My first exchange

Hi to all. I've had a wonderful weekend full of stitching, quilting and fun.

My quilt guild had a "favorite things" exchange on Saturday. I noticed many of you in stitch groups do these, and I had to open my big mouth and suggest we do this as an activity. As a result, I got put it charge of this fun exchange. (This happens to me wayyy too much!)
I was nervous, because I wasn't sure that people would get the spirit of it, but thankfully I was pleasantly surprised by the creativity, and thought that people put into their gifts. The rules were, spend $5.00 or less and you had to get something for each thing on the list.

I had Laurie's name. She is a fantastic quilter and teacher, which put a little pressure on me to do something really great for her. Her list was as follows:
1. Blue

2. Pincushions and thimbles. (she snuck 2 in on this one.)
3. Civil War type reproductions.
4. Vintage Sewing Tools and Accessories
5. Bags/containers/pouches etc.

And this is what I did for her...
1. Blue. A Jo Morton civil war reproduction fabric fat quarter. (That took $2.62 cents of my $5.00). I also made a miniature photo album out of some cute scrapbook papers and threw that in as a bonus.
2. Pincushions and thimbles. I made a mattress style pinkeep with some reproduction fabric out of my stash. (zero dollars for that one.) I found a thimble on eBay which ate up the rest of my money, and then some (3.68 with shipping).
3. Civil War type reproductions. At March's meeting Laurie brought a doll quilt she had hand pieced, quilted and finished for her antique doll bed. I decided to make her a sampler to go with it. This came from a small reproduction pattern I had, and then I added an additional saw tooth border. When I finished it, I used acid free scrapbook squares to mount it, and for some reason it really shows up in the pictures, uuggghh! In real life, it isn't that noticeable.
4. Vintage sewing tools. I figured I already covered this with the other items, but since I was out of money, I found an article about antique thimble cases and included that in her basket.
5. Bags, containers and pouches. I figured an Easter basket was appropriate for the season, and it even had blue bows on it! (I think my Mother-in-Law gave it to my daughter a few years ago, so I didn't count a dollar value on it either.)

My list said:
1. Sewing (quilting and needlework)
2. Chocolate
3. Pink
4. baskets
5. lambs

My friend Colleen had my name, and this is what she got me:
1. A darling basket, perfect for snippets and stuff. 2. A little House Needleworks pattern "Stars and Stripes" with a sheep on it. (I'm so excited to do this darling pattern). 3. Pink floss, and 4. A bag of Cadburry chocolate mini eggs, that didn't last long enough to have their picture taken! It looked a lot cuter than this when she gave it to me, but I have a bad (or good depending on who you are) habit of putting things away the minute I get home. I had to get it all back out to snap a picture.

It was my church's semi-annual General Conference weekend, where we stay home and listen to uplifting song and messages from our church leaders for 8 hours! I was able to get a lot of stitching in while I listened on the Internet. In between sessions I was up cutting out quilts. It was an uplifting weekend, and I wish it could happen more than just twice a year.

I finished "Angels O're this House" by Chessie and Me. This is a 10 year old pattern that my friend from my stitching group had in her house. Every time I would see it, I would drool over it and want to stitch it. She finally donated the pattern to our library, and I snatched it up and quickly worked on it. I love the spider web roses, and the satin stitched border. A quick stitch that was very enjoyable.Stitched on 36 count linen with suggested colors. I personalized with my husband's and my initials. Our children's initials are stitched over one, under the checkerboard motifs.

This is a look at my messy creative process I use when working on an applique quilt. I'm working on a "A Tisket, A Tasket" by Bunny Hill designs, and it's a mystery BOM. (I want to use only my bag of scraps and wool, if possible to do this quilt.)
I dump out my grocery bags of scraps on the floor and pull out fabrics I like, and think will work well together. I put everything that won't work back in the bag.
I start playing by mixing and matching colors until I get combinations that I feel go well together. Then I leave them sitting for a while and give it a few hours or days to work on me. If the fabrics "speak" to me, and nothing feels out of place or "wrong" then I cut them out. (I will demonstrate my method soon, I promise!) Sometimes I still switch the colors after they are cut out, but most of the time if I've had enough time to look at them, then I leave them. I have all four blocks ready to applique, and I will be posting a picture shortly.
Have a great day to all. Until next time!