Warm Wishes Received

On a cold grey blustery winter's day, some summery warm wishes arrived at my house today.  Yes, my Warm Wishes Swap package was delivered. From Andrea,  I received the most beautiful cushion cover in tones that remind me of summer seas, watermelon and lime popsicles and a  sewing case filled with lovely extras.  I especially like the beautiful ribbons and zipper charms.

This swap differed from most others I participate in, in that we were assigned to each other and had to communicate  with each other about what we would like to receive. It has a been a great way to get to know Andrea, a bit about her life and family, likes and dislikes.  Round Two of this swap will be later in the year, however, I think I will just have a break from participating in them for a couple of months and catch up on some long neglected projects and Christmas sewing

Hope your week is going well.

Wednesday WIP

Well the Pack Patch QAL is in its final finishing stage. Last week Chase, posted the details for sashing and binding this mini quilt.  All the little scrappy patches we have been making over the last 10 weeks or so, have little stories attached, depending on the theme we were given.  Sometimes it was quite challenging to find fabrics to fit the themes or colour schemes we were given.
I have sashed mine in a sandy/lineny coloured solid, backed it in a DS print from her Winding Roads collection, and quilted with straight lines (as straight as I seem to be able to get them anyway).  Today being an extremely windy wintery day, seemed the ideal time to attach the binding and then sit in front of the fire hand sewing it down.  I'm looking forward to finishing it up and then adding it to my mini quilt wall in my sewing room.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Bucket List

I have just finished reading this book. Monique, the main character was left a bucket list to complete, after the death of her husband.  She and two friends travelled around Europe to complete it, while finding out lots of things about themselves and each other.  After reading this it made me wonder what I would have on my bucket list, so I sat down and started a list.  It was actually a lot harder to do than I thought it would be, and I guess thinking of financial restrictions, somewhat limited it.  Anyway here is what I have come up with so far:

• hike to the top of Rangitoto Island

photo from: http://www.come2newzealand.co.nz/breakfast-at-the-beach

• visit the castles on my Castle pinterest board
• have a ride in a hot air balloon
• walk through a field of daffodils and pick a huge bouquet of them

photo from: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8958973

• get a short blond urchin cut (when my hair is a lot greyer, and I don't have to worry about regrowth so much)
• see the San Francisco "Old Ladies" in Alamo Square

photo from: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?58512-Old-homes/page6

What would be on your bucket list?

Warm Wishes Sent

A little while ago, I was invited to participate in The Warm Wishes Swap via Flickr. Last  week I posted off my package of handmade goodies to Andrea, and amazingly she received them in a week.  Normally postage to the USA take about 15 days to arrive at their destination.  Anyhoo, I am digressing, now that she has received them, I can do the big reveal of what I sent her. I have previously shown some snippets of what I was making on an earlier post so here goes.

First up was an embroidery/sewing folio, inspired by this one and this one.  It measures about 7.5" x 16" opened and 7.5' x 8" closed.
I designed and embroidered the feather, made a QAYG cover from various aqua, lime and linen fabrics, and then appliqued the feather to the front.  The inner is linen, with a firm interfacing.  On the left hand inner,  A piece of wool felt is attached for a needle/pin keep, and there is a pin cushion for when it is in use too.  On the right hand inner I made double layer pockets, one the full size, and the top layer of pockets is divided into two pockets.  In the middle of the folio, I made a page of little PVC pockets for embroidery threads cards. This was my first time sewing this material, and I am really pleased with how it turned out. Probably the hardest thing was sewing a curved zip around the pouch, then attaching my own bias binding to it.  Overall I am really pleased with how it has turned out.

I also made Andrea a decorative embroidery hoop to hang on her sewing room wall. Some DS fabrics, embroidery threads, ribbon and jet plane sweets completed the package.

Now I am eagerly awaiting to find out what she has sent me.

Weekending

Working every day, doesn't leave much time for sewing, baking, reading or housework for that matter, and it will be the same next week too.

This weekend, The Scout, celebrated a birthday, so being the nice wife  I am, I made brown sugar cinnamon brioche for his birthday breakfast. They were certainly enjoyed by us all on Saturday morning.

I have also started some Christmas sewing - a paper-pieced badger - this will be a cushion for my Dad, whom we have nicknamed The Badger. There are some misleading angles and some tiny pieces in this pattern, so needless to say there has been a lot of unpicking, however the full badger is now finished, and I am quite pleased with how he looks.

Only a week left, before the school holidays start.  I am looking forward to some lie-ins, baking, sewing and fun with Miss B and Mr J.

Have a great week.