Swap Gifts

July has been a busy (but lovely) month for swap gifts. In the My House, My Home swap through Mrs Martins quilt Shop Kerrie, my partner, has received her gift so I can show you what I sent to her. This month we had to make for the kitchen -

I made Kerrie these placemats - 4 in all - for her kitchen table. It is a lovely pattern from Viv's Creations and I must make myself a set one day.

For the Christmas in July swap I have shown you my gorgeous gifts from Maria, but my partner  to send to was Noela from www.quiltybitsfromtheblueroom.blogspot.com. Firstly I made Noela this cute little mat - a Gail Pan design.

As well as a Jolly Santa wallhanging

Noela loves blue, so I made this "S for Snowman" table centre in blues and reds.  Was a lovely swap - thankyou Cheryll for organising it.

 

And my wonderful parcel from Kerrie, in the My House, My Home swap arrived today but it deserves a post all of its own. Cheryl

 

A Lovely Day Stitching

Shez and I headed off for another lovely day of stitching last Saturday. This time it was a "Christmas in July" workshop with Lisa from FignBerry Creations and Marg Low.

We received six lovely projects - this one from Lisa was a favourite with these cute little snowmen.

As was this lovely gift bag.

One of Marg's projects.

Shez and Tracee in front of a lovely display of Marg's quilts.

And this gorgeous one of Lisa's "Deck the Halls" I may or may not have bought the pattern for, you know how I love my redwork.

I'll be back to show you progress on the day's projects soon. Cheryl

Christmas in July

Opening day for our Christmas in July swap has finally arrived. I have been looking at some gorgeous looking parcels for several days with a bit of feeling and squishing going on.  I knew from the postmark on the parcel that it was from Western Australia, but you don't always know where your blogging friends live.  So it was with great delight that I discovered Maria was my "secret Santa" from maria-lifeontheblock.blogspot.com. And I was just blown away with the gorgeous things Maria had made for me -

The first parcel I opened was this lovely wallhanging - love it Maria. The cute little brooch in the top right-hand corner was attached to the envelope.

Maria obviously knows how much I love snowmen - he's the cutest on his felt stocking. And there was a parcel inside - a lovely angel ornament.

And how gorgeous is this wool reindeer ornament. He will look very handsome on my tree of handmade ornaments.

And yum - Maria added some yummy choccies and coffee sticks. Maria thankyou for being my secret Santa. Loved all my wonderful xmas gifts and will enjoy adding them to my xmas decorating. Cheryl

1 Xmas Item a Month

I am a bit late in showing you what I stitched last month for 1 Xmas Item a Month. Now I was very excited to have finished Down Reindeer Lane, a Rag-Tag Stitchin' design from Michelle that I had been working on each month, that I thought I would work on not one, but two longer term xmas projects (yes, I know, but I'll try) -

So I've gone for another of my lovely friend, Michelle's designs - this one is "Merry Mistletoe" - so here's block 1 that I stitched last month -

And the other project I've been stitching is "Angel's Wings", a FignBerry Creations design. Now wouldn't it be nice if I had two more lovely little quilts finished to add to my Christmas decorating.

And this month another block from each -

Block 2 of  "Angels Wings"

And this cute little reindeer is block 2 of "Merry Mistletoe.  Cheryl

Love it When the Postie Brings Parcels

and today I received two lovely parcels in the mail.

These are for our Christmas in July swap. How yummy and inviting do they look. Alas I have to stop squishing and feeling until next week, on the 25th.  They've come all the way from  Western Australia. I wonder who they could be from.

Luckily I was able to open the other one. My FHFS parcel which came from Claire. Our theme this time was Tilda, and Claire spoilt me well and truly.

Just loved this gorgeous zippered case - perfect for cottons, scissors and whatever else is needed. And Claire had made a lovely pin/needle keep to match and included some great Stork scissors.  At the back is the most beautiful throw - lovely quality muslin with a  strip of pretty red Tilda fabric

And as if that wasn't enough Claire has made me this beautiful pocket to hold my hoop and a cute little matching needlecase - such gorgeous fabric.  And some yummy Lindt chocolates - they are just divine.  Claire I can't thankyou enough - I just loved all my beautiful gifts. Thankyou so very much for spoiling me.  Have a lovely weekend. Cheryl

A Few Days Off

I have four days off work this week with lots of plans to prep things ready for xmas and other swaps. Instead I find myself playing with a new pattern I bought recently when Shez and I went to The Christmas Beetle Xmas in July workshop. We had a few stops along the way, and one of our favorites (well they were all favorites) was Meg and Mog Patchwork.

I bought this lovely Crabapple Hill pattern "Deck the Halls". It involves a little coloring with crayons, which I havn't done before. I'm sure it can't be any harder than kindergarten lol.  So yesterday I  cut out and traced the top and bottom border - sorry hard to see in the photo, but it says "Deck the Halls with boughs of holly, etc" and is a mere 64" long.  The fabric I bought, of course, wasn't wide enough, so as I didn't want a join in the middle I ended up with a creamy patterned quilt back.  I'll show you more when I get started.

I did buy a couple of other lovely patterns from Meg and Mog -

This one is a Birdbrain Designs pattern and of course being snowmen I couldn't leave it there. The pattern is for 12 xmas decorations, but there is a free pattern to download if I decided to make it into a quilt instead.

Bit of a xmas theme happening here (as usual), but couldn't resist this one either. I'll show you my fabric purchases another time. Cheryl

Friends Having Fun swap

I love being a member of this online swap group - the name says it all - a bunch of friends having fun stitching for each other. This time I was sewing for Shez and as we were catching up the weekend before last, it was even better that I could hand deliver it.

The theme was Tilda - either a Tilde project from one of her books or a project using Tilda fabric. I opted for the latter and made Shez this table runner.

It is a Leanne Beasley pattern - which has some flower stitcheries stitched randomly.

And, of course, I had to add some other bits a pieces - a Tilda tin, Tilda spools, some cottage garden threads and Shez's favourite spotty fabric. I know she loved it and has found a place for it on her table. Cheryl

More Lovely Christmas Panels

that my lovely friend Shez gave me as a surprise gift. I'm so looking forward to sewing these-

This one's a cute stocking.

Lots of possibilities with this one.

Think my granddaughters have decided they need something made with this one,

Love this one. Lots of fun coming up sewing these. Thankyou so much for spoiling me Shez - you know me too well. Cheryl

Christmas in July

Shez and I headed off on Friday for another lovely weekend of stitching. This time it was a "Christmas in July" class run by The Christmas Beetle in Albury, and another lovely day of stitching with Gail Pan.

This is one of the two projects from the day and is the one I worked on - stitched in CGT "Hugs and Kisses".

And a lovely needleturned table runner

And look who else Shez and I found there - our mate Cheryll from Stitching Cubbyhole. As you can imagine lots of laughing and talking happening, though Cheryll is looking very industrious here (in between the shopping).

It was lovely to be able to catch up with my sister, Wendy as well. I did have a lovely photo of the four of us but for some reason it wouldn't download, but I'm sure you will see lots more on Shez's blog of our fun day. Cheryl

Progress

I have made some progress on our two projects from our Gail Pan workshop a couple of weeks ago -

The flower bag - good practice for my needleturn, which I don't do very often.

And the stitchery.

My good friend Shez came to stay and came to the class with me. She was very naughty and spoilt me with some gorgeous gifts -

This beautiful photo frame (perfect for a photo of the grandies I think) and some yummy choccies.

And lots of lovely xmas panels - she knows me too well. These are gorgeous xmas labels.

Cute, aren't they? I'm going to have lots of fun making these up. Will show you more next time. Thankyou so much Shez for spoiling me so .Love my gorgeous  pressies. Cheryl