Shawnee's Secret Santa Swap

My dear friend Shawnee is doing another one of her lovely swaps. It has been ages since I had time to participate in one and this one just looks like so much fun.

If you are interested in checking it out...

Go here!

As part of the swap, I am required to answer these questions for my partner.

So here goes...

What are your hobbies?

I like to sew, quilt, read and cook.
What are your favorite colors?

I love bright colors, especially reds. I love vintage 1930's and 40's colors.
Do you collect anything?

I collect salt and pepper shakers, old plates, quilting fabric, cookie jars
Are you allergic to any fibers or animals?

No
Do you have any pets?

We have dogs and cats (outdoor animals)
Coffee, Tea, or Chocolate?

NO to coffee and tea, but I do love chocolate!
What do you like to read?

I love Anne Perry, Robin McKinley, but best of all Jane Austen, and the Bronte sisters...
Do you prefer Cookies or Candies as a sweet?

I love both so either is fine!
What is your favorite holiday treat?

Actually cheese ball... but I love fudge, peanut brittle, divinity... OK I like it all.
Describe your favorite holiday tradition.

Everyday in December, I read Christmas stories with my children. We look forward to this all year. It is a special family time we have and I love it! They are great stories about the spirit of Christmas and doing and sharing with others.
Did you believe in Santa as a child?

YES! I hid behind the tree one year to catch him and woke to find the presents there around me.
When do you open presents?

We get to open Pajamas on Christmas Eve, we get stockings in the morning and the presents after a big family breakfast.
Do you put up a tree and when? If not, how do you celebrate?

We put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Does your tree have a theme?

The theme for our tree is... handmade. My mother makes an ornament for each grandchild each year and that is what goes on our tree, along with things the kids and I have made for each other. There are a few store bought ones that have come along the way too.
What has been your favorite gift to give? to receive?
My favorite gift to give is the Pajamas I make for my kids each year. I try to design new ones every year to two. That is fun too.

My favorite to receive? how can I answer that? Gifts given with love are the very best!

I'm a Loozer!

If you were my swap partner and you got this apron.....

...... would you truthfully say that it was better off LATE than never??

Yes I am a late swapper. I will not tell you which swap it is for because my partner would know and because then you would know how big a LOOZER I am. Life jumped up and BIT me this summer and fall and things are not happening as I had hoped.

The apron was very fun to make and I think should be sized up so some of us chubby chickas can wear it too. What do you think?? yes that means I am asking for comments.....

Lemons

I have been a member of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap for 5 rounds now and have loved it every time. I get so excited about the theme she picks and some up with a dozen or more quilts in my head. Then I get my partner's preferences and my mind goes blank. That happens to me with every apron swap too but I digress.
This round we had to do a monochromatic quilt in the color your partner chose and based on the season they picked. You also had to take into consideration their style preference. That got tricky. I was so excited about this theme and then got hung up with the season thing. It kept pointing me toward something representational. Her color was yellow, her season was summer and her style was NOT whimsical which means (in my mind) cutesy country stuff. Not my thing either so we were good there. Well the summer theme kept me trying to make a picture but to do that you need plenty of contrasts and that is hard to do with one color at least for me it is. So in the end I went with abstract squares, lemons and yellow black and white.

I am not much of a quilter but I really enjoyed this one and wished that I had made one for myself. I usually make two and sent the better one but I was out of time so I just made the one and hoped for the best.
You should go to the FSQS site and check out their flickr group. There are some fantastic quilts in it. Totally fabulous!

Summer Swapping Goodness

I have a lot to catch up on. This summer has just been too busy.
I participated in several swaps this summer and I am so late in posting my thanks for the goodness I have enjoyed.
First off is the fabric I received in the Fabric Scrap Swap hosted by Tracey. I have to say that I was more than spoiled by my two partners.

I got this lovely package of "scraps" from Katy in England. Look at those little dolls. They are so much fun with such lovely ribbon on them. I love it! The fabric scraps are simply delicious too.


I got this big bunch of lovelyness from Debye. I feel most spoiled!! This is full of the best of the best scraps. I have so many fun projects in mind right now. I keep getting both packages out and loving on them. They are too fun and I know that I was so spoiled to get them.
These two talented ladies also have wonderful Etsy stores that you should check out; C Berry Baby and I'm A Ginger Monkey.

Next I received a wonderful Fourth of July Apron from the Summer Flirty Apron Swap hosted by my friend Shawnee. I forgot my partners name and as soon as I remember it I will post it here so she get due credit for her wonderfulness.

She sent me a box full of 4th of July goodies. It was so much fun to get so many fun things for myself.

Thank you Partner!
Next I was involved in the Four Season's Quilt Swap - Summer Session. My partner was an early bird and I received my "Different Views of Summer" Quilt in the first week of the swap. It came right in the middle of my family reunion and went right up on the wall for all my sisters to see but didn't make it to the blog due to my faulty memory. So I am posting in now, very late.

Isn't that just too much fun?!
Look at the little details here. She quilted all around each picture. It is so fun and bright and red. I love red.


My very talented partner was Lori-Lyn.
I also made a quilt for this swap.

I made if from fabrics that I dyed and called it "Here Comes the Sun". It was a lot of fun to make. I loved the idea of it so much that I made one for myself from real vintage and contemporary prints I have in my scrap pile.

I just need to finish it. (Right! Like that will happen!)
I also participated in the We The People swap hosted by Tracey. In that swap you get to vote on what the swap will be. We all made Totes. I was excited about that challenge. Here is the Tote I got from Marcel. It is so wonderful! I use it everyday now. It has a jillion pockets inside and out and was stuffed with wonderful stuff that I forgot to photograph. Thank you Marcel!!

Finally I have already received my Apron for the Fall Sassy Apron Swap! My wonderful partner Leah made me a Snoopy Apron. How appropriate for Lucy to have a Peanuts apron. hee hee. I love it. It is so bright and fun and it doesn't have any naughty Lucyness on it. Thank you!

Swapping Goodness!

I got really lucky this week with some pretty sweet swapping goodness.
First off, I got my quilt from the Four Season's Quilt Swap.
I was so surprised. I had been so worried about sending mine off that I forgot that I was getting one too.
Bryan is my mailman too and brought me a package from the post office and asked what in the heck I had ordered for Australia and did I know what the postage was on things from AU. I about died because I am usually very careful about where I order things from ebay and etsy but occasionally I will get carried away with the item I want and forget to check the shipping. (you know apron bidders can go a bit nuts sometimes.)
I opened the package and found this lovely quilt and about peed my pants!!
It is from Helen of Patch Work of Mini Grey.
It is so fantastic!

It has multiple layers and fabrics. The workmanship is simply wonderful. It is all Wonky and I LOVE that! The colors are so bright they just dance off the quilt. The flower and stem parts are made from string pieced bits. I love it!

Yes I am spoiled!

THEN......

I got my Summer Sassy Apron Swap Apron early. The aprons aren't due till June 1st. My partner gets a gold star! My partner was Paige from Paige's Page
The theme was summer and she took that plus my list of favorite things and came up with this.



Chickens, yellow, red, black polka dots, what's not to love!

Here is the back detail.

Also too stinking cute.
Then to top it off she finished the rest of requirements with style.

A chicken dishtowel and a sassy summer drink recipe (no alcohol thank you). To top it all off she made me a pair of chicken book ends. They are so darling. I will have to put them in my kitchen when I finish it. It will be so fun! I might just have to do a chicken kitchen.

Thank you Paige and Helen!!

Fabric Scrap Swap at Tracey's

(original photo taken by Planet June)

My dear friend Tracey at Itching 2 B Stitching is hosting a fabric scrap swap. If she can get enough people to sign up you could get 2 partners. It is open until May 20th. To sign up you need to go over to her blog and get the information and email her. It sounds like a lot of fun. This is a great way to clear out some of your old bits and get someone else's little treasures. You know that one gal's scraps are another gal's treasures.

Spring Quilt

Last week I made a quilt for the Four Season's Quilt Swap again. This is the spring round.
I hope it will do. It is simple but I thought it was fun.

I have sent it off to my swap partner. I hope she likes it.

happy bird detail

The Summer Sassy Apron Swap

Little Plug Here.
The Summer 2008 Session of the Sassy Apron Swap is now open over at The Sassy Apron Swap.

The sign ups are open till April 15th unless we get to many people and that might happen. We are almost at 100 on day 3. I am just posting it here for some of my regulars that have been asking and wanted a warning that it was up and running.

Flirty Apron ?

Here is my contribution to the Flirty Apron Swap. I messed around with my design a bit and changed the ruffle. I needed something flirty for a 50+ grandma with little grand kids.


Is it flirty enough? It is on it's way to the Sassy Grandma. I really love the cookie jar fabric.

Doll Swap Recieved

I got my doll!!! I was so excited. It came this weekend in a lovely red polka-dot package. It was so exciting. My lovely swap partner is the very talented Cheryl from Artsy Fartsy.
Here is my lovely Beary (Bear Fairy).

She is just shy of 9 inches tall. She is made of real vintage fabric (made from a little girl's blouse). She is just darling! I am so happy. She is MINE! Yes I will let some little girls hold her from time to time when they are very clean and being Oh so good. hee hee. They actually seem to like that Mommy has Dollies too and that they have to earn the privilege of touching them and playing in my room with them. It makes the dollies so much more special.
My swap partner also sent my a lovely vintage apron. It is faux smocked on red cotton gingham.

I just love it. I have always wanted one of these. I showed it to my mom and she just went nuts and said that this style of apron was all the rage when she was a teen and that she had made one for herself that was set on point. She was so excited and really loved handling it and remembering happy times. Thank you Cheryl!

Miss Eliza

Well I went nuts last month and signed up for a Doll swap at 2:00 A.M. When I got up in the morning at 8:00 A.M. I choked because I realized that I had joined into a group way out of my league. I thought it was a rag doll swap. Sooooo I have panicked and fussed all month trying to come up with a doll worthy of the swap. Here is what I made.

Her name is Miss Eliza Lizard. She is dressed for tea. Who will invite her to come?

She is going to go visit Miss Cheryl. I hope she likes Eliza.


Ok I got a hold of photo shop and I wasted an hour. I need some tutorials!

Sassy Apron Swap - Spring Apron

Well I finished my apron for the Sassy Apron Swap and have it ready to ship off today.
The requirements for the apron were that it must be spring themed, have a pocket, and come with a soup recipe.

My partner is tall and has a liking for Japanese fabric. This apron came from a Japanese apron book my nephew brought back from Osaka for me. The pockets are made from Scrap Kimono fabric from his great Aunt's Kimono shop in Osaka.

I made the apron out of light weight linen. I added the blossoms at the neckline to add a touch of spring.

I hope my partner likes it. :o)

Winter Quilt Swap

I got this bunch of lovely stuff today from my Four Season's Quilt Swap Partner, Angela.
The box was full of lovely stuff and then the most marvelous quilt.

It has this poem on it
Dust of Snow by Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

Winter Weather - Winter Quilt

We had another little ice storm yesterday.

It always makes the trees look so beautiful. The roads are incredibly dangerous though. Bryan had a small accident and ended up in the ditch while trying to deliver the mail (come rain, come sleet, come snow .... you know the mail must go on). We spent the rest of the day trying to get him out and then at the Auto repair shop trying to fix our car and my brother's car after trying to help him. Sam needed a new alternator and I needed my van's thermostat fixed.

I love how the branches look, covered all round with ice.

We even got icicles. We never get icicles here!
The poor animals didn't like it. Joe had to keep going out and breaking the ice in the goat water.

The chickens found the one warm place. They gathered around the front door. Jeddie figured this out and kept throwing them bits of his food all day. They love him! At least he didn't let them all in the house this time. (Another day another crazy story)


Today I finished and packaged up my Winter Quilt for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. I was delayed because of my father's death, then I picked a "simple" quilt design. It really was quite easy but VERY time consuming. I had no idea it would take that long. I though (as usual) that I could whip it out in one afternoon and send it off a day late. Four days later, I finally finished sewing all the blue strips together. Then it took me a few more days to even up the pieces, set them, and finally hand quilts it. (I did make two of the quilts just in case I messed up, that was good because I did and then I had a "better of the two" to send.)
Here is a close-up. The theme of the quilt had to be winter. The name of my quilt is Frosty Window. One of my favorite childhood memories of winter was the beautiful frost patterns I would find on my window in the morning. My house now doesn't have this due to double paned window, insulation, and central heat and air. Come to think of it, I don't see the patterns on the car windows here either. Hmmm, wonder why? It must have something to do with too much humidity or something.

Pay It Forward

I love this concept. I won't tell you how long it took me to get it. I knew what to do but I didn't know why you called it that. Then when explaining Pay Backs to my little kids it all dawned on me and the wording quit messing with me. (no I'm not slow just preoccupied most of the time). I had been doing it all my life but had been calling it "being nice." It is what my mom told me to do so I did it.

I like Pay It Forward too as a mom because you are really Teaching others how to doing selfless things for still others. It is marvelous.

I read about doing it through blogs over at Starla's Blog. She is my Christmas Traditions Swap partner. I am so excited and nervous about what I am sending her. We are from very different places. Anyway, on to how the game is played .....

Here's how it goes:I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So, if you're one of the first 3 people to comment, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog and share the crafty love!

I do need to be able to get a hold of you somehow. If I can't get you for some reason I will choose the next person. You need to post here and then Post this Exchange on your blog and I will contact you.

**** Edited to Add ********
If you missed out on this (because you are not one of the first three) you can still get in on the action at my sister Jeanne's Blog or my niece Angelic's Blog. They both have wicked mad crafting skillz.

Yipee - First Ornament

I got brave and joined an ornament swap this year over at Freshly Blended.
I am so excited. There are 10 of us in my group.
Yesterday I got my first ornament from Alison in New Zealand.

Isn't it just marvelous!?!
I love the package. I have something to store it in when Christmas is over and keep the info with it. Thank you Alison!
It is a Pukeko which is a Swamp Hen. I love it! The perfect gift for a Prairie Hen. Hee Hee.
I need to get on the stick and get mine shipped out this week. I will post them once I have them ready to go.

Fall Quilt from Gracie

This is the Fall Quilt I received in the 4 Seasons Quilt Swap.
Grace hand pieced, hand quilted and hand bound the whole project. The fabrics are simple wonderful and the workmanship is exquisite. I am very impressed. Hand work is not my strong suit and I really appreciate it when I see it done well.
Here is the back of the quilt showing her clever label.


Here is the detail in the corner. I love it!

Thank you Gracie!