October postcards

We swapped postcards again this month. We love doing it, because it makes us make something, even at the busiest times, and it's a fun way to try out new techniques.

Nola's postcard, Okavango1

Nola made her postcard to reflect the reed beds she saw recently in the Okavango Delta in Botswana.  She wanted to give the sense of enclosure, almost of oppression, that she felt going through the reeds in a makoro, a canoe poled along like a punt.

She painted a piece of card with silver paint and then drew over it in layers with Inktense pencils, washing some areas down as she went. She made holes in the edge so she could give it a buttonholed edging, in stranded thread, with a second layer of dark picot stitch for definition. It was quite hard to photograph - the slight reflection of light from it kept confusing the camera!

Carol's postcard has a felt background, with areas of silk paper and metallic fabric, with embroidery thread and knitting yarn. She edged it with a machine zigzag stitch.


Carol's's postcard

Yvonne began her postcard  by painting on Vliesofix/fusible web with fabric crayons and ironing it onto fabric. She added hand stitching and beading and edged it with buttonhole stitch in perle thread. 

Yvonne's postcard

Last time we met, we talked about whether our postcards had to be rectangular. It's mostly just convention but some of us store them in particular ways that make odd-shaped postcards a problem. Maz is one of those people, but she decided to experiment with a shape that did fit our storage options.

Maz's postcard

 She layered strips of organza, chiffon and muslin, and added muslin flowers and hand stitching. It's edged with short-and-long stitch in perle thread.

Our last postcard swap of the year will be in November. Do you realise we have been swapping postcard monthly for almost four years, since February 2011? In that time, we've made and swapped 142 postcards!