My April TIF Challenge finished!

Yesteday was stitching weather. The southerly change on Sunday night brought cold winds with a hint of snow in them, and sure enough on Monday morning the news showed snow around the alpine region in Victoria and even a little around Canberra! I hope Sharon has her gloves and scarf handy!

My cat raced indoors around lunch time, then curled up on top of the couch with her tail over her nose, a sure sign of very cold weather. I took the hint and lit the gas fire, then settled in with my lap table to stitch my TIF postcard. I finished around tea time, so not too long at all once I decided which stitches and embellishments to use. The 2 photos are printed on some pre-prepared silk sheets, not too happy with them, but my first attempts. They are framed by vintage "new-old-stock" laces and a rose braid from my grandmother. I'm seeing something similar available lately at Craft shows, perhaps they are making some again, but my version is about 40 years old! I've added pearls and colonial knots on the left side, simple lazy daisy stitches, picking up the pattern of the lace, with some sparkly beads in the centres and some dyed flower motifs with a sequin centre. The words are printed on a textured paper and stitched with some straight stitches suggesting fancy photo corners. When it came to the binding, the vintage Petersham ribbon was the wrong colour and a bit too "chunky" so I opted for the reverse of a soft satin ribbon. I'm fairly pleased with this one, and even more pleased to have finished within my deadline.

So my postcard pays homage to the fact that in life, some things just never change. We may grow older and outside events may influence us in many different ways. Fundamentally though, our deep inner thoughts and feelings often remain unchanged and while we often don't realise it, one day you look at something and think "Oh, my, gosh, look at that !" I had that moment when I looked again at these photos, taken some 46 years apart. The head angle, the slight smile, the costumes, the baskets and although you can't see in the modern photo I'm wearing long "socks" in both pictures too!