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Sunday 17 January 2016

Being busy and the end of year swaps.


First tulips of the year.

Thank you for your kindness re my last post... It seems many of us have had or still do have family issues.  Your comments really lifted me . Yes I'm still being called "Tiger" by the most handsome boy in the world..of course I am biased he is my boy after all!!!  Another little calf who looks so little has appeared..he's now called "Charlie" .  When they get nearer in the field to us (they are a bit far to get a decent picture due to electric fencing at the moment) I will introduce the herd properly .  We haven't
had any snow or fog, still more rain , maybe we have avoided snow being nearer the sea, I don't
 know.  One of the kid's taxi's got trapped last week in the dark in a flooded lane he didn't see the water until it was too late and needed a local farmer to drag him out, thankfully he hadn't picked any of the children up yet.

I have struggled for ages to find my sewing mojo, dear Jacquie from My Journey told me to have a look in the cupboard as it might be hiding there...oh that made me laugh...that's what is so great about you lovely people , highs and lows , we all pull together.  I have sort of got it back..I spent a few hours tidying in the annex and I enjoyed that and found inspiration again, it must of been hiding as Jacquie said in one of the cupboards!!!!

I found a little tub of tiny patchwork squares and I remembered a post on Pinterest where it was mentioned how to , like a jigsaw puzzle iron the squares onto fusible interfacing.  When that is done
you machine in straight lines on the reverse side and like magic the squares line up really quite
fabulously. Here is what I did




easy and a great way to use up those scraps 




A really clever idea that some someone kind  shared.  great for small projects , probably wouldn't work on quilt size projects , but these rectangles are probably destined for smaller projects like place mats , purses or similar.  A great way to use up little bits of fabric that otherwise might be time consuming to sew up the usual way...I know I will be using this method again.

At last, thank you for your patience , I can now post my Christmas swaps.  Well it took me a few days, a hour snatched here and there to "find" misfiled photo's and to do some photo grids otherwise this post would of been soooooo photo packed!!!


First was my swap with Diane (The Cheshire Quilter) , what a beautiful maker Diane is..I will
treasure the gifts she made for me...



Diane made me a wall hanging,
A tote with umbrella
Two purses filled with goodies
and also biscuits, pens, hand cream and balm, and a spotty dog tape measure.

I sent 


I so enjoyed making the little house coasters
I may have to make some more.

Then there was 
2 swaps from Melanie (The Patchwork Robin)
The first was the Creative Chaos Christmas swap
and then the secret Sewchat secret swap

From Melanie , the Creative Chaos swap 


The secret Sewchet swap 


What I sent to Melanie for the first swap

I also posted to Megan from Pigeonwishes the secret swap
I have searched but cannot find the photos 
but I sent fabric and sewing notions

and lastly the Twelve Days of Christmas swap

I was,paired with Cath from the blog Clicky Needles
First is what I sent 
And then what Cath sent to me 




A huge thank you to my partners and the 
Ladies who organised the swaps.

Right time for a cuppa
xxx





32 comments:

  1. What wonderful swaps we have had some snow the last of it is just hanging about in shady corners

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  2. Some superb swops there. I hope your creative mojo returns to stay. Mine disappeared completely today - I did try to do some machine piecing whilst the Archers omnibus was on but I felt rather low, and ended up leaving it. Let's hope that any future rain is in managable quantities.

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    1. Sorry so late in replying ...bet like us you are fed up with this wet weather

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  3. Oh what wonderful swaps! Such fun things I am sure the kids enjoyed also.

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  4. Glad you found your sewing mojo, those little squares are lovely. What brilliant swaps xx

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  5. What a wonderful swappy time you have had!!! Isn't blogland just a wonderful place with so many wonderful things happening! xx

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    1. So many lovely people in Blogland ..had such fun

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  6. Wow - you were really busy! I enjoyed a couple of the swaps too - there are some lovely and very generous people out in Blogland, aren't there? The patchwork looks lovely too.
    Best wishes
    Ellie

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    1. Blogland is fab...having a little rest only a couple of swaps in the pipeline at the moment. Xx

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  7. Very nice swaps. I love the quilt idea . Do you remember the link for the how to?

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    1. Hi , the link is on the post after this if you missed it..I forgot all about it at the time!!!

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  8. What a lovely selection of gifts. I only took part in two Christmas swaps last year but have planed to take part in more for this one. Glad you found your sewing mojo! x

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  9. what a wonderful bunch of items sent and received in the swaps. I'm hoping my 12 days of Christmas one is waiting at school for me...
    love your little squares - what a cool tip!

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  10. What a lot of great goodies given and received for the swaps. Glad to hear you are back to crafting, such a great way to use of small scraps.

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    1. The scrapping is so easy..worst bit the ironing ..ha ha. Xx

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  11. It was lovely being your swap partner, thank you so much for your fantastic gifts.
    My sewing my sewing mojo is not what it should be at the minute. But your squares look great. I'm setting my machine up later so hopefully it'll return soon. Xxxx

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    1. I keep finding mine and losing it again..must get a wiggle on as have the Valentine swap to do!!!

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  12. Beautiful swaps & goodies!!! Have fun :)

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  13. You've done so well with your swaps, such lovely things you received and sent. Thank you for taking part in the Twelve Days of Christmas swap, it was a great success. I only started taking part in swaps this last Christmas so I'm hoping to get involved with more this year.

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  14. Hi Maria,
    Thank you for your kind comment on my blog. You are quite right we do have similar tastes!
    Thank goodness your sewing mojo turned up, or we might not have seen this clever way of using up scraps!
    Love your pretty little house coasters!
    What a great swapping time you've had!
    Barbara xxI

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  15. Gosh, you did join a lot of swaps!! Lovely gifts both ways! Love the patchwork idea as well!! :)

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    1. It was a busy time but lots of fun. The patchwork is so simplexx

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