Cats & Quilts - a match made in heaven... (except maybe those stubborn little clouds of fur that latch on to the fabric!)

Kitty Quote of the Day

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul. - Jean Cocteau

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Mrs Martin's Christmas Angel Swap


Very early in 2012 I signed up for this massive swap to be a Christmas Angel through Mrs Martins Quilt Shop. There was a long list of pressies to send & many, many months to prepare for it. As the months went by it went a bit like this,
  • plenty of time,
  • still time yet,
  • oh fun better start planning,
  • no panic I've done a few small ones & know what I am going to make
  • better get organised now
  • hell it's October
  • OMG only 4 weeks to go
  • have to post on the 1st & fly out for Ballarat that day so no sneaking in a couple of extra days
  • good thing I'm a night owl & love a good stitch after a 9 hour work day!
  • Thursday 29th, have to finish that binding & wrap everything
  • Friday 30th, posted!
And not only did I post on time but I made what I planned & was very happy with what I made. That was until..... I opened my present from Karen!
 
My swap partner Karen is someone new to me, from Victoria & with the blog Just Purrfick. We both filled out a form of what we would like for Christmas colours, preferences etc. Karen made me go 'What the.....' when she mentioned anything Steampunk would make her day. So I went straight to Google & found pics of Victorian era clothes, steam contraptions & anything mechanical especially with time mechanisms. So it was back to Karen with a please explain & she pointed the direction to how this era has been captured in stitchery etc. Of course, it helped when a few months later Spotlight advertised Steam Punk things to use in jewellery making & craft.

So that started me off but most of what I made is a mystery at this point as my laptop has refused to open back up after I returned from holidays. I had a couple of pics on my camera but the rest is sitting on my hard drive behind a sad grey screen. So I'm about to try a few things to recover everything (technical stuff like fingers crossed behind the back while hitting the on button, or yelling loudly, please open - it's Christmas, or connecting it to my new desktop PC & hope I can access the hard drive) then it will be back to the laptop specialists to pay squillions of dollars to see if they can recover it. That's twice this laptop has died in the two years I have had it. The first time it was replaced under warrantly & they said they were all faulty in this model of TOSHIBA! but if completely replaced why would it happen again....... Great when they work, boat anchors when they don't....
 
Back to the important stuff, the amazing, overwhelming & totally brilliant stuff I received from Karen, my Christmas Angel. I will number the items we had to send as I get to them.

Here's a pic of everything!


From the moment I opened the postbag I was oohhhing & ahhhhing. My pressies were wrapped in the panel you see at the back of the main pic - floral cats and with a beautiful cat tag (1) addressed to me. The panel & the gorgeous ribbons are just bonuses Karen was kind enough to send.


My Christmas applique - love the 3D pom pom & ribbon (2)


A sewing kit of fabrics, braid & bling (3), a stitchery (with or without frame) (4) with this gorgeous white frame (love the colouring) & a Christmas postcard (5) with vintage santa - wonderful!


A candle mat (6) with brilliant piecing! A Christmas decoration (7), I got two, a red & a green bauble, these are soft & gorgeously festive.


But oh no, not just one decoration or two I also got the rest of the set of kitty decorations to match my gift tag. Won't these get lots of future use in the Quiltkitty Christmas decorating.


Something sewing (8) - well I got the whole kit & kaboodle from Karen. A black polka dot case with many zipped see thru pockets, great for carrying a travel project & will definately have an outing on my next trip away. Inside as you can see is some embroidery scissors, patchwork needles, a pad with sewing pics, a vintage tin containing cottons & a clover thread cutter pendant - spoilt or what!!!



 And just when it couldn't get better! A Santa sack (9) & better still Karen made me an applique santa bag so I can use it for more than just as a sack at Christmas. The applique is exquisite & look in the close up pic - it has my name on it. Oh, just too special!


And finally something to nibble (10). Guylian Chocolates. This didn't make my first group pic - not because the box is really empty & I have ate them already, but because I put them straight under the tree so I wouldn't eat them before Christmas & then forgot to pull them out for the pic.


So what can I say about all that - much more than I ever expected Karen, your stitching & sewing is exquisite and your kindness & generousity seems to know no bounds. Is it only in the craft world that someone would spend so much time. effort, expense & care on a virtual stranger (pun intended!) - I am thinking in most cases yes. I love it ALL!!! A big Thank you & Merry Christmas Karen.
 
Karen is doing a post of my pressies on her blog as soon as time permits after celebrating a wonderful family Christmas but the email I received says she is very happy too so a great swap all round.
 
A big thank you to Karen Martin of Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop for hosting this swap & bringing more magic into Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Tracee xxx

4 comments:

  1. wow Tracee what beautiful gifts,a lot of thoughyt has gone into these.xx

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  2. Tracee....wow...what wonderful gifts...lucky you...

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  3. OMG I can So Relate to your scheduling! I was way too organised way too early so of course it all ground to a halt and then suddenly..oops! nearly time to mail and oh yes, I'm interstate for two weeks leading up to that!!! I've been and checked out what you made for Karen...Awesome! Loved your Santa wall hanging and the Steampunk Robin (steam punk? that would have tripped me up too!), oh and everything else as well. What you've received, gorgeous...such a box of treasures...enjoy all your new goodies :) Hope your technology woes are sorted quickly, technology is a wonderous thing...when it works!

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Thank you friends for leaving a comment on my post - love to get them! Tracee xx