Fun Mail

 The Sew Mama Sew Giveaway is here.  Today is the last day to enter!

You know, when you do a bunch of swaps, like I did this fall, you not only get to stretch your creative boundaries and make fun things, but you receive fun things as well.  It is so much fun to receive those squishy fun mail packages!  Even my husband has taken to yelling, as he comes in from the mailbox, "You have fun mail!"  I think he's as excited as I am.

But as awesome as receiving the fun mail is, I don't feel the same way about taking the photos.  I wish I was one of those people who could resist tearing into the package until I had taken pictures of the whole outside - and then photograph the process step by step as the wonderfulness inside is revealed.

But that's not me.

I wish that I was uber confident about taking the photos, and that I could be sure I would get a shot of the essence of the item, whatever it is.  I wish that I had a photographic "style" and I could take pictures people would love to see, that would really do the items justice.

But that's not me either.

So I tend to procrastinate taking the pictures.  The weather's gloomy.  I have too much to do.  Blah.  Blah.  Blah.  I've even taken some photography lessons - and my photos are better.  But I'm still not confident.  But maybe...  just maybe...  they're improving.  I hope so.

Enough of that.  Today I'm going to share some of the awesome swappy stuff I've received recently.  This amazing set of baskets is from Michelle (A.Quilter.2) in the FLiRTS3 Swap.  In this swap, you get to suggest several things that you might like, and then your partner gets to pick what to make you.  When I re-did my sewing room, I added some little cubbies, so one of the things I suggested was a basket that would fit in the cubbies and hold stuff.  Michelle didn't just make me one basket, she made FOUR.  Aren't they pretty?  I love that the two big ones have handles on the front.  And you can see that the two smaller ones are in use already.  I have the one on the left on my sewing table holding bonus HSTs from various projects.  (I like keeping these separate so that when I want to use them, they are all together.)  So thanks, Michelle - these are very helpful - and beautiful - additions to my sewing space.

One of the very first swaps I ever participated in - and one I look forward to every year is the Trim the Tree Handmade Ornament Swap.  This sweet little house ornament is from Veronica (Veronica A.M.) 

This sweet little crochet mushroom ornament is from Erin (whynotsewquilts?)

This adorable little gingerbread man was from Amy (nellieanddot) and came with his own little garland to help decorate the tree!

And the very pretty tree is from Kerri at (sewdeerlyloved). 

Kerri also sent along a lovely selection of fabric scraps with her ornament.

And here they are as a group.  Don't they look like they were all made to go together?

And along about the same time I received this fun package from Dorte in Denmark in the Super Swaps Swap.  She made me these traditional ornaments.  Check out the star - it's made with a tape measure!

Here they are all together.  I'm gong to have such fun decorating the tree with all my new ornaments this year!

I also played along in the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap.  This was from my partner Joey in Singapore.  This was the first swap he (or she?) had ever participated in, and he's new to quilting.  Isn't this cute!

I've been taking part in Sewing With Friends for a year or more now.  Every two months we have a new partner.  We started out with mug rugs, but this year, there  is a new project every month.  This time, needlebooks were the assignment.  This is from Mary (Mary P in TX).  It came with a package of quilter's needles and a cute pair of embroidery scissors, but I've already put those to good use

There's lots of room inside for needles and pins.  I like having a number of needlebooks, since I often have several projects going at once.  That way I don't forget and leave a needle somewhere I shouldn't.  For some reason, the husband objects when I do that!

These are three of the blocks I received in the 3x6 Bee (oops - I should have ironed them!)  I think they'll be awesome with the other blocks in my last citrus quilt!

I think this will be a fun quilt.  I'll put this one on the list to finish next year.  Maybe it'll be 14 in 2014?  I'll have to think about that.

And I received this awesome QAYG tool caddy hoop from Betsy Lynn in the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap.  I love the cute Aneela Hoey fabrics she used, and that she sent it FULL of goodies.  Aren't those little aqua clothespins just the cutest.  And if that wasn't enough, there are a ton of fun scraps there too!  I hit the jack pot on this one too!

And I got this awesome paper pieced pillow from Kim (KMJ Creations) in the Holiday Edition Pillow Talk Swap.  Turns out we were partners with each other.  If her favorite palette is gray and purple, I imagine she had as much trouble with my brights on white style as I did with hers.  But isn't this adorable?  I love the fabrics she chose, and the wonky tree, and the fact that Santa looks like he's standing on a wobbly stool.  Just too cute.

The pillow is beautifully hand quilted.

And even the back is beautiful!

And I love that Santa is putting a star on the top of the tree.  I love stars - Christmas stars especially.


There are actually a couple more  swappy things waiting to have their pictures taken, but they didn't make it into the photo gallery today, and this post is already long enough so they will have to wait for another day.

What crafty things have you been working on?





.

Swappy Stuff

If you're looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, enter on this post.

Despite my best intentions, I participated in  a lot of too many swaps this fall.  I just don't seem to be able to resist.  And this time of year?  What was I thinking???  I've been so busy meeting deadlines, I wasn't very good about showing the things I've created, so I'm going to try to fix that, and be better about keeping up my poor blog, all at the same time. I honestly can't remember what order they were in, but...  does it really matter?

I've been wanting to make the Noodlehead divided basket for awhile now, and the Fabric Basket Swap gave me the perfect opportunity.  I dug into my scrap bin and cut 2-1/2 inch squares to make an aqua patchwork body, and lined and trimmed it in my favorite red dot from Robert Kaufman.  My partner was Whitney, who I had earlier in the year for a tote bag swap.

 I played along in the Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap on Instagram, and my partner said her favorite time of year was fall, so I decided to create a mini using a reverse Modern Maples block in fall colors.  I really love oranges and browns in the fall, so those were the colors I chose for the mini.  Best of all?  It was made entirely of scraps!

Book Cover Front

The challenge in the Modern Scrappy Bits swap was to make a QAYG (quilt as you go) item for your partner.  I've been doing a lot of QAYG projects this year, and even taught a couple of classes, so I decided to give the Newtown Auction Pillow technique another try, this time as a book cover.  I still haven't mastered it, and I'm amazed at how much fabric it seems to waste, but I was fairly pleased with the results.

Book Cover Back

Best of all was the note I received from my partner when she received it, which really touched my heart...

Oh Wendi-your package is so beautiful-thank you so very much!! I had a terrible day at work 2 days ago and coming home to your package was definitely" brightening"! Everything is perfect- the colors , fabrics, and design. That tutorial has special meaning for me as Newtown is 30 minutes away from my home. I'm a vintage Pyrex collector and have been wanting to catalog my collection-this will be the perfect notebook for it! Thank you, thank you, thank you-you are so talented and thoughtful.....

Of course, I didn't know any of that when I made the book cover, but - well, sometimes you get it right.

And I made some bee blocks...  These were for the 3x6 bee, where you make the same block in 6 different color schemes, selected by each person in the bee.  It's fun to see how color changes can make the same block seem so different.  Notice that the block in the upper left and the lower right are the exact same block, except that in the upper left the background is gray and in the lower right the background is white?  Such a different feel to them, don't you think?  Which one is your favorite?  Today, I'm really liking the aqua solids block in the lower left, but don't hold me to it.  That may change...

And then I'm a member of the Bees Helping Bees group, which helps bee members fill in either with blocks they didn't receive or where they need extras.  This one was a woven ribbons block.

And this floating hearts block was really fun, even if it was mostly gray.  I may have to make a quilt like this soon.

And I've created several of these little Quilted Tool Caddies, and used a couple of them for swaps.

The Flower Sugar one was one of my favorites...

I added a little patchwork pinnie to this one for a pin cushion swap.

And made another from Happy Go Lucky, a lovely aqua Mama Said Sew texty print, and a Denyse Schmidt leaf print.

I didn't get the fabric flower on this one before I took the photo - Duh!  Anyway, you'll just have to imagine it....

And then there was Christmas...

Ornaments... 

(Is it weird to take photos of Christmas ornaments outside in October?)

And this one was really fun!  I think I need to make a few more of these.  On the upside, it was pretty easy...  On the other hand, finding {wool} felt these days is not easy.  I ordered this from an Etsy shop.  No spontaneous crafting here.

And this pillow cover was for my partner in the ECMQG Christmas swap.  I used up some more of my Ruby FE bundle.  I'm amazed at how far a FE bundle can go!

And a little table runner/mini quilt for my partner in the Modernista swap.  Again, the recipient's note brought tears to my eyes

We were in Calcutta, India 28 years ago escorting babies to adoptive families. We attended a church that had a Christmas program and one of the women that sang the song People Need the Lord was named Priya. When we came home we decided to adopt a special needs infant from India and we named her Priya Noel. We were open to any special need and we were assigned a baby girl that is deaf. We didn't know that she was in the orphanage when we were in Calcutta. She just turned 28 years old yesterday. It was a great day to receive your table runner!

This one was possibly the most challenging of all.  This pillow cover was for my partner in the Pillow Talk Holiday Edition Swap.  But my partner doesn't celebrate Christmas, and didn't want traditional Christmas colors.  In fact, her mosaic was exactly opposite of the things I normally make and enjoy.  It took me forever to decide what to do, and in fact, I dropped this baby at the Post Office on my way to the airport for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Whew!  I modified the Triangle Toss design from the pillows I made for the Modernista Swap last summer, added some tree "trunks" to the bottom, and used AMH's Field Study for the triangles, fussy cut to look like decorated trees.  At least I hope so.  I used Kona bone for the background, and Kona coal for the sashing.  Overall, I think it turned out OK, although totally out of my color comfort zone.  Here's what my partner said,

I received my pillow this morning.....I don't know how I missed it in the photostream......it must have just passed me by. It's totally my colour scheme, and completely my style! Thank you very very much. I realise that purple and grey isn't everyone's favourite palette, but it is mine, and I really appreciate that you put the effort into making this something that you were happy with, and that I would love...  Sorry about the challenging colour scheme, but you totally nailed it!!

I guess that's really why I do these swaps....  When I get it right, it's like Christmas morning.

And with that in mind, I wish you

this Christmas season, as we get ready to prepare for to celebrate our Savior's birth.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

Matthew 2:10