Winter Sun February ATCs

 There has been so much fun had over the last two weeks in my house! Last week obviously wasn't so fantastic as I was stuck in my bedroom with Covid but I had obviously timed it really well with the entries coming in for the Stitchscape swap and I had so much happy post to look through and keep me going! 

(The cards were all quarantined before being sent back out again and I have been testing negative this week so rest assured nothing bad was sent out in the envelopes!)

This first month of swapping has had two cards created because my swap idea pinged into my brain in February so we had to back date it. All following months will only have one design a month so it's pretty reasonable to keep up with. My last blog post was about the back dated January ones and these ones are the February cards which had the theme 'Winter Sun'. 

I have really enjoyed seeing them together as a collection and the overall colour scheme that is coming through. Last month was a lot of blue and white and silver, this month is more orange, yellow and blue with a surprising amount of purple actually! Presumably all inspired by the lovely sunrises we have been having recently which involve a lot of pink and yellow. 

This one also has some lovely takes on the theme, with an abstract sunrise which reminds me of a sunrise over a lake, silhouetted trees, pale suns and bright suns. I like the use of machine and hand embroidery in these too - with maybe some felting techniques coming in? I'm sure one of the cards has motifs that were stitched separately onto a netting and then glued onto a painted card backing with some gorgeously well cut felt at the bottom. (The one with the little houses on.) It's good fun trying to work out how these have been made!

I wonder whether the techniques the other members use will change slightly over the course of the year as they see other participant's cards? Or if they will stay as a particular style so that it becomes recognisable who made what?

I am also working on creating a specific page on my website with a gallery of close up photos for each card sent in. I'll let you all know when it's up and running!