Sew Many Swaps

Sew & Tell Friday Finish (es!)

Mug Rug Swap

I couldn't make up my mind so I just sent all 3!

Here is my New Year's Mug Rug from Lily Lemon--see the bubbles in the glass! I love how sparkly these are--fairy frost is great for the glitz.

These are absolutely addicting to make. I'm working on some for Christmas gifts--how nice to have a little room for something sweet next to your pumpkin spice latte!

Fabric Postcards

I made 3 of these for my secret partners. Fortunately, they look a bit better in real life. The tree is a lovely corduroy I'm going to try to make a shirt out of. I love this tree fabric--got an idea for a wall hanging for work.

Modern Christmas Stocking Swap

What an awful picture! Oh well. This is the stocking I sent off a couple weeks ago--my partner likes red and bells, from what I could tell on her faves. It's a bit plain, but I wanted it to be "modern." Love Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas line. Alas, I haven't heard from my partner yet--hope she likes it!

My shopping for Christmas is nearly finished--just 2 things left. Today I'm going to work on just a couple of handmades--how are you doing with your Christmas list? Enjoy the weekend and check out Amy's Sew & Tell Friday here!

Yummy Chocolate Pinwheels

DQS9 Received!!

Looky, looky what I found in my mailbox! Quiltmakertg send me this fabulous mini--beautiful, bright pinwheels surrounded by chocolate brown. The setting and quilting are just perfect. I love that I had already made it a "favorite" on the Flickr group before I even received it.

I just love how fabulous a simple, even traditional block can look with the right fabrics and treatment. Really, it's not your grandmother's quilt, but it has a lot of the same elements!

Quiltmakertg also sent a lovely set of fat quarters--I've already got some chocolate Kona cotton to put with them into a simple, coin-like quilt. Thank you so much, Sandra! Your package really made my day--and the orange binding is exactly my style!

Ain't swaps grand!

SWAP Mania

Sew & Tell Friday
 

1. dec stud rcvd, 2. Received from Julie!, 3. November STUD Recd, 4. Jan STUD Rec'd, 5. Definitely NOT Square! from Meg, 6. Fresh Churn Dash from SaraSQuilts

Ok, so I didn't sew any of these--I can't actually show you the 2 minis I finished this week, at least not until my STUD swap partners receive them. Be sure to check all the Sew & Tell finishes over at amylouwho (click on the button on the sidebar).

No, these are just some of the great little quilts I have received over the past year or so of swapping. Don't you love them? And I have lots more. Here's my top 10 for being in SWAPs. A SWAP project:

10.keeps me starting and finishing a new project often.

9. keeps me checking out flickr & blogland for new ideas, as I "lurk" around my partner's stuff.

8. helps me try really new things, stepping outside my box.

7. helps me meet new people.

6. gives me a nice little collection of great minis--no one else in my house makes quilts for me!

5. freshens up my office, where I change minis every month.

4. shows me different approaches and techniques in quilting.

3. gets me mail!

2. gives me lots of planning/day dreaming time.

1. makes me quilty happy (I know, sounds sappy, but the simple truth).

I wish I had time to be in more swaps. Check out flickr for a million of them, from potholders to minis to pillows to who knows what. Gotta love 'em

75 Post Winners ~ Since I only had 5 entries, I am sending out 5 packages! Send me your snail mail address if I don't already have it, along with a repeat of your favorite color combinations, and I'll get your giveaway ready. It will be so much fun selecting your fabrics!

Have a great weekend--the weather's absolutely perfect in Iowa!

Be Still My Heart . . .

 

Mary sent me this beautiful pillow cover for our Valentin Swap. It is absolutely lovely--pieced border, raw-edged applique and a blue bird! It will look great on my cranberry couch, but I think first I will hang it in my office so I can share it with more people (and keep it cat hair free).

She included some fun treats and a great pincushion with a vintage button in the center and an orange crocheted ruffle. This was the best package to open at the end of a long week.

Funny, we both chose birds for our pillows. I don't know that we have the same tastes, but we both seemed comfortable making something we liked. That meant a lot.

 Love Birds

I mentioned before that I felt a little freer to consider a wide range of ideas for this swap. You know I love the swaps, but I admit that lately I've spent too much time worrying about my partner liking what I made. We try to give each other some ideas on likes and dislikes; many of the participants seem young modern and very certain of their tastes. While I LOVE making things for others, planning the possibilities, stalking lurking around their postings, I have begun to experience a certain amount of paralysis. Since I don't care for white sashing, pink fabric, or in some ways a lot of (matchy-matchy) scrappiness, I'm afraid what I would normally make--maybe only 2 or 3 fabrics, certainly "older," (out of style?), not necessarily modern--will disappoint. (These observations are NOT intended as backhanded criticisms of others.)

I haven't quite figured out how to address this. 

Part of the fun for me is figuring out what someone will like. But I also need to use the fabrics that I have in the often less-than-precise style that I have developed. Sometimes I like pretty minimalist pieces, sometimes I like a free-for-all with lots of embellishments. And I like what others send me--because they bothered to make it for me, not because they made something I would make.

So, as in other areas of my life, I am trying to be more of myself in these swaps and on this blog. I'm here because I want to share and because I want to be part of a quilting community. But let's face it: I'm at the end of 40-something, I need to use up the stuff I have (or move to a separate address from my stash), and frankly, I'm tired of exclamation points.

To that end, I will endeavor 

1. to leave comments on the blogs I visit, rather than merely lurk, 
2. to write posts and comments that actually have a little something to say--I'm particularly interested in the technical/creative process, and
3. to be the eclectic, sometimes modern, sometimes wonky, sometimes scrappy, sometimes just plain practical person I am.

Gratitudes
1. Only time stops me from making the things floating around in my head (I'm not bored).
2. The sun is shining today.
3. I have a couple hours to try out somethings for the DQS8.

Enjoy YOUR weekend doing something you love with people you love.

Happy New Year, Happy New Start

Yes, it will be a Happy New Year in 2010 even with 2 feet of snow surrounding our house since Christmas week! It doesn't look like it in the photo, but the snow reaches the top of where our front porch is supposed to be! Over 20 inches in less than a week. Fantastic!

This has been a tough year for us in many ways, with lots of major adjustments--living with a 16 yo, living with a different income, living with different jobs. But through it all we feel so blessed to have each other. Sounds corny, but it's true.

Personally, I feel as if I am becoming more "myself" once again--discovering a few swaps that really motivate me to finish projects, discovering other quilters and bloggers who struggle with the same balancing act as we try to create and nurture and love others.

So for 2010, I have a few goals to reach for (not in any particular order):

1. Focus on finishing more than a few WIPS (see the sidebar list).
2. Make quilts for MY family.
3. Make projects for myself, instead of always giving them away.
4. Try to follow through a project until it's completed (i.e. don't start something new without wrapping up a work in progress.
5. Cook & care for my family purposefully instead of reacting to events as they come up.

What this list means in real life is that first off, the sewing won't be taking over the dining room table so much of the time. I still get to sew but not when supper really needs to be on the table.

Related to that, we should have real food to eat most of the time (important for growing boys and parents who would like to stop growing), and we should be able to eat it together more often. I'm afraid this means both planning and actual time devoted to menus and cooking. It's not that I don't like cooking, it's that I get tired of thinking about what to fix.

Finally, I hope to have more of my creative life to show around my own house, rather than just the messiness resulting from my creative process. That would be finished projects!

I re-read this and think it sounds a little gloomy, but really, these goals just help give form to the priorities I say I have my life! I am excited to continue down this creative road to discover where it leads!

Gratitudes for 2009

1. Healthy, mostly happy boys who work hard and enjoy life.
2. A sweet husband who does whatever I ask, even if I'm being selfish or slightly unreasonable.
3. Jobs that keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies.
4. New possibilities on the horizon.