Adventures in swapping

Just so we don't confuse you any more than usual I'm writing in black and Yvonne is purple today as will be evidenced by the references to my full name! Seriously Mum!! Anyway, happy reading :)

First of all, if there is anyone reading this who is as old as me and Methuselah, I'm not talking about the free love swapping of the sixties! I'm talking about the, much more exciting, world of craft swapping on flickr!! Once again Correne amazed me with her 'give it a bash' attitude to life in general and leapt into the unknown world of swapping with her usual gusto. I merely watched from the sidelines at the beginning but it didn't take long for me to turn green with jealousy at the fun she was having. I knew I had to 'dip my toe in the water', as they say, when she received her first parcel. So I thought you might like to hear how my first swap went. Well, I'm sorry if you're not really interested I'm telling you about it and thats that!

Unlike Correne, I never dive into anything without much trepidation and hand wringing and after seeing the creativity in the previous Pillow Talk Swap, run by Heather and Co, I wasn't sure if I'd be biting off more than I could chew. Anyway, with suitable (gratefully received) encouragement from Heather, and Correne threatening revolt if I didn't get a grip, I did as I was told and asked for an invite.

I had such fun!! I admit I was worried my partner might not like what I'd made but after reading her likes and dislikes and stalking her blog and flickr favourites it was a challenge to try and make something she'd love. I decided to use Kate Spain's fabulous Fandango fabrics as my inspiration

and actually drew a picture!!! of what I hoped to achieve.

This was a first for me, I'm no artist but I do believe in trying to step out of your comfort zone. I'm glad I gave it a go and the resulting pillow looked quite a lot like the picture too.

It took a lot of time with all the applique and embroidery and the hexies too but was very rewarding.

And the best part? Shelly (Pink Punk Boutique) really liked it and I found her blog and a new flickr friend. :)) Bonus eh? A win win situation. The only downside is the fact that the pillow for me from my partner still hasn't arrived :( But hey I'm waiting on an Angel pillow to replace it and the original may well turn up too. And now I'm hooked on swaps too, so thanks to Correne for her errm encouragement (?) bullying (?) and thanks to the amazing people who work so hard to organise them. "It was definitely bullying Mum ;)"

I did take part in two more swaps; My Favourite Little Quilt Swap run by Kendra (Mccuisti)

and the Scrappy Pincushion Swap run by Chickenfoot and friends.

but I won't inflict all the details on you or you might die of boredom!!! Or, even worse, never return to our blog again and Correne would never speak to me again (imagine) if that happened!

Suffice to say that I had a great time taking part in both of them and look forward to many more swaps in the future.

There are more photos of Yvonne's swap projects here, here, and here.