And a few more postcards, of course!

Only a few this time, because we have all been so busy, travelling and generally out of sync.

Here's one by Helen, made with couched yarn and snippets with a fabric overlay and beading.

 This photo really doesn't do justice to the richness of the colours!

This one is a rare knitted postcard, from Yvonne.

 She threaded extra yarn in the knitting and couched in to the background.

This one is a beautiful stitched patterns of subtle colours, from Maz.

It's all hand stitched, of course - Maz's favourite!

More postcards, we hope, next month. Meanwhile, we're busy choosing our favourites to display, with other ATASDA postcards and some magic boxes, in the display cabinets at the Epping Creative Centre, Stanley Rd, Epping, New South Wales in December 2016-January 2017.

Some work we've been doing

The things we make in our time together and the things we make on our own at home are always interesting to see. You can see how different we all are, in the things we like to make.

You know Helen will be embroidering, probably on rug canvas.

 

She was working on this a few weeks back.  She said, "just don't ask me what it will be when it's finished". So we didn't. I  guess we'll find out in due course.

 



It was Robin's last meeting with us, as she's moving away soon. We'll miss her!

She was knitting, as she loves to do. This time, it was an intarsia jacket from the Jane Slicer-Smith book, Swing Swagger Drape.

Cindy was embroidering on paper. She likes to work in a mixed media kind of way, often involving paper. 

The piece is part of a collaborative work we're making for an exhibition. You'll see the various parts in due course, when they come in to us in March, and then the finished work. in April.

Carol loves all things shiny. This time, she was incising metal shim as an experiment.

She thinks it might be a book cover later on. Or maybe just a sample.

It certainly gives a gorgeous effect!





Nola was putting together her journal for the exhibition work she made late last year. Yes, usually you would do the journal as you go! But she had been keeping an online log throughout the process, and this was assembling the log and her samples into a visual record of her process. It's more useful to use in the future in this format than as a computer log, though the log is easier to keep as she goes.

Cindy brought along some sketchbooks she's using for an online course with Linda and Laura Kemshall. It's strongly focused on drawing but in a mixed media context.

They're gorgeous, aren't they?

Nola showed us some sample prints she'd made, on paper and cloth, exploring the possibilities of the foam board print plate.

This one was a three-colour print on cloth, experimenting with overlays to create shadows. The weave of the cloth is also a visible feature, as the print is only about 15cm x 10xm (6in x 4in).

We had very few postcards to swap, because we were all working hard on our collaborative work.

This one was made by Maz. 
 
It's hand stitched onto a cloth background, with the edges turned over a card base.

Cindy layered fabric strips and machine- stitched them down with fancy stitches. She added an applique butterfly created wit hand stitch.

The edges were machine satin stitched with variegated thread.

Next time, more about Habitation...

Australia Day

Fibrecircle's second meeting fell the day before the Australia Day holiday. We went ahead anyway but quite a few members were away making the most of the extra-long weekend.

Nola showed us the Flying Geese quilt she's been making for quite a while, from signature blocks she swapped with Southern Cross Quilters back in the late nineties. The top is about 2/3 done and will be a queen size quilt when it's finished.

What a great piece of her history!

Helen was working on a piece of canvas embroidery. Yes, that's such a surprise, isn't it? We love these gorgeous birds!

It's for a challenge in another group she belongs to. She's just at the start, so I expect you'll see more of it later.

We didn't take a photo of what Maz was working on this time, sorry!

Maz and Helen swapped postcards, as we usually do.  Here's Maz's:

She thinks the background fabric was probably coloured with transfer printing. which she embellished with hand embroidery. She added wadding behind it and a piece of card, with a backing of calico.

And here's Helen's:

Helen made it late last year, and she said, "it's so long since I made it, I haven't the faintest idea what I did!" The thinks the background was probably a monoprint with acrylic paint on cotton fabric, which she embroidered "to embellish it". The acrylic paint made is quite hard to stitch through, but made the cloth itself quite robust. She added card for extra stiffening, with a paper backing.

They actually look a little bit similar, don't they?

We talked about how any cards we now have, and decided we needed to have a playday making or extending our postcard storage. I'm sure you'll see the wonderful ideas we come up with!

Our next meeting is... tomorrow, when we'll be sharing our first journals or works of the year based on our 2016 theme, Habitation. We hope to be blogging a bit more promptly from now on this year.

October postcards

Only four of us swapped postcards in October, because it as a very busy time for everyone.

Nola's postcard was one she was working on earlier. It has a painted background, embellished with Inktense and watercolour pencils and black pen, mounted on Tyvek with a hand picot edge.

Yvonne's postcard was made with tissue dyed fabric, with added organza, dyed unspun wool, embroidery and a whip-stitched edge.

 

 

Maz's postcard was made from dyed fabric, embellished with hand embroidered running stitch and French knots, mounted on card.

Helen's postcard was also made from dyed fabric, with a photo of a peacock, trpped under wrapping paper fibre and mounted on card.

All different again!  It's always fascinating to see how each person approaches the process of making a tiny 6in x 4in artwork each month.

We're so late with this post that the group is meeting again tomorrow. More pictures of our activities soon!

Of course there were postcards..

 Cindy's postcard this month was mixed media. Her postcard was based on paper serviettes, stamped and hand stitched, with painted Vleisofix and foiling and a buttonhole stitched edge.

Helen's postcard was made on a base of fabric strips, machine stitched, with flowers from Suffolk Puffs and machine stitched fabric leaves.

Nola's postcard was hand painted and hand stitched, with a fine picot edge.

Maz's postcard was based on hand painted cotton cloth, with hand stitching. The edges were folded under a paper backing.

 

It's always amazing how different our postcards are to one another's and how typical they can be of what we like to make. Cindy often works in mixed media; Nola likes painting, printing or dyeing fabric and stitching it; Maz also likes to add hand stitch to painted or dyed cloth. Helen embroiders on canvas mostly but she often makes postcards like this, with machine stitching and three dimensional elements. 



And then there's postcards

We can't get enough of our postcards, because they're such a great way to work out an idea or use up a sample. For some of us, it's the only creative thing that is guaranteed to happen in our busy lives!

Yvonne's postcard  was made from fabric strips and hand stitch, with a buttonhole stitch edge.

 

 

Helen's was made with fabric snippets trapped under organza, machine stitched and embellished.



 

Carol's was also made with fabric snippets machine under organza but hers were stitched to a card background in a grid, with mesh and fabric flowers added.

Nola's was another, probably the last, of her Forest series. These were all made from painted cloth, drawn lines and Inktense pencils.

The thing to notice about our postcards is that they rarely require complicated materials. Each of us works with relatively few materials and they rarely require advanced sewing skills. We swap ours, as a fun thing to do at our meetings, but they could be mounted to make wonderful cards or included in larger pieces. Why not have a go at making one too? We'd love to see what you make!

July postcards and other stuff

Only Helen and Nola made postcards this month - it was that kind of month.

Helen's postcard was a beautiful embroidery on canvas.

 Isn't it gorgeous?

Nola's postcard was also hand embroidered, inspired by Elizabethan/Jacobean designs, with a double picot edging.






Helen brought along her work for the Lateral Stitchers group challenge, Ancient Civilisations. She says the work was loosely inspired by the Sutton Hoo helmet.

Nola showed us some prints from impression printing plates she made with Claire the week before.

Robin was wearing a top she made with beautiful fabric from Tessutis, that source of gorgeous things.

It seemed to be a knitting day at Fibrecircle. Here's Carol knitting a headband from her own handspun yarn...

... and Robin was knitting a cardigan from a rayon-cotton blend.

Helen was knitting too but she wouldn't show what she was doing...

So now you know! See you next week.
 

Postcards

It's colds and flu season, so just four postcards were swapped this time.

Nola made her postcard from some sun-dyed fabric. She added some applique stars, some beads and created an edge with couched yarn.

Helen trapped threads and snippets of cloth under organza and machine stitched them down.

Yvonne laid down strips of tulle and hand stitched with fancy threads. Her postcard was mounted on card.

Cindy's postcard had a background of hand stamped cloth, overlaid with organza and machine stitched. Her postcard also had a card background.

So there we are. Once again, all different and all interesting!

Postcards

We had a lovely meeting at the end of April, although our numbers were down. The photographer was a little scatty so we only have photos of our postcards.

Helen's postcard was made with some orizomegami dyed papers she'd made, woven together, with some felt embellishments. Very effective!

Helen's second postcard was made with "bits and pieces out of a box", laid down on Solvy and machine stitched. She added some beads and other embellishments.

Nola's postcard was made from hand painted fabric, hand embroidered and coloured with Intense pencils. It looks a little washed out in the photo.

Yvonne's postcard was made on a printed paper background, overlaid with organza ribbon and embellished with hand stitching and beads.

As always, it's fascinating to see how different they are from each other.

In May we'll have something different to show you in our monthly postcard swap!

Postcards for March

There seems to be a lot of paper work around here lately! Two of our postcards this month were made on a card and paper base.

Yvonne also included fabric in her postcard collage, which was made on a background of mulberry paper. She added hand stitching with embroidery thread.










Helen's postcard was inspired by an Asian aesthetic. She collaged paper scraps and added metal embellishments.

Maz painted fusible web for the background of her postcard. She added hand stitching with perle thread and an edging of short and long stitch.









You'll have already seen the image in Nola's postcard. It was one of the trees she printed onto cloth with a compressed sponge stamp for her Trees journal back here. She added blended colour with Inktense pencils and some hand stitching with embroidery thread, before binding it with some leftover piping. 





Meanwhile, Cindy decided to have a try at needle felting. She added some hand stitching with variegated perle thread and hand stitched the edges.

So, once again, five very different postcards! We hope you enjoyed seeing them.