Fabric Christmas Postcard

Is this too late in the year to begin your Christmas projects?  Probably.

I set the challenge down to my friend Ronda a few weeks back.  That challenge is to exchange quilted/appliqued Christmas cards.

I, of course, had to give it to her first before I blogged about it.  I don't usually exchange cards until after December 1, but, I had to break my own rules this year.  What's life if you can't break a rule or two now and then?

I got the inspiration from Pinterest.  I must apologise, I have modified someone else's design slightly, but I can not acknowledge them as I have not saved their idea as a pin.  If someone finds it, let me know and I will acknowledge this person.

Let us start with the finished product:

While I prefer everything to be properly finished I chose a design that, was not.  It was more naive in finish.

You will need:

Visofix
Phellon (or fusible batting)
Cotton fabric (in red, white and green)
2 buttons

These are so easy to make.  Here's how it was done:

1     Cut out two 6" x 4" rectangles for each postcard that you wish to make.
2     Cut out two pieces of stiff interfacing - 6" x 4" - attach one piece to the wrong side of the pieces          that you cut out in point 1 above.
3     Fuse Visofix to each of the red, green and white fabrics.
4     I then used my Sizzix cutter to cut a 3" red circle and a 3" white circle.
5     With the white circle I cut these freehand through the middle to make the shape shown in the              picture above. I also freehand cut the leaves.
6     Remove the backing from the Visofix and iron down onto the backing fabric, as shown in the              picture below:

7     Cut out one piece of phellon (or you could spray glue attach a piece of batting) - 6" x 4" for each        card. Attach to the rear of the front piece with the applique and sandwich the three layers                    together holding together with pins or clips.
8     I then free motioned quilted the three layers together around the plum puddings.

9     Then, using one of the embroidery motifs on my machine, found a motif resembling snow flakes        and placed these randomly above the plum puddings and the leaves, also freemotion around the          perimeter of the card.
10   Hand sew the two buttons at the base of the two leaves,

And there we have it, I finally made eight of these cards.

This will become a yearly tradition.

Give it a try, they're quite easy to make.

Happy sewing everyone.

Sandra

PS and Merry Christmas to one and all.

Sewing mishaps and the AQC (Australian Quilt Convention)

I will start with my sewing mishap this week.  I wasn't going to blog about it at all. 

I decided I would because not all sewing adventures can be a success.  We come up with a bright idea, and then, nah, didn't work out.

I wanted to try the Receipt Holder Tutorial by Lisa Amundson available for free on Craftsy
 So here it is:

What I think were my mistakes are:

• the interfacing I used was too thick for the job
• I didn't line up the flap closure evenly
• my top stitching is questionable

Maybe I should try making it again, don't know.  I have a policy of making something again when I've had problems with the design or sewing.  I think I'II have to follow my own advice.


Yearly the Australian Quilt Convention (AQC) hits Melbourne at the Melbourne Exhibition Buildings.

I ummed and ahhhed about going this year.  You know how it is, if I go, I'II buy more fabric and stuff I really don't need.  Even on the Saturday I still toyed with the idea.  In the end I decided I would go on the Sunday.

My main motivation behind finally deciding to go was that I wanted to visit the Sizzix stand run by Annie's Designs (www.anniesdesigns.com.au).  I'd exhausted the range held at Spotlight and I had questions that no Spotlight or Lincraft staff could answer (don't worry I'd tried, I'm over the blank looks and wrong information).

While searching online I was alerted to the fact that the Sizzix machine was the only one on the market that would accept dies from other machines.  However, I didn't want to try it, until I could confirm it.  Also, I really didn't know what my machine was capable of and the types of dies that would go through the machine. The only way I would be able to get this information was to talk to a Sizzix expert.  So off to the show I went.

The fabulous thing is, after talking to Annie's Designs, that my Fabi Sizzix machine can not only cut through eight layers of fabric, it can with some extras cut paper and balsa wood without blunting the blades!  I also discovered a wonderful wide range of dies that go through my machine.  Annie's Designs were so helpful, if you're in Australia and use Sizzix machines, get online and look at Annie's site.

That's what I've been up to (besides work), what have you been up to?

Sandra