Showing posts with label Swaps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swaps. Show all posts

Friday, October 21, 2011

Scrappy Mug Rug Swap

Don't forget about my Apron Giveaway!

I have decided that I really love Flickr swaps.  They're a great opportunity to meet other sewers and quilters from around the world, and who doesn't love coming home from work to find a package full of goodies!?

The Fall/Halloween round was my first round with the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap.  I was a little worried because I don't have much experience making mug rugs.  My partner wanted a Halloween themed mug rug. I had a bit of a hard time coming up with a design because I'm not really big into Halloween, and I didn't have ANY Halloween fabrics.  My partner specified a few fabrics that she liked (of course none of which I had...) and also mentioned she liked purple and green together.

I started with the Bare Trees background, which was similar to one of her favorite fabrics.  I then decided to try my hand at appliqué and added a little scared pumpkin.  I got the idea for the button spiders from some picture I saw once on Flickr (I can't remember where, sorry!).  
Then for the back I did some wonky piecing in purple and green.  
To the mug rug I added a few extra goodies:  a stuffed jack-o-lantern, some googly eyed spider stickers, Lindor chocolate pumpkins, some Basic Grey buttons, and a brown and orange vintage pillowcase.
When my partner (who happened to also live in Calgary) received my package, she seemed pleased with everything which really made my day.

A week after sending my package my husband emailed me a picture at work of an envelope with a customs sticker saying "Mini Quilt".  I couldn't wait to get home to see which mug rug I had received!  I loved looking through the group photo stream and dreaming about which of the mug rugs was going to be mine.  There was on in particular I had my eye on, and right from the initial sneak peak I had secretly hoped it would be the one that showed up on my doorstep.  Imagine my delight when I opened the envelope and there it was!!
I love everything about it, and it's clear to see that so much effort was put into it.  Stephanie from Spontaneous Threads was worried that it wasn't quite what I was hoping for, so she made me a second one as well!!

I love them both - I think they're fantastic!  I think both of these beauties will go on my wall in my sewing room.  They're truly pieces of art!!  Check out her blog post about them here.






Sunday, August 21, 2011

Fabric Postcard Swap

I joined a Fabric Postcard swap on Flickr.  I thought it would be a fun challenge to make something so small and detailed.  The theme for this one was the end of summer.  I wasn't feeling super inspired when I sat down to make it.  I decided on making a few small trees.  I didn't have any brown for the trunks, so I started working on a skirt that I had the fabric and pattern for, but was just sitting in my sewing room.  I cut the pattern out and then had enough brown scraps for the trunks!  Here's what I came up with: