I had a great time designing these little postcards and I used scraps & pre-cuts to create them. These little landscape postcards measure 5 x 7 inches. I created them back in January when I was in Tucson surrounded by the majestic Saguaros of the Sonoran Desert. They are my favourite cacti of the desert because they are always very happy to wave hello to everyone who walks by.
These postcards were made for A Needle Pulling Thread magazine Issue 66. The pattern for the Hello from the Desert postcards can be found on the ANPT website.
As you can see from the three that I have made each has a little bit more detail than the next. You can make them as elaborate or as simple as you want.
Each postcard was made with a different technique but the same design was used for each. All the cards were built on a very stiff stabilizer called TimTex.
Postcard #1
I played with a fabric run of light to dark blue for the sky because what’s a quilt without a fabric run. No matter how large or small the project I can always manage to squeak in a fabric run or two. Even the ground is a small fabric run and the mountain is a very loose fabric run. I used a variety of cottons and batiks for the fabric runs.
Do you want to learn about how to create eye pleasing fabric runs? If so I invite you to join me at Summer Camp July 17-21, 2024 where I’ll be presenting a workshop called Create Fabric Runs Fearlessly. Register now for Summer Camp – this fabulous event is chalked full of information, workshops, freebies and giveaways.
Postcard #2
This one I created all the sections with fabric collage. I love using collage to create sections of an art quilt as the collage adds so much depth and texture to the piece with the variety of fabrics one can use as well as the stitching to hold the pieces in place. And the Saguaro was created with a single piece of batik fabric that had lots of lines just like a real Saguaro.
I use the collage technique to create my Icon on the Landscape patterns: Inukshuk, Lone Pine, Polar Bear & Saguaro.
Postcard #3
This is the simplest version – it may be simple but it is highly effective. A single fabric for each section where the fabric speaks for itself. Each piece was fused to the TimTex and then stitched down with a blanket stitch in thread that blended in with the fabric. The Saguaro fabric was glued onto a piece of low loft cotton batting just to give it a bit more dimension and stitched with free motion zigzag to add texture and the prickly bits of the cactus.
Lastly I added on a postcard back that can be written on and mailed off to someone special. The back was printed on Printable fabric – my favourite is the Electric Quilt fabric sheets. I designed the template on the computer and used the Inkjet printer to print the template which I then fused to the back of the postcard. Easy peasy.
Some countries will allow you to post these postcards as is but I usually put them in an envelope as I don’t want anything to happen to my pieces of art.
A fun way to use up scraps, create little pieces of landscape art and surprise someone with a piece of snail mail.
Until next time,
Happy Quilting
