FNSI...

Last night was the last Friday Night Sew In for 2014. When I signed up over at Sugar Lane Quilts, I left a comment to the effect that  I was looking forward to some 'slow stitching' after the busy, busy time of sewing gifts. 

Well it turned out to be very slow...after just over an hour, I realised that I needed an early night. Hot, humid days tend to have that effect on me, lol. 

So this is what I did get done last night...

I finished putting together this heart shaped Dresden, but as the photo shows, I still have to choose a fabric for the heart in the centre. (The pattern is on Craftsy and is from Carolyn Hughey of Quilting Up the Creek)
And...

This will be a mug rug for Lucy and Max. It features a pocket where letters to Santa can be left, as well as room on the rug for a few biscuits and a cup/glass of Santa's prefered drink. I cut those 1 1/2 inch squares one at a time out of small scraps...tiring in itself! lol. I still have a lot to do before I hand it over before Christmas Eve.
The next photo is a phone photo of the screen and it's a bit fuzzy but it gives an idea of what the finished mug rug will look like.

This pattern is also on the Craftsy site a Pleasant Home design by Jodi Nelson.
Thank you to Wendy for hosting FNSI and here is the link to check out what other people worked on for FNSI.

Mrs Martin's 'Let's Celebrate' year long Swap...

Last Friday the parcel postman brought me a parcel from Lynne, my swap buddy in the 'Let's Celebrate' Swap. This time we were celebrating 'The World's largest Morning Tea' and our task was to make a mug rug for our partner in the swap and to include a favourite recipe for something yummy to go with a cuppa :-).

These are the lovely goodies that Lynne sent to me...

Haven't I been spoiled? The beautiful mug rug also has my initial stitched on it :-) Lynne included a bag with some teas, coffees and 2 little heart chocolates. If you look closely you will notice the packet of 'honey stars' has been opened...my neighbour had dropped in to see how our weekend went so naturally I offered her one of these dainty biscuits.
Lynne also sent a bath bag which had oolong, chamomile, rose petals, lavender and lemongrass in it and it certainly sounds relaxing...I have never seen these before so I'm rapt to be able to try them...and that's not all! Lynne also sent a booklet of her special recipes for afternoon tea. Thank you so much Lynne...you have spoiled me!

Now I only took a photo of the mug rug that I made for Lynne...the other little goodies that I sent with it, just got wrapped up and sent and it wasn't until later that I realised I hadn't taken a photo :-/ .

As you can see, some more of those long hexies that I like so much. I also sent a novelty tea infuser, some serviettes with tea cups on them and a teabag (or infuser!) rest which matched the design on the serviettes. And the recipe was for Hikers Cakes.
And of course thank you to Karen for organising this year long swap.

Mug rugs for swap finished...

The mug rugs for this swap are on their way to Canada now...woot woot! The site (Quilting Gallery) that I just linked in the previous sentence has lots of delightful designs; well worth a visit.

I got a bit of a shock when I presented the parcel to the post office clerk. I was expecting similar postage rates to sending items to the US...but no, it was quite a bit more than I expected. Postage plus the $1.20 satchel came to just over $30! Just seems a bit steep for such a light parcel :-(

 The binding could have been a bit better...I'm a bit out of practice. But I was pleased with the actual applique designs.

 My partner doesn't have a blog so I wrapped up the mug rugs in paper that was my favourite colour as I hadn't been able to do a bit of 'blogger stalking' to find out 'things'. lol!