A Crafty swap and 321...

Not blast off - but I did finish.

It does seem that I may be a little consumed by this red thread colour though.

There are four cards with the 321 number on, two of which I emptied in completing the house project, and there are two brand new skeins waiting to be wound.

(guess I wont run out any time soon!)

Sure I finished by the deadline, but I may need to work this little number again, it is lovely.

Well I think so - anyway.

Thanks Bronwyn for generously sharing this pretty design.

(There is more than one skein of that green, 471 in my possession too!)

Decisions, decisions - green with red or

red with green?

A little leftover piece of ric rac just the right length.

All ready for the NCB Christmas swap Wednesday.

Gratefully received by Cathie.

Lots of fun creative gifts exchanged.

What did I receive?

My gift came  from the talented Ms Curly Pops - a set of her new gift tags, see those scissor pics apparently I need to do some cutting, Cool pack it includes the string for the holes too.

There is also a beady necklace in the top of the pic, that too was part of my gift.

Ooh pretty, thanks Cam.

I made some good progress last night on the second brown sock - back to needles and yarn for me.

Now it is time for me to get back to the reorganisation and maybe even hang a few decorations about if I don't get distracted by another project.

Have a wonderful Thursday and stay cool.

Summer time fun...

All wrapped up and left with the post people earlier this week, now that it has arrived at its new home I can show you the finished hanging. 

If you have been looking here recently you would have seen quite a lot of the parts.

Bathing boxes at the beach

and the whole scene complete with girls playing on the beach.

I used a combination of raw edge machine applique for the larger pieces and buttonhole hand applique for the smaller pieces, I hand quilted clouds and around some of the shapes. The pattern has all of the work done by machine.

Instead of a hanging sleeve I put tabs on the top for hanging - they co-ordinate with the houses.

The design by Carol Turznik was published in Australian Homespun No 103 Vol12 No12. 

This was a very fun piece to work on and it was hard to send it on its way, so I was very happy to learn that Maria has a bit of a fascination with Bathing boxes and she adores her new wall hanging.

I found these turtles on the specials table at Spotty last week and figured they'd be perfect for backing.

While the fabric is a drill it is very soft and worked well for the purpose.

As it is almost time for celebrating the season of Christmas I included this little fellow and some chocolates too.

He is the one with the bead decorations I was working on a few weeks ago.

Thanks to Cheryll the wonderful host of this very fun swap.

Hope you are able to indulge in some Summer time fun this weekend with the beginning of the season here tomorrow.

Springtime in the mail

When I went to the post box yesterday there was a squishy package, literally squished in there.

I did wonder for a bit what this might be as I was not expecting anything before the end of the month.

Nothing on the envelope to give me any clues. I was out walking so I thought about who or why I might be getting something and waited until I was back home to open my package.

My OASS for spring was inside. This being a secret swap meant I had no clue where it would come from.

Lucky me - my package is from the talented Fiona over at BubzRugz.

Nice wrapping in a paper pattern with pretty yellow and orange ribbon and one of Fiona's patchwork cards - too cute.

Just look at what she made for me!

An amazing raw edge applique Lemon tree wall hanging in the prettiest colours and she stitched a couple of lines from the lemon tree song.

She included a little chocolate sustenance for me too.

Not quite straight but hanging in my kitchen waiting for spring.

Relieving my Easter wall hanging, also a swap gift made by the talented Helena, of its double duty.

Thanks to Cheryll as the swap hostess and Fiona for my wonderful present.

Lots of yellow flowers in the neighbourhood at the moment - so maybe spring is not too far away?

I will be sewing along with the FNSI ladies tonight - I have some cushion cover gifts to make.

Hope your weekend includes sunshine and sewing.