Skeleton Collars & Cuffs

Skeleton Collars & Cuffs is the third of four gifted panels.

I gave him a border of black, orange and brown fabrics.  My original plan was for the wider strips, but for a wall hanging, it was going to get too large and out of proportion.  So I simply cut the original strips in half.

I staggered the strip lengths.



Of course the selvedge had to remain as part of the finished panel.  

There was a lot of blank space in this panel.  Since he’s sewing, I gave him some fabric scraps scattered around him.  Stitched down with raw edge applique.  They also provided more color for the panel.

To finish, I just did some echo quilting and then some straight lines here and there to fill in.

Quite a dapper fellow, wouldn’t you say?

The Night Watchman

When I saw THIS POSTCARD by robertovnaelena (Instagram), I was immediately in love!

I wish she’d send it to me...(sigh)

I know that won’t happen, so I had to try making one myself.  Nowhere near as impressive, but he’s my version.  Not completely unfortunate, right?  I’ve had to call him a blackbird as he’s just not raven enough looking.  I used a bird Sizzix die to trace.  (I wish I could draw!)

I also wished I could figure out a couple of her techniques, but I didn’t really want to copy right down to every detail.....YES I DID!

He’s made from discarded jeans.  A couple of different denim shades.  The moon in this 2nd photo is closer to the actual fabric color.  It’s more a grayish white with silver metallic specks. I first stitched a spiral using silver metallic thread in the bobbin.  I used the wonder under paper that I peeled off the fabric moon to trace a spiral then stitched it from the backside of the postcard.  It needed more thread painting so I stitched between the spiral stitches with regular thread in a cream and then some outside stitches in the gold.

I think if I had stitched the raw edge of the bird a little farther in, I might have been able to ravel the denim edges a little more so they’d look more feathery.

Are you curious about how my postcards look on the Peltex side?

I normally sew a binding around the edges of my postcards.  That’s because I have felt it looks better than zig-zagging. But this artist’s satin stitching on her postcards looks so great, I decided to try that myself too.  Hoping my satin stitch would fill in as nicely as hers did and only going around the outside edges once, I was not disappointed.  My corners need a little work.  I’m okay with that.

Secret ingredient:  At times, satin stitching doesn’t always cover completely or a stitch length will show.  I go looking for a permanent marker the same color as my thread and I camouflage those tiny areas.

Because I am not mailing this postcard to anyone, I used miracle fabric on the correspondence side.  Very adaptable to rubberstamping and writing (if I were to mail it).  I also did not want to test the satin stitched edge with paper after all my work on the design.  But I will be testing it with paper soon!

I have a lot of discarded jeans left, so I’ll be thinking up more denim postcards.

Happy Mail Day!

Postcards and Calendars

When a break from quilting is needed, fabric postcards are being created.

This postcard collage is created entirely from scraps left from a quilt in progress using Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Abandoned2 collection of fat quarters.

This next postcard is tiny flying geese.  A paper pieced pattern by Quilt-a-Rie that I reduced to fit a postcard size.

 This VW Bug (Beetle) is a paper pieced pattern by Full Bobbin Designs that I changed to applique and reduced to fit a postcard.  My very first car was a green 1967 VW Bug that I named Stanley.

This train postcard is an applique pattern by Angel Lea Designs.  Also reduced for a postcard size.  I fashioned my train after the 4017 Union Pacific Big Boy engine on display at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Quite the impressive giant.

This last Poppie postcard is a pattern by Tina Curran.  It is a paper pieced pattern that I adjusted in size for a postcard.  This is a favorite.  The original pattern is like a field of poppies art quilt.  

To catch up with my calendar journals, here are May and June.

Wishing all a happy mail day!