Glitzy Sunflower

Another item that I've done, which I started 3 weeks ago at my local quilt group, Quarterjacks in Wimborne, is a sunflower, which I've just downloaded straight from my phone (no editing done here). This was demonstrated by Hilary who's done some flower themed journal sized quilts.

It started with a layer or background fabric, I've used a green/purple batik, layer of organza. The cut pieces of petals and leaves placed on top , with some Angelina strands. Another layer of organza, after which the whole thing was placed onto wadding then stitched around the petals with multicoloured thread and other quilting done with metallic thread. Thought that I overdone the quilting as it looked wavy, but after trimming and adding organza for the binding of the quilt it looked really good. I hadn't tried free machining using zigzag stitch before I tried this in the middle of the flower and it worked well. Might have another bash at that some time.

Brooches to go

Here's a couple of brooches that I've made using my Embellisher for the UK Embellisher Swap Group. These will be going to Lorraine (on the left) and Lynne (on the right). I now found an opportunity to use some little silvery charms, which I'm quite pleased with.

Lorraine's brooch is using some slubby yellow/red yarn on a red felt base which was wound around the middle and then up and down around the circle, holding the yarn down with a hand needlefelt needle. It was then finished off with the embellisher and red fuzzy yarn was couched down behind.

Lynne's was from a pack of felt, scrim and fuzzy yarn which was needlefelted down and used more fuzzy yarn around the edge. Thought it looked like a birds nest so adding the charms it became a Magpie's nest. These are going out in the post and hopefully Lorraine, in the US should get hers before the end of this month!

Brooches received

Look at these lovely brooches I've received in a swap in the Embellisher Yahoo group that I belong to. I've almost finished them and will post later.

I received Amanda's (on the left) today, a padded felt flower with little purple beads surrounding the centre of the flower. The one on the right is from Lorraine, a gold coloured face on a poinsettia made with layers of felt, fabric and netting. The photos don't do justice to them being taken in artificial light, but such are the dark winter evenings.

Postcards received

Here's some postcards I've received from recent swaps. The first 2 being the Letters swap in the BQLPC groupThe top one from Kate with S's in different formats including braille dots, embroidered and a tag, the bottom one from Caroline with scrabble tiles printed and on the right from Sheila.

The next two are (top) from Wendy using different fonts for her S's and (bottom) from Ruth with Sue on a quilted letter fabric background.
The last two are from the confetti swap with the Arts in the Mail Yahoo Group. There are 4 cards but received two so far. The top one is from Dawn with some lovely rainbow fabric scraps and the bottom from Flicsha with little bits of fabric and sequins.

I enjoy making postcards and even more so receiving them, its great to see them on my doormat after getting home from work.