Initial Heart Swap

Back in December I signed up for the "Initial Heart Swap" over at Cheryll's blog "Gone Stitchin".

This is a secret swap with the idea that you make and send something with a heart and initial on for your swap partner.
I received this bright and cheery fabric hanging heart from my swap partner Ali.

It is hanging very nicely in my workroom.

There were also some delicious Lindt chocolate balls included but, being the kind Mum that I am, I gave them to my daughter for a get together with her friends!

Ali doesn't have a blog (yet!) but I hope she is reading this as I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to her for being a wonderful and very quick swap partner.

My secret swap victim partner, was Carin over at Ullharvan.

I did a lot of secret stalking over at Carin's blog and ummed and ahhed about what to make before finally deciding on a knitting needle and crochet hook roll. 

 I love this colourful apple print fabric but I knew it would be too busy to add a heart and initial if I used it all over the outside of the roll 

 so I teamed it with some gorgeous olive green linen from my stash and added a splash of orange.

I found the perfect button in my stash too.

And as for the initial heart, I made it from some super soft orange felt and 

free hand embroidered the initial C.

One of these days I will get around to making myself one!

Send A little Love Swap

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I hope you have all received your "Send A Little Love Swap" parcels, I have already seen a couple of posts sharing what has been sent and received and they all look fab!

We don't do Valentine's Day as a couple, Mr Mad About Bags tells and shows me he loves me every day but I do always like to receive happy mail in the post from far flung places.

My swap partner for the send a little love swap was Angela from Pretty Little Things in a Box and my parcel came all the way from Singapore.

Lots of colourful stamps, and inside were all these gorgeous things. 

I love the beading detail on the edge of my crochet heart.

pretty Russian doll fabric

A lovely pin brooch with felted heart.

a needle felting kit which I can't wait to try as it's been on my list of crafts to try,

a heart stamp, some fuchsia pink lace and some pretty heart motifs.

I do love this hand printed tag that Angela made too with its little crochet heart embellishment. I would love to try out some stamping but I haven't a clue where to start, so any pointers would be gratefully received.

As usual in my rush to send my parcel off I only took a few photos, so I'm hoping that Angela might have a few more photos of what I made and sent to her on her blog.

Angela told me that she loved fairies and I found this pretty fairy fabric in my stash and made this project/lunch bag for Angela using a tutorial I found on Pinterest.

I did add some more things to angela's parcel but completely forgot to photograph them, they included a heart cross stitch kit and a hedgehog cross stitch chart.

I hope you all enjoyed the Send A Little Love Swap and thank you to everyone that took part and a BIG thank you to Angela for being some a lovely and generous swap partner.

You can add your Send A Little Love Swap link to the list below xx 

Hibernation Mode

I have been in serious hibernation mode recently, I really don't like these cold grey days so cosy socks and slippers, wearing a woolly scarf indoors, eating comfort food and drinking caramel lattes are mostly what has been happening here!

I haven't been completely idle, those of you that follow me on Facebook will know that I recently ran a charity auction on my page to raise money for three fabulous cancer charities, The Teenage Cancer Trust, Macmillan and Clic Sargent, following one of Jack's friends (Isaac) being diagnosed with leukaemia. 

I was overwhelmed with the generosity of my fellow crafters who donated their amazing makes for the auction, the album was full of wonderful goodies. It was a busy three hours, with bids being placed as soon as the auction was open and continuing throughout . It was also a nail-biting time for some bidders as the bidding continued right up until the very last second. 

We raised a staggering £400.50.

Isaac's family and friends also organised a coffee, cake and cocktails event and the total amount raised so far is just over £3,800. 

Cancer is such a bloody awful disease and these three charities work hard to support families going through treatment and beyond that I was glad to help in a small practical way.