Fiber art postcards are fun to make for all sorts of reasons. I like the freedom of playing with design, practicing techniques and trying out something new, all on a small scale. But postcards make great gifts, special occasion cards, and the perfect item for donating-to-a-good-cause.
I’m naturally left brained, so I like to work in an organized assembly line process. It saves time, but it also allows me to get into right brain mode and stay there. I start by brainstorming ideas, stacking up potential materials on recycled pieces of paper, along with scribbled notes. As I start making the actual postcards, I keep working in groups through all the stages: quilt tops, fusing the quilt top to fast2fuse®, fusing the preprinted cardstock back, and finally, zigzagging. By grouping postcards with the coordinating thread used for zigzagging, it makes the final step go that much faster.
I love the way the postcards look all stacked up. There must be something to this, because you see this kind of image in advertisements and marketing pitches.
This year, I’m donating a group of 13-signed postcards to the Wish Upon a Card fundraiser for the Wendy’s Wish Foundation in Bend, Oregon, organized by Jean Wells, Ann Richardson and the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. So far almost $30,000 has been raised in postcard sales! For more information:www.wendyswish.org or www.sistersoutdoorquiltshow.org.
Here is an assortment of postcards from my latest batch of 49 postcards…
Red Branch: I pieced and quilted a background, and then free motion stitched a branch through all the layers.
Thread Web: I tried something new! I painted the fast2fuse with Liquitex®, let it dry, then melted the stitched thread-web over the painted surface.
Yellow Fever: This is my first encrusted little quilt. Might be my last!
Sunny Side Up: I appliquéd the fried egg on the black and white egg print. To get a realistic egg, I fried an egg, plopped it on paper, and outlined the shape!
Turtles: I love taking a print and free motion outlining the design with thread. It’s tedious, but easy.
Fish: I free motion stitched the fish on the print, and then filled in the background with the stitched bubbles. Good practice for free motion stitching!
Egyptian Motifs: I’ve never really been a scrap saver, but now I do save little tidbits for postcards. I put together a leftover pieced square with some other scraps, and then added quilting. Looks far more complicated than it is.
For more information about Wendy Hill check out her bio on the C&T website or visit Wendy’s website wendyhill.net.
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One Comment
I donated 4 postcards to the auction and was thrilled that 1 was picked to be framed. What a great charity and what fun I had creating the postcards!