My First Postcard Swap

Oregon State Fabric Postcard

As mentioned on my Goal List in my WIP Wednesday post this week, I made my first fabric postcard for a swap with the CQ for Newbies Yahoo Group. (Let me just say this is a very fun, supportive group of ladies.  I spent about a year lurking - reading emails and enjoying eye candy - before I actually participated in a swap.  The emails frequently leave me smiling.)

The theme of the swap was states, so my very first fabric postcard is Oregon themed.  (And if my sister sees it, I may need to make another one!)

In my world, an Oregonian is expected to be either an Oregon State University Beaver fan OR a University of Oregon Duck fan.  (Don't tell anyone, but I secretly cheer for both.)  I have 3 relatives that graduated from Oregon State, making me a Beaver fan.  So, I decided my postcard would be orange and black.  (I do my best not to sound negative, so let me just say almost every Beaver fan I know would have felt the same... I was thrilled to have some fabric I purchased before they changed the Benny the Beaver logo.  Why? Well, you can actually see a duck flying in Benny's eye with the new logo.)

I Googled free Oregon coloring sheets, downloaded a page with a picture of the state map (including a star for Salem, the capital) and printed it from Picasa (my photo program) in a 4 x 6 size.  I held the page up to a window and traced the outline with a sharpie.  Then, I held muslin over the outline and used a pencil to trace the reverse image onto the muslin.  This muslin became the back of my crazy quilt block.

I wanted the state outline to stand out, so I kept most of the stitching subtle, using mostly black-on-black.  These close ups might help you see some of the detail. (Click on any photo for a larger view.)

 

 

Then, I couched down 6 strands of DMC orange cotton floss, carefully following the outline on the muslin backing.  A star bead for Salem was the finishing touch. (Sorry, I did not realized there was a shadow of me holding the camera on the lower-left side or I would have taken a better pic!)

Crazy Quilted Oregon State Fabric Postcard Front

Crazy Quilted Oregon State Fabric Postcard Back

I used two fabric postcard tutorials to put mine together.  I followed the directions on this tutorial at Patchwork Posse to determine the size, thickness, and materials needed, and decorating the postcard side.. And I used this tutorial at Quilted Delights to finish off the edges.  I also used a little tip I discovered on Pinterest (I wish I knew which one, the idea just stuck in my head) and used a black sharpie to color over any areas my finishing stitches missed.  Aside from needing a bit more practice on the corners, I was very pleased with how this project turned out.  (Cris received my postcard and pointed out we are our own worst critics.  I am taking her advice and being a bit less critical of my work on the corners.) Making this postcard was SO much fun! 

I would love to thank Alice for the swap idea and Beth for being our swap hostess!  I also want to thank Lesa for reminding us of the deadline and encouraging participation.  It was FUN. And, had I not participated, this beauty from Lisa B. would not have arrived in my mailbox today! (Note: this is not the same Lisa from the Heart Round Robin I am in.)

The beautiful fabric postcard I received from Lisa.

Is this gorgeous or what?! Lisa combined the British flag and the Tennessee flag, The Union Jack is the British flag, and the three stars in the circle represents the Tennessee flag.  The gorgeous red roses represent England and the Irises represent Tennessee.  I am absolutely thrilled to begin my fabric postcard collection with this beauty.  Red, white and blue is one of my favorite color combinations and this is just fabulous.  Every time I look at it, I am reminded of a trip we made to London years and years ago, making it all the more special. 

Have you ever made a fabric postcard?  If not, I encourage you to give it a go!

Thanks for stopping by!
Renee

Note: This post was edited to correct an error.  The Union Jack is the British Flag. (Argh.  I even looked that up on the Internet to be sure I had it right before I posted.  Thank you, Wendy!)

WIP Wednesday 08/06/14

Unfortunately, I have not had nearly enough time to stitch this week.  I managed to make a bit of progress on my Heaven and Earth Designs Freebie of Santa and the Mouse.  (I finished a bit of orange and filled in some blue.)  Any additional time I have had, I have spent working on my Heart RR block.  It has been fun to work on and I hope to have it finished in time to mail out this afternoon. 

To see what others have been up to check out the comments on this post at pintangle.com.

Last Friday, I went on my first college campus tour with Monkey (my eldest.) It is hard to believe he will be a senior this year.  My youngest will be a freshman.  I have no idea where the time went - lol!

I am kind of excited and kind of nervous all at once because I also entered two items into the textile category at the county fair on Friday.  This is a first for me.  I have no expectations of ribbons, but I thought it would be fun to enter them anyway.  The fair will be next week.  While leaving the fairgrounds, I lived through the longest 4-5 of the longest seconds of my life...  It's a bit off topic, but writing about it may be therapeutic.

Imagine approaching a railroad crossing and seeing there is barely enough room for one car between the intersection (with a red light) and the railroad crossing guard.  Sure enough, I crossed the tracks and as soon as I stopped at the light the "ding, ding, ding" of the alarm began.  I glanced in the rear view mirror to see how far the back of my car was from the slowly lowering guard and began inching forward - just to be sure I was not in the way.  I glanced back again, to see if there was plenty of space only to see the horrified expression of a woman who now sat in a car behind me ON THE TRACKS.  I could read her lips as she screamed, "GO!"  Umm... red light.  Cars in intersection.  I glanced back again. Was there a car behind her I could not see? Is that why she did not back up?  She could pull into the empty right turn lane next to me to get off the tracks.  Why wasn't she moving? Did she need more space to maneuver into that lane? I inched a bit more forward and realized the cars in the lanes to my left had stopped.  I looked up at the light. A horn behind me blared just as I saw the light was now green.  Thank you, God! I quickly made my left-hand turn.  In the rear view mirror, I saw her safely make her way straight through the intersection.  My mind was still reeling.  I saw train cars stopped along the track.  Did the train have to stop? Did it get that close? Did I hear it honk in warning as it approached the woman's car stopped on the tracks? Logic said no, it did not stop.  The tires would have screamed.  There would have been noise. But there was a train stopped. (On the way home, I confirmed there was actually just a string of train cars simply parked on one of the tracks.  The train had not stopped, but carried on its way.)  I parked at the grocery store (my destination) about a block away. I held my hand in front of me and it shook violently.  In my mind, I could still see the woman screaming, "Go!"  But, the light was red.  It turned green. When did it turn green? I asked my 17-year-old son.  He shrugged and told me she could have backed up.  There was no car behind her.  In its shock, my mind could not wrap itself around the knowledge the the woman was okay. "Did she get across?" I asked, the memory of watching her car cross the intersection vaguely flashed in my mind. He reassured me she did.  I am not sure how many times my incredibly rational son repeated, "Nothing bad happened and if it had, you did not do anything wrong."  It was so easy to hear, but so hard to believe.  Had things turned out differently, I could have seen the train hit that woman in her car.  And I would have had to live with the knowledge that I chose not to move my car out of her way.  (Knowing that would have required running a red light and driving into an intersection, risking more lives, would have brought little comfort.  As it is, the question still haunts me. When did the light turn green?)  I remembered my mom telling me stories of the man that decided to commit suicide before I was born.  He parked his car on the train tracks in front a train while my uncle was in the car with him.  The train must have hit the passenger side first.  My mom said the train conductor later said he could see my uncle scream, "Oh my God."  (How long did that image haunt that conductor, I wondered.)  I thanked God for the blessing of all of us safely driving away.  I noted blessings do not all feel like sunshine and rainbows.  I was thankful, nonetheless.  I kept trying to wrap my mind around why I did not see the car the first time I looked back, but did the second time.  If that memory was accurate, it would have meant she drove onto the tracks AFTER the alarms began ringing to alert us to the oncoming train.  I could not comprehend why she did not back up, or pull into the empty right turn lane.  Then my mother-in-law's comment put all the puzzle pieces together.  "She was trying to race across and beat the crossing guards from lowering."  I suppose if you were familiar with that road, and knew the light would change in your favor, you MIGHT be willing to pull up onto those busy train tracks and stop behind a car stopped AT A RED LIGHT knowing a train was approaching.  Maybe if you were willing to gamble with your life.  (Though I would hope not.) What if the gamble did not pay off? Every choice has consequences.  And the person making the choice is not always the only one to pay those consequences.  What about the consequences on the life of the train conductor or the driver of the car in front of you?  When there is another car at the intersection, it is no longer about the timing of the light and the crossing guard dropping.  There is now a human element.  The driver of that vehicle might find the horror of the situation as enough of a distraction that they may not see the light has turned green for a second or two.  (When, exactly, did that light change?!)  In the end, my son was right. Nothing horrible happened.  With luck, that lady will not stop on the train tracks in the future; if so, there would be at least one positive result of those stressful moments. As for me, I may take the long way around and skip that intersection altogether when I leave the county fair this year...

I apologize for the short novel!

Anyway, this week I have some big projects around the house I hope to complete, so I may not have much progress to share next week.  We shall see!  In addition to what is marked off below, we picked 21 pounds of blueberries and I put up over 10 pounds of peaches and 6 pounds of pears.  My youngest and I even made 4 batches of homemade fruit leather and a batch of dairy-free coconut fig ice cream!

Last Week's List:

Short-term: 

1. The wall quilt I plan to create with all of my CQI Winter/Christmas blocks. 
2. Make a TAST post. Done! View it HERE.
3. Make a purse with my April CQJP 2014 block.
4. Complete back for May CQJP 2014 block.
5. Make a purse with my May CQJP 2014 block.
6. Freebie Santa and the Mouse Ornament -  Heaven and Earth Designs chart by Michele Sayetta and artwork by Scott Gustafson. (I believe the ornament is a portion of the chart "Santa and the Mouse.") Complete 100 x-stitches by next week. Hmmm.... I do not believe I quite reached 100.
7. Embellish Barbara's block for CQI Hearts Round Robin. 
8. Complete Fabric Postcard for CQ for Newbies Yahoo! Group Swap. Done! I will share pics after I know it has been received.

Long-term: 

1. My CQJP 2013 May block - better late than never?! (It is referred to as Block 4 if you follow this link.)
2. A crazy quilted hexagon to participate in my first swap with the World Wide Crazy Quilters Yahoo! Group
3. A change purse for myself. 
4. Have a count of at least 50,000 words for my CampNaNoWriMo novel.
5. Embellish June CQJP 2014 block.
6. Make a purse with June CQJP 2014 block.
7. Embellish July CQJP 2014 block.

This Week's List:

Short-term: 

1. The wall quilt I plan to create with all of my CQI Winter/Christmas blocks. 
2. Make a TAST post. 
3. Complete back for May CQJP 2014 block.
4. Freebie Santa and the Mouse Ornament -  Heaven and Earth Designs chart by Michele Sayetta and artwork by Scott Gustafson. (I believe the ornament is a portion of the chart "Santa and the Mouse.") Complete 100 x-stitches by next week. 
5. Embellish Barbara's block for CQI Hearts Round Robin. 
6. Paint guest bathroom.
7. Weed front yard.  (Like the way I added my chores - lol!)

Long-term: 

1. Make a purse with my April CQJP 2014 block.
2. Make a purse with my May CQJP 2014 block.
3. My CQJP 2013 May block - better late than never?! (It is referred to as Block 4 if you follow this link.)
4. Embellish crazy quilted hexagon to participate in my first swap with the World Wide Crazy Quilters Yahoo! Group
5. A change purse for myself. 
6. Have a count of at least 50,000 words for my CampNaNoWriMo novel.
7. Embellish June CQJP 2014 block.
8. Embellish July CQJP 2014 block.
9. Piece August CQJP 2014 block. (I may combine this with #10)
10. Make an up-cycled coin purse.
11. Open an Etsy shop and list up-cycled coin purse! (I am excited and nervous.  Any Etsy tips are welcome for this newbie!)
12. Piece and embellish snowball for Kathy S. by September 30th.
13. Piece and embellish snowballs for Nicki Lee, Donna and Lori by end of October.
14. Piece and embellish snowballs for Lynne by the November 15th.

TAST 08/05/14

This week, I have two TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) stitches to share - stitches 14 and 15.  (Click the link to learn more about TAST and click on any photo for a larger view.)

TAST 14: Stem Stitch

TAST #14: Stem Stitch

Using a strand of EdMar Glory #048 rayon floss, I created a main stem stitched vine with closely spaced stitches.  (I lightly traced the curve of a nickle on the back of the fabric over the seam.  I accidentally centered one curve a bit farther to the left than I intended.  So, I just added several shorter curves for flower stems and stem stitched them into place.)  The leaves were created with a fish bone stitch.  And the flower buds are a lazy daisy stitch using a thin pink ribbon I found at Friendship Crossing (I am not affiliated with the shop) in Corvallis.  The name brand is Neon Rays and it is color #N11.

TAST 15: French Knot

TAST #15: French Knot

Usually, I prefer topping these lazy daisy (detached chain stitch) flowers with a seed bead.  I had the perfect color picked out.  However, if you note the small black thread in the upper-left corner, that is the seam line for this block.  In general, I try to avoid placing any beads within 1/4th inch of the seam.  (Sewing can sometimes be tricky when the foot does not like going over a bead.)  So, I decided to use 2 strands of a slightly lighter shade of DMC cotton floss to make a French knot where the 3 petals meet. It was a perfect solution.





To see this week's TAST stitch and what other stitches others have played with this week, check out this post and the links in the comments at Pintangle.com.

Thank you for stopping by!

Hugs,
Renee

CQI Heart DYB Round Robin 2014 - Set 3

On Friday, I received the next set of blocks for the Crazy Quilting International Heart DYB Round Robin I am participating in.  This set of blocks belongs to Barbara W.

The first block was embellished by Kathy S. (a.k.a. Clothqueen).  I love the buttonhole stitch around the heart.  The SRE is lovely and the charms are darling additions.  The remaining blocks are the ones I get to choose from. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Renee

Random Act of Kindness Swap with Crazy Quilting for Newbies Part 2

Keychain coin purse

On the 21st, I shared all of the wonderful goodies Lesa sent to me with the Random Act of Kindness Swap I signed up for with the Crazy Quilting for Newbies Yahoo! Group.

On July 25th, I mailed a package to another participant in the swap. She likes yellow and hoped to add more trims to her stash.

I have a habit of finding a trim or ribbon on sale every time I go to Michaels or JoAnn Fabric.  I also have a habit of forgetting to use them on my crazy quilting projects (though I am getting better about that!)  So, I snipped off a bit of this and a touch of that, hoping some of it would be to Jo's liking.  And it was SO MUCH FUN.  Again, it felt like Christmas in July - only on the giving end this time (my favorite part!)

I also wanted to make something special to send along with the trims.  I bought an Antique Bronze Keychain Purse Frame from CrazyQuiltingSupplies.com a while ago.  (I am not affiliated with the product or the shop.)  I knew the frame would be small, but once I saw it in person, I wondered if I would figure out how to make a little coin purse out of it.  This seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a try!

I used the same tutorial I used to make my first coin purse at Sweet Bee Buzzings. But, this time, I had to draw my own pattern.  Let's just say, it took me some serious tweaking (and turning the lining/exterior right-side-out and then inside-out at least six times and tearing seams out and re-stitching them three times), but I finally managed to get the top section of the fabric to fit the frame. During the tweaking stage, I was certain this would be the last time I made a coin purse this small.  However, once it was finished, I wanted to order more frames.  (I never claimed I was sane! I still want to order more of these.)

Keychain coin purse

As you can see in the picture above, the lining is yellow, as is the embroidery. Try as I might, I could not quite hide all of the stitches on the inside of the purse from sewing the frame in.  Perhaps with more practice...??? (You can click on any photo for a larger view.)

Keychain coin purse

The photo above gives you a better idea of how small the coin purse is.  My husband insisted you would have to cut it open to get anything back out again.  (He loves to tease me.)  However, slightly pushing the coin from the bottom while holding the top worked like a charm.  Besides, if it were very big, the coin purse (filled) would make the keychain too heavy for car keys.

Based upon an email she sent to the group, I think Jo liked the goodies she received.  I certainly enjoyed putting it all together for her!  Again, I hope Lesa knows how much I appreciate her putting this swap together for the group!