Thanks for the POSTCARDS!!!!

I'm very spoiled.....and I thank you! Getting post in the mail box outside my house is soooo much fun! My mom is an avid postcard writer...has been since as long as I remember! She not only writes postcards when she is travelling but she also sends little messages to us when she's at home. It's her little way to show me that she is thinking of us. I've lived away from home since I was 17 when I left Florida to go to Indiana University in Bloomington. And from that point I have gotten hundreds...maybe a thousand post cards from her. Fortunately, I treasure these little cards and have kept them all these years....my aunts and two of my dearest cousins are also frequent travellers who have sent me bits of information with lovely pictures from all their travels, too. (I need to mention that I also have a few special friends are also formiable postcard writers!) As a result, I have a HUGE postcard collection from all over the world! One of my summer projects was getting all these cards into some sort of working organization. I had started when Maya was a baby...an easy thing to do while I was sitting quietly nursing her on the couch and my free hand plopping the cards into a file of alphabetical order. But since then my collection has again grown and Mom helped me fill up 3 more shoe boxes into order. You may think this is ridiculous but I USE my postcards all the time in my class room....for games, for show, for reading, for reports, etc. I know a lot of photos can be found on the internet nowadays but there is something satisfying and really thrilling to have proof that someone I know was THERE! And the students LOVE IT! The stamps , the writing, the cancellation, and the photo....it validates the place, tradition and person. Sometimes I think that the internet will replace those personal touches that involve mailing a postcard....picking a card, writing about an experience, buying a stamp at a local postoffice and mailing the card. I think this why getting a postcard in the REAL MAIL is such a thrill to me now...someone's HANDS touched the card and they sent it to ME! That's special!
I guess that's the main reason I signed myself up for the Fabric Postcard Swap...it combines two of my favorite obesssions! Thanks Brenda for organizing a swap that is 'non-stress'...it's spontaneous, it surprises, it's relaxing and mostly it's fun! Rhonda sent me the above yellow fishy from Texas! (Did you realize the fpc is made up of the colors in the Swedish flag?) Maya's Barbie mermaids want this one, too! Thanks Rhonda!
And Vicki's elegant butterfly with just the right touch of sparkles! She sent the fpc in the mail without a paper envelope...stamp and cancellation were directly placed on the fabric! I LOVE THAT! The post office allowed her to place the cancelled card into a plastic protection for its journey across the Atlantic! Arrived without a mark! Thanks Vicki!
Valerie from Australia has been cruising around the UK for awhile now...she keeps up her membership in our group with real postcards! This one from Wales couldn't be more perfect for my classroom use! Thanks Valerie!
And my secret Stitcher's Angel sent this one from Iowa! (btw, your handwriting is JUST like my teaching assistant from Los Angeles...you're not Sheila are you? he he) Again, you wouldn't believe it but I don't think I have any postcards from IOWA! This is absolutely perfect to use in the classroom...state map, flag, flower, places of interest! Thanks!
You're probably wondering what the heck I"ve done for my FPC swap...well...after a slow start I finally pulled out some paper piecing that I had never tried in such a small scale. I have to admit that I placed the little fabric works into a pre-made card which I had from a kit...just because it took me so long to make the butterflies that I just didn't have the energy to figure out how to make them into a rectangle of fabric! So now that I've practiced (but not to perfection, as you can see by the lopsided wings)....I'll try some more of these later...Vicki has set the bar up for me on the paper piecing style so I'm feeling eager to try again.