few. There's a theater here that expressed interest, and I hope it makes a merry time for some thrifty seamstresses! With no babies to sew for, or anyone whom I know to be sewing for children, the grandmothers who scout the aisles of the thrift stores can have what the theater doesn't want. It's so great to re-cycle and to give. It's not good to Mother Earth to be stuffing the landfills.

Rissa, I emailed you about the ties. Pictures will be sent shortly. I just have NO Christmas spirit this year. I guess I am still in shock that a Christmas tree was up at Macy's here, a mere week after Halloween. Sheesh. Macy's?

So now it's back to work and rest, but with some "Rejoice and be Glad"! Time to eat some reindeer shaped cookies. I just reminded myself that I can't drink eggnog! Maybe with enough rum in it, DH said, it would fool my body. heehee. I so want that to be true! Time to knit Gretchen.

Speaking of Gretchen, beware in Ravelry! Their smiley faces are more than mere symbols of your happiness with your progress. Poor beautiful Gretchen was listed as an UGH, and I was invited to attend the UGH group- my only clue that something was amiss- because I was not happy with my progress ("Lazy Slacker" should have been a choice!) in knitting my Pi shawl. I saw that when I tripped on over to the UGH group and there was my beautiful Gretchen, listed as an UGH! Nothing could be further from the truth. I am ashamed!

One post card done, one finishing up today.

One Greater Outdoors, one Halloween, and one Firestorm PC

 

 

 

Gail has a terrific sense of humor, and look who is in the outhouse. Very clever card! She also sent this adorable Halloween card. Suzi sent the Firebird! She and I both live in the fire zone so she knew that I would appreciate this card. I'm thinking of framing it Suzi!

The Greater Outdoors Postcards Number 1-3

 

 

 

1 is Joie's card, 2 is Pina's card, and 3 is Vicki's Greater Outdoors Post Cards. Joie said that her card embodies what she thinks of as the perfect outdoors experience, the beach with lots of sun. Pina's fisherman was taken over immediately by DH, who, along with me really marveled at the clever design and embroidery. Vicki's card has an amazing story that is best told by a LINK to her blog about the genesis of the idea, and the how she put it all together. Scroll down to the September 27th entry.... Vicki has a beautiful fiber/quilting blog that should not be missed by anyone seriously interested in anything to do with threads. :)

This next time the theme is, "Famous Paintings", and I will be participating. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Thanks for cheering me up during the time Jazzie was recovering. I'm very grateful.

Okay, it was cool, I knit about 4 more rows of Gretchen

The only picture I could offer is fuzzy, unlike the silk yarn, which is, well, silky. I will try again this afternoon. This day will be another fight to the death to stay cool. I now have an infected ear. Jungle rot from living in this high humidity? My city might, if it got more actual rain, turn into a tropical rain forest. I'd really have to move then, further north to an artist's colony. Yay!

If you would like a picture instead of words, Above will appear the last of the postcards to arrive on my doorstep. It is from Vicki, who forged a whole new process of pain for making a postcard. She is sort of like our pioneer of processes, and she explains all on her Blog. She has a beautiful fiber blog and she has done amazing things with fabrics and fibers.

Ok, now to attach that other other, what-am-I-going-to-be-doing-with-my-time piccy.

six postcards.. let's see if this works...

 

 

 

 

Well well, looks like four smalls is the limit. It's nice to know that! Laurie, Judi, Obie and Gail sent these. They are all self portraits and all are amazing at conveying the self portrait theme. This was a hard assignment and we really stretched ourselves with it. I will now await the one remaining postcard that is coming and post the rest of the group when it gets here. Great Job Group!

Post Card exchange PC August

 

The making of this was a hair puller as well as a blood letting experience. Good for the Soul. The back of the card says, "Always look on the bright side of life." That line is from an old song, and I've had it for my motto ever since I can remember. I've enjoyed this, now that it's over, since it was filled with such self doubt and ineptitude but the card's looking fine now with silver hair on. On to the next exchange which will be infinitely easier, I'm sure! Also, like Edison, I now know 10 thousand things that don't work. Actually, it's only about a dozen for me. Good old Edison, always good for a quote! Have fun today all 6 or so of you!

Post Card 6

 

Judi's post card was last to arrive, and it's a beauty. I tried to put them all in order of arrival but may have failed. It's a crazy quilt and on the back she wrote, "Sew Crazy!"

I'm really happy to be in our post card group. I'm "sew" excited that the sewingroom is getting a little use again. DH really gets excited when the post cards for each new round start arriving. He sometimes pretends that one hasn't come and slips it in between the other mail so he can say, "Wow! There is one!"

Post Card 6

 

This little beauty was made by Laurie, and is another post card that told me I was missing out on some of the greatest stuff by not going and haunting the quilt shop. Laurie hand quilts and she is my secret Idol.

the rest of America can have American Idol. I nominate Laurie!

Inside PC 5

 

The fabric was backed with something like heat and bond, then sized and printed in a printer. This is a technique that I must try. Heather was making a dress, more like a gown at the same time she was getting these ready.

Post Card 5

 

All the way from across the pond came this card from Heather. This is just the outside. Let me show you the inside.

Post Card 4

 

Pina sent this one, and has redefined the art of fussy cutting! The bit of glare is from the clear envelopes a few of us are using for our cards. This card was another one that convinced me that my stash of great fabrics for making these little pieces of art was pretty pathetic. DH would have to agree, or will he? heehee

Post Card 3

 

This came on a day that I was really needing to be reminded about Angels. It came from Obie and was extremely sweet and very timely. On the back she embroidered the word "PostCard" with luscious varigated thread. That was the day that told me I'd better get out there and start shopping for fabrics! My stash of really lovely quilting fabrics obviously has grown pretty thin.

Post Card 2

 

When this arrived from Vicki, well, it's just not something you can take your eyes off of. The fabric is treated with something that makes it sun sensitive. The General theme was "Sewing Room" and this card is themed, "Closures". Yes, that is a real zipper, too. Fantabulous!