More Postcards

Quilt postcards have been around quite a while. I think it was three years ago I had an earlier fit of postcard making and made 50 mostly with intricate butterflies. My current spasm of card making is more efficient and I'm zipping right along. This spell directly relates to the selvage quilt postcard I received two or three weeks ago from Sam Furman from Perth, Australia. She used all Kaffee Fasset selvages and it was wonderfully complex. So I started with postcards made entirely of selvage also.

First I decided to try weaving the polka dot selvages. Then I made the other two just by overlapping selvage to cover cut edges but chose the print carefully. Now I'm using a small picture from a print fabric in the center and framing it variously with selvages -- more pictures another day. All these are going quickly depending on how long I take auditioning various selvages to get colors that satisfy me. That is my favorite part of all scrap quilting. I'm not a plan ahead type, I love the spontaneity.

Four or five books have been written about how to make quilt postcards and I'm sure all are good. There are also sites that have tutorials. But the method I've used the last couple days is so simply I'll just list the steps.
1- I cut a couple of rectangles of light weight interfacing about 5x7.
2- I use an old post card that is 4x6 and mark on one piece of interfacing as in the picture.
3- I chose the pieces of selvage and/or fabric, sometimes I chose all before I start to sew and sometimes I chose as I go. The selvages completely cover the interfacing..
4- I sew the selvage edge quite close to its outside covering the raw edge of the strip it overlaps, so the finished front will have no raw edges.
4. When all are sewn on, I chose a backing fabric [the write-on piece] which has a small light colored design or no design. I cut it 5x7 and lay it face down on the face of the postcard.
5- then I lay the second piece of interfacing on that. Now I have four layers.
6- The fastidious might want to pin it all together at this point. I don't bother. I turn it over so I can see the original mark on the interfacing that was sewn upon. I use this mark as a sewing line. I sew the two longer sides and one other, leaving one side [end] open.
7- I then trim the sewn sides to less than 1/4 inch and clip across the two sewn corners fairly close to stitching.
8- Then I turn it right side out. I work out the two sewn corners -- I use a chop stick to help poke it square. A knitting needle works well but I don't have any
9- I insert a piece of Christmas card cut to a little less than 4x6, between the two layers of interfacing.
10- I carefully turn in the open end and then whip stick it closed using tiny and nearly invisible stitches.
11- Then I iron the whole thing.
12- Finally I turn it over, write with a Pigma pen or a permanent fine Sharpie, the name I give the post card and my name and the date of construction. Draw a little square in the corner where the stamp can go. Viola!!! Done.
Twelve steps really isn't much; I've broken it down to tiny steps.

This could be done using a great piece of fabric, maybe with a scenic design. It could be bordered just once with fabric or ribbon. It could be embellished with button or beads but that would ideally be best done after turning it and before whip stitching it shut. There are endless other possibilities == and quite a few websites one can go to for inspiration and ideas. I'm having fun. I tend to go on little binges like this with relatively simply projects. The very quick reward of a finished product is very satisfying.

Frugulista - scrap/selvage quilting

I've been on a roll all day long making selvage postcard quilts. No photos yet as I didn't want to stop and do the whip stitching to finish the pillowcase backing and then to iron them. I made eight postcards today not only using the selvages -- many sent to me by dear friends on Swap-bot who I've never met but who are kind and send me envelopes of selvages every so often. I'm using not-"new" fabric - well actually it's all new and not been used before but it was not purchased specifically for this project. Like all scrap quilts -- which are my favorite kind -- I'm using what I have in my stash.

This is frugal in several ways. I'm sewing onto a backing of iron on interfacing that I purchased, actually by mistake, quite a while ago. Not only do I have the strips of selvage sent to me, I realized that many of the strips of fabric in my large "scrap bag" are selvage cuttings. So I went through the whole thing and took out the selvages -- also neatened a bit!... How righteous I feel!

Then as I worked I had a frugalista brain storm -- I could stiffen the post cards by inserting between backing and front, pieces of the many Christmas cards that would otherwise go into the garbage. How perfect is that!? They are a nice light weight but with enough stiffness to give the postcards the necessary oomph to withstand the P.O.'s carelessness ... I hope.

I'm really on a roll and hope to make, perhaps as many as 20 in the next week. I'll do photographs when they are finished. Meanwhile the starburst quilt is coming along -- a friend saw it yesterday and pointed out that it is a mandala and the colors are "Tibetan" -- both true. The influence of my long time interest is so much a part of me I hadn't even thought about it. How wonderful and helpful to have a fresh set of eyes.

Christmas day

No, this plate is not traditional Christmas fare. But I don't "do" Christmas. Yesterday, assessing my refrigerator I decided I wanted a nice avocado to make a salad with some tomatoes that promised they might have some tomato flavor. So I went to the local store that is a small produce store grown to almost full supermarket, and, indeed found the avocado that seemed perfect. Of course they were well stocked for the holiday and I couldn't resist the lovely pears and the cherries -- whatever south of the equator country they are from, they are really wonderful. Last week I had Queen Anne cherries that were great, these Bing cherries are perhaps a little better. And not that pricey! So for the sake of festivity I thought I'd put the bottle of wine in the photo, it's been around a while but won't be much longer, having been 1/3 emptied already.

I was deep into hermit-like quilting and straightening and dropped the idea I'd had of going to a movie in the afternoon. But I finally tore myself away and went for a walk in the sunny afternoon. The sky was a perfect, cloudless blue. I did a quick trot around the Great Lawn in Central Park -- despite the snow a few days ago, now gone, the grass is as emerald green as on a beautiful spring day, even though the temperature was only upper 30s. I'm glad I pushed myself out -- walking felt great. The park was full of people of all ages, from babies in cariages to elders in riding scooters and behind walkers. Groups strolling along, speaking all kinds of languages -- always good for my mood.

Then back to consider what to do about a quilt experiment that didn't work out as hoped -- lessons learned, time not wasted but frustration anyway. However, the straightening fit produced order out of chaos and the day was far from wasted. Also, I had a real dinner, good, healthy food. With the radio on most of the day I've had noels up the gazoo and will be glad to get back to normal classical music tomorrow.

Growing/getting there

Th stack of triangles for the border of my Starburst quilt is growing. In fact this photo was taken a couple days ago and I am now within sight of THE END -- then I will calculate the total number of pieces. I have enough together to have laid out one edge, without sewing it, to see how it will go. I need 15 triangles on each side and then will need two additional ones for each corner. It's pure labor intensive, repetitious sewing. My idea -- fools run in where the cautious know not to tread. As I watch the stack of triangles grow I can meditate on the progress of my four "Paper White" narcissus bulbs. Most years I get some bulbs, usually amaryllis for gifts and send them early enough to hope friends will have flowers for Christmas. But they are usually slow. These I kept for myself and for a while thought the two shorter ones were not going to grow at all. Now that all four are shooting up I'm glad two were slower than the other two because I should have flowers for a longer time. That will be nice, especially if they have the scent I think they will. Taking a break from triangle construction I made this little raccoon from Margaret Rothe's Going Wild quilt design book that I've had for years -- and I made some raccoons before, as well as several other birds and animals from the book. They are paper pieced but are not as well planned as later books. This is for a swap and was enlarge to be a nine inch block, plus quarter inch seam allowance.

Hansel and Gretel

We all know the Grimm version of the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel -- why we call most Grimm tales "fairy" tales is beyond me, very few have fairies. This one has a witch and the opera has angels, well, there's the Sandman and the Dew Fairy but those were not in the Grimm version. I'm cogitating on that because I saw the Humperdinck opera on film as it was done at Glynebourne last summer. And believe me it didn't look anything like the drawing pictured here.

I had in mind to go to a film of The Nutcracker from the Kirov Ballet at 3:00 in the afternoon, but then I was sewing and listening to a Messiah performance on the radio and suddenly I realized it was five of three. Not to worry, thought I, they're showing it next Sunday also. So I went to the grocery store and passed Symphony Space which is the venue and saw that they were showing the Hansel and Gretel in the evening. I think I've seen it once and heard it a jillion times. So why not see what they did at Glynebourne?

It was wonderful in a thoroughly modern-fun way. Firstly the voices were superb, especially the two leads who blended their sopranos magically over and over again. Everyone else was very fine also. The woman who sang Hansel was brilliantly made up as a boy and had all the right body language. The brilliant Gretel was the most incredible huge eyes, as well as a hyperkinetic manner that was delightful. Although one thinks of opera singers as being people of considerable ego, the "adults" were caricatures,looking anything but attractive. The Mother was a large, slovenly lady in a thoroughly unbecoming house dress and slacks; father a bit of a drunken sot looking disheveled and unshaven. But the witch! Oh my goodness! At first appearance a big, big man doing drag that would outdo Hairspray on B'way, and on second appearance he shed is pink wig and dress and flounced about in huge bra, low slung half slip below a very masculine and somewhat hairy beer belly, plus an open wrapper. No traditional witch there; one of the most amazing displays I've ever seen in opera.

It was a fortuitous choice, thoroughly entertaining and fun. A little girl, with her grandfather, perhaps 10 or 11, who had never seen an opera before was entranced even though she complained during the intermission that she was hungry and granddad offered to leave and take her for something to eat. She chose to stay and said she was glad she did. Opera on film will never be as wonderful as live -- but it is being filmed with great skill now and shown fairly widely and will make opera available to a new generation probably in very much the same way the Met Saturday broadcasts of the 1950s made it available to this once-upon-a-time little girl on a farm in Indiana.

Snow day

Snow is falling as it's been doing since about ten. "THEY" say it's going to turn to sleet/rain for a while and then snow more overnight. I've been reading of other parts of the US getting blizzards and having deep cold. Well, it's not so cold but it is a day to sit in front of a fireplace and read a book -- except I don't have a fireplace. Ah, well ... I can get on with quilting. And I am.

I'm sewing the triangles that will become the border of the starburst quilt. I've done a dozen -- they take at least 20 minutes each! -- and have to do 40 total plus figure out just how to do the corners which is tricky. So this is not going to be a snap and I am already getting a bit bored and thinking what other quilt to work on now and then to break the sameness, I've got three in some form of UFO-ness. Also I have plenty of books to read and sufficient food in the house that if I don't feel like braving the wet, cold, icy, blustery whatever outside I don't have to and probably won't. Seems only right we get a taste of the bad weather others are getting.

A Stress Buster

Just a quick note about one of my next steps in making this Sunburst quilt. I have now 900 pieces of paper to tear off. They are easy-tear, I don't have to worry a lot about pulling and weakening stitches as with some papers. This is mindless work -- like popping bubble wrap bubbles. Which is a known stress reliever.

I understand a Japanese gadget maker has a device that can fit on a keychain which simulates the bubble bursting and immediately reconstitutes itself so you have endless bubbles to pop. Can a gadget be as pleasing as the real stuff? I also understand that at the Enclosed Air Company -- where bubble wrap is manufactured -- employees get little sheets of bubble wrap the way many peoplein other offices get memo pads at their desks. It's not available for sale .. but it ought to be.

When I think about the fascination of bubble bursting I remember a movie I saw about ten years ago set in Mongolia called East of Eden. The steppe dweller left his ger to go to town, which was a 3 or 4 day journey. He had a number ofctricity from a wind or solar generator. He left behind his wife, two children and old granny. When he returned with the TV, wife and kids were fascinated by the shows but Granny took the bubble wrap and went to sit on the step outside the ger to pop the bubbles.

NOTE: "Ger" is the round felt hut of the nomads, that is their word. "Yurt" is a word the Russians used when they controlled Mongolia. It is not used by Mongolians today.