Spicing up the kitchen swap part 2

Today the postman bought me a huge package all the way from the US of A! Enter fanfare and much whooping. My fantastic Spicing up the kitchen swap partner Corrie (monkeysx2) sent me tons of goodies! Along with some herbal tea, pretty notelets and some Gummi Butterflies

Along with some herbal tea, pretty notelets and Gummi Butterflies I got all these handmade pretties: Stacking organiser boxes!

a hoop with hexies and my name....this is so going to live in MY sewing room!!!

and an embroidered linen cloth, no way is that ever being used! Display purposes only!

I seriously can't believe my luck! Fab-a-rooney! Thank you Corrie!

As promised I cracked on with the apron this afternoon :) When my partner requested an apron I knew that I would make one modelled on the fabulous apron I received in the first round of this swap. I'm really pleased with how it translated from brain to fabric and hope my partner will love it. I carried on the linen and Loulouthi theme that I used for the plastic bag holder.

True to the original, I made it reversible. I've been very generous (for me) and used some of my beloved Ruby Star Rising stash. In the spirit of full disclosure, I did check that I could get more of this fabric before using it :)

Unbelievably my next post will be the 100th!!! It's also nearly a year since we set up this blog. So with this in mind there will be a giveaway imminently. As our lovely regular readers if you could chose one thing that you would love to receive as a gift from us what would it be? Don't be shy ;)

Spicing up the kitchen swap part 1

I've been very slow off the mark to get started on my swap goodies this time around but I'm hoping my partner will forgive my silence in the flickr group when they receive their package.

For starters, I dug out some silver grey linen and my newly acquired Loulouthi by Anna Maria Horner, cut and pieced some strips...

...and turned them into a plastic bag holder :) Yummy! Apparently we need one now.

Tomorrow when I return from the physio-terrorist therapist, I have to crack on and make an apron to go with this. I've got a fairly decent plan in my head so hopefully it will translate well into fabric! Catch up with you again soon :)

Gigantic proportions

Gigantic might be overstating things a little but this pillow is a monster! I really hope my Pillow Talk Swap partner likes big cushions. It measures around 24" square but I managed to squeeze a 26" form in without too much hassle. I absolutely love how this has turned out. This is how it looks on our 2 seater sofa.

I've definitely got a bit of a crush on solid colours at the moment and I think they just work so well with the Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun. I'm sure you'll all be sick of seeing my straight line quilting but it is just so simple and this type of project just demands a bit of simplicity.

It's an absolute scorcher today but I made the most of the sunny weather to get a pic on the line :)

So I'm now down to one swap to complete before the end of this month! With the way things have been around here lately I'm extremely pleased to have kept up with my commitments. You may have noticed that Yvonne has been MIA recently. Unfortunately she's having a very rough spell health-wise but we're all hoping that she will be much better very soon!

If any of you are on facebook I have just set up a Nellie's Niceties page over there. It's got the tragic sum of 3 people that like it all of whom live in my house! So if you're feeling friendly I'd love you to take a look so we don't look like such billy-n-mates ;)

Brit Quilt swap ready to mail

Much to my great pleasure the mini quilt I've made for my Brit Quilt swap partner is finished. I was slightly worried I'd be late after spending all last week in bed but thankfully it's all good. I stuck very closely to my partner's likes so I'm hopeful that she will like it!

My photos never seem to capture these colours very well. I actually love how it has turned out. I'm pleased that I tried putting colours together that I wouldn't normally as they work so well together. Here's a shot of the back. I kept it plain for time saving purposes but I really love the way the quilting makes it come to life. The green floppy thing will be gone, that's just my cunning disguise to prevent partner snooping :)

Here's the label in close-up not that it's giving anything away ;) I don't normally name things that I make as I've got an appalling imagination for things like that but I've named this one 'Colour Maze' as that's what hubby thought it looked like.

I'm hoping to finish off my Pillow Talk swap cushion today, wish me luck ;)

Hi. My name is....

...Reene and I'm a fabricaholic!! This lovely lot of goodies arrived today :) The whole range of Prince Charming by Tula Pink, some Amy Butler, some solid cottons and linen, some Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt and Avalon from Birch fabrics. Yep I definitely have a problem but hey nobody got hurt so it must be OK right?!

It's not only fabrics that caught my eye in recent days though! I saw this on flickr and HAD to have it!! Well today it arrived! Woohoo! This gorgeous cushion, which has been hand screen printed, was made by the very talented Karen of Blueberry Park.

Karen was my partner in round 10 of the Pillow Talk Swap. Here's a shot of the 2 cushions together.

My dilemma now is where it should live. Here next to it's relative or amongst the eclectic range of pillows below. Let me know what you think :)

In other news, I managed to finish my Brit Quilt swap mini quilt this afternoon but it was too murky to take photos so for now here's a close up of some of the quilting :)

Attempting normality

This week has been a total washout in terms of sewing. The snotty lurgy turned into a nasty chest infection which resulted in bed rest for the week :( Hooray for the iPad!! I'd have gone totally (ok, even more) mad without the aility to browse flickr and blogland! Thankfully I had a crochet project on the go that I could complete from my bed :) After completing this project earlier in the year I knew I wouldn't get much rest from nagging until I completed one for Mum ;) Here it is in the sunshine.

I thought it would be interesting to show it alongside the original babette blanket I made for myself. I love how the pattern works in the different colourways :)

The monotony of crochet and bed rest was disrupted by the arrival of this gorgeousness!!

My Pillow talk swap partner was the one and only Elizabeth of Don't Call Me Betsy fame!! I can't tell you how stupidly excited I was when I recognised her name on the customs label :) Regular readers will remember I took part in her Sliced Coins Quilt Along I just love her style and we seem to have a similar taste in design and fabrics. A truly amazing pairing from my Pillow Talk swap mama :) I had marked this beauty down as a favourite over on flickr so I was delighted to be able to give it a home! Central Park, half square triangles, grey....what's not to love?! Elizabeth you ROCK!!

I've managed to spend some time downstairs today so I'm hoping that I can get back on the sewing machine tomorrow as I have a ton of swap deadlines looming!! Oh, I've also succumbed to the growing craze that is The Farmer's Wife Quilt so expect photos of some of these blocks very soon.

Bleugh

On the plus side my back feels better today!! However, I have now been struck down with a snotty lurgy...yuk! I hardly ever have colds but when I get them I'm a misery guts! So, this morning whilst lying in bed feeling sorry for myself I was delighted to receive a package from the USA containing this yumminess:

Two colourways of the new Loulouthi range by Anna Maria Horner! I love it and couldn't wait to get my hands on some so ordered it online and played chicken with the customs charges...and won!! Woohoo! Suitably excited by the new fabrics I dragged my miserable backside out of bed and eventually felt up to a quick bout of sewing before the nose started dripping again . No fabric was harmed/contaminated in the making of this :) You can see where I'm going with the Pillow Talk Swap now!

Pips and Pillows

I made good progress with The Pips baby quilt on Monday and it's now finished!! I hope baby Jacob and his parents will love it because I do :)

I did some very simple straight line quilting, backed with a blue and grey print from the City Weekend range and made a label from a Pips charm square.

Now I've completed this project I've been able to move on to another of my swap commitments. This time it's the turn of the Pillow Talk Swap. This round is quite a quick turn around and the number of participants was strictly limited to 50. Mum and I were both lucky enough to sneak into this round :) I sat down with some paper and pens this afternoon to draft a plan.

I'm hoping that my partner will approve of my choice of colours and the inevitable addition of some Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun because I've almost finished piecing it :)

I just loved the way the fabrics looked together when I'd cut them out and couldn't resist seeing how they'd look all sewn up. Now I've totally buggered my back up again but at least the pillow will be pretty! Here's hoping a good night's sleep will relieve the muscle spasms :)

Good post day :)

Today has been a really good post day! A little while ago Judith from Rags to Bags held a pay it forward event on her blog. I was lucky enough to be one of the recipients of Judith's generosity and today it arrived! 3 yummy goodies!!! Chocolate (always a winner), a beautiful crocheted flower brooch and fabulous little purse with a strap. It was so exciting to receive this in the post from an online friend all for just leaving a comment on her blog!! Lucky me. Thank you so much Judith I love it all!! :-)

Here's a little closeup of the brooch :)

Now I have to fulfill my side of the pay it forward deal. This is how it works:
1. I will make a little something for the first 3 people who comment on this post. It will be a surprise and it will arrive when you least expect it.
2. I will have 365 days to do it in. What's the catch? To get a handmade present from me, you have to play too! This means YOU pledge to send a little handmade something to 3 readers of your blog. It doesn't have to be quilty - just handmade.
3. You must have a blog.
4. Once you receive your "little something", you must post about your Pay it Forward on your blog to keep the fun going - be sure to use the Pay It Forward badge.

So if you fancy receiving a little handmade something from me sometime in the next year leave a comment and I'll send to the first 3 people to say they will take part :)

My other good post today came in the form of charm squares. I found this fabulous set of Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt on Etsy and I can't tell you how excited I was!

I just love all of it! I can't wait to get on and make something with it but will have to wait as I have a stack of projects to do. One thing that is getting nearer to being crossed off my to-do-list is my Brit Quilt Swap mini quilt :) I managed to finish the top today!!! I am mightily pleased with it and hope my partner will love it.

If you leave a comment for me please do say whether you want to take part in the "pay it forward" otherwise I will assume you're just chatting (which is fine by me too). Catch you again soon :)

Brit Quilt Swap

I thought I'd better pull my finger out and make a start on the mini quilt for my Brit Quilt Swap partner. Mum kindly purchased a rather gorgeous jelly roll of coloured solids for me at a recent quilt fair and I just knew my partner would love it! One night this weekend, just as I was nodding off to sleep, an idea came to mind for the design of this mini quilt. I forgot all about it until this morning so I quickly scribbled down the basic pattern and the rest grew from there. Serious quilting maths have been occurring hence the calculator!

From the gorgeous jelly roll I chose 9 strips in shades of orange, yellow and blue. The green is a fat quarter and is far more vivid than this photo would have you believe.

I was so excited by the fabrics and the design that I couldn't wait to start cutting out!

I've also started sewing the pieces together but the pictures I took are terrible so I'll have to wait to show you that until I can get some daylight shots :) Catch you soon!