More Christmas...

I just realized that I hadn't shown what I sent to Nancy in Linda and Stephanie's Christmas Swap - shame on me.

I was really pleased with this topper - it is from one of the Anka's Treasure's books. ( I can check which one if any one is interested) The fabrics were from a charm pack I had - Maison de Noel by Moda I think. I love the extra bit of blue in the range - one of my favourite colours. This is the bag that I made to put everything in - it is quite large and I thought it might make a good Christmas Swag.

I made a needle book with a stitchery taken from the Twelve Red Robins pattern by Cinderberry Stitches but the pattern for the actual needle book was from a project by Rosalie Quinlan. I borrowed some scallop scissors to cut the felt and I just love the effect - just a bit nicer than pinking shears.

And then with a few other things I wrapped them all up and sent them on their way. ( I made a gift tag too from the same Cinderberry Stitches pattern.)

Merry Christmas in July Nancy! ( You can read what Nancy thought here - it's absolutely wonderful to see the things you send in their new house. Don't you love her table and the topper! )

Christmas comes again....

Hang on, this doesn't look very Christmassy !

But what is inside it certainly does....

It is a new fancy cow hide Christmas stocking from Texas full of goodies from Bonnie ( Calamity Jane's Cottage) Look at this Texan Christmas greeting. I don't think I'd ever be able to say it properly with my Australian accent.

The stocking was filled with lots of goodies....

But the most exciting thing of all was a Christmas checkerboard quilt ( being tested here by Colly)

The back - or is it the front - can just be a hanging or topper ...

And the other side is the checkerboard.

What a great idea! And Bonnie didn't know that I really like that range of fabric ( Cold Winter Noses) and I have some charm squares and fat quarters to match so I think I will have to make up something which goes with this wonderful quilt. Thank you so much Bonnie for everything - it is just perfect.

This was the Christmas in July swap run by Linda and Stephanie - Thanks so much girls for a wonderful swap.

For some reason this parcel took a bit longer - maybe it had to go via the North Pole to get Santa's approval, but it was certainly worth the wait.

Paper Bag Swap...

I had a wonderful swap experience with the Paper Bag Swap run by Maree. My partner was the talented Robyn from Daisy Quilts. I hadn't done one of these before so it was quite exciting trying to decide what to send to my partner and wondering what she would send for me to make something with. And just look at the wonders she produced. Aren't they just fabulous?
I sent the green fabric and this is what she made. Her name is Blossom and the first thing my children said was "Can I have her?" Can you guess what my answer was - yep, it was a big NO! This little beauty is mine - all mine.


Now Blossom came in her own matching bag which is also just perfect for me. I don't think that Blossom will get to live in her 'pouch' - I hope she is happy to share.

Now Robyn sent me a very different style of fabric - her fabric was from Moda Nell's Flower Shop line. As soon as I saw it I though of a bag pattern I have had for a while. It is called Cheryl's Bag from Leanne's House. Robyn had sent beads and covered buttons so the blank squares were just perfect for this. She had told me that this is one of her favourite fabrics so I just felt that I had to use fabric from the same line to go with it.

There was also a tassle in the things she sent so I had to make a zipper bag to attach to it, didn't I?

This was a lovely swap because we got to choose our fabirc but there was a big surprise to see what our partner did with it.

Thank you Maree, for running this swap and thank you Robyn for the wonderful Blossom and her bag. ( and the sneaky box of chocolates too)

You can see what Robyn wrote on her blog here and here. She takes much better photos than I do.

This has been so much fun.