Thursday 19 July 2018

A gift to share

Almost 12 months ago I received an email from C&T Publishing sharing an idea that they had of producing playing cards using the designs from my Stitching with Beatrix Potter book. As you can imagine my heart jumped with joy.....how many can say their designs are on playing cards!! So it was this week that my own personal pack of playing cards arrived....
 What wonderful gifts these make - not just for quilters but for anyone in all walks of life. And let me tell you - the quality is superb - not flimsy paper but plastic coated and easy to shuffle. So as I was typing this post I wondered where playing cards actually originated. Google led me on that informative path and I discovered that they go back to the 9th century during the Tang Dynasty in China. Cards have also been found in Egypt dating around the 12th and 13th centuries before spreading across Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is fascinating and you can read more HERE. So here we are in the 21st century and this small timeless gift can still bring hours of pleasure to us all. They are a very affordable gift available on the C&T Publishing site but I've also seen them on Amazon and maybe even your local quilt shop can get them for you where they come in this display box........
The back of the cards feature detail from my version of the 1863 wedding quit that belonged to Beatrix Potter's parents..........

There are characters from the 'Nursery' quilt scattered among the cards..........
 I adore Peter Rabbit as the joker - so appropriate and dear Jemima Puddleduck..............

 and the mouse from the Tailor of Gloucester and Jeremy Fisher.....
Even Mrs Tiggy-Winkle is featured.......
My Mrs Tiggy-Winkle iron cover is used every day and keeps my iron dust free - this is another project in the book.......
 And a reminder of some of the blocks from the 'Nursery' quilt......


And finally the Ace cards feature detail from another book project - 'Floral Frieze' that was inspired by a drawing Beatrix made when she was just 15 years old of a plaster frieze.......


Jemima and Peter look over us at home every day so we seem to not only be keeping the genius of Morris alive but also Beatrix Potter!.......

Thankyou for reading and allowing me to share all of this with you x

8 comments:

  1. congratulations - that is so much fun to have a deck of cards from your designs!

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  2. Wow Michele, they are fabulous. Well done!!

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  3. Oh wow, those are spectacular. I may have to get a pack for my mom, an inveterate Potter fan...

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  4. Congratulations, I love them, I've always had a soft spot for playing cards, maybe from those good memories of playing family games. Hope they come to Australia

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  5. That is just amazing and to transfer from a quilt to playing cards is extraordinary. You must be ecstatic. They are so tactile and interactive as well. You never know what the future holds XX

    Nydia

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  6. I have mine and you are right, they are super!

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  7. How colorful. Bet they're going to be a big hit.

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