Modern She Made Swap 2

Here is the finished cushion cover I made for my swap partner, Moira, who blogs over at Kettleboiler.  I used the Lynnebob Square Pants block and tried to make it look like a blue square was lying over an orange one...making green where they mixed, but I'm not sure that it worked.  I surrounded it in some lovely navy linen and finished it with a zip using this tutorial on MissMake.  I loved the way the zip went in and I will use this tutorial again.


I made this Liberty fabric hoop as a little extra.  It is inspired by the 365 hoops that Lucky Jackson made over a year. If you haven't seen them then take a look at the blog here or in the Flickr group there are some fantastic designs and some of the embroidery patterns are for sale in her Etsy shop.
My swap partner was Celine who blogs at EspritPatch and I received this lovely Sunny Spiral Star cushion cover and some yummy Lindt chocolate....which unfortunately was eaten before it made it into the photo.  The quilting is amazing as it is a spiral in variagated thread.  I love the colours and particularly liked the fact that it wasn't white and so will stay clean a lot longer. Celine even added piping around the  edge, a great finishing touch...that I have not yet tried!

This was a lovely swap to be in and I had fun stalking my partner and reading her blog.  Swaps are a great way to try out new things and make stuff that you wouldn't normally try.  There are lots of ideas in the Modern She Made Flickr Group of what I might make in the future. This map of the UK cushion in particular is going to a lucky partner, and Lee hopefully might produce a pattern for it soon.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75640191@N07/8207369938/

Shopping

I got this book from the library.....it's by Cassandra Ellis who is a designer originally from New Zealand but now based in London.


......so that saved me some money as I didn't buy any magazine...... So I bought a Rob Ryan Calendar. This picture is so me! They also had it on a bag.... But it was far too expensive.



.....and I also bought this daylight Ottlite for £28 from Amazon. They had them in the quilt shop for £48 and so I thought it was just what I needed. It's been great for sewing in bad light and also for taking photographs. The base and shade are plastic and so even though its bigger than I expected, it's still quite portable.

Heather Ross Buttons

How cute are these?

Remember Them

52 killed this year.....

Riverside Quilters Exhibition

Today I went along to a local quilt exhibition on Saltash. Riverside Quilters meet in the Ashtore Rock Centre right underneath the bridge. They had a variety of traditional quilt and quite a few made from Jelly Rolls.
Here are a few of them


Each block in this sampler quilt was had pieced.


I have a Celtic cushion I started about 10 years ago and never finished!





Tim liked the fabrics in this one....






This is very clever and a great visual effect.


This was a block of the month quilt.





..... And I loved all these birds - I think there are 12 different ones, including owls and woodpeckers.






I avoided the sales stalls, but I did buy a few/lots of magazines.... So that's my evening sorted. I've also got Kirstie's vintage home recorded too....... And some hand embroidery to finish.
Random double full rainbow in Mylor last week. I love rainbows.

Swap Shop and TGIFF

After missing out on the Mouthy Stitches 2 bag swap....and being rejected from another swap as I hadn't done enough swaps.......bit like trying to get a job when you have never had one.... I found a few other swaps to join in.
The very cute embroidery above was created for me by Jo, down in New Zealand - thanks Jo - It is so me, as I still love Pooh Bear. This was part of the Phat Quarter Embroidery Swap on Flickr.
My partner Lyndzi said she had a love for subversive, offensive stitchery and gave me a few other clues.  As I am not very good at creating things from scratch, I found a suitable embroidery on Craftster and made a "Toy Bag" for Lyndzi. It has been to America and back and then back again....and it has finaly arrived.  Unfortunately Lyndzi gave me the wrong postcode...but amaizingly it arrived back on my doorstep! praise for the postal system...for once!
Click here to see the bag in my Flikr ONLY IF YOU WILL NOT BE EASILY OFFENDED!

Here is a small clue as to what I made



and on the back


I also joined the Modern She Made swap and here is my mosaic.


and here is what I have made so far for my partner....i'm not too sure about it.....so I might change my mind. It is a Lynnebobsquarepants block for a pillow.


I have also joined in the Scrappy Swap with Flutter Kat, but I've not started sewing that one yet...though I have found a lovely tutorial for the thing I am going to make....sorry can't say too much just yet!
My big finish this week was my Pirate Quilt in the previous post, so if you are over from Lucy, Charm About You for the TGIFF Party, please go and have a quick look.