Christmas Spoils

This year, I joined Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas swap

and was lucky enough to have Denice as my partner.

She made me these cute cinnamon star cookies.

They were so beautifully packaged as a pack of cookies,

but I forgot to take a picture before putting them on the tree...

 The tree was heaving this year 

as the children wanted to put everything on!

 Denice also made me this gorgeous table topper:

In the British Quilt Secret Santa that I joined,

I got Irene who made me the most stunningly modern table mats and coasters

They go perfectly with our new decor.

 Thank you Denice and Irene!

And a wonderful parcel arrived from a dear friend in Germany.

Birgit spoilt me rotten again!!!!

Beautiful fabric:

 My absolute favourite chocolates!

(Both the Mozart Kugeln and the Mon Cherie!!! Nom nom nom!)

and treats for the kids....

 I felt very lucky indeed!

Thank you Birgit!!

On the sewing front...

There's not been much activity with the house move

and the decluttering 

and the constant tidying involved in living so open plan.

However, I have started a baby quilt for a friend...

 And I've started Bonnie's Celtic Solstice Mystery

(part 1 not even nearly completed!!! Oh dear!!)

I'm borrowing my son's computer and feeling the need to be quick

so more to follow as there were quite a few photos on my camera that I should blog...

In the meantime:

Seasons Greetings!

SSCS 2012

This year I was lucky enough to join in on

the Chookyblue Secret Santa Swap again.

 

My partner was Tracy

and she made me (or Little Miss-Kalico!)

this gorgeous doll:

 

Tracy also included some beautiful fabric (me!!!)

and a real treat: Australian Homespun magazine!

I don't buy any quilt magazines so they are the

height of luxury!!!

 

The doll can be hung up so she will be looked after

and hung in Baby-K's room and admired!

 

*****

I had the very lovely Shari to send my gifts to.

I sent some birds in a gift bag for her decoration:

 

A Christmas stocking to be opened on the 24th:

 

With a bag and a needlecase wrapped up inside:

 

It's always a great swap

and is as much fun to send as to receive!

Thank you to chookyblue for hosting,

Tracy for sending and Shari for receiving!

Secret Santa Sent

 I had a helping hand

from my special little person in wrapping

my Chookyblue Secret Santa parcel...

...hence having to open the parcel

and rewrap one of the gifts

as a small part had been mislaid

and only discovered after the envelope was sealed!

But it's off.

Happy travels

and I hope the recipient likes it!

SSCS Gifts Sent

Here is the SSCS gift I made for Janice in Australia...

A folded hexagon bag with every single stitch hand sewn.

I do love my hand sewing!

I attached the handles with ribbon and buttons (also by hand!)

And here is the decoration I made Janice:

A felt heart with buttons hand sewn on ;)

Thank you to Chookyblue for organising the

Secret Santa Christmas Swap (SSCS)!

SSCS Gifts Received

Sadly, it seems that my shiny new camera

seems to have fallen off Santa's sleigh

somewhere between here and the North pole

so I soldiered on with the old camera

so that I could at least say a very big thank you to Fee

from Designs by Fee in Australia,

(And of course, thank you to Chookyblue

for arranging this swap for another year!) 

Abby was very impressed with my gifts! :

A beautiful wall-hanging...

A simply stunning table-runner

with yo-yo's...

A lovely decoupage notebook
and a hexagon needlebook in rose fabrics...

A perfect combination of hexagons and roses!

Thank you Fee, you made the most perfect presents!!

Ooh, Ooh, Christmas is coming!

A very BIG thank you to my Secret Santa

from chookyblue's SSCS!

Wow! What a gorgeous Christmas decoration,

which makes me quite excited about what may be in the parcel!!!!

When the envelope arrived, I stashed it straight away

from myself and temptation

and only after an email from Chookyblue did I remember

to open it for the decoration.

This is the decoration that I sent my partner...

(something secret on the back!)

And this is baby-Kalico!

Sorry, but my days are just filled with magic moments,

precious little smiles, smelly nappies

(and hardly a moment for myself!)

But 'me' time will come later,

now it's definitely baby time!!!

Sew Many Thanks!

Wow! What a wonderful quilty Christmas it has been this year!

Jenny of Elefantz made me a beautiful cushion cover and pincushion (both almost too nice to use) and included a Melly & Me pattern for the Chookyblue Secret Santa Christmas swap.


Such exquisite stitches!!


Jenny's gift was wrapped in awesome Christmas fabric. Thanks Jenny (and Thanks Donna for hosting this great swap again!)

From the BQL 'made' Christmas gift swap, I got this great bag!



Thanks to my Secret Santa and to Kandy for hosting this swap again!

My BQL 'purchased' present was this cute vintage-style tin with threads and some mini-charms...


Thanks Secret Santa and thanks again Kandy!!

This is a gift I made for my DSIL's dog. He seems to need a lot of stuff with him when he gets taken out so I made him a big bag :-)



My dear friend Vicky gave me this for Christmas...



A Robin bag filled with polka dot delights! Love them!!! Thanks Vicky!



Some unexpected fabric arrived from another dear friend...


Thanks Josie!

And from the Advent swap, my 'big gift' from Ailsa...


Thanks Ailsa, and thanks Jo for organising the swap!

While the cat's away...

The mice may have played...
The 'mice' may have made me order a few books online...
This one may have arrived today...


(The rest to follow soon I hope)

The 'mice' may have turned the living room into a fabric explosion...


(The 'mice' and I may actually be embarrassed to show this photo LOL)

But, the big bad cat is back LOL. So the fabric has been packed away (well most of it), the book buying spree has stopped and life continues as before EXCEPT!!!
My Chookyblue Secret Santa arrived from Jenny of Elefantz....



I was 'allowed' (according to the rules) to open the first parcel and I love it!! Thanks Jenny, it's gorgeous, so modern and the colours are fabulous for our kitchen where it has been hung up already!!


And I shall wait until Christmas for my second parcel, I promise! (especially because it's so beautifully wrapped that I like it just as it is LOL)

UFO's: Ending the year how I plan to begin

I made a mini list of my most pressing UFO's (in my sidebar) and last night decided to tackle the borders of my Orange Crush mystery quilt. The border pieces were half done and just needed putting into rows. Then the plain blue inner border and the plain red outer border needed cutting and piecing.

I read the instructions where Bonnie says something like "Now for some Maths...". Uh-oh!!



Well I just decided to wing it with her measurements. (I didn't even measure my quilt to see if I was going to be lucky or not LOL). And it all fit together just fine. Whew!!! My kind of quilting!!!

Now for the back. I plan to piece the back from strips I cut ages ago.



I haven't really got a plan with the strips, I know I had a few ideas, but can't remember which one I had planned to do as I had cut these strips so long ago.... I'm sure I shall think of something. But at least I am tackling those UFO's which is a good thing as an evil temptress has informed me that Bonnie is starting a new mystery called Double Delight on New Year's Day and I just love the sound of it so.... I have pulled fabrics and am thinking I may join in if DH's sewing ban is not put into place!

And while I was sewing last night, the others were doing a puzzle...



I have said if there's a sewing ban, then there will also be a puzzle ban, a tennis ban etc etc...

On another note, I did really well this Christmas. Sharon's gift went everywhere with my Hexagon's in. I have 2 fabulous bags for my WIP's from 2008 (one from Peg and one from Sharon - Thank you both again!) I also joined in the BQL Secret Santa and got a stunning folder cover for the 'Handmade gift"



and some cool notions for my "Purchased Gift"




Our neighbours returned from their holiday in New Zealand and surprised me with some great fabric and some fun panels. My favourite fabric saying was in this picture....




"Me Quilt? No, I just collect fabric!" Umm, well, yes, I guess so LOL

Kate also kindly sent me some blocks from a swap we did together a while back and as I still had some over from when I made my scrapbuster quilt (as seen in my header) I thought I'd like her spares to try something else a bit scrappy again... (Umm, about clearing those UFO's... well, yes, someday!)



The extra pineapple blocks are pretty cute too! Thanks Kate!


Now, it's just left for me to wish everyone a Happy, Hearty, Healthy (and most importantly handcrafty) New Year!!!