ATC Friday

Today's cards are both Round Robin sets, where I was the second person in the mix. The top of the three cards is how it looks completely finished, then I have also shown how it was when I got it, and how it looked once I'd added something. 

I found this one a little hard to add to because the fly image was so large, and I wanted to leave space for the third person to add something, but it I think came out ok in the end. 

This one was easier to work with as it came to me with just a background and a tag - I added some washi tape and a little image onto the tag. 

ATC Tuesday - Trash to Treasure

This was a fun kind of swap - a "Trash to Treasure" swap - meaning that the hostess sends you an envelope of goodies and you have to use at least some of them in making your cards - though usually you can (or sometimes are required to) alter them as you see fit. You are also allowed to add your own things, of course.

With this card, I used part of a slide frame (taken apart from the actual film of the slide), some translucent film and picture of a creature, which, when folded into the frame looked a bit like a monster. The lettering is my own. 

In this card, the hand was from something I received; the waves were cut from the envelope I received my "trash" in and the rest of the water is from another bit of paper inluded in the swap. The crests of the waves are from a woven material received in the swap. The lettering, again, is mine.

here, I received the doily, the bottom washi tape, the feather die cuts (which I covered with my own washi tape and cut out again) and the paper which I cut the vase from. The paper flowers are my own.

And finally, the filter paper of the yin & yang was received in the swap, the two things from which I cut the circles as well (the dark one is actually cut from the film part of the slide mentioned above), and the two tags. I added the quotes as well as spraying the filter paper with spray ink.

Revisiting my Journal Quilt Project, week 19

I worked on this journal quilt in a week when I received lots of lovely things in the post, so I decided  it would be fun to do a quilt using only items I had received from other people (not necessarily during this particular week, but just to mark the joy of it) - not counting things I've bought, though allowing things I have swapped for. And so, this JQ is made up entirely of things from others, except for the vilene (stabiliser inside), the thread I used and the paper on the back. I know where some of these items came from, but some I can't remember for certain - and it's certainly the case that far more people have sent me things than are represented here - I have received things because of swaps, as birthday presents, things I won in giveaways, things sent as thank you's for things I've sent (which I wasn't asking for anything in return for - hence, not a swap), as extras with a purchase from a seller on eBay or etsy, as consolation squishies when my dad died, and sometimes, just as RAKs (random acts of kindness) - that is, for no reason at all, other than the fact that people are nice. I wanted to celebrate that with this quilt - what better way than to use some of the things!

I've included the original paragraph I wrote about who sent what, but it's been a while, so my apologies if some of the links don't work.

Here are some of what they are - the background is a piece of shibori, made by Ann H, which recently arrived with the shibori swap from my dyeing group. The three square pieces of fabric and the metallic button are from the scavenger hunt swap I did with Angela on Arts in the Mail - oh and the butterfly is cut from a square of fabric from that swap. The green silk strip, piece of marbled fabric and the fleur-de-lis stencil paper are from the grab-bag I won on Susan's blog. The red snowflake stamped in Angelina was made by chaos for an angelina technique swap in my surface embellishment group. The narrow strip of pale blue felt was one of the things I received (in bigger pieces) with my Valentine's Swap from Amy. The feather was in a recent goodie bag from Karol-Ann, sent from South Africa and was hand-collected by her lovely self. The "PEACE" letter beads are from Cathi, who sent them because she thought I'd use them more than she would. (I wanted to put LOVE to go with the heart, but there was no L - oh well!) The white lace flower was in a recent surprise RAK package from Penny. The bit of interesting thread/ribbon across the top of the piece was a free bobbin which came with an order of ephemera and bits from The Fruit Pixie. The eyelash yarn around the edge came from the stash of Annie, who sympathised with my moanings about the cost of eyelash yarn over here, when one only used it for trim rather than a whole scarf and sent me dozens of colours (ok, maybe a dozen - but it was a lot!). The piece of silk mesh (behind the felt and rhinestone flower) came in a wee package of silk scraps with a Christmas Card from Annica. The peach flower button is from Julie. The shamrock charm and the rhinestone flower came from someone(s) but I can't remember who. It's possible they might have come from Anne or Jane, who sent me bits back when my dad died. (If either of you ladies recognises one of those as being from you, leave a comment and I'll edit my post to say!) And if I got any of them wrong, please correct me - mostly I was doing it from memory, and we know what that's like...

As you can see, a great collection of stuff - and there many more things I have been sent on various occasions, which haven't made it into this little 8x8 journal quilt.

ATC Friday

A few more round robin cards - these are ones where I was the second player to add something. So here's the finished card (above) - what it was like when I received it (below) and what it looked like once I added something (bottom). 

These are my favourite to blog about because you can see all three stages, which I think is fun - to follow through the process.

ATC Tuesday

These four ATCs were made as part of a "Trash to Treasure" swap - the hostess sends the players and envelope of goodies culled from her personal stash, and you have to use at least some of the items in the cards. You are allowed to add some things of your own as well. Here's some description of what I did with items I received. It was originally posted on my trading forum, where the readers would have received the same (or similar) items, but it will help you see what was sent and what was added. 

"Bloom" uses the bookpage as background, some of the napkin, part of the paper cake case, the bit of border card and the punched flowers. I added my own washi tape, sticky letters, and decorative brads.

"Light" uses the bookpage as background, some of the blue part of the piece of notepad, part of the paper cake case, the sequin punch, the hole reinforcements, some of the pink tape, the candle is cut from the bookpage and the black and whit stripey strips also came from the notepad. The brads and the letters are the only things I added from my own stash.

"Sun" uses the envelope as a background (with the tape which was across the seal), some napkin, the black and white pattern paper, some strips from the notepad, the heart stamped from the envelope and the global forever stamp off the envelope. And a sunflower cut from the notepad. I added my own yellow washi tape and the letters for sun. 

Finally, "Just the Ticket" uses a bookpage for background, part of the napkin, the red bordered sticker, the ticket (I kept the half which says "keep this coupon" - it seemed churlish not to! lol) and the pumpkins are cut from the notepad. I added the stickers for "just the" and the two drinks glasses (which are actually decorative brads). 

Revisiting my Journal Quilt Project, week 18

When I worked on this mini quilt originally, I combined it with a goal to work on a challenge for another blogger - she had sent some free washers to people with the requirement that they made something with them, and sent her an ATC using them. I did make the ATC, but I also used some in my journal quilt for the week.  I started with a piece of discharged fabric, added some small squares of hand-dyes and then free motion quilted over it - in many places, following the shape of the discharge, in other places, just making it up as I went along. I then added lace, washers, angelina, buttons, jewels, watch gears and little faces. And I used some Treasure Gold in various colours over the lace.

ATC Friday

Here are a couple more sets of round robin cards which I finished off, as third player.  This first one was quite tricky as the images took up most of the card already, when they got to me. Buy I was happy with the grass, once I thought of it.

This one was already in zetti style, so it was just a matter of adding a few finishing touches.

ATC Tuesday

A couple of sets of buddy cards I started and someone else finished - these are like round robins, but just two people work on them. 

Revisiting my Journal Quilt Project, week 17

This week I  apparently chose to do some curved flying geese to reflect some work I'd done on a Round Robin quilt - I don't really remember the round robin, but it apparently had curved flying geese in it. These geese are set into a blue background, which works well with orange, and quilted with parallel (more or less) lines with various stitches in orange variegated thread. The back, which is paper, is a paper with butterflies on it, which I chose in honour of the centre of the SFRR centre, which was a butterfly.

ATC Friday

These are some finished Round Robin cards where I started them off. This set was particularly hard, I thought - I used some prepared papers which I had, which were very busy. Meaning there wasn't much space to work. A real challenge!

And these were probably a bit easier to work with - no theme at all to start, so really open how to interpret them.

ATC Tuesday

Here are some more buddy cards I started, and others finished off. This one, the background was made entirely from security envelope liners. The other artist has added a variety of other collaged items. 

And with this one, it was a feathery background, from a greeting card, some washi tape and a couple of dragonfly stickers. The wings on all the dragonflies lift up, so none of them are really stuck down on top of the others, despite what it might look like from the scan.

Revisiting my Journal Quilt Project, Week 16

Apparently, ten years ago, this was a very busy week - and that's when I wasn't working at all, let alone full time. I imagine my standards have changed these days, lol.  Here's what I said at the time:

Many weeks I have a good idea what I want to do the JQ about, but this week, there wasn't anything that stood out, so I just went with my desire to use some of the Japanese fabrics I've started accumulating. I've been itching to do something with them, though no specific ideas just what, so I just made a few nine patches and sewed them together randomly. It was a nice, relaxing piece, with nothing more taxing to it than working out how I wanted to place the nine-patches.

ATC Friday

These round robin cards are ones where I was the second player - which means I can show all three stages of the card. The finished card - above - the starting piece (below) and what it looked like after I added something before sending it on to a third player. 

It's always interesting to see what approach people take to something - usually it's nothing like what you might do yourself, which is the point of sharing the card between multiple people.