Swappy Stuff

Photo courtesy of Dee3103 via Flickr

I recently realized that with the craziness around here last fall I totally neglected to take pictures of a couple of the beautiful swappy things I had received.  This awesome tote bag came to me from Dee3103 all the way from Australia in the Secret Tote Bag Swap.  I borrowed her photo because my photo simply didn't do the bag justice.  I was so obsessed with the back of the bag...

and the cool backpack feature, that I totally neglected the front of the bag...

and the only photo I took had horrible shadows.  Apparently Dee had a helper also, as her model was outstanding!

And she put this cool pocket inside with a very fun gingham lining.

The other awesome item I received was from BetseyLynn50 on Flickr in the Fabric Basket Swap.  This fun little package was waiting for me when I returned home from my Thanksgiving trip.  It was such a fun package to open - BetseyLynn had wrapped everything individually so there were lots of adorable little tissue-wrapped packages to open.  And the basket is perfect!  I love the hexies and the hand quilting.

It was the perfect medicine for my coughing and sniveling, but since I wasn't feeling well, I tucked it away and then got wrapped up in my Christmas sewing.

I'm not doing as many swaps this year - at least so far I have managed to keep myself for signing up for any new ones - but one swap I did start is the Handmade Birthday Club.  We have committed to making a handmade gift for each of the other 11 members of the Club during their birthday month.  Since I have a January birthday and the due date is the 15th, I haven't received most of them yet, but this one from my friend Krista arrived a couple of days before my birthday.  She made me another  hexie flower for my GMFG, gave me the floss to start {another} new embroidery, and made me a pattern and needle minder - something I had no idea I even needed, but now that I have it, I think it's awesome!  She also included a Frixion pen, an item I've been dying to try but hadn't actually purchased yet.

Thanks so much to each of you for such thoughtful swappy items!

Shhhh... It's a Secret

Knowing how much I like hexagons and tote bags, a few weeks ago Leona gave me this Charming Hexagons tote bag pattern by A Quilting Life.  Sometime later, Krista invited me to the Secret Tote Bag Swap on Lia's blog.  The two seemed destined to go together.  While Krista was doing her chemo last week, we picked the charm pack/fabric via text message (isn't modern technology wonderful?) and I cut the hexagons with my new {to me} AccuQuilt.  I'm not sure whether I'd use the AccuQuilt for simple squares, strips and rectangles, but for shapes like the hexagon, it is wonderful - accurate every time is awesome for machine piecing hexagons.

Since the topic at the ECMQG meeting on Saturday was hexagons, it was perfect.  I used the method Marcy demonstrated at the meeting to do all the Y-seams and it came together very quickly.

Marcy had some scraps up for grabs, and they came in pretty handy, too.  Anything you recognize here, Marcy?  I quilted down each row, and then came back to quilt each crossing line individually.  Honestly, it went more quickly than I expected.

The only thing I didn't like about the pattern was that it had no pockets.  I think pockets are an absolute must for tote bags.  Luckily, since I've  - ahem - made a number of tote bags lately, it was a simple matter to add a couple of pockets to the interior of the bag.  My favorite divided pocket on one side....

And a zipper pocket on the other side.  (Um, Marcy, do you recognize anything else?)  I really love scraps!

So, one more project ready to mail. But don't tell...

Shhhh....  It's a secret!