I had a goal for September to make 30 postcards in 30 days (#30daysofpostcards) and have been sharing over on Instagram. Well, I will have 30 but it will take me more like 60 days. It has been the greatest experiment to play with 4 x 6″ quilts. I love it as I get these ideas all the time, and this size allows me to play but not invest too much time, to see if it works or not.
Right now, I am at 29 postcards. I am sending around 17 of them off, as postcards, to people who wanted to receive one. They in turn will send one postcard to someone else. I love the idea of sending a traditional note, a piece of mail, with a little quilty inspiration.
The first postcard that kicked it off was inspired by my effort in finding balance. The line representing balance and the quilting about finding the positives. I had to use my wonder women stamps in this pic., it seemed fitting.
I have a couple of other book project ideas rolling around in my head. I experimented with both ideas and will likely move forward with these as book projects.
The first is a project based on the plastic construction fences.
The second an improvisational triangle idea that is based on airplanes.
With these next two postcard, I had vivid shapes pop into my head that I could not shake. The first being a Square with a cream border on one side, and one half made up of two triangles at various heights and dimensions. I played with the white and cream solids, stripes and black linen for interest.
The second shape was split across 4 postcards, where each had a corner of a square. One of the corners was a 1/4 circle instead. In my head this 1/4 circle was also the opposite in color combination. I had not envisioned a color combination but decided when making it to do it in a navy and bright yellow. This is my favorite combination and will likely become a much larger quilt at some stage.
For the longest time, I have admired Erin Wilson’s work (@erinwilsonquilts) who does amazing line work in her quilts. These last postcards were my study of lines. I still need to quilt these two.
I have loved playing with this size that I think I might do another round, but this next one will be a cohesive collection vs. random experiments. I am thinking of playing with minimalism or just with lines in a specific color-way. The idea is still forming.
PS. If you are living in the US, I was very surprised with some of the great stamp collections the USPS (US Postal Service) has at the moment. I went a little crazy in purchasing a few, so I am thinking my son can now collect stamps ;-).
PPS. In a couple of days, I will post a tutorial so that you too can make your own quilted postcards. I am just finishing editing the photos.
I’m looking forward to your tutorial. Your postcards are beautiful. I have made some very basic ones but would like to try something more creative.
Lovely, lovely, lovely. I have made some postcards for my niece and she has them all in a basket in her living room. Never have I made this many. You have definitely set yourself an impressive goal. I really don’t have a group that will do this sort of exchange but would love to. Thanks for sharing. Judy
These are so fabulous. As my time has been crunched lately, I’m jealous of your little creative masterpieces. What a great idea. 🙂
These look fabulous. And I was impressed with the variety of stamps you photographed them with!
These small studies are wonderful! I will watch for the tutorial!
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I am enjoying your progress on IG!