I sorted through my tea and iron dyed fabrics. My favourites were some little strips of linen and some wool wadding.

For my project, though, I wanted something less dramatic!

I settled on a piece of dyed linen table napkin for the background and some recycled muslin lining for the middle layer. The foreground is 18 squares cut from dyed and printed fabrics (thermofax images of feathers), some of which had feathers attached.

I love the result:

It is almost the end of August and I need to get my 8th journal quilt done for the 2014 Contemporary Quilt Group challenge. Where can I go for inspiration?

Got it, that very expensive marbling set I bought at the Festival of Quilts! So when I packed my bags for our long weekend in France, I packed some alum solution, some recycled cotton pillowcases (does anyone have a recipe for removing spider poo?), some metal baking trays and the marbling kit. Luckily, the tumble dryer condenser was full, so I had plenty of soft water. I had also picked up a book on marbling from London Quilters library.

I diluted the paints from the kit as instructed, made up the floater solution (yes, I know you can use cheap shaving foam, but I've already bought the kit). I then made a serious mistake - the book said add a little surfactant to the paints, but I think that's already included in the ones supplied in the kit. I took the opportunity to mix some colours as I particularly wanted to try with peacock feather colouring.

Anyway, after leaving everything overnight, I was up bright and early to have a go. The first piece was a disaster - only half took the colour - but the next couple worked well. However, after a while, I think the thickened water got too coated in surfactant.

A couple of pieces turned out quite well:

... and still plenty left to cut up for my journal quilt.

I should be able piece it today for quilting back in London and get it submitted on time.