Christmas projects: The cards

Day two of my catching-up-on-Christmas-projects-posts is all about the cards. Some of you may know that I make quilted Christmas cards for friends and family, and 2013 was no exception (WIP post here) (more cards here).

Since I’m not much of a traditionalist when it comes to my creative adventures, I thought it would be interesting to work with traditional Christmas colours and motifs – read, green, white and hearts. 

My materials of choice may not have been too traditional, but still, my little army of cards is nodding rather politely to Christmases past I’d say.

As usual, lighting has been a challenge through the process, but here they are, “New Traditions 1-40”.

Background: velvety taffeta curtain from thrift shop layered with batting and backing (spray basted), cut into 4 ½” wide (5”??) strips, narrow vertical strip of gorgeous linen scrap appliquéd to the centre, cut into squares, and zigzag stitched around the edges.

Trimmings: small square of thrifted hand woven linen cloth

thrifted wallpaper heart cut freehand with scissors

quilted heart cut freehand from material leftover from stocking posted here

free motion stitched to the background involving quite a bit of muscles, tugging and needle changing.

and for hanging: ornament loops slipped in between the layers

 
Even though not an obvious Christmas green, the taffeta is not greyish at all as the added white will prove.

Despite careful measuring, one card ended up ¼” too short, and I didn’t even notice until I lined them all up for photographing. Oh well, never mind.

This year I will probably go back to the rectangular format as these would not fit into the standard small envelopes, but the cards of 2013 just had to be square.

These would make great Valentine cards or even birthday cards as well, don’t you think? I'll be adding this post to my tutorial page in case you would like to revisit it later.

Thanks for stopping by!

Whip card of sorts

I had to whip out a few more Christmas cards this morning. The deadline for mailing them in time for the holidays was yesterday, but having been a bit under the weather lately, I did not make it on time. It will be fine, they always set those deadlines with a few days to spare, don't they?

Even with an abundance of quilted cards (or so I thought), I ran out before making it to the bottom of The Not Naughty But Nice List this morning, so while chewing my way through lunch, I did a little light stitch & paste.

 

These are super simple: pretty scrapbook paper and leftover wall paper- and quilted fabric hearts from the quilted cards, stitched together with a button and pearl cotton floss. The Christmas greetings were written on circles of paper made with a paper punch, and glued to the back, covering the thread. Whip, whip and done.

 

I understand that writing physical Christmas cards is a becoming a lost art. Not so at our house, it is a tradition that I appreciate, and besides that, I love making little greetings when time allows, 'cause The Not Naughty But Nice List seems to grow each year.

How about you, are you keeping the Post Office in business this year (not counting online fabric shopping)?