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!



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.



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.







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.

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!!!



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!





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











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

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!



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



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



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



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??

Crepe dress

I bought my first colette pattern, the crepe dress, and I have already finished it! I didn't even have time to tell you about it before it was done, and I think I am pretty happy with the results.

Here is the front.



... and the back.



I will really try hard and get a picture of the dress on me, but for now these will have to do. I don't have a long mirror in my house (tragic right??), and so I would have to enlist the help of others to take the picture. So far, I keep forgetting to do that.

I plan on wearing this to a wedding in the summer.

The dress was actually really easy to put together, and I can already see more colette patterns in my future. I only did one small alteration to the dart under the bust to make it a little tighter. I think I could have done a few more based on the fit .. but overall I would say it's a wearable result!

DS Quilts

By now I am sure most of you have seen the new DS Quilts fabric that hit the Joanns stores in the U.S.

In Canada, we have no Joanns, so through the powers of the internet, and from some kind souls, I have received and sewn a quilt top with the new fabric!!

Ta da!!





I didn't use a pattern, I just made it up ... but it was not my idea. I saw a picture of a quilt on the front of a magazine (Quilts and More), and went for it. There are obvious differences, like the one in the magazine is on a diagonal, but same general pattern.

Now to decide how to quilt it!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mother's out there! I hope you all have the day that you deserve : )

Nikki tote

Surprise surprise ... another post, another swap. As I type this, I am actually taking a little break from cutting out a brand new project that is for ME, not for a swap! Of course, I don't have pictures or anything, but I do have pictures of the Nikki tote.

I joined the Goodie Bag Swap, and my partner's mosaic showed lots of bigger bags (totally my style), and I decided to make one for her, one for me!! Choosing the fabric was difficult. I think my partner's taste may be a little brighter than mine. Now don't get me wrong, I like bright, but she seems to like bolder patterns.

I chose the Nikki tote for a couple of different reasons. First of all, I wanted something that would suit both of us. Secondly, I wanted something that I would use more than once! This pattern seemed like a perfect fit.

Anyway, I started with these three fabric choices:



Without giving anything away .. I have to tell you that my partner may or may not have commented on one of them (I don't have any idea if she will read this post, so I have to be careful not to give away the secret).

I ended up with this bag:



The pattern was very simple to follow. The only change I made was to add in an inside zippered pocket. Please excuse the dangling thread that I haven't trimmed yet.



Then, on to the second bag. I went bolder and brighter for this one:



I am super pleased with both to be honest .. and now I just have to decide which one is making the journey to it's new home : )