A Thankful Thursday Post - minis & mug rugs!

You might remember me getting carried away describing how I sew at the kitchen table last year when tagged in the My Creative Space blog hop hosted by Julie @ Pink Doxies and Mayrse @ Mayrse Makes Things?

Well, I showed this one photo of my computer space with my ancient macbook (its so old, its one of the ones with the silver keys - but still going!)  I do spend quite a bit of time at the computer, writing for this blog and Modern Quilters Ireland, playing with design software and following and commenting on blog posts.  It amazes me how much of  what I consider quilting time that I spend online!

What I didn't show you is G's stuff in this room.  Turn away from my desk and its a hoarders delight.  He is terrible at de-cluttering computer bits and bobs, books and magazines.  Now I have a lot of stuff - fabric, books, notebooks, and I have been gathering a small collection of swap items and mini-quilts.  There isn't any real space to show mini quilt swaps so I have been making do by rotating them on an easel and brightening up the corner of the man cave.  This Christmas after tripping over a gearbag, a box of astronomy magazines and accidentally knocking a bunch of tiny screws of the coffee table I had enough, I moved out!

Upstairs to the box room.  I gave up my window view (useless in the summer as the sun directly shines in and I can't see the screen but don't tell G that as I am milking this one to make him tidy up!).  I moved a wardrobe and chest of drawers around to the other bedrooms and took over this wall - all to myself.  He did help with the heavy lifting though!  That's what happens when you can't use your sewing machine,you end up re-arranging your house!

This is what the wall was like when I moved my desk in - bare except for an Egyptian papyrus print bought in Las Vegas (I kid you not!).  So I've hung up all my swap items (except Lara's Wilbur & Charly mini which is in the kitchen beside the tea pot clock over my sewing machine!) and removed Las Vegas souvenir closer to the bin!

From top left : Schnizel & Boo mini round 2 and 3 and hoop from MQI exhibition last year. 

Bottom row:  Cork board with swap items from @Shevvyrox for nerds craft it better on instagram - Serentity, Star Wars & Millenium Falcon, gift from Suzanne, Pay it Forward gift from Deborah, Mug rug (Christmas swap 2015), Little Red riding hood mini's from Fairytale swap on IG. 

So I have to say a big thank you to all those I've swapped with and a special thank you to Deborah @ Sunshine Through the Rain for the purple improv mini (and the extras all the way from Indonesia) and Mags from the Modern Quilters Ireland group for the cup & saucer mug rug which made such happy Christmas post.  Thanks a million guys - this space is looking brighter and more crafty now thanks to you all!  

And there's room for a few more yet!  I'll be spending quite some time here this year as I hope to get finishing on some pattern writing and have lots of design ideas to play with.  More on quilty resolutions and the Finish-A-Long list in the next post!

Thankful Thursday - a little late!

 

I had intended in getting this posted yesterday for a Thankful Thursday post but its been a busy week so a Frightful Friday post instead!  Earlier this year I took part in a fairy tale themed swap on Instagram and my swap item from Marika got bounced about a bit in the post.  I had a lovely surprise when I got back from holidays last week and found this squeezed through the letterbox.

Thank you Marika for a brilliant mini - perfectly timed now for Halloween.  I love how the trees were done and it gives it a perfect spooky atmosphere!

We thought Marika's parcel was lost for good so @Mara_Makes stepped in as an angel and sent me this arty take on Little Red.

 Aren't those teeth cool!

Mara also sent me a sewing kit with a scary wolf eyeing up his dinner and I love this to bits and use it all the time.  Little Red Riding Hood and the Princess and the Pea (which I made) were the most popular fairy tales in our group in the swap for some reason.  Thank you both for my mini quilts and all the extra bits you both included - thrilled to bits to be so lucky to receive these!

My sewing friend in our Thursday group entered this mini into the Birmingham Quilt Festival this year and the colours reminded her of me so she gifted this to me to brighten up my sewing room. 

Thank you Suzanne!  I love the fabrics by Zen Chic and teeny tiny 1/2" piecing!
Didn't I do well?  Thank you everyone for your lovely swaps & gifts!

Swaps! Hit & Miss or a great opportunity to try something new?

One of the first swaps I took part in was the Halloween swap organised on Flickr in 2013.  My partner was Kirsty from Schnitzel & Boo!  Imagine my trepidation, making for a well known blogger and published designer!  I loved every minute of this swap though and had great fun playing with my Halloween fabrics.  I made a banner, placemats and a tote bag for the very first time.

In return I received nothing.  Yes I was a little disappointed but I was proud of what I made and delighted with the lovely and thoughtful response from Kirsty.  Over 70 people took part in the swap and it was a big success.  Maria the swap organiser offered an angel make but I didn't want to put someone to the effort of making on behalf of a swap partner who let us all down.  I learned recently that there is a blacklist of bad swappers but you really need to not deliver and not communicate to get on that list.  Shame it has to exist in the first place. 

Yes life happens and there are lots of things more important than sewing, but communicate and make amends!  I like to think that most people would and I didn't let it put me off swaps.  When Kirsty started her own swap shortly after, I signed up straight away, and have taken part in the rounds 1-3 and received these fabulous minis and lots of extras from Christina, Lisa and Ruth Ann.  Some people are really generous with their time and the goodies they include and having had nothing for the Halloween swap I appreciate these people all the more!

Siobhan, my swap partner in the #nerdscraftitbetter swap, had fierce back trouble and couldn't sit at her machine for long.  Did she give up, nope!  She made me tons of stuff and gifted Star Wars fabric so I could have fun making nerdy stuff for myself.  The Star wars minis now live on the shelf with my Russian dolls and all the goodies you see on the table came wrapped inside the R2-D2 bag.  I was hopping around the kitchen when I saw R2 and he was like the Tardis- bigger on the inside.  I just kept finding stuff!  Thank you @shevvyrox!

Taking part in swaps has a bigger advantage than just getting nice stuff in the post though.  It makes you try something new.  For rounds 1 to 3 I tried applique and free motion quilting, scrappy rainbows and confetti fabric bits with matchstick quilting. 

For the last two Christmas's our online group have swapped table runners and cushions.  I received the two on top and made the two on the bottom row.

In the making of the runner I learned how to handle partial seams and released this as a pattern here on Craftsy where its been downloaded over 5000 times!

Swapping economy blocks with What the Bobbin was great fun.  Send 12 fussy cut blocks and get 12 different ones back.  Turned into a fun cushion my mum has "borrowed" for her sofa, so she has benefited from the swaps too!

Here's the thing though, swaps take time.  From a small pincushion to a mini-quilt with handmade extras they will challenge you, surprise you, delight you and sometimes disappoint you but for me, they are worth it and worth making the effort.

Sign ups for the Schnitzel & Boo mini quilt swap round 4 close today so if you are looking for a really well organised swap don't wait.  Sign ups form is on Kirsty's blog here if you are interested.   I'll be missing this round as I have holidays in the middle of it and can't commit the time to do a good job.  I'll be looking forward to finishing up a summer tote bag swap and our annual Christmas Modern Quilters Ireland swap though so still lots going on!

What do you think?  Swaps - Love them or Leave them?