Quilted Postcards

Margaret and I decided to attend a class on making quilted postcards. Basically, you fuse fabric of your choice onto one side of a rectangle of Peltex, quilt as desired, then fuse a piece of plain muslin to the other side of the rectangle. Surge around the edges, and you have a postcard!

 Here is one of the postcards I made -- I used a fabric marker to write a Thank You message on one side, and on the other, I wrote a message to Margaret's teacher at the end of the school year.

You might notice that there's not much quilting happening on this card. That's because, part way into the class, my sewing machine broke! Most frustratingly, the bobbin casing came out of alignment, and I couldn't sew. I'd had it serviced just before the class, and the repair person hadn't reassembled it properly! I had to make do for the rest of the class, cutting and fusing, but not quilting or sewing.

Here's another postcard I made that day -- I actually got some stitching in on this one before my machine went kaput.

Making postcards was a lot of fun, and Margaret really enjoyed the class. The postcards were a good, small project, easy to do for a sewer with not very much experience.

Now, if I'm organized, I will keep the momentum going, and use the rest of my peltex to create some fabric Christmas cards this year! I have a friend who has given me a fabric card every year for the last several years. They are a delight to get, and I keep them and use them in subsequent years as part of my holiday decorating!

Grandpa's Best

Here's another quilt in line to be finished: the pattern is called "Grandpa's Best" and I made it at a class at Creative Sisters Quilt Studio. The blocks are completed and pieced together -- all I need to do is add borders and get it quilted! The colours would be nice for Christmas... can I be that organized?

Felted friends

Sometimes, your kids will ask you for things that are impossible (or hugely expensive) to buy. Case in point, when son #3 asked for more Pokemon plush friends. He had very specific Pokemon he wanted, and since there are now hundreds of different Pokemon, you can imagine that it's difficult to find a store that carries them all. In fact, we were lucky to find a dozen different ones at our local Toys R Us. And none were the one he wanted: his favourite, Metagross.

Thus, as a good mom, I was left with no choice but to try to make him the desired Poke-friend.

Okay, not an exact match, but close enough to snuggle with and satisfy my son.

Now, cuddle toys for boys are rather different than those for girls. While my daughter loves stuffed cats and bears, son #3 prefers things like tarantulas and Pokemon. Oh, and dead ducks. What???

Yeah, this little fellow came out of a Zombie Feltie book I found at the craft store (have to check its name), that was filled with things like undead creatures, vampires, classic zombies, and so on. Son #3 chose Dead Duckie -- modelled on your classic bathtub duck, this little guy sports bleeding wounds and evidence that a hunter had found his mark. There are even some zombie fangs on his beak! For maximum reality, son #3 insisted that the duck be double-sided -- it's just not accurate to embellish only one side of a plush friend, even when it's an undead plush friend.