Camp/Retreat Swaps...Received...

Of course there are two sides to any swap and I received lovely pressies in return for the project pouches I made...first up Stawell Quilters September camp present (the swap that didn't happen at camp but in bits between us)...a fat quarter pack of lovely batik fabrics...they are happily residing on a shelf in the emporium waiting their turn to jump up and down and yell pick me pick me...

Stawell Quilters March camp....the present that matched my ticket number was a kit for a bag...

with all the ingredients included...

Scrub Stitchin'...the ticket number I held matched the present from Sharmayne...a roll of pretty fun fabrics, a wee pouch that will come in very handy, a crochet cloth that I have popped into the travel cutlery roll (along with the jar opener cloth Jo made in our Scrub Stitchin' goodie bags) and a sweet smelling drawer sachet...thank you Sharm 😊

Lovely swaps...thank you very much to all...

 

Happy Stitching...

Plenty of Project Pouches...

Some time in the second half of last year (don't remember when and it appears I forgot to start a blog post at the time)...I made a project pouch based on a couple of Hugs 'n' Kisses patterns, really just to give a different kind of project pouch pattern a whirl...I skipped the fancy bits of each pattern and just worked out the size of using a whole piece of fabric instead of clam shells and/or applique...(The patterns are Simply Sonja for one but the other one I can't find on the website...basically the same just a different size/embellishment - not where the sewing room is at the moment so I can't grab the patterns to check.)

 

The vinyl isn't deformed or marked, it's just gone a bit wonky lighting wise in the photo...

I really liked the concept of bagging it out and not having binding and having a wee handle to grab it with...

 

I needed swap presents for Stawell Quilters camps and Scrub Stitchin', and as I like to make something I hope the recipient will find useful, was leaning towards this pouch pattern when I saw a post somewhere of a pouch made with mesh instead of clear vinyl for the pocket...so had to give that a try...

 

The first one I made from a black/white house fabric (NZ cottages) with white mesh...this one was for Stawell Quilters September camp at Halls Gap (and was finally gifted the week before our March camp this year! The second half of last year was a continual challenge of being being sick, start to get well, get another virus, oh let's have COVID again, let's just fall in a huge hole of on and off sickness from August to December so making it to camp was an achievement in itself let alone remembering to sort the swap present and take it with me)...and for our March long weekend camp at Cave Hill Creek a second one using same print fabric but in sepia/brown tones with tan mesh (forgot to take a picture so use your imagination).

Added some needles and cute little wooden magnetic needle minders from The Quilters Angel in Queensland...

While I was flinging fabric about at the start of the exercise I put together a combination that I liked but then decided against for the Stawell Quilter versions...but, I left the fabrics on the table and, after getting over wondering if it was a bit too bright, used with black mesh and a grey fancy zip for my Scrub Stitchin' "Make It, Bake It or Fake It" swap present...

Added needles and a set of needle minders...

Jules got this one...I hope she gets good use from it.

 

I might need to make me another one using mesh instead of vinyl at some point.

 

Happy Stitching...

 

Quilt Angel...

Yesterday when I collected the mail for work I found a parcel box key...and a parcel to me! Uh, I haven't ordered anything lately (I usually have parcels delivered to the work PO Box).  It's from the USA...what? An Angel sent a parcel to make up for the lack of one from my swap partner in the Small Quilt Talk Small Quilt Swap from last year...how kind...and it's just lovely...

Thank you Quilt Angel whoever you are, it was a lovely surprise and I'm very grateful for your kindness.

Happy Stitching...

Stawell Quilters Fat Quarter Christmas Present Swap...Made and Given...

Again this year I played in the Stawell Quilters fat quarter swap for the Christmas dinner.  A fat quarter is given in a brown paper bag with your name on earlier in the year, the bags are put in a basket and randomly distributed to each player and a present is made for the person whose name is on the brown paper bag with/incorporating their contributed fat quarter.  I got someone I didn't know "HS" who had put in an interesting piece of fabric and was relying on my friend's knowledge of her likes.  Then I met her briefly at the Quilt Show and took particular notice of the quilts she had hanging (and her challenge piece).  My first thought at the start was to make a block keeper and I wavered back and forth and mucked about with patterns and ideas and in the end came back to my original - and made a block keeper.  I had found a watercolour type fabric in Spotlight not long after the paper bags were distributed which had exactly the right colours in it but I struggled with how to re-imagine the given fabric...which I really liked by the way...

Then inspiration struck and I came up with a dresden plate...

(I had to pinch a picture from the Group as I forgot to take one of it finished)

I was happy with how it turned out...not so much the project pocket that was to go with it that we won't discuss (it is still on the sewing table thinking about its bad behaviour!)...and HS said she didn't have a block keeper and was happy with it...she likes circles which I'd forgotten about from the Club challenge but which must have been there in the sub-conscious!!

While a little stressful thinking what to make I do like this swap and hope the Group continues with it...if you are on the BookFace and search Stawell Quilters Inc all the lovelies that were made from the fat quarters are on the Christmas Dinner post, I have no idea how to link to that particular post and BookFace is tiresome so I'm not going to even try.

Happy Stitching...

Quilters Christmas Swap - Part I

Quilters group have a swap at Christmas dinner where members who want to play along put a fat quarter of fabric in a paper bag with their name on the outside at the start of the year.  The paper bags are then randomly given out and you make a present using the fabric inside for whoever you get - no rules, whatever the maker chooses, add any fabrics you like or not, put in extras or not, No. Rules. (I love that!) - with the whole year ahead to get that sorted.  I was given P.H.'s paper bag.

She had put in a fat quarter of a gorgeous fabric...

The design...really bad colour but shows the whole design...

a close up - shows the colours much better...

In March with the sewing friends a road trip was on the agenda to Terang's quilt show (we will definitely be putting it on the agenda again) and of course it was mandatory that we visit the local shop.  I had taken the paper bag along "just in case" which was just as well as I found lovely fabrics to go with.  Now all I needed was...well...what to make! I wanted to maintain the integrity of the pattern of P.H.'s fabric as it was so gorgeous and didn't want to chop it up into little bits and lose the pretty...Mmmm...

I chose a project but that was abandoned (fortunately before I started) when sitting across the table from P.H. at sewing one night she had that very thing.  Another night she noticed my thread bin on the table and made a comment on it, bells immediately went off - one of those for a start!! A further rummage through the patterns unearthed a Virgina Enright zipped box bag pattern where I could showcase her fabric.  I also made a large pincushion at the last moment because I had fabric left and I could...

 The finished zipped box bag...

 Surprise! There is P.H.'s fabric...

 The whole "set"...

P.H. told me she liked it and I saw her face when she opened it, looking for her fabric and then "surprise" when she opened the zip and saw it on the inside.

The brown and orange clamshell fabrics and green floral I bought in Terang and the red chrysantheneum and lining fabrics came from my stash and think they all went together rather well.

I'll show what I received next time...

Happy Stitching...

SSCS 2016 - Outgoing - The Main Present Edition...

December 25 is a long time away when waiting for SSCS (for everything else it zooms up way too quickly!)...but finally it arrived and Florence has opened her main present...a set to take cup/mug and cutlery to stitching (or other) happenings...and she has told me she likes it (whew!)...

 The present - main and some extra bits just because...

The set...

Mug/cup bag  

Mug mat to set her cup and biscuit on...

Fold in half and tie behind the cup...

Cutlery roll - pockets for cutlery and serviette... 

Roll up...

 

Sit in front of the cup... 

Don't forget tea in the pocket...

Ready to go...

Florence has cats and when I saw the cat fabric it meowed (very loudly and insistently) pick me!  I used iron on vinyl for the cup pocket for a bit of protection in case of a damp cup...and the fun floral fabric I picked up in Bendigo when I went on an Embroidery Guild bus trip a few weeks ago just because I liked it...it just happened to have the right shade of turquoise in the design so the cats wanted to play in the garden...gotta love serendipity :)

The bag pattern was from Red Brolly (mostly...I almost followed a pattern...almost), the mug rug I made up using an Anni Downes stitchery design from her "The Story of My Day" book and the cutlery roll I made up after seeing a friend's.

I'm always packing a cup/mug and cutlery to stitchy happenings and I thought maybe Florence was too so I hope she gets use out of the set.

Happy Stitching...

SSCS 2016 - Outgoing - The Ornament Edition...

The sleigh (finally at almost Christmas Eve) arrived in Europe...France in particular...and the house of Florence specifically...of course the little parcel could be opened immediately...hanging ornaments were inside...

 Kangaroo...

 

Kookaburra

Hanging Out Together...

The drawings by our very own lovely Michelle Ridgeway...a little bit of Aussie across the seas to France.

I hope Florence enjoys them...

Happy Stitching...

Sleigh Time...

On the sleigh for SSCS 2017...

But where to?....

Happy Stitching...

SQT Mug Rug Swap 2016...

I got the best squishy mail recently but couldn't reveal until now...my swap parcel in Kathleen Tracey's Small Quilt Talk mug quilt (rug) swap...I was paired up with the lovely Lu Ann Leonard from Arizona USA and once again I lucked out with my swap partner...chatting back and forth on the email having a lovely time...today (well today American time yesterday our time) is the day of the big reveal in the group so now the secret is out there...

From Lu Ann...how awesome is this package of goodies...

 Check out the gorgeous 30's fabric flower mug rug...

And not one but two...a selvedge one as well!...

How cute is the backing fabric!...

Lu Ann included a pattern (for a table runner) from a shop near her run by a couple of blokes who not only design their own patterns but have homemade biscuits and a cuppa as part of their customer service, if only it wasn't so far away!...cute safety pin fabric, postcards to pretend I was travelling to the other side of the world on which she wrote tidbits about her area which is fun...Thank you so much Lu Ann I love my mug rugs and my other goodies...love it all...If only Lu Ann wasn't so far away!

So what did I sent to Lu Ann?

Well, she is a Civil War repro girl and I had the Best Time fossicking about in the fabric bits for a tumbler mug rug...

(6 5/8" x 8 3/4")

I handpieced the top and hand quilted in the ditch horizontally and vertically for each row.  I mis-measured my tumber template at 1" and aimed at about 6" with 6 across x 6 rows but it ended up a tad biger because the template was actually around 1 1/4"...I came home from work one night during the making process and thought, I want to make Lu Ann a pincushion as well...so I did... 

(3" x 3" x 1")

Blue on one side and red on the other...

My package to Lu Ann (ignore the hexagon card, while it made the photo shoot it didn't make the actual parcel - oops!)...I included a fat quarter of fabric which had a gumnuts/leaves pattern, some little quilt labels for her small quilts, some postcards and magnet of the area of the work town and a rosella bookmark...I do hope Lu Ann finds all her bits useful...

So that was what my October sewing was all about...now on to finalising my swap present for SSCS 2017 2016 (thanks Jo! - the extra time would have been a bonus though!), the hanging ornament sorted, the main present underway as it needs to be mailed by end of this coming week - eek! where is the time going!!...

Happy Stitching... 

SQT Small Quilt Swap - Extra

Demi & I also chatted about extra goodies in the swap parcel and we were both of the same mind with that one as well...you've seen what Demi sent me as extras but what did I add to Demi's parcel?...I tried to include as much "Aussie" as I could...

A pincushion pattern of Karen Cunningham's using EPP hexies and squares immediately jumped to mind...I had just enough of a piece of "Melbourne" fabric to fussy cut the hexies...

the Arts Centre and trams on one side...

the Aussie flag on the other the other...

 

Demi had mentioned favourite colours including navy and brick red...red linen and an Ink & Spindle (a boutique screen printing team in Melbourne) fabric that has been waiting for years for its turn - perfect!

I had so much fun making the pincushion I stopped work on the quilt! Must make my own one...

Cottage Garden Threads, Darrel Lea lolly and a cute little magnet were wrapped in a fat quarter of fabric, there was a magazine too but it didn't make the photo shoot...I bought the magnet and fabric at Quilters Harvest in Warracknabeal and I got one of each for both of us so when I use the magnet and the fabric I will remember the swap, I think the fabric might go with the fabrics Demi sent me which would be great to use it all in the same project.

Anyway, I hope Demi enjoys the little extras...I had fun putting it together...

Happy Stitching...

 

Small Quilt Swap - Incoming...

I was sooooo spoilt by my partner Demi in the Small Quilt Talk small quilt swap...as I mentioned in the Outgoing post we decided on monochromatic with white/cream for our colour scheme, main colour chosen by the recipient - I chose aqua, then decided that was way too hard to find and changed it to duck egg blue.  Demi went all out to find my colour - she used paint chips to colour match fabric...

A closer look at the pretty fabrics...and handquilting...

Demi added a swag of extra goodies...especially reminiscent of her area of the United States, a really interesting part which would be amazing to visit I think...

All together now...

Love it all...thank you Demi...

Happy Stitching...