Take Three on the Christmas postcard!

My first two pictures of my Christmas Tree postcard attracted some compliments from readers, for which I thank you all. But after I posted the second photo, I had another look at it and thought to myself "that is disgusting - I can't send this to anybody!" There were three things that had to be fixed: (1)the crooked edges, (2)it was floppy because I hadn't used the right stiffening fabric, and (3)it was smaller than the usual postcard size. So I decided to glue it on to a slightly larger piece of light cardboard, then sew a wide band of ribbon around the edge to cover the cardboard showing on the right side, at the same time making the edges even. Now don't you think this looks much nicer? (I know, the corners are a bit untidy, but hey, nobody's perfect!) ************************************ I asked a Blogger friend to do me a small favour this week, and she was very quick to get on to it, so my Thank You is in the form of a little stitched card. Hope you like it, J!

More fabric postcards

This gorgeous postcard arrived unexpectedly yesterday, from Jane in the U.K. I had to email her to ask if we had planned to exchange postcards because if so, I'd forgotten! She replied within hours, saying yes, we had agreed to a swap, but a few months ago, and she'd taken ages to do it anyway. So that's another one to add to my list of to-do's! But I'm having fun!
****************** I finished this sooner than I'd planned, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered putting the unfinished block on here last night. See what happens when I sit up late trying to finish something? I get the edges off line...still, I'm pleased with the rest of it, so I hope my recipient won't be too critical of the crooked edges!

Sunday's stitching.

As I've mentioned previously, I've become involved in a number of Fabric postcard exchanges. I've completed two fabric postcards, and have three more to do. The next one due to be sent out is for Christmas, and the photo below shows where I am at today. I have some more seam embellishment to do, some stars and other bits to attach, and once that's done, the border will be machine stitched and it will be on its way to the USA. These two blocks are for a Yahoo Group exchange, the theme being "Green" for the December swap, and "Blue" for the January swap. I really like the idea of just having a colour to use for the theme; there is so much scope for everyone to play with their fabrics and bling!

Another "swap" postcard has arrived.

This one is from Ilse in Kentucky, USA. It came safely through the mail, wrapped in a cellophane envelope in order to be admired by postal employees around the world, and finally by me!

My second Fabric Postcard

This is my second attempt at a postcard made of embellished fabrics, for an exchange in a Yahoo Fabric Postcard Group. I found an interesting scrap of material somewhere, which looked like a brick wall, and decided it would be interesting to embellish it as part of a CQ project. My first idea was to embroider flowers at the foot of it, so I attached the ric rac at the bottom, and embroidered the stems and leaves in detached chain and stem stitches. Sharon suggested using buttons as the flower heads, hence the first one on the left, but I was concerned about how it would go through the post if too many bulky bits were on the postcard, so I ended up using sequins for the rest of the flowers. I think I could have done a better job with the stitching along the 'bricks', but by the time I got this far, I was starting to panic about getting it in the mail in time for the deadline. My exchange partner assured me she was in no hurry, but I wanted to get mine off as soon as I could.
I enjoy doing these postcards and ATCs, as it gives me the opportunity to stitch something other than cross stitch, which I've been doing for 20 years almost without a break, and I do miss the variety of classic embroidery. Now that I've finished my girlfriend's birthday gift, I feel free to mess around with my other projects and ideas!

Two Finished items.

This weekend I finished two of my projects that had a November deadline. This cross stitched Cottage is for my friend who turns 50 in two weeks time - Phew - just made it! I put it in this frame temporarily just to see how it looked, but I may get another one if I see something that would look better. And this is a fabric ATC which started out as an experiment, and ended up as a swap for the Stitchin Fingers ATC group. It will be going to the girl who sent me the ATC pictured in my previous post here.

Another Fabric ATC and some early Xmas gifts.

This ATC arrived today from Sue in the U.K. - she is my exchange partner in one of the Stitchin Fingers Groups I'm in. We are doing a Christmas theme exchange this time, and Sue added some cute little extras to her ATC for me!
Little Xmas Fairy using a wooden clothes peg painted gold. Val and I were trying to figure out what this gorgeous envelope is made of - not quite paper and not quite fabric, but very pretty. Lovely little keyring and unusual bias binding - love that stuff!! Can't wait to use it on a new project.