christmas in july ~ the gifts I sent....

These are the gifts I sent to Nanette in the Christmas in July swap -

a Christmas Cushion - I realised afterwards there is no "D" in Christmas for Decorations lol!  Or I guess it could be "H" and "T" for Hanging Things!!

a Star and Holly table mat

 

and an Inspirational words, Star wall hanging

I also sent a vintage style Christmas mug, but forgot to take a picture of that- but Nanette has one on her blog.

I must admit I was happy with what I made, but very relieved all the same that Nanette liked them too!!

Thanks again to Cheryll for the Christmas fun!

xx 

christmas in july ~ completely and thoroughly spoiled.....

.....by Anthea, in Chez's Christmas in July swap.  I just love everything she sent me, and she was/is so generous!

You may know, if you read Anthea's blog, that she and her family are going through a very sad time at the moment, and I wish her much love and lots of hugs. Anthea has sent me some very lovely, kind and thoughtful emails since I was diagnosed with cancer last year, and I have felt very glad to know her online, and felt quite excited my swap gifts were from her.

Here are the gorgeous parcels, wrapped in lovely paper - yes I unwrapped them while still in bed!

 ..... and here are the gorgeous things she sent me -

gorgeous 'Holly the Dolly'.....

a  lovely 'T' ornament.....

and this sweet bag.....

I got a lovely giggle out of the little note Anthea sent with her bag  - if you can't read it, it says 'a fun little goody bag... do wish someone 'piece' or 'peace'? (Take a good look at the words on the fabric!).... 

maybe it's Christmas fabric for quilters lol!

and these are gorgeous - a 'surfing Santa' knife, an angel snowglobe, and a 'Candy Cane Lane' candle 

I just loved them all.  Thank you so much Anthea!

And now I'm off for a cuppa and a lolly or two..... 

back tomorrow with what I sent to Nanette

xx

FNSI, a catch up, and sewing frustrations.....

I still don't seem to have been able to get into the practice of blogging regularly, as I had planned to do.....

Anyway, here is a sort of catch up, as most of the sewing that has been happening here has been 
Secret Sewing.  There has been this.....

my parcels sent off for Chez's Christmas in July swap.....

and this.....started on Friday night during one of my favourite nights of the month, FNSI, hosted by Wendy

...the beginnings of a gift I am making for a friend, from French General fabrics.  I had hoped to finish this and get it off in the mail this week, however......

VERY frustratingly, both my sewing machine and I have sustained Sewing Injuries..... (a half-hearted lol...)

I seem to have wrecked my thumb, possibly caused by too much hand sewing and hand quilting in too short a time, which is making hand sewing and generally just trying to grip things very difficult and painful.... 
and yesterday I managed to damage my sewing machine too.....

I was on the very last block of 16, the previous 15 having worked perfectly, doing some machine applique, and was having some difficulty in getting my bottom thread to come through to the top.  I think I must have been a bit over-zealous in pulling on the top thread to pop the bottom thread through..... I'm not really sure how it happened, but the needle, going down, hit the plate, bent and broke, and now the whole needle mechanism seems to have been thrown out of alignment, as when I now put the needle down it either hits the foot or the plate.  

With a new needle in, some gentle wiggling and nudging took place, and then a bit more forceful pushing and pulling... some swearing may have been involved....  but it seems we are both now pretty much out of action sewing-wise.

I am so frustrated, as I had a list of things I wanted to get finished this month, and was doing well with them.  So I guess I will resort to preparing projects as much as I am able, and a bit of tidying up and reorganising my sewing stuff will not go astray - and thank goodness I don't currently have any urgent deadlines to meet!

I am missing my sewing though.....

flimsies, minis, and pinnies.....

A little catch up on the latest sewing adventures....

 

A flimsy completed over the last couple of days - more to come on this one later in the month.....

 

 

Minis have been sent and received - thanks once again to amazing Swap Mama Cheryll!

 

this is the gorgeous mini I received from Sisbabe Stitches, and I love it.  It is very hard to see, but all the seams are sewn over in lovely decorative stitches.  And I love the saying; the first time I read it, I felt like I could relate!

 

 

And this is the mini I made and sent.  I won't reveal to who it was sent, as I know they have not been able to check their mail over the last week or two, but hopefully it is there waiting for them when they can.....

 

 

Don't these thread colours just look gorgeous together?

 

 

And my first project out of my new Gail Pan book, the 'Bloom' pincushion - I love this book, I want to make everything in it!

 

 

I did sign up for FNWF with Cheryll last week, with plans to again spend it with Sue, Tracee and Marg, working on our Underground Railroad quilts.  Most annoyingly, a migraine prevailed and I was out of action. So there is some catching up there to do - more on that soon!

xx

lovely goodies.....

I was very excited when found I was one of the winners for OPAM April, and yesterday I received these lovely gifts from Peg -

this gorgeous and so cute thread holder - which is wonderful as I have recently started collecting Cottage Garden threads and I can keep them here, along with any small stitcheries I am working on -

I love the fabrics Peg used in making this 

ī

 the inside also held some very pretty DMC threads -

and also included was this Gail Pan table runner pattern which I am looking forward to making -

Thank you so much to Peg for for such lovely goodies, and to both Peg and Kris for all the time and effort they put into organising OPAM for us to enjoy.

Receiving this parcel from Peg reminded me.....

Last year I took part in Cheryll's Flower swap, and I was lucky enough to be the recipient of Peg's swap gifts.    At the time however, and over a period of several months, I ended up being without either a computer or internet connection, so had never posted Peg's sweet gifts. 

This was the gorgeous mini Peg sent me - I really love the stitchery

and this cute little mug rug, which some people might say suits me perfectly lol...

there were also a lovely mug, which I use often, some delicious teas and coffees and some lollies - which I must say between myself, my niece and my nephew, did not last long!

So although I am a bit behind the times, hopefully posting this now is a case of better late than never, and I did so appreciate the wonderful parcel that Peg sent to me, filled with such thoughtful and generous gifts.

Thank you Peg for all your beautiful gifts!

xx 

YAY! Photos now included......

No, I didn't find my camera cord..... It did occur to me, when I couldn't find it, to see if my computer had a slot for a memory card, and it doesn't, but in being so focused on and frustrated about the missing cord, I had completely forgotten that my little tablet DOES.  It took a gentle suggestion from Peg - thank you, Peg! - about checking for a memory card slot to prompt me to remember the tablet!  I'm a goose!!

So, firstly, my Easter mini swaps...  I sent this little Easter mini to Simone ~

of course, a bunny needs a little, fluffy tail ~

and this is the cute little mini I received from Maria ~

isn't he a cute little bunny ~

and Maria even hunted out some gorgeously pretty Easter egg fabric for the border ~

I feel so much better now that I have been able to show my Easter minis, sent and received!  Thank you Maria, and thank you to our amazing Swap Mama Cheryll.

  

The evening of Good Friday was FNSI, and I did some sewing on my Underground Railroad quilt blocks.  Since I had changed my colours, I needed to remake the first block.  The second block had come out too small and needed to be fixed, and I finally I needed to make the fourth block.  Results are as under - block 4 is still a work in progress ~

I am really happy with how my blocks are turning out.

Thank you to Wendy for hosting another fun FNSI.

Finallly, I had a couple of lovely gatherings with friends over the last week - but I think I will now save that for a blog post tomorrow!

xx

first swap of the year.....



I signed up to take part in the Valentines swap organised by Swap Mama Extraordinaire Cheryll, my first one for the year.

Sue and I were swap partners.  My swap gift from Sue was this lovely bright heart -

 

with my initial on it -

 

and my mini for Sue was this one -

Swaps are fun, and I am taking part in several more during the year.  It is a lovely way to connect with people and to give and receive something lovely to keep and display.  I'm looking forward to the other swaps in 2014.