Tuesday, December 04, 2007

2007 Postcard Swap - August



My "Green" postcards

These cards are for my "Green" swap with the FAPC group back in August. I didn't realised that I hadn't posted them here until just now. Sorry for being so slack...
I made them all the same, but then personalised each one by embroidering the receivers initial in the middle.
This one flew over toPaule Poole in North Yorkshire...






This one went flying over to Sue Page in Rockvale USA .
I know I have a funny idea of "Green"... I'm not a green person but do love the other shades, therefore I guess mine are a bit on the "Blue" side of green...

This found a home in Lauderdale Florida USA with Barbara Bunchuk.



And this one found it's home with Rose Anne in Winnipeg Canada.





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2007 Postcard Swap - November


My "Altered Lace" postcard.


My Altered Lace postcards were very interesting to work on, but very hard to get started... I did start with an idea that was very different to the one that I eventually used, which I'm quite happy with. On this one, I have used 2 different pieces of lace, the white piece was a very wide lace and I cut it up between the 'zig-zag' shapes along the length. The purple piece in the middle, was 'pink' to start with from the front of a shirt. After I trimed and dyed it, it was then ready to use on all my cards. With a little bit more "altering" on each card. The owner of this one now is Lyn Drage in Perth WA Australia.




As you can see in this one I have used that purple piece again, also the 'zig-zag' piece but have dyed this piece light blue. I have also used another piece of lovely lave that was on an evening top that I purched from the "Opp-shop" in town. It had a beauitful piece os wide lace around the bottom of it. I have hand painted this one with Oze dyes. This one was sent to Ingrid Tiffe in Canada.



On this one I have used the full width of the lace from the evening top and have hand painted it as well with the Oze dyes. Also used the purple piece again but have "altered" it a little by painting the self-embroidered flowers with gold paint. This one was sent ot Jan Bartlett of Boulder City in USA.





I have made this one a little different again. Using the purple again with the gold painted flowers. Also the lace from the evening top, but leaving it crean coloured and only a small porition of it. Then I have hand painted a lace motif for the other corner. This motif has been cut from another piece of lace that had reverse motifs in it. This card flew over to Lorri Chambers also in the USA.

Friday, October 12, 2007

2007 Postcard Swap - October


My "Foiling on Fabric" Postcards


These postcards are my attempt at doing "Foiling". My technique was to use little snippets of fusing, then lightly pressing on the gold foil. After being satified that I had enough foil down I then covered that area with organisa and free-motion quilted around the pieces of gold foil. Then on the other corner I used foiling glue to make my squiggly lines, when they dried and became clear in colour I pressed on the 'rainbow' foiling.











2007 Postcard Swap - September



My "Glitz & Glamour" Postcards

Here are 2 of my "Glitz & Glamour" swap I have recently participated in... this one and another one very similar were sent to Maureen C. and Margaret P.





This one was sent to Andrea and another one like it was sent to Margaret G. (of course it had an "M" on it). It took me a while to get my inspirational juices going for this one.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

2007 Postcard Swap - August.

My
"June Bride"
Postcards
These are my 4 cards I have made for the "June Bride" swap for August. I enjoyed doing these cards very much. I tried to make each one different so that they are then all unique. All four cards went overseas to the USA to members of the FAPC group. Now to get started on the next one which is "Green" .




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2007 Postcard Swaps - July

My "Silhouette" Postcard Swap - July

This is one of my cards for the Silhouettes swap... I had a lot of fun making this one. The fabric I chose for the dimension look and the way it looks like it's reflecting. I have stenciled the little ducks one at a time, then did the reverse row to match. The top ones have been stamped twice to give the darker look, then I back stitched around each one of them.
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2007 Postcards - July

"Express Yourself" Postcard Swap - July

I have made these cards on "Silk Fabric" I just love the rich colour of the silk...I have used some confetti scraps, Angelina Fibres and film for the leaves. I also used glittter fibres and then embelished with copper foiling.
This one was sent to Catherine.







This is the one which I sent to Canada to Rose Anne in Winnipeg.



Then last but not least is my third one, I sent to Japan to our new member, Hideko. This was her first postcard swap. I hope she enjoyed receiving our P/Cs in return for her lovely ones.





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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Postcard Swaps - May 2007

My "I've Got the Blues" Swap

These two cards are an example of my May swap "I've Got the Blues". I have used Angeline Fibre on a light blue back ground fabric, then place a multi coloured organza over the top. Quilted over the top of them to hold them together, then used my soldering iron the burn out parts of the organza to
reveal the glittering Angeline Fibres.
Unfortunately one of then turned out a little bit too green, but I still liked them very much anyway. Besides I really didn't have the "blues"....


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Our Discharge Dying Day

Yesterday, my friends & I had a great day playing with different plain fabrics and doing 'Reverse' or 'Discharge' Dying. These example are some of the ones that I finished up with. I'm really pleased with the two dark colour strips in this photo. They started out good quality black homespun (100% cotton). The middle piece has all different images on it and will make great postcards in the future. I laid out the top piece with different images longways on the fabric, it looks good as well. The pink strip has a lovely Lacy image on it.


These pink squares all started out purple, example in photo (left bottom). We had quite an array of items to create these great images on the purple fabric... Ranging from a dried "Bird of Paradise Flower", a lovely piece of lace from a St Vinnie purchase, Gutter Mesh, Microwave tray, Doilies, fencing nails, nuts, straight nails, fishing hooks (raided Hubby's shed for a lot of these) Now he's threatened to raid my sewing room when he needs another grease rag..LOL


This is my friend Lyn holding up a couple of her efforts... They both started out navy, I think... so you never know what colour you're going to get until you do it.
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Monday, May 14, 2007

My little Grandson Archie

This is my little Grandson Archie James, who was born 4 months ago, with Cleft Palette and lip. While, apparently this problem is quite common, it is still a real concern to one's family when it happens to you. My son and daughter-in-law have been very positive all the way through the ordeal (after their initial shock ). It was determined as early as their 12 week ultra-sound, that their baby was going to have a cleft lip, but could not determine how badly he was effected or if it was his palette as well.
As it turned out, it was his palette as well... and he'll have to go in again in a couple of months to have that fixed.
Here he is a few days before his operation.
This is him right after the surgery... the op was Monday 23rd April.





The guard across his mouth, is obviouly there to protect his mouth and nose from being knocked or touched etc... He also had to have his little arms in splints, so as to prevent him from putting fists in his mouth or touching his face.


This photo was taken on the Friday after most the stitches had been taken out, and he was ble to have his 'bull-bar' removed.



Posted by Picasa This photo was sent to me last week. It has been 3weeks since the operation. Just look at his sweet little 'button' nose... isn't he just sooo cute!!! LOL... am I a proud Grandma, or what???

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Postcards - April 2007


Trapunto Swap

This postcard has been sent to Myla Chapman in the USA. I haven't done trapunto for years, so I did enjoy doing this swap. I have done it in the old traditional method of threading and filling in with needle and yarn. I believe there are a few different ways of doing Trapunto now, which I may have to investigate and try them out on more P/Cs.



This is another Trapunto P/C made for Rose Anne in Canada. Again I have used the old traditional technique for this one as well. Although on this one I didn't have any wadding between the front and the backing, I just filled in the sections I wanted to raise up.



The second picture shows the dense bead work in the middle.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Bridial Bags

My Niece's Bridal Bags
I made these lovely little bags for my niece and her bridesmaids (sisters), for her recent wedding. I have used the same fabric as their dresses, and embellished them with seed beads, crystals and pearls.



The pattern is the simple folded square method, with the corners pulled into the center the make them appear rounded.
The girls loved them and they were able to fill them with quite a lot of essentials!!
a bride and her maids would need for the night.
Double click on pictures for larger view.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

2007 Postcards - February's Swap

My 'Down Under' Swap (things Australian)
This is a sample of my Down Under P/Cs, & below is what I wrote on the back, as an explanation of my interpretation;
"My card represents my country...
The 'red' depicts the desert, in the centre. Next the dry farming areas & stations. The 'green' represents the rain forests & coastal areas. The 'blues' resemble the ocean that surrounds our wonderful country."
I really had a lot of fun putting these P/Cs together, even though I took a lot longer than I had first planned.

2007 Postcards - February's Swap


My "Miss Angelina" Swap

Here is one of my 'Miss Angelina' P/Cs, for the Angelina Fibre Swap. To make this card I used a piece of my "tissue paper fabric", which I had made some time ago. The colours of this material is bright yellow with blues and greens added. Then I added the Angelina Fibre over the top, included some toning threads and clippings, then stitched all over it. Angelina Fibre is a great medium to work with, being very easy to create some lovely pieces of art.
The one on the left was greated in the same manner, using some blue tissue fabric I made. I 'raw edge' appliqued the butterflies onto the top to add a little something.

2007 Postcards - February's Swap

My 'Hearts' Swap

This one of my "Heart Postcards". I made 4 of these, all very similar. I have made them from one large piece of abstract print fabric with organza over the top, so therefore each one had a different pattern under the hearts. Using the reverse applique method, I place 3 hearts on the front, then cut away the shape of the hearts and finished the edged off with a fancy pattern stitch. The stitching accross the card has been done to hold the layers together before doing the hearts. I just removed the stitches through the hearts. Hope you like.

Friday, March 30, 2007

2007 Postcards - January's Swap

"My State" Swap.
This is one of the next swap I participated in... This is the info I wrote on the back of my Postcard;

"Our Sydney Opera House is one of the most recongisable images of the modern world, it has become to represent 'Australia'. Designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, & was opened by Queen Elizabeth II, Oct 1973. The Opera House is situated on Bennelong point, the view of the skyline of the Harbour Bridge, the blue water of the harbour and the Sydney Opera House, is dramatic and unforgetable."

My Christmas Postcard - 2006

I have been extremely slack in my posting this year... This Postcard is my Christmas one, I sent to Maureen B. It was wonderful how she picked up on the fact that I had joined the group just too late to share in the Christmas P/C swap. So she offered to swap with me, at least minute, so I wouldn't feel left out.... ahhhh!!! how nice you'll think, but that is what Maureen is like... so giving. Thank you Maureen.