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Today's card shows yet again threads used randomly to create a particular scene:
In this case a (south east) Queensland backyard dominated by a Poinciana tree and rampant foliage.
The tree is represented by the fabric,and green threads with a dash of red (for blossoms) represents the foliage.
Green and gold threads used in a FME anchor it all to the background.
I see " Future mail" by Normajean
How cool is this! A crystal ball!
Over on FiberArtTraders (yahoo group) the group momma Normajean has put up pics to whet members' appetites for joining a "crystal ball"Swap.
This is one of the cards she displayed.
Don't you love that hennaed hand!!
Already questions are being asked about how to make that ball.
Most are using clear vinyl,although one member admits to cutting up the plastic report sleeves bought in office supplies.
The general concensus is,that if you use a sheet of tissue paper laid over the vinyl /plastic prior to stitching it you'll have no problem with the stitching.
(Similar I guess to the old method of stitching rubber backed curtains,only there you placed the tissue under!
I seem to remember that my walking(quilting) foot worked well here.Must go check it out,because I'd loveto join this swap.
And I promise that if my cards turn out half as good as Normajeans I'll show you. 
Take a 'handful' of toning fibres of various thickness,
some silver fibre (for sparkle)
a light coloured 6x4 inch fabric
a similar sized piece of crystal organza
and you have the makings for a card.
Lay the fibres in a pleasing arrangement;cover with the organza;
Randomly machine quilt the "sandwich" together,and you have the terrific card that arrived today from Giusy of Trieste,Italy.
Thankyou Giusy! I look forward to receiving more postcards from you.
Once upon a time I hated large strawberries!
They were dry
Not much flavour or perfume
and come to think of it,not too tasty either.
I was given a tray of these beauties today to make more jam.
Not likely!These are so sweet,juicy,flavour filled.........and look at the size!
Five berries weighed 250gm and you can see by comparison with a match-box,just how large they are.
By the way..have you ever lightly stewed strawberries for use with breakfast cereal,or,even better,over vanilla icecream or frozen yoghurt?
Still following in Angelina mode,is this sunprinted fabric embellished with Angelina fibres and silver quilting.
The fabric was one of several sunprinted fabrics I did a while back using pebeo Setacolour Soleil transparent paints on a natural coloured Homespun.
Fronds of fern from the garden were used for the negative effect,and because the day was windy,the leaves were anchored with tulle ,which,in parts left a faint echo pattern.
One of my favourite(read very easy to use) metallic silver threads was used for the quilting,and to further secure the Angelina, before the card travelled overseas.
I also used the silver to stitch one quarter inch inside the raw edges,which I then neatened with a wavy-edged rotary cutter
Meet the "Masked reveller": my September journal quilt.
Influenced by research and drawings I did for a Postcard swap,I thought to use the ideas here.
The background fabric came about when I attempted to do some sun printing with the addition of tissue wrapping paper as I have blogged a while back.
The cityscape effect I'd hoped for didn't happen,so I thought the blurred colours would work well for a carnival atmosphere.
To add a bit of sparkle,what else but Angelina fibres.
Angelina fibres are fantastic shimmering fibres that have grabbed the attention of fibre artists in more recent times,and now it is available by the metre in a type of film .
The fibres have two types available: heat bondable and non-heat bondable.
One thing to remember when using them is when pressing them (lightly and low heat) and use a baking parchment to protect both your iron and your ironing board.
Joggles.com
The card above only serves to show the sparkle of the fibres.This was one of my early plays with the fibre.
For those of you with access to the Spring 2006 (Issue # 6) cloth paper scissors magazine, there is an excellent article by Jane Weir on "Impress them with Angelina" Only trouble is,my attempts are not as impressive as I'd hoped for!
Today I'd like to feature a card that Nan sent to Helen in the UK and which she mentions in her blog Quilts&ATCs
The theme was TARTAN and Nan chose to spotlight Scottish thistles;
She then shared how she constructed the thistles in the files of Fiber Arts Traders
This is part Nan's description and part mine(after I'd had a play):
STITCHING IN AIR
Put muslin/homespun into an embroidery hoop and get it good and tight.
With darning foot on and feed dogs lowered,draw a circle about 1 inch in diameter.Stitch around the circumference lines about twice.
Cut the fabric from the middle of the circle as close to the stitching as possible
(like old fashioned cutwork embroidery)
With darning foot still on,stitch across the diameter of the circle from one side to the other.
Be BRAVE :-)!! You need Fast machine speed and fast fabric movement.
Okay it takes practice,(but what doesn't??)
Be sure to stitch into the fabric outside the ring as this will help anchor the stitching.
If you feel you need extra support,place a piece of water soluble Solvybehind the "air"/hole and stitch around the circle again before you start stitching across the opening/hole.
Once you have made several spokes in all directions,the centre becomes quite dense.
Go from the edge to the centre and back,filling in any bare patches.
When your doodad is to your liking,cut the 'doodad' from the hole just inside the edge of the fabric.
And there you have it!
A FME'd thistle,or Shasta daisy,or whatever shaggy flower you desire.
Yesterday's cards featured hand work;
today's card uses a mixture of stitches available on most modern sewing machines.
Worked on a WoW self patterned quilter's cotton,NancyA has chosen five bright colours,one per stitch pattern and worked it as whole-cloth before cutting to 6x4 postcard size.
Simple and very effective!
