Mrs Martin's Celebrations Swap, 2013

I thought I would post the photos of what I sent my partner Lynne for Christmas in the year-long swap...
Started in September and finally finished in early December, the long hexagon table runner...after my op in late October this project got put aside when I suddenly lost interest in it. I'm glad I picked it up again a month later :-)

 A little Christmas wall-hanging...it was a kit but I didn't like the suggested finishing of the instructions...so went my own way and was happy with how it turned out...

A Christmas pudding...but Lynne won't be eating this one...it's soap! (bought from Eumundi markets)

But the next parcel contained something that could be eaten...

 A packet of selected quilting cottons; I love the way Fantazia at Tweed Heads South does up these packs.

 The back of the package...

So I wonder what Lynne might make with all those pretty fabrics :-)

Friday Night with Friends...and a birthday present!

Last night was the first Friday of the month, so that means it was also Friday Night with Friends where bloggers from all over the world, stitch, knit crochet etc and then write a post about what was achieved. Cheryll over at Gone Stitchin'  is the organiser of this event. (the link will take you to the post that had the sign up link and using those links you can visit all 49 (or at least some) of those who signed up)
I only have a tiny bit to show...

Yes some more hexagons :-) And something to do with Christmas perhaps? lol

But now I must show you what Lynne, my partner in the Mrs Martin's Celebrations' Swap sent me for my birthday! Because my birthday fell the day before Mothers' Day and because there was a Mothers' Day item in our year long swap, Lynne had asked me whether I wanted my birthday gift then...or would I prefer it to be sent at a later stage in the year. I opted for later and that time came just recently...
Lynne made a beautiful card which I forgot to photograph but all the other lovely items were photographed...you will see why I was 'blown away' and thrilled to bits with what Lynne sent me...
A beautiful project bag with lovely embroideries and in my favourite colours...

The snazziest knitting needle case that features an vintage style women's magazine cover; just like the mags I can remember my mum reading in the 50s when I was a girl very young girl. :-)

And inside the case were some lovely Tassie-made knitting needles in a size that I use a lot!

And Lynne also sent me this wonderful book...I've already been poring through it deciding what to try first. All the designs are gorgeous! And I know I have some lovely 8 ply yarns in my stash that would look great crocheted up using granny squares.

Many thanks to dear Lynne for being my swap buddy this year!

Some lovely items that came in the post last month...

I realised that I hadn't written a post about the goodies that Lynne, my swap buddy in the Mrs Martin's Celebrations' Swap, sent me. The theme was a garden stitchery...
I was 'blown away' when I opened the parcel...this is really cute; it is so beautiful! Don't you just love that little dog chasing the butterfly...

But that's not all! Lynne really spoiled me in this swap!
A beautiful kit...

And these divine fragrance sachets which have inbuilt hooks so they hang very easily in the wardrobe! And the fragrance is so nice! :-)

 And some very useful quilt labels...very stylish and a lovely surprise.

Dear Lynne, thank you for all these lovely gifts; I love them!

Mrs Martin's Celebrations Swap; Spring!

A little while back in a FNSI post I showed glimpses of this project. To celebrate the coming of Spring we each had to make a garden stitchery for our swap buddy. We didn't have to make this piece into anything...that's up to the recipient to decide whether it is framed, made into a cushion, runner or some other larger project. We were asked to use at least 5 different embroidery stitches.
My partner in this yearlong swap is lynne, and because Lynne has now received my parcel, I can unveil the project that I stitched.
I used a Jenny Elefantz design, called 'Do Daisies Grow in Your Garden?', which is filled with lots of cute little details, such as snails with blue shells, an orange and blue butterfly and some lady bugs.

 
I couldn't seem to find the  blue/cream large print that was recommended for the background, so I used a 'sky' print in the palest I could get. I couldn't find variegated green ric rac so decided to improvise.

I wasn't sure how wide the ric rac should be and ended up buying 2 different colour greens in 2 widths. The wider light green didn't look very effective so I used the narrow ric rac. Using a technique that my mum's friend used to use, I used herringbone stitch to sew the ric rac to the background. So I've got a sort of a variegated effect there. So the stitches that I used in the project were, backstitch, satin stitch, straight stitch, french knots, blanket stitch and herringbone!
 Then of course a few more 'bibs and bobs' went in the parcel, to celebrate Spring.
Some flower fabric...

 A pretty tea towel...

Both rolled up and tied...

And lastly a fragrant sachet which is just so spring-like!

Thank you once again to Karen for organising this swap!

It's all happening around here!

The building work continues next door with a team of carpenters working long days...

the new view from our front veranda...

 After being engrossed in the stitching project that I was doing for the Mrs Martin's Celebrations swap for spring, I'm back to my 'old job' of making blankets out of donated squares. I had had them all tacked ready to crochet up but put them on hold over the last few weeks...
This is just one of 9 blankets that have been made from one person's crocheted squares. K4BN member, Christine, has made well over 200 squares for the group...absolutely phenomenal effort!

On Tuesday, in what is becoming the norm, I loaded up my car with donations from friends and family, and took them to the Zillmere Knit and Natter.

The trolley soon filled up with items from ladies at Sisters of Stitch

I gathered everything together in one spot, ready to take down to the car...

There were crocheted rugs, baby quilts, beanies, scarves, children's jumpers, toiletries and balls of yarn that I had been given...

That day, a total of 156 items were handed in by the K4BN members who came along. This is such a great effort and very timely as there are 2 events coming up in the Ipswich area where items will be handed out to those in need. Mind you, it's not just Zillmere where items are being handed over; all the other Knit and Natter centres are the same with so many people giving generously of their time as well as items.

Each month, Elaine and Jenny sort all the donations that have been handed in at Zillmere...

The sorting is a big job...

Elaine and Jenny, after sorting,collating and recording all  the donations, then pack up all the items ...
While these 2 ladies are doing all that, the rest of us sit around an natter...oh, and knit/crochet too of course!

The number of ladies on Tuesday was quite small...sometimes we have twice as many crammed in the tiny room at the Community Centre.

Just as I took the photo of the  little kitchen, Helen bent down to pick something up...

 Here's Joy (below) working on her chevron/ripple crocheted blanket...with all those donations in the background.

 And the action continues...
On Saturday DH and I are heading up to Nambour for the Sunshine Linus Open Day and Quilt Show. This has been organised to showcase what the group does, and as well, to raise much needed funds so this group can continue the marvellous work they do for the community and especially seriously ill children. To this end, I've convinced DH that we must spend up on Saturday to help such a worthy cause! lol

On Sunday, we have a Fathers' Day brunch with some of the family at the Lido Cafe Restaurant at Ascot; this has been arranged by DsD2 and it sounds rather wonderful.
And then later in the afternoon, DH will leave for the airport to catch his flight to Rockhampton. He will be working there for at least 4 weeks, helping with the federal election. When he got the phone call about this work yesterday, my first thought was, 'For a month I don't have to stop sewing/knitting each night at 5.30 to start getting dinner ready...I can stop when I want to!' lol  Is that so  terrible of me???   :-) And the TV won't be tuned into In the Hotseat, Eggheads or Deal or No Deal...woot woot! lol

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.

Swaps...

Blog swaps are an excellent way to 'meet' other bloggers as well as encouraging people such as myself, to revisit old skills and use these to create items to send to our swap partners. I had been a very keen sewer in my younger years but gradually did less and less. I started signing up for blog swaps in late 2010 and had so much fun that I signed up for some last year. But this year, I've outdone myself...there are actually very few that I don't sign up for! That's why I have 4 swaps due for posting by the end of April!

So I've been working steadily on these swap items and yesterday 3 were posted away. Unfortunately I can only tease you with photos that only show a snippet of these items as the items are still on their way to their new homes...

First the colour swap...

Something for a room in the house...

Something personal...

Something 'smelly'...

Something to eat...

Next is the Mothers Day Mini Quilt Swap

It looks like a muddy mark on that corner...but it's not! lol  I rarely work with browns or browny pinks so it made a nice change to work with those colours...

I drew up the design for this project, including a quote that I had found, but thought that my lettering looked very ordinary. I ended up writing to Jenny Elefantz and asking if it would be a copyright problem if I used her alphabet published in her eZine.

Jenny replied that the lettering was indeed under copyright but that she was very happy for me to use the letters as long as I acknowledged it...which I did of course.

Another swap is the Mrs Martin's Celebrations swap and yesterday I posted the Mothers' Day parcel away for that! Again the photos are quite enigmatic! lol

I'm just finishing off the Table Runner Swap which uses a pack of charm squares. It will be in the post in the next day or so...last weekend it looked like this...

Now swaps are 2 way things...I'm getting parcels from other people who were given me as their swap buddy. Already one has arrived! A table runner from Sue at Quilted Hugs and what a lovely surprise! It's lovely thanks Sue!

A beautiful range of fabrics...

I think that my other 3 swap parcels may come when we have left for NZ so my neighbour will be on alert ready for the postman, and I'll have some lovely surprises when I get home.