Eleven Fabric Postcards for Sisters (Oregon) Outdoor Quilt Show Wish Contest 2023

Hello fabric postcard lovers. I made eleven fabric postcards this year for the annual Make a Wish fundraiser that happens during the Sisters, Oregon Outdoor Quilt Show. My favorite quilt show! 

This year the 2 fabrics chosen are from Andover Fabric and designed by Giucy Giuce from his Fabric from the Attic and Fabric from the Basement lines. The pink fabric is Rant- Dried Orchid and the dark print is Alien Diamond- Shirt.

Postcard Challenge: Create a fabric postcard using BOTH of the two challenge fabrics shown below. Cards will be juried with cash prizes for the top three selections, and then matted and framed for silent auction.

Alien Diamond- Shirt

Rant- Dried Orchid

I created eleven cards total (I requested 6 sets of the fabric though, as I knew I could create more than 6 cards from each set). I always have fun making these cards. I have had several of my postcards framed to be sold for more money than just the postcard itself (which are also sold, but for less money). It's an honor to have my cards chosen to get framed, although I usually am not told what cards, if any get framed. I have a friend who attends the show and lives nearby and she tells me and takes photos, but I wish they would inform us postcard makers and send us a photo of all the cards we make that they frame, as it would be great to know that and see it too, especially if we cannot attend the show. Only one year did I get an email that they framed one of my cards and emailed me a photo of it. I guess they have different people volunteering (or staff?) each year, so it is up to that person?

Here are my postcards. I machine blanket stitched around most of the appliqué shapes, added some hand embroidery like French knots and backstitching on some cards. I added some hot fix crystals on a few cards for bling. I hand blanket stitched around each card along the outside edge to hold the layers together.

I used Crafter's Edge die cuts to cut out the Canning Jar and the Hearts. 

I cut these shapes out from die cuts also. Circles, a diamond that I cut on half for the ears and the tip of the diamond for the nose. I hand stitched on the whiskers, which are slightly crooked for a bit of whimsey, as well as those cockeyed eyes, lol!

I tried something different and new to me for the outside edges of the postcard on this one. I saw a video showing how Susan Carlson did the edges of one of her art quilts using scraps. She glued the scraps on all around the quilt. The scraps blended well with her quilt. I thought I would give it a go on a postcard and see what I thought. I only did this one that way. I think that edging would maybe look better on a larger quilt, rather than a small postcard (4" x 6" are the size of these postcards). Do you have an opinion about the scrappy edge? Like it? Don't like it? Check out the video I watched at the end of this post.

A pink sunflower. One of my favorite flowers are sunflowers.

More die cuts used here. A pentagon for the flower and a tumbler die cut for the pot.

Besides sunflowers, I LOVE Echinacea (coneflowers)! This is my favorite flower. Cannot grow them, darn! I tried from seed and plants and they just don't grow at all, even though they sell both plants and seeds here. Must be doing something wrong or it's too cold or too hot? So I will create them in my quilting instead.

Under my Tip of the Morning Tuesday page, I have a tutorial for how I create this kind of flower. I start with a circle (using a die cut for me) and then show you how to make cuts. This flower always looks great, even if the circle or cuts are wonky. As in nature, nothing is perfect.

Made this with more die cuts: a teacup, hearts and flowers. A touch of hand embroidery and some crystal bling.

No die cuts used here! I drew this one out myself. I wanted another coneflower and a bee on it. A jumbo bee, lol! I was looking for something to use for the wings and I was recently given something that was tied with a variegated organza ribbon, so I fused some fusible we to the ribbon and I created the bee's wings. Added 3 crystals for a bit more bling to the wing. Wing bling? LOL!

For this card, I wanted to do a reverse appliqué, so I first sewed an under layer crazy quilt style and then cut out the flower in the center of the dark fabric (used a flower die cut) and machine blanket stitched it in place. As you can see the blanket stitching is biting into the background, since it is reverse appliqué. A bit of crystal bling was added too.

More die cuts, this time I used ovals to create the butterfly. I do have a butterfly die cut, but it was too large for the postcard, so I only used the center body from that die cut to create this.

I used 3 different rubber stamps to stamp the Postcard Stamp onto the backside of each card. Just showing this one here so you get the idea.

All eleven cards together.

The deadline for entering the contest to be juried is May 4, 2023 (cards need to be received by this date). However, they accept ALL postcards (using any or all of your own fabric, not just the contest fabrics) through June 10, 2023.

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My Make a Wish Challenge Postcard got Framed!

I sent in some postcards I made for the Make a Wish Challenge that is part of  the annual Sisters (Oregon) Outdoor Quilt Show. I made a few postcards with the Robert Kaufman challenge fabrics that were sent to me (the 3 prints I used as the background to my postcard here were the challenge fabrics), as well as postcards using my own fabrics, which you can also send in, but they are not part of the challenge, but could get framed.

The postcards using the challenge fabrics were judged and there were some winners of that contest that you can see the winners here. (I was not a winner). But any postcard that was sent in had the possibility to get framed and to be auctioned off in a silent auction. They chose 70 postcards to be framed for the auction. Most of these cards were made by the teachers who teach Mon-Friday before the Saturday quilt show.

I got an email telling me that one of my postcards had been chosen to be framed. I was thrilled!

My Fat Cat here was the chosen card. I asked my friend who lives near Sisters to let me know what the postcard sold for. The bidding stopped at 2:00 on Saturday the day of the show (bidding started Monday). At 12:30 on Saturday she said the card was up to $135 (bidding on the cards starts at $50 with a minimum of $10 bid or a buy it now for $250). So I do not know if it sold for more than $135, but I was thrilled that someone wanted to buy it at any price, lol!!!

Those challenge fabrics was a challenge indeed! They reminded me of men's boxer undershorts, lol!!! 

High Desert Frameworks of Bend, Oregon very generously frames the chosen postcards each year and they do a wonderful job! The first year they starting framing postcards I sent in a postcard I made of Coneflowers (not a challenge fabric) and it got framed and sold for $85!

My postcard with the challenge fabric in the background.

My postcard framed. Sold for at least $135 (Maybe more? Who knows?)

Some of the postcards that were framed using the challenge fabrics from Robert Kaufman. 

My Fat Cat.

My friend took this photo when it was up to $125, so it had at least one more bid after this.

The Kaufman Challenge postcards.

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6 Fabric Postcards for 2018 Wish Upon a Card Challenge

The annual Sisters (Oregon) Outdoor Quilt Show (2nd Saturday in July) has a fabric postcard challenge each year where you make a postcard using the fabric that is sponsored by Robert Kaufman Fabric. I requested 2 fabric sets and received 2 different fabrics for the challenge. The postcards for the challenge had to be received by April 15th (today). But you can make 4" x 6" postcards to donate that will be sold (some auctioned) for the benefit of the SOQS Visual Arts & Design Scholarship Fund, after that date too. This is their 12th annual event for the postcards.

I have made and donated cards in the past, but have not entered the challenge before. So I decided to make as many cards as I could with the (2) 5" pieces of fabric that I received. I made 6 postcards. On some I used one of the fabrics in the postcard and some I used both fabrics in the postcard. The fabric I received was the blue grid print and the green print with the swirly circles. The other fabrics are my own scraps. The rules state you must use one of the fabrics in the card. They didn't say how much of the challenge fabric needed to be used, so on some I used a good amount and others just a tiny touch of it. It was fun to make these and I hope they bring in a lot of money for the cause, even if I don't win one of the 1st-3rd place prizes.

I have been to the quilt show several times in the past and was always amazed at the beautiful postcards that are created. The prize winning and several other of the nicest postcards are framed by High Desert Frameworks, a frame shop in Bend, Oregon who donates the mats, frames and their time to professionally frame each postcard they are given to frame. They do an outstanding job of choosing the right color mat and frame as well as the right size too. The frames I would guess are no larger than 11" x 14" and some are smaller too, and they always look beautiful. I have seen some of the silent auction framed postcards sell for as much as $500!

Here are the 5 postcards that I created and mailed off for the challenge. Wish me luck.

I used both challenge fabrics on the telephone. The blue grid and the circle of swirly green fabric. The background is just some random strips of fabric I pieced together. I used rickrack for the telephone cord. I added a crystal in the center of the phone dial.

Closer look.

I used the green challenge fabric in the stems and leaves and the blue challenge fabric for the top of the coneflowers. A few added crystals for some bling.

The top wings of the butterfly uses the blue challenge fabric. Crystals on the wings for some wing bling!

The challenge fabric is his blue bow tie. I added a crystal in the center of his bow tie and more crystals like snow falling on the background. 2 button eyes. (oops and a thread on his wing I didn't see when taking this photo, lol!)

Another telephone with the challenge fabrics in the opposite positions. The body of the phone uses the green challenge fabric, where the circle dial is the blue challenge fabric. Again I added a crystal and rickrack for the cord.

2 blue flowers with the challenge fabric and one green flower using the challenge fabric. Green rickrack for the stems and lots of crystal bling.

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Quilt Block Contest: I Won Best of Show!!!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it... (the chorus of the Pointer Sisters song is going through my head right now). I just read my email Tuesday and found out that I won the BEST OF SHOW for this year's Quilt Block Contest that is part of the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have won Honorable Mention twice in the past, which was also a thrill, but Best of Show is even more thrilling!!!

A lot of you had such nice things to say when I posted my block here on my blog, but you hadn't seen all the other blocks that were entered and neither had I. Every year there are some pretty amazing blocks that are entered. It all comes down to how the teachers vote that year. In case you don't remember or didn't see the posting of the block I made for the contest here it is again:

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Quilted in Honor~at the Sisters 39th Annual Outdoor Quilt Show

On the lawn outside of the Sisters Public School Administration building, was a large display of quilts paying tribute to and financially benefiting military personnel and their families. Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show was one of the 18 national locations chosen to host the Quilted in Honor quilt collection. This is a fundraising initiative sponsored by Island Batik, and includes a collection of 50 celebrity quilters, including Alex Anderson, Rob Appell, Eleanor Burns, Carol Doak, Pat Sloan, Ricky Tims, Angela Walters, Scott Hansen and more.

Not all the quilts were red, white and blue or stars and stripes either; some used camouflage fabric and a few quilts have red poppies. So many beautiful and creative quilts! Here are my favorite ones:

I loved this quilting. I took this close-up because you couldn't see it in the quilt otherwise. There were other similar quilting objects in other areas of the quilt. This close-up belongs to the very last quilt photo at the end of this post.

Close-up of the quilt above on the left. Love the quilting and the embellishment on this.

Close-up of the fabrics that have a feeling of camouflage.

Close-up of quilting from the quilt above. I love the swirls.

Close-up of one of the poppies from quilt above.

Close-up of quilting from the above quilt.

Poppy close-up.

Another close-up of a poppy.

This is the quilt where each white block was quilted with a different motif like the Liberty Bell from the first photo above.

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