Thursday, January 12, 2012

New Swaps in 2012

My goodness?! May?! Really? I'm terribly sorry everyone. I didn't think life had taken me away this long. I'll be a bit busy still until after March, but I hope to get this going again in April. I have a nice list of things I'm hoping to get done before then to free up more time.

In the mean time, a group I'm in on swap bot has a great little swap going. If you've already done some swaps feel free to join the group and have a look around. Their next swap is a free choice swap to 1 partner. You can use whatever techniques you like, so have fun with it. Find the swap here.

If you've got some suggestions on swaps you'd like to see please let me know. I'll try my best to run them for you!

Happy New Year everyone!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sharing is Caring

Do you have a quilting, art or craft blog that you would like to share?

I'd love to see some new blogs so I started up a little Quilting blog swap on the side. I received a few private messages from people who perhaps had a flickr account but not a blog, or who had a textile art blog but only a few posts were about quilting and even someone who didn't do quilting but did do other crafts. So this swap has ow spawned three new swaps. Want to join in?

The original swap: Follow My Quilting Blog (sign up ends 25th May)

The other super quick and easy electronic blog (or flickr, etc) swaps!! (sign up ends 4th June)

Follow My Craft Blog - any craft!
Follow My Art Blog - any art!
Follow My Textile Art/Craft Blog - anything involving textiles!

Good thing I have a variety of blogs... this is going to be fun!!

You'll get 5 partners To each partner you will send a link to your blog in email. You can send more than one link if you want to recommend more sites, but please no more than 3 links, and make clear which link is your own blog!

When you receive your link please take time to look at the other persons blog, follow it if you like their content, but as a minimum comment on at least 2 of their blog posts. (we all love comments right - make sure your comments are positive!)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Fabric ATC: Challenge #2

Up for a challenge?? This is for you!! The last challenge was a lot of fun so lets try it again. I think this one might be harder than last time, but I'm up for it.

Swap Sign Up: From now until June 11th (3 weeks) - Partners assigned between June 12-13
Swap Deadline: Your ATC must be sent by July 2nd (3 weeks)

You will make one standard size fabric ATC (2.5" x 3.5") for your partner. You can use any techniques, methods and embellishments to create your fabric ATC. The ATC base should be fabric stiffened with interfacing or a cardstock backing.
See our tips for creating a fabric ATC.

Note: I am making this swap for fabric ATCs only at this stage, however may open it up to mixed media options if there is not enough interest.

Now for the challenge part: I will give you the last 5 words from Illustration Friday's weekly topics. You should use at least two of these themes when creating your ATC. Be creative!

The words are: Bicycle, Lesson, Beginner, Safari, Soaked

Be sure to include a note with the name of this swap and your Swap-bot ID so that your partner can rate you when they receive your art. Also include a description of your interpretation of the theme.

Any embellishments welcome!! For example: embroidery, quilting, sewing, beads, findings, paint or ink - anything you can apply to your fabric.

You may start making your ATC immediately (and have up to 6 weeks to complete it) or wait until partners are assigned and review your partners profile to personalize your ATC for them.

Newbies welcome.
If you have any 1 or 3 ratings please contact me first.
Remember if you join in you are making a commitment to the swap!

My original idea was to limit this to only two topics where both must be used, however I want to see how this will go and if you enjoy the challenge so please provide some feedback here.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Simple Theme ATC - Cupcakes!

New Simple Theme swap!! Is it really simple? I don't know... but I do know that one theme topic should be easier than the recent Challenge ATC.

Swap Sign Up: From now until June 5th - Partners assigned between June 6-7
Swap Deadline: Your ATC must be sent by June 19th

You will make one standard size fabric ATC (2.5" x 3.5") for your partner. You can use any techniques, methods and embellishments to create your fabric ATC. The ATC base should be fabric stiffened with interfacing or a cardstock backing. See our tips for creating a fabric ATC.

The theme you must include is : Cupcake

Be sure to include a note with the name of this swap and your Swap-bot ID so that your partner can rate you when they receive your art.

Any embellishments welcome!! For example: embroidery, quilting, sewing, beads, findings, paint or ink - anything you can apply to your fabric.

You may start making your ATC immediately (and have up to 5 weeks to complete it) or wait until partners are assigned and review your partners profile to personalize your ATC for them.

Newbies welcome.
If you have any 1 or 3 ratings please contact me first.
Remember if you join in you are making a commitment to the swap!

There will be another Challenge ATC Swap starting soon too.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Free Motion Quilting ATC Swap

Welcome to our next swap! - Free Motion Quilting

Swap Sign Up: From now until June 15th (1 month) - Partners assigned between June 15-16
Swap Deadline: Your ATC must be sent by July 15th (1 month)

You will make one standard size fabric ATC (2.5" x 3.5") for your partner. Embellishment and materials are your choice, however you must include the technique free motion quilting and your ATC base should be fabric stiffened with batting/interfacing or a card stock backing. See our tips for creating a fabric ATC.

Be sure to include a note with the name of this swap and your Swap-bot ID so that your partner can rate you when they receive your art.

Other embellishments welcome!! For example: embroidery, quilting, sewing, beads, findings, paint or ink - anything you can apply to your fabric.

Because the theme and embellishments are senders choice you may start making your ATC immediately (and have up to 2 months to complete it) or wait until partners are assigned and review your partners profile to personalize your ATC for them.

Newbies welcome.
If you have any 1 or 3 ratings please contact me first.
Remember if you join in you are making a commitment to the swap!

Free Motion Quilting

Free Motion Quilting is a method of stitching using your machine where you control the fabric motion forwards, backwards and also side to side. You can literally move the fabric in any direction so the possibilities are endless.

Rather than doing my own tutorial on this method I want to point you to the Free Motion Quilting Project and the hundreds of designs with instructional videos.

This is the one I will be trying (But I might try a few more too)


For this ATC I didn't stiffen my fabric with interfacing first. Instead I created a "sandwich" of fabric - 2 pieces of fabric with quilt batting inbetween - and did my free motion quilting, then sewed this to my interfaced backing using my binding technique.

If you need some tips on setting up your machine for free motion quilting I recommend reading through this FAQ.

Have you tried this? Post your results to your website/blog and add your link in the comments!!

Monday, May 16, 2011

ATC Challenge Swap Feedback

Hi Everyone. As you start to receive your ATC swaps in the mail remember to leave your partner feedback over on Swap Bot - if you received your swap please give your partner a 5 and if you thought it was extra special, give it a heart too.

I'd love to know what you thought of this swap. Was it too hard, too easy, too long, not long enough time...? Do you want to do another one?

I know I'd love to do another swap like this. I found it challenging and had to do some design sketches first and I got to use a technique I don't usually use too. Leave us a link in the comments to a picture of what you did for the swap as we'd all love to see them. Here is mine - Bottled Toy - I'll post it up in the gallery soon too.

If you'd like to respond privately you can send me a personal message via my swap-bot profile.

I hope to see you joining the next swap too. Invite your friends. The more the merrier! Want to suggest a theme. You can do that too!

The Chain Stitch swap is now closed so I'll start up the next swap soon. If you're eager to know, it will be on free motion quilting!!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Loom Flowers Swap Feedback

Hi Everyone. As you start to receive your ATC swaps in the mail remember to leave your partner feedback over on Swap Bot - if you received your swap please give your partner a 5 and if you thought it was extra special, give it a heart too.

If you have any suggestions to improve the swap, from the technique instructions through to the time limits, please let me know. If you'd just like to say whether you enjoyed making your item that would be great too. I'd love to see photos of what you made!

If you'd like to respond privately you can send me a personal message via my swap-bot profile.

I hope to see you joining the next swap too. Invite your friends. The more the merrier! Want to suggest a theme. You can do that too!

Friday, April 15, 2011

ATC Challenge!!

Up for a challenge?? This is for you!!

Swap Sign Up: From now until May 8th (3 weeks) - Partners assigned between April 30-31
Swap Deadline: Your ATC must be sent by May 29th (3 weeks)

You will make one standard size fabric ATC (2.5" x 3.5") for your partner. You can use any techniques, methods and embellishments to create your fabric ATC. The ATC base should be fabric stiffened with interfacing or a cardstock backing.
See our tips for creating a fabric ATC.

Note: I am making this swap for fabric ATCs only at this stage, however may open it up to mixed media options if there is not enough interest.

Now for the challenge part: I will give you the last 5 words from Illustration Friday's weekly topics. You should use at least two of these themes when creating your ATC. Be creative!

The words are: Journey, Bottled, Duet, Toy, Cultivate

Be sure to include a note with the name of this swap and your Swap-bot ID so that your partner can rate you when they receive your art. Also include a description of your interpretation of the theme.

Any embellishments welcome!! For example: embroidery, quilting, sewing, beads, findings, paint or ink - anything you can apply to your fabric.

You may start making your ATC immediately (and have up to 6 weeks to complete it) or wait until partners are assigned and review your partners profile to personalize your ATC for them.

Newbies welcome.
If you have any 1 or 3 ratings please contact me first.
Remember if you join in you are making a commitment to the swap!

My original idea was to limit this to only two topics where both must be used, however I want to see how this will go and if you enjoy the challenge so please provide some feedback here.

Chain Stitch ATC Swap

Welcome to our second swap! - Chain Stitch

Swap Sign Up: From now until May 15th (1 month) - Partners assigned between May 15-16
Swap Deadline: Your ATC must be sent by June 15th (1 month)

You will make one standard size fabric ATC (2.5" x 3.5") for your partner. Embellishment and materials are your choice, however you must include the embroidery technique chain stitch and your ATC base should be fabric stiffened with interfacing or a card stock backing. See our tips for creating a fabric ATC.

Be sure to include a note with the name of this swap and your Swap-bot ID so that your partner can rate you when they receive your art.

Other embellishments welcome!! For example: embroidery, quilting, sewing, beads, findings, paint or ink - anything you can apply to your fabric.

Because the theme and embellishments are senders choice you may start making your ATC immediately (and have up to 2 months to complete it) or wait until partners are assigned and review your partners profile to personalize your ATC for them.

Newbies welcome.
If you have any 1 or 3 ratings please contact me first.
Remember if you join in you are making a commitment to the swap!