Category Archives: applique

Day of the Dead postcards

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for a swap. I need to send out 4. This was probably the hardest swap I’ve done. I struggled to find a way to relate to the subject. I looked at google images to get inspiration. I ended up thinking about it in terms of the end of the natural year… as in the garden, autumn.

a

b

c

d

e

f

In the end, I am happy with how they turned out- especially this last one. The actual cards took me a lot longer then I expected/hoped. All the embroidery is labor intensive and my fingers are like pin cushions now. I’ve got to get back on track to make things for the sales I’m doing.

progress report

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I thought these were done- the blue one was finished months and months ago, but I ‘ve made 3 more. I brought them down from my studio, set them up to photograph and then I could see… not done. Hrmph! They’ve gone back up for a little more work.

babies

I did a little rearranging this morning. I cleaned out a drawer in my desk- it was full of patterns for dolls and doll clothes, most of which I’ve never looked at, none in the past 2 years. I put them all into a box and filled up the drawer with my embroidery wool- much better use of the space.

wool

Then, I got to work on my Day of the Dead postcards for a swap.

dodead

dayof d

I’ve worked on them all day- I was hoping to get them done today, but not gonna happen.

happy days

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Some good stuff has been happening lately.

On Sunday, Mary, of A Saloia fame, came over to see me. She is with her family in the Boston area and so we were able to meet up. We sat around in my studio, looking at fabric, chatting about doll-making and blogs, among other things. Then we wandered down the street and went to my corner fabric store where we each managed to find something we “needed”. Now I have some pretty fabric bits that will remind me of our afternoon together when I use them.

I have finished up my atc’s for Kirsten’s Bird atc swap. I made 10 and 6 will be sent off to Minneapolis. I still need to make the little envelopes. They are always fun.

atc

On Tuesday, I was the very grateful recipient of a treasure trove of embroidery threads- Mostly wool (about 200! skeins) but also some wonderful embroidery thread called Danish Flower Thread. It is a matte, vegetable-dyed thread (I don’t know if that is the right word?) in beautiful soft colors. I love sewing with it. Lucky, lucky me!

wool

And lastly, one of the reasons I’ve been doing postcards recently , is that I have several friends who have been ill and need them. I went to see my friend in the hospital today. She was so much better then I was expecting and I can tell you, I am very relieved. I was so happy to be able to give her this card-

postcard

Now I have to do the other 9 and make another series!

September

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flickr mosaic

10 postcards- house series, 2. boyfriend 5, 3. boyfriend 4, 4. all the boyfriends, 5. boyfriend 3, 6. big man 7- boyfriend 2, 7. postcard- beach lady, 8. postcard- girl with flowers, 9. postcard- lady with bird, 10. postcard- house, 11. postcard- pink girl, 12. postcard- rain girl, 13. night cat postcard, 14. trees postcards, 15. topiary postcards, 16. big man- boyfriend, 17. hydrangea 4, 18. hydrangea 3, 19. hydrangea 2, 20. hydrangea, 21. ff9- granny fairy, 22. ff8, 23. ff7 face, 24. fat fairy 7, 25. fat fairy 6- spring September on flickr.

Great idea Hanna!

postcards- house series

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This is what I was talking about here– the last paragraph about doing sets. Ten postcards, house with window, a face in the window. The same, but all different. This way works better for me, I think.

house series

house 1

house 2

house 3

house 4

house 5

house 6

house 7

house 8

house 9

house 10

I really need to find the manual for my camera and figure out how to adjust the setting so that the night postcards will not come out over-exposed. I hate seeing the rich colors and face details wash out… but I have an overwhelming need to post them anyway!

the rest of the postcards

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I will put them up in my etsy shop later- I am still thinking about/working with them now.

beachlady

girlflowers

housechild

ladybird

pinkgirl

raingirl

this one is washed out- my camera would not cooperate.

nightcat

so here is a close-up. You can sort of see the stitching on the moon.

cat

I’ve got some more Boyfriend dolls in the works. And I want to do more of these postcards- figure out how I want to approach doing them. I usually don’t work on two separate ideas at the same time, but somehow both of these projects have got my focus right now.

okay… postcards!

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I’ve finished 4 so far- 2 trees

trees

and 2 topiary

topiary

I have some problems with the stitching puckering the fabric- sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t-

close-up

this is what I am using inside these postcards. It is great- very firm and iron-on adhesive on both sides.

pellon

I should do sets of these cards- 10 (or some other random number) of each design at a time. Then I could concentrate on color, stitching and fabric work instead of trying to make each one completely different. As I was making such a big mess the other day, I was thinking that I was approaching this project all wrong. Somehow I was trying to start from a detail (my little sketches) and work out instead of having an image/ composition that I would be working toward.

more postcards- eventually

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I am working on postcards now. But there has been so many steps between the intention and the end product! I spent a lot of last weekend, cleaning up in my studio. A friend was suppose to come for a visit and I realized it was so bad that 2 people could hardly fit in the room together, let alone actually sit down and visit. So- step one, find the floor-

floor

well, you can see I’ve already started to lay out new projects in that picture.
Step 2- cut out the sketches from my fabric sketchbook. I washed them because I used a water soluble chalk pencil on some of them. Here they are, drying on the edge of the bathtub-

drawings

Oh No! Now the floor is completely covered again!

I worked on the floor for a day- boy, was I sorry though. My back was killing me by evening. The next morning I cleared off a table (i.e. piled everything up on top of any other clear surface) and layed the project out so that I could sit at my chair and also have decent light.

ah, much better. And here we are today-

d

the floor is not too bad- at least I can move around and find stuff… Hopefully I’ll be able to show some finished postcards in the next few days.

One of the people in my doll club, brought this book, Kokoro no Te by Kumiko Sudo, to show us. I ended up buying myself a copy- it is fantastic! It has some inspired sewing kits- I might have to try making one, instead of just admiring the beautiful photos.

postcards

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I finished the postcards. They are all in the range of 4 inches by 6 inches.

postcard1

postcard 2

oops- this tree one doesn’t actually have that white thread mess on it…

postcard 3

I thought the doily could look like a wicker chair-

postcard 4

postcard 5

I really like how the tree came out on this house one- I’ll have to play with that imagery some more-

postcard 6

postcard 7

postcard 8

postcard 9

I will put these into my etsy shop when I get back from NIADA. I don’t want to worry about not mailing them when I’m away. They will be $20 each, in case you wanted to know…