Advent swap fun so far

Okay so there are a lot of photo's and blogger goes backwards I am not going to try to rearrange them as I will end up losing something.

So first up these have nothing to do with the swap, but are the completed Ms Snowy and Santa whose body parts were displayed here a couple of days ago. All done ready for delivery to their new home tomorrow.

Lots of fun gifts have been received from my Advent swap partner June.

Such a nice variety of goodies have come to live at my house.

Days 14-18 saw me open packages containing a photo frame, a mug with coffee, a tree ornament and green fabric, a scissor keep which should be perfect for my big scissors, today I found two lovely appliqued tea towels in my package.

Below are some of the presents that I sent to June

This amazing little bucket came to me from June filled with scissor, buttons and thread. Perfect

Some of the other goodies include a pretty flannel with a crochet edging, pins in a tin, a Ham Bag, a sewing machine hanger, quilt hangers, Christmas napkins, notebooks, and a pin cushion pattern from Anni Downs and a seam ripper.

Very generous goodies

Thanks June.

Thanks Fee for hosting this swap, it sure is fun to open a surprise each day.

Wishing you all a wonderful week.

FNSI -

let me make enough progress on my projects that I was able to complete them after work today.

The jewellery pouches were not pictured yesterday as they were all sewn up just waiting for their ribbons.

A Christmas centrepiece made using the blocks I sewed earlier in the week.

Two more biscornu pin cushions now that I know how easy they are to make.

Four finished jewellery pouches, I even purchased a little something to put in each one.

So the snowman and Santa are incomplete but they now have stuffing and should be done in no time.

Wishing you all some time in your creative space between the celebrations.

Are you joining in?

Friday night sew in for the last time in 2011.

I am looking to make some progress on these projects -

some finishes would be nice.

So nice to sew in company. I look forward to seeing what projects every one else is working on tonight.

Thanks to Heidi and Bobbi for hosting.

Have a fabulous weekend.

Generous Friends

Another Santa has made an appearance here - he was completed during the week.

My current crochet project is more of the same - Santa and the Snowman are popular, both are from patterns found over here.

The title of this post refers to the goodies below.

I have been loaned this amazing book which contains very detailed patterns for some popular dog breeds, my kind of dogs, quiet and clean. The large bag of yarn came to me following a discussion about the lack of five ply yarns available. When a member of my craft group said 'I have some scraps can I share?' I was expecting less than half of what is there and part balls not all this, but I am planning to put it all to good use, just could take me a while.

Joining Ginny and the others in the yarn along - lots of lovely projects to drool over as always.

May your week be filled with creative moments.

Sew fest

Monday night when I got home from work I decided Nomee needed a work out - she has been taking it easy lately, just a little bit here and there.

This is serious and I had been cutting after work this past week so I had plenty of projects ready to go - well can I just say we had a very successful session and concluded with a finish and an almost finish before midnight.

As work has gotten exceptionally busy with a major deadline looming I have been spending too much time there to get very creative with Christmas presents so my five nieces will all be getting a variation on the same theme this year.

I used some of the blocks cut from the Christmas panel to make these two patchwork blocks which will become part of a bigger project.

I made this Biscornu pincushion just because the pattern was there and it looked much easier to construct than I had previously imagined - it was a breeze. Yay a finish - well it was the almost last night as I neglected the button, but I fixed that this morning first thing. I have today off to go to my craft group Christmas break up - a girls gotta get some time out for good behaviour.

Here is the first finish - a small jewellery pouch only four more to go, but three more are already started in the picture above.

All of these projects were inspired by projects in one magazine - convenient that I didn't have to shuffle. Handmade Vol28 No4 from sometime in 2010.

Best get myself sorted and make something for afternoon tea then I can sew some more.

Hope you get to share with friends this week.

Weekend wonders

Introducing Mr Frosty and Mini Brrrrr!

Same pattern the large guy is made with 8 ply yarn and a 3.75 mm hook and the little guy is made with pearl 8 thread and a 1.25 mm hook.

Another free pattern from Lion brand which is quick to make.

Today there was a little cutting and

even less sewing.

I did start the stitching on the following project but it is slow going when the attention span is short.

This list maker is one of the items included in the Advent swap package I sent.

I used the Christmas tree stitchery from the Red Brolly design and appliqued it to the tree fabric for the perfect place to make Christmas lists.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week in your creative place.

The Beginning

December has started which means I can open a present from my box every day - ooh what fun! My loot so far and a little helper.

Thank you June for my gorgeous gifts and Fee for co-ordinating this swap.

Enjoy December it is the month of Festivities - today my Knitting group enjoyed a delicious lunch together. Perfect.