Squilters Christmas Swap - Part 2...

So what did I send to Tracey over in Western Australia, my partner in the Scquilters Christmas Stocking swap (for an explanation of the swap see previous post)...?

First up Tracey also requested a stocking...

A closer look at the stitchery panel...

I've shown most of what I sent as I made things over the course of the year...realised way too late though that I didn't take photos of the things I included that weren't handmade, oh well, descriptions will have to suffice...

 Mug Rug...(there was a mug to go with this...not the pink one modelling)...

 Christmas Angel hanging cushion decoration...

 Digby Dog pincushion...(and a box of pins of course)...

Fun dog fabric on the back of Digby...

 Applique tea towel...

 Journal cover with fabric flower band...(with notebook and a lovely white metal peacock bookmark)...

 Scissor keep...(with pretty scissors and a beaded hanging scissor charm)...

 Hexagon thread catcher...

 Mini ponchette bag...(with a tape measure in a tin)...

 Hexagon needle book...(with sewing needles, a couple of skeins of embroidery floss and bobbins to wind the floss on)...

 Make-up purse...(with emergy boards...and a tube of hand cream)...

 Mug Bag...under the pinned fabric it says Tracey's...I forgot to take a photo without the name blanked out...oops!

 Button Life's Memories Together bag...

...there was also a photo frame and a container of lace, ric rac and buttons...and I attached a small Christmas decoration to the outside of almost every parcel (well until I ran out)...

Tracey she tells me she liked her goodies...

Happy Stitching...

Scquilters Christmas Swap...Part 1

This year I participated in a swap through Scquilters (Southern Cross Quilters, a yahoo group for Australian and New Zealand quilters - we quilt under the Southern Cross down here) which started in January and ran for the whole year.  The idea was to make your partner a stocking (or bag or sack depending on their preference) and one or two presents each month to go in said stocking (or bag or sack) - all to be squirreled away and opened on Christmas Day.  My partner was Tracey in Western Australia (who as far as I know doesn't have a blog) and this is the gorgeous stocking she made me and the pile of pressies waiting under the tree...

The swap hostess Shaaryn had us fill out a questionnaire - and a very comprehensive questionnaire it was too - and then we were partnered up in a direct swap so we were able to communicate with each other during the year.  When Tracey asked me if I minded a red and white stocking I smiled and said no problem - my footy team is red and white! (Go Swans).  When the stocking arrived I almost couldn't believe it, Tracey had managed to embroider my snowman on the front!!  You see, I have this snowman ornament which I've had since babyhood (so yes, it is very old now)...um, actually, snowman is a bit of an overstatement, it is his head...yes it is old and tatty and nope I am not getting rid of it...I refuse to do away with my snowman, he goes up the top of my tree each year...it was like Tracey had seen my ornament and used it for her inspiration...

It's a bit dark under the tree so here is a better picture of the stocking...

And inside all those packages....a veritable treasure trove of goodies...

A book of fun small quilty projects...a lovely Crab-apple Hill quilt pattern (I love Crab-apple Hill designs)...a kit for an origami bag, how gorgeous is that blue fabric!...a roll of fat sixteenths of fun blue/green/brown contemporary fabrics...a fat quarter of yummy fabric with absolutely perfectly matching Rajmahal Art Silk thread skeins...a pretty tin filled with an assortment of buttons hiding a quilters tape measure...

..stop for a breather...and...

Stitchy gadgets and notions galore...quilters tape...reverse sewing tool (seam ripper)...yo yo maker...pretty scissors (I am always drawn to these scissors in the shops and now I have a pair!) on a retracable fob...machine quilting grips...quilting needles...a measuring gauage (something I've not seen before and most intriguing)...and a wooden needle holder (something I have always wanted and never been able to justify buying myself and in a favourite wood too!)...

But wait there is still more!....

An apron and two Christmas kitchen towels...lovely...

Think I've finished? Huh, you'd be wrong!!

A picture insertable travel mug (I'll have to make up a photo collage for this)...a pretty chenilled mug rug...tissue holder...tote bag of the cutest fabric...a fun small suitcase which I just love...a clever candle holder (which the firefighter in me can't use as a candle holder being fabric, sorry Tracey - so I'm calling it a pincushion with storage space) and the last parcel I opened contained the sweetest little knitted teddy bear, he really is absolutely adorable.

A better look at the candle holder/pincushion with storage space ('coz I think it is clever).  Isn't the dragonfly charm just gorgeous...

And just because he really is a sweetie...just look at that face!...

Thank you so much Tracey...I was beyond spoilt...I love love love it all...and thank you also to the swap organiser Shaaryn who did a whole heap of work and made it happen...

I'll be back later with what I sent to Tracey...

Happy stitching...

An Angel To Watch...

...Over my sewing room...

This Angel has come to live at my house...she visited with me on Christmas Eve but wasn't ready to stay...yesterday she came to stay...isn't she gorgeous...I have a spot picked out in the sewing room...thank you Mistea for my Sewing Angel...

With work (normal people wind down at this time of the year, my workload ramped up!) and visitors (got to get some socialising in there to take the edge off the working stuff) I hadn't had a chance for a photo shoot of all my lovely presents from the Scquilters Christmas Stocking Swap that I got to open on Christmas Day...as soon as I got home from work this evening I went straight in and took photos so once they are organised I will be back to share those goodies...

Happy Stitching...

SSCS 2011 - The Big Reveal...What I Received...

Finally...the time came and the parcels could be opened...wahoo!!!....and what was in these pretty packages...

 The most gorgeous table runner, a fun NZ printed tea towel and pretty Christmas stickers and pen...

Thank you Nicky!...love love love it...the table runner fits perfectly on top of my grandmother's glory box but it is too dark today to get any light in that corner of the room so I had to use the kitchen table for the photo shoot....and the centre photo makes the runner look quite green but in fact it is latte and raspberry...the light here today is less than Aussie summer-like so the colours are not being picked up in their true beauty...it is in fact, gorgeous...

Happy Stitching and we hope you had a Merry Christmas from me and the dog (yes Jindi you are a dog, you are too, stop arguing you're a dog...darn dog!...)

SSCS 2011 - The Big Reveal...What I Sent...

Finally, finally all can be revealed...the agony of waiting is over, parcels are opened, paper and ribbon cleared away and tah dah! What I made for Nancy who lives in a place far far away across the seas near Philadelphia...

Stalking of Nancy's blog revealed she is a William Morris and civil war fabrics girl so I combined the two and came up with my slant on William Morris mets civil war Aussie style...appliqueing civil war fabrics (hand blanket stitch) in a William Morris bird design from Michele Hill's book "William Morris in Applique"...with a pattern by Leanne Beasley of Leanne's House...thereby incorporating two Aussie designers into the mix...to create...

A block keeper

A few little parcels went in the stocking ornament with instructions they weren't to be opened until Christmas Day...a piece of civil war fabric I came upon when buying the ribbon for the block keeper ties (which I seriously contemplated keeping for me but was strong and didn't)...some Victorian-made Aussie chocolates...a little triangle pouch in the same fabric as the block keeper for hiding those little things like a thimble or a reel of thread that we need to tote along sometimes but don't want to take the whole sewing bag shebang - or hiding some sneaky chocolate treats...and a pocket sized Birds of Australian 2012 calendar so Nancy is never without her stitchy dates to hand...but which her husband has decided I sent for HIM! so Nancy is being very good and going to share by hanging it in the house (she is good to him, hope he appreciates the sharing!!)...

I hope you enjoy what I made for you Nancy as much as I enjoyed creating them for you.

Thank you Chookyblue for once again hosting this most awesome of swaps.

Happy Stitching...and Merry Christmas!

Two for One...

Two finishes for one day that is...

Yes, in an amazing, probably never to be repeated, feat of quilting, I have today put the final stitches in not one, but two, count 'em two!, UFO's...cue wild applause!!!!!...I took these two numbers to Monday group this morning with their bindings ready to be turned over, clipped and stitched and came home with both done!! Miracle on East Street! (venue where Monday group is held is on East Street).

First past the post (well we do use a room at the local racecourse!) was this little number...

Garden Girls Quilt

 ...which yesterday morning was still in the basted waiting patiently for something to happen state it had been in for, oh I don't know how long...pretty sure it was a completed top before I stopped working in the City because I worked the stitcheries via V/Line each day and it is now 5 1/4 years since I stopped playing that madness....

I just love these girlies...a set of Candlelight Creations stitchery designs...love the fabrics too.  This is destined to be a table cloth/topper/centre...something to do with being used on a table...

Next past the post was this...

The Chook Quilt

...my very first ever machine pieced quilt top (I was "trained" in patchwork in the 80's when sewing machines were not ever to be put near patchwork fabric and it was all templates, scissors and hand piecing, hand everything really)...a post and rail made in a class at Threadbear, Castlemaine, forever ago...using my Janome which didn't have a quarter inch foot (well who knew they existed!) so no bones about it, the piecing ain't perfect, seams don't necessarily line up...this is called the "Chook Quilt" because, although not immediately apparent, the fabrics are all chook related - chooky words, chook feet, chicken wire, etc...this has languished for so long I can't even remember, waiting for the border to be quilted, just the border, the centre was cross-hatched millenia ago.  Yesterday I gave in and just quilted straight lines and declared it done!  Destined to live with the picnic stuff for trips in the car for using on the tables or car bonnet at laybays when Jindi and I stop for a cuppa (well not to put the kettle boiling apparatus on of course as that wouldn't be a good look for a firefighter, setting fire to a quilt!...but the cuppa and snack).

Hope the quilting miracle faeries are visiting at your place too...

Happy Stitching.

Button Me Up...

The Button Lifes Memories (yes it is grammatically incorrect and yes I know that, traced straight from the pattern I was going to fix it and forgot until it was too late...too late as in not in my possession any longer...darn!) bag is finished...and is now in the care of Australia Post for the trip to its new home...hope it is liked there because I liked it a bit too much and wanted to keep it for me!...good thing there was no time to make something else or it wouldn't have made it into the mail box...(but it would have got that missing apostrophe!!)

Based on a pattern in an old Country Threads magazine (Vol 3 No 7 from 2003) by Ann Dimmer it took a whole lot longer to stitch that panel that I thought it would (and I left out a fair bit of the design as it was too busy for what I wanted)...I backstitched the words, flowers and bird houses and chain stitched the button tray...it was a bit of fun too playing in the button stash...finishing at a good size for a shopping tote of 14 1/2" x 16"...a finish for December for OPAM...


Happy stitching...

December Friday Nigh Sew-In - Round 1...

It's Saturday here now (how in the world did that happen so early in the week!!!) which means last night was Round 1 of December's Friday Night-Sew In...

and I almost achieved what I set out to do....first up...Finish This Bag...

Excuse the sewing table debris...work in progress!...

which yesterday morning was components - a stitched panel and cut out fabric....now just some more buttons to be sewn on and it will be ready to fly off to its new home...

I was loving playing with P-faff so much that before I started sewing on buttons I made a little something I'd been thinking about for a couple of weeks...

...a little pouch for the tray/plate that I take along to sewing for sweet treats with my cuppa...a rummage through a stash box came up with a piece of Debbie Mumm fabric right for the job so it was employed...nothing fancy schmancy just a simple two layers of fabric pouch but better than the face washer that it has been wrapped in until now.  It was going to be three layered with batting but I miscalculated and stuffed that bit up so tossed that plan...you get that when making stuff up as you go along, I'm calling it a prototype and moving on!...just needs a press stud...

Moving on from P-Faff the buttons made good progress, it was fun sitting with the button stash choosing, something relaxing about swishing buttons around looking for the right one...I got tired around 10:00pm and retired to the couch to watch "Sex and the City" on the tele and commune with some applique and machine quilting books...I'm counting that into FNSI as "research"...the books not the TV programme *LOL*...

Hope your FNSI was productive...for me it's back to the buttons - the plan? to back later with the finished bag...

Happy Stitching....

SSCS 2011...The Ornament...Incoming...

Parcel Guy came by this morning and left a box in the door...from over the ditch (New Zealand that is)...marked "SSCS"...wahoo!!!...turning the box over revealed it was from Nicky...inside three very prettily wrapped presents and an envelope housing Rudolph who told me the small one was the ornament, the big one the present and the middle one I could choose whether to open now or not...I'm being good, it is residing under the tree with the big one...we'll see how long that lasts *LOL*..

And the ornament...Oh. My. Goodness. Such teeny tiny cross stitching...really teeny tiny...the whole ornament is only 7.5cm across and there are two reindeer in that star!  Can you see them, they are perfect and so small...I think I'd go blind trying to stitch that teeny tiny...thank you so much Nicky I Love It...it immediately went across the room and took up residence on the Christmas Tree...looks pretty darn good...

Happy Stitching...

SSCS 2011...The Ornament...Outgoing...

Yay! The mail person worked on a Saturday and delivered the ornament parcel to Nancy..so now, in line with the rules, as Nancy was able to open that parcel I can reveal what I made for her...

Back story (of course!)...I started out with the plan to make a small hanging cushion using one of the 'Tis the Season stitcheries, like the one I made here, but somehow it morphed...

And became...

A Stocking (...ish)...

...my version of the hanging pocket project from the 'Tis the Season book by Natalie Bird...

Um, small hanging ornament...um, no, not really...oh well, I decided that in the US of A they tend to upsize (well if TV shows and advertising are anything to go by and we all know that is representative of reality don't we - ha ha ha)...and hanging could be from anywhere couldn't it, not only the Christmas Tree (unless Nancy has a Really Big Tree)...mantlepiece...doorknob...really tall relative with an outstretched arm...a multitude of possibilities...next year Jindi's Human...small! remember the word key word is small!! *LOL*...

I popped in some small presents that Nancy isn't allowed to open until Christmas Day...apparently I am a temptress...he he he (insert evil laugh)...


So glad you like it Nancy...


Happy Stitching...

So Impatient...

So I mailed two SSCS parcels across the seas to a place far far away near Philadelphia in the US of A - one with the ornament that can be opened now and one with the main present that can't be opened until Christmas Day - and what arrives first - and on a Friday so that the weekend has to be endured before the next mail delivery - but the main present...aaarrrggghhhh!!!! I feel Nancy's pain...I want her to be able to open it...I want to know if she likes it...I want to be able to tell the story of how I decided on what to make...but she can't...and I can't...so we endure...the waiting....

But it did occur to me yesterday that hey, it is December, it is the month of Christmas, it is time to break out the decs and that means 'Tis the Season can come out and play...

so today I'm going to vacuum the Jindi fur off the carpet and drag out the Christmas tree and boxes and play decorations (when I get home from playing steward at the local agi show)...which means I get to enjoy this again...

my Christmas decoration made for me by Anne-Heidi for last years SSCS...and the house will be ready to receive this year's ornament...when the post office decides to deliver it...

Happy Stitching...