New Beginnings Mini Quilt Swap

I signed up last month to participate in the New Beginnings Mini Quilt Swap.  I received my partner's name and blog address.  I checked her out for a few weeks and based on what I saw and her response to the questionnaire this is what I came up with.  I also included a few goodies.  I hope she likes it.  The package went out in the mail Monday.

I actually had most of the items in my stash (go figure).  I used part of a 1930's charm pack, some red and white fabric and I only had to purchase the binding.

I am just waiting to receive my package from my partner (since the person I sent it to is not the partner to send me my package).

Happy Quilting......

Birthday Cupcake Swap 2011

I am currently participating in my first fusible applique swap (first time working with appliques and fusible at that).  The swap is through scratchingpost a Yahoo group.  Sindy is an awesome creator of appliques and you could see all the items she has to offer on her fatcatpatterns website.  She offers her patterns for free and also when a new BOM has started you are able to get the pattern free for a month before the next pattern is put up.

Over Christmas break I completed fusing the heat n bond to the fabric, cutting out the patterns, and partially fusing the frosting top to the cake bottom.  I just now need to prepare the envelopes for mailing and purchase more stamps.

I was truly surprised at how easy the process was.  This particular pattern is not one that you have to reverse before tracing it to the heat n bond.  The only thing I discovered is that you need to have good scissors when cutting out the little pieces.  I wear a thumb ring and working with small scissors constantly hitting the thumb ring irritated the finger (even if I took off the ring).  The group consists of 50 people total and the cupcake has 2 pieces, so the amount of cutting was a lot.

I researched and found these scissors by Fiskars and on my next project I will use these.

Here is the stack of completed cupcakes with a few extras.  Once I receive mine for my birthday I will know more how I will put these together.  I think I will use a black background to make the cupcakes pop.

I am currently working on a Christmas wall hanging pattern by Sindy (that I did not get a chance to complete before Christmas) that deals with fusible applique.  See a quick snapshot below.

I am also working on  mask that my husband drew up for me.  I love masks and for my first one, I think it looks pretty good.

Signature Block Swap

I have just signed up to participate in the Signature Block Swap, through quiltingimaginations through a YAHOO group.  This will be my first quilting type swap (looking forward to it).

This swap will entail using earth-tone fabrics and signing and dating your 3 1/2 inch blocks on the front.  Imagine how this quilt will look once put together.  You will have a quilt that was made from quilters all over the world.  If you would like to participate, please go to quiltingimaginations and join the group, then select the "Files" link (left side of page) and sign up.  The deadline to sign up is January 15th, with a mail out deadline of April 30th.  This seems like it will be a fun swap and the block construction is quite easy (seems like you can whip them out fairly quickly) the more people that join the more interesting it will be.

I already have an idea of how I will do my blocks.  I will put all the signed blocks in the middle and surround them with unsigned blocks then maybe an inner border of a light color then and outer border of a darker color.  Not sure yet, but my first idea.

2010 Friend Swap (UPDATED)

I participated in my first swap and this one was put on by Khristina over at sewprimkhris and my partner resides in Canada.  We have been chatting often about our lives and really getting to know each other.  I must say this was hard for me because I had not personally met Flavia and had to rely on our conversations and her blog to figure out what she would like.  You can't assume everyone will like what you do, so I sent her lots of goodies.  I received my package in the mail on Saturday and was excited (like a kid on Christmas morning....which by the way is officially 52 days from today).  Here are some photos of the items received.  I took pictures of each package before I opened it.  I really liked how she took the time to wrap each package with little trinkets.  She left a cute note in the package stating a few items will have to be explained and I think I know which ones they are (HA HA).

I opened the packages and this is what I found



What a cute note, yes Flavia I agree.



This could be an ornament for your key chain or something cute to hang in my craft room.

This is a rosary to hang in your car, I love the flowers and the cross attached to it.





She made me a CD (you go Flavia, American Idol is calling).



The cat and chicken pincushion patterns are way toooooo cute.  I can see where some of my scraps are going.



These bags will come in handy for on-the-go projects (I have lots).  I like the plastic on the front so you can see what you have inside.

This is sooooooo cute, scissor case

This bag is TOTALLY AWESOME.  I could not wait to clean out my Old Navy black and white camo bag that I carry, so that I could show this one off.  It is so durable and the embellishments on the front are way cool.

Thank you Flavia for the nice gifts.  I really like them.