welcome to my busy day~!

i've been hard at it working on my next (scrap) donation quilt top. still trying to use up all of my strips and strings. this is a 15 inch block made using Marti Michell's Kaleido-Ruler and instructions. so far it's worked out pretty nifty and i hope to have three more of these blocks put together within a few days. then i'll sew those into a 30 inch square center piece and think about some borders to bring it up a bit more in size to a baby quilt size.

i do have one concern. i have sewn the strips and strings onto low thread count muslin bases because the nature of string piecing can be a bit inaccurate otherwise.
i then felt like those pieces were going to be too "weighty" beside the other pieces so in the interest of consistency i also sewed all of the other pieces to the same low thread count muslin. my original thought was i could leave out the batting and make a lighter weight summer quilt using flannel for the back. after having constructed one of the blocks i am wondering if this will present any challenges to the machine quilter? the bulk only seems to be an issue where several seams come together but i know that if i were hand quilting it i would have to choose quilting that avoided those areas . . .

if there is anyone who can offer me their thoughts, experience and/or advice on this i would appreciate it.


i've been working on ATC's a little bit over the last few days and am in process with these two fabric ones. i've used vintage lace and emboridered bits of pillowcase to begin with and i'll add some stitching and maybe some other embellishment . . . a bit of vintage jewelry, buttons, etc . . .
maybe add an embroidered word or two . . .

btw: i want to mention that Sharon Boggon of www.pintangle.com has a new option for those of us seeking embroidery stitch instruction. she has created a system that will be expandable and allows for creating a personal sample book of embroidery stitches as one follows along. it's pretty cool and i'm excited to be actively making my very own stitch/sample book to use as a reference for not just the stitches offered but also for whatever variations that i may come up with. i highly recommend that you check it out if you are at all interested in embroidery.

i've not made any fabric ATC's before but i'm assuming that i will need to attach a card stock backing to them in order to create some rigidity . . .

once again, any advice would be appreciated.

this last one is a paper and glue collage card. i used a card that i had zen tangled on for the base. i wasn't thrilled with it so covering it with cut outs and paint seemed like a good option. the outer colored frame is made up of paint samples/cards from the hardware store. i cut one edge of them with decorative edging scissors.

i'm calling this one A Fish in the City and may do other cards with this "Lost" theme at some point . . .

the "Lost" card is no longer available for trade.