A Swap Makes Update….

I was looking through my photos and reflecting on my makes over the past couple of months I thought I would share some of my swap makes now that they have been received, but first I must apologise to Joy from Daisy Row for not only was I really really late getting her swap parcel to her but I didn't even post about what she sent me in the first place!!!

Ages and ages ago Kimberley from Creative Chaos organised a kitchen swap and I was partnered with Joy from Daisy Row and this is what she sent me…

can you see the chubby fingers of Tomas who couldn't wait to eat his Kit Kat??

This oven glove certainly isn't as clean now but has definitely come in handy!!!

a lovely friends magnet

a lovely bright red the cosy

Thanks Joy for being such so patient and for the lovely swap gifts. 

Okay so here are some of my swap makes, I signed up for the dish cloth swap over at Leonie's blog Kiwi at Heart and my secret partner was Cat at Catalina's Cottage, I stalked read Cat's blog and found out she liked Cath Kidston amongst other things and I found a fabulous pattern on the internet and here are the two dishcloth's that I made.

The tiny centre roses were rather fiddly but I got there in the end

Cat has a son and daughter and I remembered that I had some Cath Kidston floral fabric  and some of her rodeo cowboy fabric so I made a hanging heart and a hanging star

I also found a piece of floral and check Cath inspired fabric in my stash so I wrapped a ribbon around it and popped it in the parcel.

Here are all my swap goodies for Cat 

not sure if I went a bit overboard of the Cath Kidston theme!!!

Next up was the Cracker swap just before Christmas I was partnered with Belinda from Frugal Workshop who told me she liked the colour orange, lighthouses and books so I made a book bag from some lighthouse fabric that I had in my stash.

It wouldn't fit inside the kitchen roll so I wrapped it around the outside.

I also made a little lighthouse tag.

I found a beautiful piece of orange fabric in my local fabric shop and teamed it with bright blue ribbon for the cracker.

My other swap partner in the Cracker Swap was Debi over at Busy Little Chicken

who lives near Happisburgh lighthouse so keeping with the lighthouse theme I found this painting on the internet of the lighthouse 

and turned it into this mini quilt picture

This is the first time I have made anything like this and it was hard to get the dimensions and the depth right but I was pleased with how it turned out.

Initially I thought it would be easier  to hand stitch the edges but it was quite fiddly and I decided to use the sewing machine.

I think that is me up to date on my swap makes for the time being and I am now busy working on my next swap makes as I have three swaps on the go at the moment and I've been pinning like mad for inspiration!!!

Cracker Swap Update….

Most of us that take part in swaps have blogs but this year I opened up the cracker swap to everyone, the lovely Suzanne (who reads my blog and daily mutterings on Facebook) asked to join in and because I didn't want you all to miss out on what Suzanne received I said I would share some photos and let Suzanne write a guest post on my blog.

So over to you Suzanne...

For my first ever 'swop' Tracy (Mad About Bags) teamed me up with Blueberry Heart. 

What lovely surprises were in my cracker, 

on the outside were two lovely hearts which went straight on the Christmas Tree. 

Nicely wrapped up inside were lots of little goodies, 

some more decorations, potpourri in a lovely little bag, 

some gorgeous soap and a beautiful bracelet. 

Thank you Blueberry Heart.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the swap Suzanne, thanks for taking part and for sharing your goodies. I have added them to the Flickr group and there is still time to share your cracker swap photos if you haven't already.

Cracker Swap

My cracker swap arrived this morning from Debs over at Busy Little Chicken, I do love packages in the post especially ones filled with goodies!!!

Here is my super stripey fabric covered cracker with an extra gift that obviously wouldn't fit in the cracker but more about that later

the fabric was tied with embroidery thread 

A lovely handmade card

 The bigger present turned out to be a notebook but I can't show you as I took a terrible photo of it, and wrapped around the cracker was this bright and cheery notebook cover. Now Debs must know me pretty well as I definitely need a book to write things to remember in! I can't decide whether it's an age thing but my memory is just terrible! No excuses now with a fab new notebook.

How cute is this label?

Also hidden under the fabric of the cracker was this lovely bookmark taken from a page of Wind in the Willows, no more turning over the corner of the page for me!

And a dinky knitted stocking

If that lot wasn't enough I found this lot crammed/stuffed/wedged inside the cardboard tube

two deliciously smelly tea lights

some decadant braid

a glittery fairy

some delicious chocolate which as is normal with a swap parcel was eaten whilst enjoying opening my goodies, although I was good and shared two of the snowmen with Tomas.

One of my favourite things (little things please me!!!) were these little bells with heart shaped ringers. I have an idea for these in February.

and finally some red, white and blue buttons and beads

It's amazing why you can get inside a cardboard tube isn't!!

Here are all my wonderful goodies together.

Debs will hopefully be getting her cracker from me very shortly, thanks for being a brilliant swap partner Debs and thank you to everyone for taking part and sharing, don't forget about the flickr group too.

Cracker Swap Update

Thank you to everyone that has contacted me regarding your crackers it seems that the majority of your crackers have arrived safely or are on their way.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all your crackers and their contents don't forget the flickr group is a great place for sharing photos too.

Last week my cracker arrived all the way from Tennessee, Belinda's blog is a new one to me so it has been lovely getting to know her a little better.

Here is what I received.

a very festive cracker tied with festive ribbon

a super cute teddy that was quickly nabbed by Tomas.

Under the first layer of fabric was another layer

here are both my fabrics and ribbons, 

next I emptied the cracker and this is what I found inside.

yummy sweets - these definitely didn't last very long!

yummy erasers - sadly not edible but very delicious looking - these were claimed by Rachel!

Some cute mini gingerbread men pegs

some bright hands buttons

a pair of pretty dangly earrings

two large red jingle bells

lots of bright green buttons

and three ladybird ones

and finally some peppermint chocolate tea - which i have yet to try.

Here are all my goodies together, thank you Belinda for being such a lovely swap partner my cracker should be winging its way to you very shortly.