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

Beginning To Feel A Lot like Christmas....

Looks like most of us are busy Christmas crafting, either for swaps, for friends & family or to decorate for Christmas ourselves.

Last night I started a new stitchery (no I haven't finished all the others, yes the one I was doing is for a swap too & I will get back to it) as I couldn't resist the free Christmas Tag patterns Bronwyn Hayes from Red Brolly posted as a freebie yesterday.

Here's my effort during 3 hours of Criminal Minds last night (I did wander off & look at real estate for awhile too...).

If you haven't been to the Red Brolly blog, click here to go check out the four designs & download your own copy.


I have also finished a lovely Christmas tablerunner - so happy & bright, 1 for me & 1 for a swap.

It's gorgeous with the yo-yos at each end. I made mine with the large Clover Yo-Yo maker & they were superfast to make. (do you like my new polka dot slippers for summer?).

This pattern is called 'Believe' by Marg Low. I first noticed it here on Barb's blog, made in the very pretty Quite Contrary range of fabrics. I knew it would be the perfect pattern for my swap partner so asked about it & before I knew it the original pattern was in my letterbox.

What a sweet & kind thing to do.  So to continue in that spirit, if you would now like this gorgeous pattern, the first to say so in a comments will get it. Let me know you want it & I will reply asking for your mailing address & post tomorrow. There will be plenty of time to still make this up for this Christmas or ones to follow.

 

The boys had a lovely evening last night. First Hun-bun basked in the last rays of sunshine on top of the reticulation valves ....

 

 

Then it was heads down & tails up for a fish dinner. Yes, that is a towel under their bowls, they are very messy eaters especially Hun-bun who sometimes likes to trial his food on the tip of his paw, if OK he eats it from there, if not, he shakes his paw & puts sticky bits everywhere. Brunnie is just regular old man messy.

 

 

Then they were joined in mutual admiration for the gas fire. Fancy a 30+ day in Perth cooling down enough for jumper & socks for me & the gas fire on half for the boys.

 

 

This is about the closest I have ever seen my boys, they are not ones to snuggle together, much to my dismay. It was a little too close for Brutus's likely, Hun-bun has just closed his eyes after giving Brunnie a bit of a swipe across the back of his head - he can be a little bu**er that Hun-Bun!

 

Happy Sunday!

Tracee xx

Friends With benefits Swap

I have been trying to avoid swaps lately so I get caught up on my BOM projects but every so often one cames along I can't resist, like the Friends With Benefits swap that Kathy from Sew Happy House has recently hosted.

I was partnered with Raelene from Raelene's Rambling which is great as we haven't met before & it is so nice to meet more new quilty bloggy friends. Raelene does a lot of block swaps & gorgeous piecing, the opposite to my obsession of stitching & just a bit of machine sewing.

Raelene was super quick with getting my parcel in the mail so I had to sit & look at the parcel for a couple of weeks sitting on my coffee table. I was so happy when the opening day finally came. My first view of the fabric from the back had me swooning. The background is quite a bit darker yellow than my photo shows, my favourite colour of the moment.

It is a gorgeous tote bag. Raelene read my mind, I was thinking a few weeks ago that I had no hand crafted tote bag to take to the quilt show, having only ever made hand bag style bags.

But the best was yet to come. I said earlier that Raelene is an excellent at piecing so check out the front of my bag. It definately had me purring!

Isn't my new kitty just gorgeous!

Along with a cute little friendship book & a quilt label, it was a wonderful swap present. Thanks so much Raelene. xxx

 I will be happily carrying my new tote bag at the Quilt Show here in Perth on the 24th & 25th May. So if you go to the show & you see this gorgeous bag, say hello. I was be resting my weary feet selling raffle tickets for the WA Quilters Guild stand between 3 - 5pm too.

Now, my swap present for Raelene. I wasn't sure about the fabric colours to use for Raelene but thought she would like some stitchery, so started from there. My choice was a stitchery by Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse, called Good Friends from her Sweet Sentiments Book.

The variegated pink, red & orange thread I used for the stitchery words toned in perfectly with the bright & happy fabrics I had picked out that I thought Raelene would love. I decided to make a journal with the stitchery on a front pocket where a pen, glasses or notes can sit.

I have been wanting to use this paisley fabric in a project for ages & after doing the Name Game Swap I fell in love with all the yellow & orange that a lot of the US & UK quilters were using in their projects. Personalising the journal with Raelene's name in the same variegated thread was the final feature. I think it turned out pretty cute, definately a new colour scheme for me bit I am loving it.

I was then lucky enough to find an orange ball point pen & the bright pink Breast Cancer Frixion pen to coordinate with the journal. I added a red dog bone photo key ring for Raelenes precious pup's photo & who doesn't need a nibble, so some chocolate Caramello Nibbles. It was great to hear that Raelene loved her swap pressies just as much as I loved mine!

Thanks to Kathy for all her hard work as our swap muma & to all the generous designers who offered prizes for the weekly giveaways.

Happy swapping
Tracee xx

My Name Game Swap Quilt for Happy Quilting

At last I can show you the project I was working on when I gave you this sneak peak two weeks ago.

Samelia's Mum hosted The Name Game Swap where we designed a mini quilt to match our secret partners blog or real name, which ever they chose. We filled in a form with a few likes & dislikes then went a stalking of our new partner for ideas from their blogs and Flickr pictures.

My secret partner was Melissa from Happy Quilting in the USA. I have to say I was shaking in my boots when I saw she is a designer with great fabric combining skills & a real professional of our industry. I had loved one of her quilts I had seen in a US magazine just a few weeks before.

At least I was smart & ordered a charm pack of Terrain by Kate Spain straight away as Melissa said that was what she was redecorating her sewing room in. I have always looked at pics of Kate Spain fabric & thought gorgeous but when I laid out the charm squares I can see why Melissa has gone for it & especially the purple range. I am loving the bright orange too so it is a bonus to have those charm squares left for a project for me for later on.

I pondered on my design for a few weeks, checking out the sneak peeks on our group's Flickr page. For two weeks I had settled on cathedral windows. I knew Melissa loves them & they would look great in this fabric with white. I don't know whether it was the fact someone else showed a peak of the same or if I came to my senses & remembered I have never done them before, but the night before the sewing day for this project I changed my mind completely. So here's the end result.

The outside blocks are raw edge having only been sewn on by a cross once diagonally each way so some of the edges. In the middle of each flower is a button in either purple, white or green. The words are hand sewn on, raw edge again. The quilting is in the ditch around the flower blocks & then like little rays of sunshine radiating out from the important bit, Melissa's blog name.

When I saw Melissa's pics on Flickr & her blog post tonight it was a relief on two counts - firstly it got to the USA in time for today's deadline & secondly and most importantly - she loves it! It was a pleasure to make it for you Melissa & thank you for introducing me to a new range & style of fabric.

Thanks also to our swap mum Anorina for all her hard work. Now I just need to be patient & not scare the postie too much checking for my parcel tomorrow.

Happy stitching
Tracee xx

A Free Easter Project

Hi all

Swap sewing happening here at the moment so not much to show for it. A sneak peak & that is all. The fabric is Kate Spain's Terrain so boy am I happy to have so much of the charm pack left over!

I haven't looked at more than a couple of blogs either but one had this free Easter project I wanted to share. It is from the Attic Window Quilt Shop & instructions are on the linked blog post. Very Cute.

Here's something else to ponder......

I don't know where it originally came from so can't acknowledge them. It is racing around Facebook like wildfire so please take a copy of the pic if you would like it.  I can relate to the tangles, isn't life full of them.....

Happy stitching
Tracee xx

Book Club Kitty Style

Does anyone read Marie Bostwick's Cobbled Court quilting series of books? I have just finished the latest, Threading The Needle. My local library still only gets this sort of book in large print as surely it's only nanas that will read it! If that's the case, I'm happy to be in the nana classification.

 They are entetaining books (especially for fellow quilters) based on the goings on in a small town called New Bern in Connecticut. The characters are all in some way involved in the Cobbled Court Quilt shop & it's daily routine, quilting, working, getting through the economic downturn as best they can & helping each other out.

It's the fourth book in this series & you can see them all at Marie Bostwick's web site. I really enjoy them. They are quick to read, even more so in BIG print & of course, full of quilty goodness & the kindness of quilters that we know & experience all the time.

Today I am doing some sewing on my swap gift for Chooky's Santa Swap, so it gets in the mail before the 25th November deadline.

What do you think these two are conspiring between them.....?

I think they may be thinking it will be fun to stow away in a parcel going overseas soon.....

Happy stitching (& reading)
Tracee xx

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Swap from Shez

I finally decided to join in on a swap again & what a beauty I picked. It was the FRIENDS Swap organised by Kris of SewPrimKris. Thanks Kris for your work organising this!

Each Swapper sent their partner 1 gift beginning with each of the letters in the word Friends so 7 gifts for every one. It was my lucky day & in the draw I received Shez from Enjoying Life as my swap partner.

It was like Christmas the day I got home from work & the mail man had left me a parcel.

And it only got better from there!

F is for Fabric Roll (at last some yellow - yah) & R is for Reading (great for on the plane next week)

I is for Items for the kitchen (check out the kitty buttons - ohhhh!)

E is for Egyptian Fabric made in to a gorgeous bag

N is for Needlecase (in my current favourite - green!), D is for DMC Threads (great colours) & S is for Stitchery Patterns (my most favourite crafty past time).





How spoilt am I???? Thank you Shez for your thought, generoisity & heart that has gone in to my swap presents & our email chats with each other. Plenty more to come.....

Shez has now received my parcel & did a lovely post of her goodies you can check out on her blog.

I did have fun making her a bag. It was different from usual as you put the three layers together & cross hatched them before cutting the pieces out. Love how my Frixion pen made it easier & then just disappeared when I ironed the finished fabric sandwich.

The fabric is a beautiful Quest For A Cure fabric from a few years back. The selveage is used as a tie so you know the significance of the fabric too. I was rather liberal in matching my gifts to letters so called this E is for Emotions Bag. Poor Shez though she was getting a new pair of ears after an earlier blog post where I said I was having a problem with E.



To continue my dubious name matching N was for Nice Little Wall Hanging. A recent Homespun project that was too cute to pass up. It looks better with it's hanger & ribbon but I forgot to photograph it then. See the rest on Shez's blog.

So after opening all that goodness I sure had a smile on my face. No so Hun-bun - didn't you buy me a present mum? Just not his day.....

Happy stitching (& swapping!)
Tracee xx