Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Swaps again

Here are a couple of swaps I received recently.  They were actually from June, but with all the world postal problems recently, have just arrived.
This first one is a hand embroidered postcard from Stitchin Fingers.  The theme was "Sundaes"  This one has lots of different fabrics, including sparkly stuff - beautiful.
This one is from LisaLizaLou Designs June swap.  The theme was "Beetles" This one is very detailed and dimensional and has lots of bling! Love it.

Here are the steps I went through to produce a quick  ATC recently.
I used one of my quilting warm up/practice samples and cut out a piece for an ATC.  My template is cut to 2.5 by 3.5 with an extra 1/8 inch all around.
Here is the piece cut out.
I added a piece of  lilac coloured netting.
And a heart cut from a tyvek and plastic sample.
Some beads (sorry for the terrible photo)
Next I fused a piece of stiff interfacing to the back (cut to the correct size) and trimmed the excess off the front.
I actually rounded the corners when I trimmed and did some blanket stitch around the edge.
I wasn't really happy with the edge, I felt it needed a more solid frame, so I wove some purple and gold threads in and out of the blanket stitch, going around some stitches twice to create a french knot type effect.
And here it is completed.  This type of ATC (or you could change the size and make a postcard) is very quick and easy to make and uses only a few scraps and odd and ends.

A change is as good as a holiday-try something new every day.