Fall Postcard Swap

It's that time of year again, Sue's postcard group's fall swap is underway.  All have not been sent yet but hers have been sent and received so we're giving you a look at what she made for this round. The theme was "shadows".  Keeping it simple, she went with a fall leaf and added shadows for depth.  She started out with a leaf print on a pale blue-green linen.

Unlike our usual printing, this is NOT a Thermofax print!  This time the leaf itself was pressed into the paint (a mixture of red, yellow and bronze) and then used to print on the fabric.

It needed more definition so she added an outline and veins with a bronze Sharpie marker.

Next she added some more color to the leaf with red, yellow and orange Inktense pencils.

The colors were blended by brushing with water - maybe a little too much as you can see where it bled outside the lines :(  The others are better, Sue kept this one for herself.  

Next was adding the shadows, also done with Inktense pencils.  This is the initial application, as things progressed, she added more color to deepen the shadows.

These are the finished leaves.  Stitching, postcard backs and edge finish remain to be completed.

Here's Sue's finished card. The others were in the mail before she remembered she hadn't taken a finished picture of group!  Oh well, you get the idea.  When the rest of the "shadow" cards arrive, we'll share a picture.

Have you made fabric postcards?  It's a great way to try out a technique on a small scale, and brightens the recipient's day with artful mail!

Balloon Flowers

Last week Sue shared pictures from a Whisper Challenge.  If you followed along on Facebook, Barbara Wise guessed  Sue's quilt to be the Balloon Flowers.  So today we are sharing some process photos.  This is the inspiration photo that Sue used in creating her quilt.

The technique used for the background is one developed by Terry Kramzar.  It has the look of square in a square blocks but without any seams.  The blocks are backed with fusible batting, quilted, then the  small squares are appliqued on.  If you look at her website, you'll see this technique as a background for many of her quilts.

She also has her own ruler to make placement of the square easy.

After completing the background, the stems and leaves for the flowers were added.

The flowers were cut from gradient fabric that came from Colorways by Vicki Welsh. After cutting out the shapes, details were added with Inktense pencils.

The stems and leaves were stitched first, then the flowers were placed and stitched.

Here's what the back looked like after all the stitching before the backing was added.

The final quilting is stitch in the ditch between all the squares.  Below is the finished quilt.

The process made this a fun quilt to make.  Check out Terry's website for examples of how she uses this technique in her work.