Stars and Hearts

At the beginning of the summer I posted my intention to begin a fun project: making stitched fabric postcards. I do this annually for my Christmas cards, and every year it's something different.

I was inspired by the small heart-themed collages that Jane Davies posted on her blog. You can see some of the images here.

Because I wanted to make Christmas cards, I chose a star motif, rather than a heart, to work with. I enjoyed working with a bright palette.

Isn't it funny how we see little human figures in the 5-pointed stars?
One head, two arms, two legs, dancing....

But I wasn't really happy with the format. Standard size for postcards is 4 x 6, and squares seem better-suited to stars. I reverted to the heart shape, but used Christmasy-colours of green and red, choosing from some of the older printed cottons in my collection.

As I developed these, I gradually introduced a few brighter colours, like lime green and magenta, to give them a bit more life. (I was getting some useful feedback, working on this project at our text'art retreat.)

The colours were getting bolder and bolder, but with less of that Christmas flavour.

Finally, I limited myself to red/pink/magenta hearts on greenish/turquoise backgrounds.

And now I have a nice selection of fabric postcards, some of which will serve for the Christmas season. Others will get a simple frame and be used for gifts, and possibly for sale at the upcoming fall show of the Hudson Artists.