Sent, Received, Delivered - I'm Yours!

October was the month of Mouthy Stitches 2 and I can't believe that by early November I'm done!  It's not often that my flickr name is struck through in a swap SENT, RECEIVED DELIVERED so soon.

Yesterday, I felt like Dolly as I was working 9 - 5, okay more like 8.30 - 3.30 as a substitute teacher at the American school here. Clearly unused to a bit of hard labour I was pretty tired last night and enjoying the prospect of a quiet evening.  At around 6PM my husband arrived home carrying a box. "This came for you today", he said.  I looked at the label.  It was from my BFF, Di and could be only one thing, my tote and fob!

...and now I have my own blue soda pop tote and gorgeous fob! Di has pretty cool cards too.

Take a look at my inspiration mosaic for the swap.  Di knows me pretty well and I was thinking how she could not have read me better.  But actually Di says that she had decided what to make me before she even saw my mosaic.

Di comes across as sweet and as lovely as anything and she is the most talented quilter but trust her? Never again! When I saw the fabrics she had pulled for the tote as well as the the tote itself as Di posted progress pics on flickr, I was very excited and very positive in my comments and she threw me completely off the scent with comments like, "Oh I wish I could send it to you...my partner has been really quiet and I have no idea whether she likes it."  She's very very clever!

After days of rain, the sun has returned.  Doesn't the front look beautiful?

I love the fabrics, the soda pop design and the quilting!

Here's the beautiful back...and Di knows I love me some organic wavy quilting!

The tote feels really robust and it has a reinforced bottom (now, now).  The lining is gorgeous too and Di inserted a lovely inside zippered pocket.

...and see that lovely little label there?

A huge thank you to Di - I love love love my tote and shall carry it with pride! It's all the mores special because you made it.

My partner, the lovely Ali of Very Berry Handmade has received the tote and fob I made for her. I was delighted that swap mama Cindy assigned Ali as my partner.  Coincidentally (or not Cindy?), Ali made for me in Mouthy Stitches 1, when she made me this beautiful pouch which I use on a daily basis.  It was so lovely to return the favour although I was slightly daunted as Ali makes such amazing things.

So that's it. Sent, Received, Delivered.  Thank you to the lovely swap mamas Susan, Cindy and Hadley who were tested in their private lives but were relentlessly supportive and enthusiastic in the swap.  Put your feet up ladies but not for long...we are looking forward to Mouthy Stitches 3! Oh and a huge thank you to the Moroccan postal system - you did good!

Little to Report

There has been absolutely no sewing here the last few days.  I have been feeling coldy and like a horrible virus is about to descend while rushing arounnd like a blue a***d fly.

It's the big Eid here tomorrow, when most families sacrifice a sheep.  I snapped this shot on my mobile yesterday afternoon.  It's a fairly common sight here in the days running up to Eid and Zaki enjoyed it as he loves Shaun the Sheep (see below).

We're off to the in-laws later today to celebrate Eid with them.

Beautiful tote made for me by the lovely Karen at Listen to the Birds Sing

I'm all packed.  I can't speak for the boys...

Sunday Secret Sewing

Today I've been finishing a long overdue thank you - a 'just because' gift for a good friend who's been having a tough time recently.

Who's it for? Here are a few clues.  She will always offer to help out, loves stars and is fond of Christmas. She swears like a sailor and makes us all laugh with her tales of sewing and home life.

Guessed yet? If she is reading this she'll know who she is. Many of you probably do too!

Here's a sneaky peek.

I'll post it tomorrow along with my Mouthy Stitches' tote and fob, which I finished on Friday.

Mouthy Stitches' 2 tote and fob

Short and sweet today.  We have had crazy intermittent wifi connection the last couple of days and I'm quitting while I'm ahead.  I'm a little behind on my blog reading but will do my best to catch up!

Mouthy Stitches 2

A few weeks ago I joined the Mouthy Stitches 2 tote bag swap. The girls involved are huge fun and there is an incredible pool of talent in the group.  We are using this super straight forward pattern for a reversible tote.

After waiting for some much needed supplies to arrive,  here's where I'm at.  I have been assigned a lovely partner.  I am a little in awe of her as she makes beautiful things.  Having said that, she seems quite laid back and I'm really hoping I have interpreted her inspiration mosaic correctly.

As usual, I used Lynne's lozenge templates, which you can find here. I seem to have been making these lozenge blocks forever but I know my partner likes a bit of English paper piecing and I feel like I can make these blocks in my sleep. I had originally planned to finish the block in the normal way with the half square triangles but someone else in the group had the same idea. I had a play around and quite liked the look of it on point. My partner prefers a warm palette and is happy for me to go scrappy.

The pieced block will be appliqued on to the natural Essex linen backing and I shall probably do a little piecing on the back. We can't stray too far from the original pattern but I plan on putting in an interior zip! For an extra, we have to make a key fob.  A huge thank you to swap mama Susan who sent me the metal ware so that I could make mine!

So now I just have to wait patiently for my partner to give the thumbs up...or not!

Hope you have had a great weekend!

Summer Swaps

We're well in to September now but over the summer I was lucky enough to be involved in a couple of swaps as well as being the recipient of incredible generosity from wonderful women all over the world.

It seems ages ago now but the good ladies of do.Good Stitches took the month of July off and enjoyed swaps within each circle.  I was lucky enough to make for Dolores who wanted a library tote and her favourite colours were pink and purple.  From her inspiration mosaic I could see she liked zig zags and so I made her a zig zag tote using some pomegranite and pink solids as well as some Silent Cinema. For the lining I used some lovely Denise Schmidt fabric and added some pockets. Being a numptee, I didn't take a full shot of it but you can see it on Dolores' flickr stream here.

I completely lucked out with my partner as Karen was making for me and this is what I got!

Rather like myself these days, it's looking a little plumpcious as it is full of my hexie flowers and scraps for my aqua, orange and grey granny flowers. I love everything about it!  Karen gave it a little 'extra padding' so that I could carry my camera in it.  It has beautiful detail including a key fob and interior pocket...

...and is so beautifully made with the most gorgeous fabrics.  It has featured in a couple of the mosaics for Mouthy Stitches 2 and that makes me very happy. So a huge thank you to Karen!

I also want to say a very belated thank you to the wonderful ladies who kindly sent me the most beautiful scraps for my hexies.  I was completely taken aback by the amazing generosity of Susan, Katy, Mary, Jenelle, Di (with 2 'n's) and Di.  Added to my own they look amazing and nearly cover our coffee table - I still have lots more to baste and sew and I'm loving it.

As well as making gorgeous quilts, Di with one 'n' has a wonderful garden in sunny California, which produces sun ripened all sorts.  Now there's only so much that she and her husband can eat, the surplus of which she turns in to jams and relishes, which always makes me think of that '80s film Baby Boom. A few weeks ago I dropped a pretty hefty hint about how I had loved her tomato jam last year, and luckily for me Di picked up on it and said, "Would I like some?"    Ummm...yes??? She had already said she would send me some scraps for my hexie quilt and this is what she sent as well.

Don't you love those labels? Tomato jam (which has a gorgeous kick), salsa and fig jam!  A little taste of sunny California!  Thank you Di!

Now I'm not a total scrounger. In exchange I sent her a little something from England - a very simple cushion cover, a mug and some Green & Black chocolate.



Thank you for all my lovely happy mail - the generosity of this little comfy corner of blogland never fails to amaze me!