Flowing Into ATC's

Every CQFA meeting we have been swapping ATC's (Artist Trading Cards- 2.5x3.5"), and so I had to (got to!) make some last week for Saturday's meeting. They are such fun to do and I really love seeing what everyone comes up with. I thought I'd show you my ATC making process.

I started with a cool piece of fabric that I had painted a while ago, and made a quilt sandwich with batting and backing fabric.

I quilted the heck out of it with variegated green Sulky thread.

I figured out which direction to cut to get the most 2.5x3.5" pieces and cut up with my trusty rotary cutter.Here is what they look like, freshly cut up into the right size.

I straight stitch around the edge with a small stitch length, they satin stitch/zig zag around a couple times. This time I used a green thread that wasn't variegated because I didn't want that blocky effect that you get when you stitch out with the evenly variegated threads.

Then I machine embroidered the word FLOW onto each ATC, in all different angles and locations depending on what the background fabric and the quilting stitching looked like. I chose the word FLOW because when I painted this fabric I was thinking of flowing colors and it is how I like to think of my art-making process.

Finally I took my DNA stamp and stamped a gold double helix onto each ATC.

I didn't do anything fancy to the back, just signed and dated with a fabric marker.

Tomorrow I'll show you the ones I traded for!