A little update - wonderful mail yesterday and again today, some fun last night furthering my "home" postcards and starting my Aus-NZ Quilter's April Journal Quilt (not that March is anywhere near finished) and a headache all day today (not associated, or at least I don't believe they are!). Haven't decided what to do tonight but I believe an inchie is needed ( Inching Artists has closed and InchByInch has filled the gap!) plus an engagement card for a work colleague and then of course there are the unfinished projects from last night (although I think an early bedtime is probably best!)
So to my mail - yesterday I received an amazing package of goodies from Joanna van R - we are trading paper for fabric and she also included my lovely Calendar Girl Postcard for April as I am her partner this month (pictured above on beautiful text fabric that was included in the package!! So yummy - both of them!) As certain teenagers I know would say - "a totally awesome" package. I particularly love Joanna's hand-dyed silks - they are SO vibrant - she is very skilled at this dyeing business. 
And then today I received these gorgeous postcard and ATC trades (above) from Karen Stiehl Osborn - I love text and so does Karen so I just love these! Karen is an amazing artist.
Anne Lugherini (no blog unfortunately) is a pleasure to trade with - her work is so detailed and the stitching is stunning. Today I received a really sweet ATC and a delightful set of stitched inchies from Anne and they came accompanied by cross-stitch patterned notepaper! Talk about attention to detail! Fabulous.And this is what I have been experimenting with - painted vliesofix - it is the technique to incorporate in this month's journal quilt. Needless to say I have painted a lot extra and I am showing small sections in the photo here. I have used diluted Golden Fluid Acrylics and the Fine Pure Gold has given the whole lot a wonderful gleam!
I've also been making collage backgrounds on canvas - this technique was in an early Cloth Paper Scissors magazine - basically glue down a whole pile of paper scraps, lightly gesso and then wash with diluted paint. The pink one is a whole sheet and the green-gold ones are "slices" of three a4 sized pieces. I'll post pictures once I use them on something!
