Vintage Swap

since discovering blogs, i have wanted to participate in a swap. but always i a day late, or the swap filled fast, or it was a swap of something I didn't have....

and then i stumbled upon this blog and her swap

so i joined and made my two boxes and sent them off. yesterday, i got a box in return (still waiting on another one) - and it was DELIGHTFUL. beautiful packaging, beautiful contents, just beautiful, and so well planned out...thought i would share it with you

this is the exterior

do you love the little clock handle?

and some details of all the lovely vintage items on the outside ... just the box was enough

she even shredded vintage paper to pack the box in - charming!

the box itself was amazing, and then i pulled the little clock handle and opened a treasure of vintage items ready to be whipped into other projects...

an organza flower

bottles of pearly beads

lace holding millinery stems and a handle all the way from France - ooh laa lah

little velvet sacks filled with chandelier pieces

a wonderful zipper bag filled with unique and interesting buttons

spools of lace and 'paris' crepe paper

each treasure was better than the one before...she even decorated the inside of the box...

thank you susan - this was christmas and my birthday all on an ordinary, rainy day in february.

i will share what i sent, once i am sure the recipients have received them. until then, check out susan's blog - lots of clever ideas

Sampler and Olives

these are blocks from a family swap - i have a difficult time with sampler quilts - they seem like a white hot mess and I never know what to do to calm them down... so i framed them in red and green and they are a bit better - but i think it is going to take some more thinking to get this quilt to look cohesive...

so i set that aside and started on another family type quilt...a few years back we all made 6 inch blocks for each other.. i have 112 black, white, red and green blocks to create something with...

 this is about 1/3 of the blocks - can you see the one in the middle at the top? i think it was my brother jon who made that one - it is sewn and taped and stapled together...very funny...i am going to include it but it isn't the right size so i will have to get clever. i decided i wanted to include words as i have been seeing many blogs with this design and even a book out. so, who needs a book...well it was harder than i thought it would be...but about 3 letters in, it just came to me, how to do it...it was the first time in quite awhile that i had an honest to goodness learning moment - felt great! so i spelled out this...

and i do...it was the reason i choose these colors for the blocks...i had actually spelled out 'i love me some olives' but the first letters were a bit...um...well, bad

more soon...been sewing and crafting all week - feels fabulous

Quilts

 this is the quilt i made for casey - finally got it finished and sent off to him - usc colors...
 








close up






and the motto in the corners 

this is my friend brenna - met her for coffee last week - made the quilt from my favorite fabrics...




got it to her just on time...miss cecilia was born less than a week later :)

Off the Top

i had no idea i left those horrid cookies at the top of my blog - yuck!

the new year has been busy - for you too?

okay, i am going to share some stuff with you i meant to:


this is my friend jill - i don't see her near enough

we were talking the other time about when we met - 18 plus years ago or a little sooner - funny that we both distinctly remember meeting for the first time at different times

in this picture we are meeting for coffee to celebrate christmas in mid-january

we don't always meet on time - we believe in the 'ish' as in 5 o'clockISH

the barista gave us the nicest compliment - said we were surely sisters
wonder if we would be such good friends if we were....

am going to try to hit the blog every other day and share some new and old stuff
...next up - casey's quilt - almost quilted and bound