Postcard Exhibition at The Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne

Last week my friend Jenni and myself visited the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.  Jenni had discovered there was a Textile Postcard Exhibition held in the Visitor's Centre to commemorate the 100 years of the Gallipoli landing (Anzac Day 25 April 1916).

Textile Artists were invited to contribute a postcard within certain guidelines for this small exhibition.  You can find out more about the guidelines and the exhibition here in the link. It is well worth reading more about it.

In the meantime here are some of the cards we saw - there were 400 postcards submitted and they are displayed in two cabinets in the Visitor's Centre.  Not all are on display at the same time - the curators change the display every 5 weeks.  Consequently there are more than these few here.

Unfortunately, because they were displayed in a cabinet with glass top and the lighting was not conducive to taking photos they haven't turned out as well as I expected.

Also you can see the downlights in the roof reflecting on the glass.  Nothing one can do about that.

But I hope it gives you an idea of the content of the exhibition.

 We plan to go back in a couple of weeks when they have changed the display.

I found it quite poignant knowing some of the cards were obviously made in memory of a loved one lost.

Thank you Jenni for suggesting we see this.

Felting & Postcards

This month's challenge from the Stitchin Fingers Postcard group was a swap for a felted postcard.  Lucky me my partner for this swap was Sheila in Scotland.  I have swapped with Sheila a number of times and have always been thrilled with what she sends and she is always on time or early.......If any of you have been in swaps before you know how frustrating and annoying it is to always be waiting for yours to arrive - sadly on the odd occasion there has been nothing.  I don't mind getting an email or notice to say it is coming, but will be late because of family commitments, health, work etc.  What I don't understand is why someone would commit to a swap and then 'drop out of sight' and you don't even know if what you sent has arrived safely.

Anyway, enough of 'standing on the soap box' Sheila has once again sent me a lovely piece of her work. Here is what she sent - she said she used both wet & dry felting.  I love her colours. Thanks again Sheila.

I can now also post a photo of the card I sent to her - as it arrived safely in her letterbox yesterday.  This is my first 'official' attempt at needle felting.  I have borrowed a machine from a friend who is letting me play with it.  It is great fun!  What I did with this little card is I used a piece of green silk and partially embellished it to the backing (pelmet vilene) to use as my background. 

As you can see from the photo I left parts untouched and I rather like the idea of how the silk has pleated or gathered - I think it adds an extra dimension.

Then I stitched down a piece of lace ribbon and over that I embellished some flowers, using multi-dyed scraps of wool.  I then used some ordinary knitting wool and embellished it down for grass.  Finally finishing off with some beading.

Somehow I don't think this little machine is going back!  She is wanting to sell it - I can see a new home for it very clearly and I know exactly where it is going to go.......

Have a great week, till next I write, take care

Joy

My International outgoing mail...

I can now post a pic of two cards that I recently sent overseas.  Have just heard they have arrived at their destinations.

The first one here is a postcard sent to Liz in Kansas USA, for the StitchinFingers FPC group birthday swap.  I used a piece of Indian woven cotton for the background and added some beads and stitching.  A similar one was sent to Susan in Lancashire, UK.  Sorry Gina, if you're reading this, for your birthday next month, I will have something different for you.

This ATC is also for a Stitchin Fingers 1-1 swap for the month of February - subject was Black and White with one other colour.  I chose to do a stylised applique tulip and used the 'other colour' for the edging.  Unfortunately the edging is a lot brighter than it shows here - I used an embroidery thread for the stitching.  It went to Hopscotch in North Wales, UK.

I am also participating in an International Block Swap on Facebook.  It is a centralised swap and there is approx 100 of us in this swap, being co-ordinated by Ruth in Canada.  Today I posted 102 blocks to her.  The rules for the squares was - 6.5 in finished;  white on white for the main piece and batiks for the corners.  The more variety the better. This is a sampling of 4 squares that are in my parcel winging their way across the big pond between us and Canada.

My local Aussie PO has been really pleased to see me lately - all my mail has been international - have to keep the posties of the world in employment!  I do love getting mail from these swaps, it sure beats the 'window-faced' envelopes which usually have bills in them.

Valentine's Day soon

Valentine's Day is nearly upon us. Do you have a special someone to share it with? Me - afraid not.

But I am in a group called StitchinFingers (link on right hand side of blog) which is having a Valentine's Day swap of Artist Postcards.

We are making two - one for our 'known' swap partner and for our 'secret' swap partner. My secret one came today - Isn't it gorgeous. Not too secret either - Gina signed it!!!!

The following one came from my 'known' swap partner -

Leslie in the UK with a beautiful ribbon embroided rose.

I think it is now OK to put up a pic of the two I sent away - they should be arriving at their destinations very soon.

Leslie in the UK and my secret one to Kathy in the USA.

I made the hearts from Angelina Fibres and silk paper which I made myself in a workshop last year.

 

Postcard for Heloisa

I had fun making this postcard. I used the techniques I learnt in an on-line course with Two Creative Studios. The background was painted first with white household emulsion paint, then moulding paste was spread over thinly and I attached some pieces of lace and cords, then when it was dry I painted with watercolour paints, finishing off when some bronze rubbings. Finally finished with some stitching. I am sending this to Heloisa in Brazil as part of the Stitching Fingers Birthday Swap. This is the last one for a couple of months as we don't have anyone with a birthday now until (I think) January. I hope Heloisa likes it.

I enjoyed making this so much I am going to try a few other techniques - this size is great as one can experiment with lots of ideas and they don't cost too much.

Postcards made for

I've just finished another 2 postcards - well one I actually finished a couple of days ago, but I didn't want to put up a pic of it until I mailed it. The daisy card is for Dakotah (USA) as part of our swap with Stitchinfingers. The background is painted and the petals of the flower are felt which I free-motion stitched down and then added a button with some beads. The stem and leaves are free-motioned stitched - stem in zig-zag, I hope she likes it.

The other one is for my brother who is celebrating his 60th birthday this weekend. One of his loves is fishing, so I came up with this idea of the fish going for the cake instead of the worm! Nothing fancy on this one, just some free-motion quilting and simple applique, with some stitching on the bottom for the sea-grass. I am posting it to him even though he is having a bar-be-que on Saturday.

Using old laces etc

These postcards are made from an old piece of lace which I painted with dye to achieve the different looks. I made them up as one piece of fabric then I cut four pieces from the fabric and then edged them. The background is a multi-coloured piece of silk fabric which I fused to pelmet vilene to stiffen. I rather like the way they turned out. Kind of a triptych, but there are four instead of three!

A hint - I use a 'window' template the size of the postcard (6x4) or an ATC (2.5x3.5) to audition the part I wish to cut out. You get quite a different perspective when looking at it through the template. Just move it around until you see where you would like to cut.

I have been making postcards as well as ATCs lately for swapping. These little items are very addictive and I find that my other sewing is getting neglected. This is the postcard I recently sent to Dakotah in the USA - have just heard from her that she loves it. I didn't post earlier as I wanted it to be a surprise. It is one of a few that I made while doing an online course in altering fabric. I painted the base with white household paint, then scraped on some moulding paste through a stencil. When dry I then painted with water colour and dabbed on gold and bronze paint. The little rose is fabric and cov ered with a little moulding pase and then painted. A small amount of stitching was added.