Thursday, June 30, 2011

The mail is running again ...

The mail man (woman too) are finally back to work, and just in time! They must have known I had three swap deadlines this week! I got them all out in the mail, and hopefully they won't take too long to get to their new respective owners. I hear there is a bit of a backlog since Canada Post has been off for a bit.

Anyway, here is the first of the items. It's a bag made from a Keyka lou pattern. My partner said she liked Anna Maria Horner, so Anna Maria Horner it is!

keyka lou easy reusable grocery bag

The second one was a little more last minute than I would have liked. I had ordered some pre-made linen tea towels from Stefanie, but unfortunately, they haven't arrived yet because of the strike (boo). So, I washed some linen, and made my own tea towels. They are a little wonky, but hopefully close enough. Pure linen is tricky!
I used a candy bar of Bliss, and made some dresdens for the front. I had never done these before, and I am pretty pleased with the result.

Tea towels

And lastly, was the Spicing up the Kitchen swap. I showed you a little peek of the placemats a while ago, but I also made some tea towels.

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Spicing up the kitchen!!

So now all my current swaps are done. I will be waiting patiently for my items to come in the mail, and I may or may not be stalking the postman a little : ) I am sure I will be signing up for something new soon enough.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day!

I hope all the Dad's out there have a fantastic day!

My sweet husband has been working hard these past few weeks (as usual), and is almost done with that garage that was a hole in the ground not too long ago. In an effort to be thrifty, there are a lot of recycled materials used - but it's new to us!!!

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I have also been working on some sewing - but haven't taken the time to come and share.

I finished up the Pillow Swap, sent it off to my partner, and she has already received it. Best I can tell, she is pretty happy with it, so that makes me happy!

Pillow Talk Swap

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I have also been working on some placemats for the second round of the Spicing up the kitchen swap.

How about some placemats???

... and the orange.

... the yellow.

... and the red.

Up close ... on the blue one.

I also have some other things in the works .. and will share those another day : )

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Pillow Talk Swap 5

The lure of another swap has sucked me in. I was going to ease off on the swaps, but I can't resist them.

I received my partner for this round of the Pillow talk swap, and I must say that this one is tough for me. Reason??? I was brainstorming to come up with an idea, and I am pretty much positive that the pillow I made is not something that my partner likes! .

I actually had trouble sleeping with ideas running through my head, and I woke up extra early last Saturday morning and quickly drew out my idea and went to work!

Start of a pillow

I actually put this pillow top together super fast, and before I knew it the top was done!

Pillow top done!

I really love it, and it has received some really positive feedback. But since I am not so sure that my partner is going to love it, I thought I should probably get started on another one ... She asked for bright, fun and cute, and I don't really think my first attempt met any of those requirements. So back to the drawing board I went.

I have really wanted to try a circle of flying geese, and I think this may be closer to my partners style.

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I wasn't sure if I should do it with the greens all on one side, or mixing the green and the blue.

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I ended up mixing them up, and then putting patchwork squares all around them.

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I have started quilting the pillow top, and now I think I am going to add a little hand embroidery. What do you think .. blue, green or both??

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