Send Us your Christmas Swap - Part 2

I'm still playing catch up on my posts, I don't know about you but these dark, cold nights are just making me want to hibernate, I've even being going to bed early, 10pm which is early for me! Which means by the time Master Madaboutbags is in bed all i want to do is relax on the sofa and before I know it, it's bedtime.

I'm not sewing today as after spending the morning doing household jobs there just isn't enough time to get stuck into anything before we head out into this sunny but chilly afternoon to watch Master Madaboutbags play rugby. There is enough time though to catch up on answering emails, blogging and the such.

So over Christmas I shared with you here what Jackie sent me in the Send Us Your Christmas Swap organised by Kimberley over at Creative Chaos, and this is the parcel I put together for Jackie, it would seem in my eagerness to get her parcel out (I was running late as usual) I didn't take that many photos but here is a little collage. If I remember rightly I think I added so wool too, I do remember it was a bit of a tight squeeze to get everything in the box.

I was given the Tui bird fabric in another swap and thought it would be good to use it in a swap that was heading back to New Zealand. Jackie is a keen knitter so the knitting themed brooch was an ideal gift, and as Jackie is recuperating after an operation I thought maybe a cross stitch kit might keep her busy. 

This was a great swap, thank you to Jackie for being a fabulous swap partner and thank you to Kimberley for organising. 

Santa Sack Swap 2016

I don't think I've quite mastered the getting more organsied thing yet which means I'm a bit behind with my blog posts, also being adopted by a cat has meant that my evenings have become kitty cuddle time and there isn't enough room on my lap for the cat and the iPad.

Tonight the cat has chosen the arm of the sofa instead of my lap so I'm able catch up on a little blogging time.

Towards the end of last year I took part in some super swaps, one of which was the Santa Sack Swap organised by Cheryll over at Gone Stitchin' in my cubbyhole and I was partnered with Mary from Trundling Through Life, Mary's blog was new to me and I really enjoyed getting to know her more through our emails and her blog. 

This is what Mary sent to me, a beautiful patchwork stocking in my favourite Christmas colours of red, green and gold.  

I hung the stocking crammed full of prettily wrapped parcels on the door to my orangery and it was really difficult not to have a little squidge every time I went past. 

I left opening my swap gifts until after lunch as I wanted to be able to take my time opening them, so whilst everyone else was relaxing in front of the TV, or playing on a gadget or two I sat myself down on the floor in the orangery and started unwrapping.

Mary made me a lovely Christmas card and there was a sugar mouse, which Rachel thought was a candle, I didn't tell her otherwise until after I had eaten it. 

In her emails Mary had told me about her trips to Brussells and the delicious chocolates made by Mary, chocolatiers to the Belgium royal family, so you can imagine how pleased I was when I saw my very own box of Mary chocolates. These were absolutely delicious and I was very good as I shared the chocolates coins with the children! 

My first package revealed this pretty hanging flower which will look fabulous in my sewing room.

Next there was this lovely scissors keeper, how cute is that button! 

Inside were the most perfect spotty scissors in my favourite turquoise blue. 

Last year I used a notebook to record all my makes during 2016 and I was looking for a notebook to do the same in 2017. Mary made me a covered notebook which means I can use it again and again.

Although I sew and have made several zippered pouches I never seem to get around to making myself one, so it's alway lovely to receive one as part of a swap. 

I love the yo-yo embellishments and the heart quilting.

Finally, the last package contained this gorgeous purple fluffy scarf, ideal for the colder days. I do love a scarf so I'm looking forward to wearing this one.

Here are all my gifts, together with my stocking.

Thank you Mary, I've really enjoyed getting to know you over the past few months and look forward to our continued friendship, and thank you Cheryll for organising, this is one of my favourite swaps of the year. 

Send A Little Love Swap Partners

Does anyone else seem to have a problem with comment notifications? It seems that when some of you comment I get an email notification but on others I don't. I've double checked my settings and tried googling but I haven't got very far so I do apologise if I haven't replied to your comment, but now I know there is a problem I will be checking each blog post to make sure I don't miss anything. 

Anyhow, I'm sorry I didn't post the swap partners yesterday, I'm still not back into a proper routine yet as Master Madaboutbags isn't back in school until tomorrow and with our new feline addition I've been a little busy enjoying kitty cuddles and I also needed to be on the main computer to add the links as it's much quicker. So here are the partners for the Send A Little Love Swap

Kimberley and Montse V (email)

Ellie and Cerato

Linny(email) and Maggie

Pat's Patch and The Yorkshire Sewist

Nana GoGo and Jille

Kimberley and Maggie I will email you shortly with the details of your swap partner. 

Here is a quick recap of the swap

The idea of this swap is to send 5 things to include :

Some sewing or yarny notions that have a love theme

Something heart shaped or themed

Something deliciously edible

Something handmade

Something red 

If I have missed anyone, or forgotten anything please let me know and any questions or problems just ask. 

Send A Little Love Swap 2017

The holidays are coming to an end and the house will soon feel bare when all the decorations and lights are taken down and safely stored in their boxes for another year and with a few more wintery months ahead of us here in the UK who fancies kicking off 2017 with a love swap.

The idea of this swap is to send 5 things to include :
Some sewing or yarny notions that have a love theme

Something heart shaped or themed

Something deliciously edible

Something handmade

Something red 

If you would like to see what I received and sent last year just click on the link below
Send A Little Love Swap 2016

This swap is open to both UK and overseas bloggers/Instagramers and readers of my blog

(you just need to have an email contact). 
I will be pairing bloggers with bloggers and Instagramers with Instgramers

If you would like to take part then please leave a comment on this post or on my Instagram post, letting me know if you wish to post UK, Europe or worldwide

Sign up by the Friday 6th January 2017

Swap partners will be posted on my blog/IG on Sunday 8th January 2017

Then it's up to you to make contact with your partner and get to know each other a little better, swap details and arrange a timescale.

Swap parcels need to arrive at their destination no later than Monday 13th February 2017 with an opening date of Tuesday 14th February 2017

I don't like the idea of rules for swaps so here are some handy guidelines ;-)

Swaps are supposed to be fun and a great way to use items/supplies you already have at home. Handmade is open to interpretation everyone's skills are different don't ever think that you can't because the chances are you can, as long as something has been made with love then I'm sure it will be appreciated by your partner.

I don't like to put a price limit on swaps but with postage costs at an all time high we can all appreciate a bit of thrifty spending.

Life sometimes has a habit of getting in the way of things, if for whatever reason (and you don't have to say why) you can't continue or need to delay sending out your swap then just let me or your swap partner know.

So that's the boring bit out of the way, if I have forgotten anything then please let me know and if you need any inspiration then there's always Pinterest!

As always I'll be pinning like crazy, I also have a secret swaps board so that I can keep some of my ideas hidden just in case my swap partner is peeping!

Please feel free to use the Send A Little Love Swap button and the link below to share the swap on your blogs/IG. Any questions just ask. 

http://madaboutbagsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/send-little-love-swap-2017.html

  

Stitching Santa Swap - Part 2

When I sign up for a swap I like to do a little stalking of blogs/IG and a lot of pinning on Pinterest, sometimes this is a good technique and sometimes it just leaves me more confused than when I started. My partner for the Stitching Santa Swap was Sally from Sew Sweet Sally

Now Sally sews the most amazing clothes and is one of the Minvera bloggers so I was a little daunted when I saw her name pop up in my swap partner email.

So I stalked a little, pinned a lot, chatted about it with my Sewing Box buddies and then generally did what I normally do - procrastinated until it was nearly time to panic!

It was during this time of procrastinating that I realised Sally had changed the name of her blog and IG feed to The Yorkshire Sewist and bingo, the perfect idea popped into my head. 

An embroidery hoop with pockets

yo-yo's and buttons

and some free motion embroidery  

Probably like most of you, I'm not very good at getting around to making things that might help with my sewing and I thought that Sally might be the same so I added a tailors ham, a large pincushion (I'm always losing pins) and a scissor fob. 

I love that with this fabric I could pick out the sewing notions that I wanted.

I also included so pins (did I tell you I'm always losing pins) a jar of buttons, sewing themed ribbons and some extra fabric in case there was anything that Sally might need to make.

I've had these cute wooden spools in my sewing room for a while and hadn't though about using them for ribbons.

I had some button themed goodies in my swap gifts stash which i bought would be great for little extras.

And as Sally is a dressmaker I thought the book of the film The Dressmaker with Kate Winslet would be the ideal read

I really enjoyed putting this parcel together for Sally once I had got over my initial panic it all sort of fell into place.

Thank you to Sheila for organising the swap, it was great fun. 

Stitching Santa Swap - Part 1

Now that the Christmas festivities are over I thought I would share with you some of the beautiful gifts I received and sent in the Christmas swaps I took part in.

This is the second year that I have taken part in the Stitching Santa Swap organised by Sheila over at Sewchet. This is a secret swap, so you don't know who has put together your parcel until you open your gifts, although with a little detective work on Instagram I did work out that it was Shirley from squirrelsknittingconquest when my parcel arrived.

Look at all these packages, I couldn't wait to open them.

Shirley had been very good at stalking my blog and Instagram feed.

I love the lobster fabric Shirley used for the triangular pouch, and Shirley explained that the leaf mug rug was a last minute make to add to my parcel, I so glad that she decided to add it as I love the colours and the shape, and as for the cottage pincushion, what's not to love, with all those french knots, tiny stitches and a teeny heart on the door.

Shirley also included lots of crafting goodies to kick start my projects for 2017, embroidery threads, pins (these were on my shopping lists as like socks in the washing I seem to lose pins in my sewing room), fabric squares, scissors and an embroidery kit.

Then there was a super triangular crammed full of colouring pencils, which I'm claiming as 'adult only' pencils, a flowers colouring book and an owl notebook, which I am going to have to hide as Miss Madaboutbags apparently needs it for herself!

Swap parcels are usually complete without some sort of tasty treat and Shirley treated me to some delicious Scottish shortbread, another to clue to where my swap partner was from. Finally, I opened the card, with instructions to be opened last, so as not to give away her identity. Shirley had written a lovely note and her last gift confirmed her identity.

Thank you Shirley I loved all my gifts and felt thoroughly spoilt on Christmas morning as I think I had the more gifts to open than the children!

Another super Stitching Santa Swap Sheila, thank you for organising it again this year, I know the mammoth task involved in pairing up all the swapees.

Send Us Your Christmas Swap

Back at the end of October I signed up for the Send Us your Christmas Swap over on Kimberley's blog Creative Chaos. I was lucky to be partnered with Kimberley's cousin, Jackie. Kimberley and Jackie have sent each other an advent calendar of gifts this year and if you would like to see what they have sent each other pop over to Kimberley's blog. 

My parcel from Jackie arrived the other day and the idea of the swap was to fill a plastic tub full of goodies and send it to your parcel. This is what Jackie sent me....

And inside......

What super wrapping paper. 

Jackie is a fantastic knitter just like Kimberley and she made me this beautifully textured dishcloth. Is it just me who likes to just enjoy having a pretty new dishcloth before finally deciding a few weeks later that I am actually supposed to use it!!  

I love the colour of the yarn used to make this little bird and the ceramic leaf is lovely and apparently if I sprinkle over some essential oil and leave it on the windowsill in the sun it will smell amazing. I definitely going to try this. 

Some New Zealand themed fabric and a wooden heart. 

Some delicious chocolate, this didn't last very long. 

A colourful tea towel. 

And here are all my gifts together

I wasn't quite as organised as Jackie and although I had started putting together her parcel I hadn't sent it off by the time hers arrived. So I cheated a little a reused the tub that she had sent me, just changing the paper on the top. Hopefully it arrive in New Zealand very soon. 

Thank you Jackie for all my wonderful gifts and for being such a lovely swap partner, I hope you enjoy your parcel as much as I have enjoyed mine, and thank you Kimberley for organising this swap again. 

Advent Day 19 - 23

My blogging seems to have suffered a slight domino effect, I missed posting my advent calendar photo on the 19th and then the others just followed, so I'm playing catch up again whilst enjoying a breather during our Christmas Eve preparations. So joining in with Julie's Scrapbook Advent Calendar. 

Day 19 - I've been wanting to buy this star lamp for a while having seen it on the West Barn IG feed. It adds a beautiful glow to our conservatory and my sparkly reindeer seem to like it. 

Day 20 - This year I signed up again for Amy's Christmas Card Swap over at Love Made My Home and I was partnered with Lisa over at Jumble and Jelly. After emailing back and forth we came to the conclusion we had been swap partners before but neither of us could remember when or what the swap was! (another Brenda moment as Mr Madaboutbags would say). Lisa sent me this lovely card and funnily enough it was our very first Christmas card of the year too. I completely forgot to take a photo of the card I sent Lisa but if you pop over to Amy's blog she has a little linky party going on where you can see all the cards sent and received. Thank you Amy this was a lot of fun again and a lovely way to find new blogs. 

Day 21 - I think there is an elf in my living room! Master Madaboutbags feeling festive and watching TV. 

Day 22 - Thursday was unseasonably warm and sunny, the perfect weather for a romp in the woods. For the past couple of years our local VisitParks rangers have organised The Big Winter Feed at Danbury Lakes. They hang stockings throughout the woods which the children fill with wild bird seed. This is then collected up by the rangers and used during the colder months to feed the birds and squirrels. Along the route there were also bird related cracker jokes, wild bird information posters and a bird tracker trail. Unfortunately I didn't take many photos as my phone battery died about 15 mins after we arrived. We finished off our walk with a hot chocolate around the camp fire before heading home. 

Day 23 - Usually I am up late on Christmas Eve frantically wrapping presents but this year I decided to be a bit more organised and started wrapping earlier. This also means it's harder for Miss Madaboutbags to find out what her presents are! I found this super Santa stamp wrapping paper in M and S, half price too 

and I have a few left to do tonight and some ribbons to add but this will have to wait until Mini Master Madaboutbags is fast asleep. It could be another late one but I'm hoping that the excitement for tomorrow will wear him out! 

Cracker Swap 2016 swap partners

Thank you to everyone that signed up for the cracker swap this year I'm looking forward to seeing all the wonderful things that you managed to fit into your tubes!

I've already posted the partners for those taking part on Instagram 

and here are the partners for those in Blogland.

Claire and Debbi

Ellie and Glenda

Montse and Melanie

Leah and  Lynn

Kim and Andrea

Kimberley and Suzanne

I'll be sending out email address for those who don't have blogs

For a reminder of what the swap is all about pop over to this blog post

Cracker Swap 2016

Get in touch with each other, read each others blogs and any questions just ask. 

If you are on Instagram then you can use the hashtag crackerswap2016.

Happy Swapping

Strawberry Swap Partners List

Thank you to everyone that has signed up for the Strawberry Swap both here and on Instagram, sorry I'm a little late posting the partners list but it is Father's Day here in the Uk so we have been pampering Mr Mad About Bags with a hearty full english breakfast and I have also been making the most of the sunshine by painting the outside of my sewing room. I realise I still haven't shown you my new room yet so I must remedy that at some point. Right enough of my waffling, you have kept me on my toes this evening as we have had lots of new swappers join in for this swap, so i have been trying to marry up instagram and emails etc and working out posting preferences But I think I've sorted it.

If you do find that I have missed someone, something or somewhere then just let me know.

Strawberry Swap Partners List

Glenda and Linny both email swappers so I'll send you both a message.

Jille @ Love To Craft  and Sally @ Sew Sweet Sally

MilliCrea and Andrea @ Indigo Blue

Beth @ Stitched by Betty and Maria @ Dotty's Daughter

Jayne @ Picksie33 and Debi @ Busy little Chicken

Michelle @ MichellesKreations and Melanie @ The Patchwork Robin

Mel @ MellieMakes and Kimberley @ Creative Chaos

Laura @ Beads, Buttons and Birds and Lynn (email)

Montse (email) and Edit @ Edige

Glenna @ Glenna's Life on the Farm and Debbie 

Kim @ Wisdom with Needle and Thread and Debbie @ Fairy Bluebell's Craft Adventure

Robyn @ Robynlhop and Susan Brehm (email)

Tracy @ Mad About Bags and Birdie and Dot

Here is a little reminder of the swap details

Send 5 items with a strawberry theme, to include:

One handmade item - you could sew, knit, crochet, paint or use paper

One strawberry shaped item - this could be anything strawberry shaped 

One strawberry flavoured item - this could be food, a candle or something else scented with strawberries

The last two are entirely up to you as long as they are strawberry themed.

I realised that I didn't post a mailing date for the swap before but I was thinking that your parcels could be on their way by the 31st July. It won't be a strict timeline as we are heading into the school holidays here in the UK but you can arrange to post out earlier or later if need be. So get to know your partner, talk about your likes and dislikes etc and any problems just let me know.

Happy Swapping 

Strawberry Swap

Don't forget today is the last day to sign up for the 

Strawberry Swap

We have lots of lovely new people taking part, the swap is open to bloggers, Instagramers and non bloggers just so long as I have a contact email. Please leave a comment below if you would like to take part.

Swap partners will be posted on Sunday

xxxxx 

Strawberry Swap

I've been having a few technical problems with photos so all my good intentions of blogging at the beginning of June went out the window. I'm still trying to work out what the problems is but in the meantime....

anyone fancy a swap?

I've been trying to think of some ideas for swaps and was looking back over some of the swaps that I have taken part in since I started blogging back in 2009!

There have been colour swaps, cupcake and food swaps, season and country swaps to name just a few. As we are  heading into summer and with Wimbledon just around the corner how does a Strawberry Swap sound?

The idea would be to send 5 items with a strawberry theme, to include:

One handmade item - you could sew, knit, crochet, paint or use paper

One strawberry shaped item - this could be anything strawberry shaped 

One strawberry flavoured item - this could be food, a candle or something else scented with strawberries

The last two are entirely up to you as long as they are strawberry themed.

Here's what I sent way back in 2010

So who's in then?

Just leave me a comment before Friday 17th of June and I'll announce partners on Sunday 19th June. Please let me know if you are happy to post overseas.
This swap is open to bloggers, instagrammers and non bloggers as long as I have a contact email.

I've made this pic to pop on your blogs and please feel free to share the swap on your blogs too.