Finished and Sent to ?

This little quilt went out to my partner today for the Doll Quilt Swap. I hope she enjoys it; I had a lot of fun making it.

The back of the quilt. We were to make a tag so I embroidered info about the swap. Hard to see in this picture.

I hand quilted circles on the quilt, trying to contrast all the straight lines.
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I was taught how to make the "Inserted Strip Block" last year in a quilt class. The technique is from the book Thinking Outside the Block. Here is a quick and easy way to make the block.

Cut a piece of fabric a little larger than you want the finished block to be. I cut a 5 by 5 inch square. Now use your rotary cutter and cut a slight angle. No measuring just slice.

Cut a strip that is a little longer than the dimensions of your block. The width of my blue strip is 1 inch. Sew strip to one side, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, and then sew it to the other side.

Now make a second cut. Insert a second strip. I chose to cut my green strip thinner this time for contrast, it is 3/4 of an inch. Sew in strip.

Here is a block after sewing in the strips. You can add as many strips as you'd like. However, the more strips the wonkier the block. So always cut your initial square larger than what you want your finished block to be.

Here is my finished block, squared off to 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches. Now I think I will sew a few more of these and make some quilted coasters : )

Speaking of coasters, would anybody be up for a Coaster Swap? I was thinking about hosting one in about a month, after a few weeks of R&R. The coasters could be quilted, embroidered, crocheted, even macramed : ) Let me know what ya think!