Bluebirds are my sure sign of Spring

Happy April!
I saw more snow flurries last night - no April Fool's joke!
But today it's sunny and the birds are chirping.  
One of my signs that Spring is a'coming, is when
the bluebirds come back to my area,
and flit around in the pines.

So what did I see a few weeks ago???
The first of the bluebird arrivals!
Around that same time, I needed to make postcards 
to send to quilting friends in a fabric postcard swap.
I had an eureka moment...
since bluebirds are my sure sign that Spring is around the corner,
I should make some 
Bluebird postcards for this Spring card swap!! 
This is what I came up with:

Since I had the bluebird/card idea, 
I dug through my photo archives and
pulled out this photo 
that I took in my back garden a few years ago:

Aren't they so sweet looking, lined up & sunning themselves?

Using my photo, I made my applique pattern:

and chose the fabric for the back/writing side of the postcard.

Then I exploded it into color-pieces, and traced it onto fusible:

Some of the bird-parts awaiting assembly:

 And, finally, here's what I ended up with - ready to address and send!

My Bluebird fabric postcards! MyLifeIsAStitch.blogspot

Though I'm not usually a fan of machine-applique,
I loved making them - maybe because of the cheery bluebird.
Each card was quite labor intensive, 
but I loved sending them so much so, that
I also made a few extra just to have on hand,  
to send when needed, as thank you notes.

I've mailed them off to gals in the United States,
Belgium and Canada.
Nationally, they should have already arrived, 
and internationals will get theirs this week, hopefully.

So, April has arrived here with sunshine, 
and my bluebird postcards have flown out of here...
A great way to start a new month!!!

Hope your April is great,
and happy stitching!