More Happiness in the Mail

Late last week I received a little package filled with fun stuff. Leisel, over at Brown Paper Packages, sent me eight fat quarters of vintage sheet fabric. It was a thank you for participating in the So You Think You Can Quilt contest she held. Thanks, Leisel, I just love the fabrics and look forward to creating something with it. I had a great time participating in the contest and love my parting gift.

This was an unusually good Monday morning. When I arrived at work there was mail waiting for me. It's my quilt from the August/September Mini QT Swap on flickr. The theme was books. My partner and I gave each other the names of a few kids' books that we like and we set about making a quilt for each other. Ruth used If You Give a Pig a Pancake as inspiration for my quilt and it is just the cutest thing!

Here's a close-up of the little piggie. Such a mischeivous little guy. The workmanship is gorgeous and it's such a fun little quilt.

Ruth also included a copy of the book (now I don't have to share with Cassidy), a beautiful bookmark she made, a pencil & topper (which reminds me of If You Give a Moose a Muffin).

Now I've just got to get to work on the quilt I'm making for Ruth...stay tuned.

Is it My Turn Yet?

The last week and a half have been crazy busy, but I'm happy to say that I finished a few projects (on time!) and am now able to do spend a little time working on some things that don't have to be finished immediately. The kitchen is painted, the new light fixtures are installed, and I finished a couple more quilts.

This little baby quilt went in the mail today to my friend, Terry. She plans on giving it to her niece who is expecting a little boy in September. It's a cozy little quilt (about 33" x 44") made of alternating flannel and chenille with a flannel backing.

Below is a little mini that I made for the flickr Quilt Swap Boot Camp for Newbies group. Now that it's reached its recipient, locodowo, here's a picture of the finished quilt. I just love that little owl fabric! I hand quilted this with a large quilting stitch because I wanted the quilting to have more of an embroidery feel to it. It's a simple little quilt, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Of course, I'm not just sending out quilts, I received a couple of beauties in the mail Monday. The quilt below was created by Olivethebeach and I received it in the flickr Mini QT Swap for July. The quilting is quite lovely. The fabric choices are great too, including the manatee fabric on the reverse.

My other little treasure came from ashleyboccuti and is my take in the flickr Quilt Swap Boot Camp for Newbies group. It's a gorgeous little quilt full of raw edge appliqué and hand embroidery.

I must say, I'm liking this whole swap thing. It's fun to send my little creations out into the world and to receive little works of art from others.

Now, what should I do next?

Finally, A Few Finished Projects

I've been keeping pretty busy lately finishing up a number of projects. I'm by no means caught up, nor do I ever expect to be, but that's just part of the fun. First up is my mini quilt for the Mini QT Swap on flickr. This quilt finished up at 12 inches by 12 inches and went to olivethebeach. The dolphins are paper pieced with a pattern from A Quilter's Ark.

Next up is the baby quilt I made for my cousin Ginger's baby shower. It's a generous size, measuring about 40 inches by 50 inches. I adore the focus fabric - Zoology by Michael Miller. The colors don't scream 'baby', but I really like the look. I decided to make pretty basic (large) blocks so that I wouldn't lose the impact of the animals. I had about a yard of this fabric, enough for this quilt with ten blocks left over. I plan to create a second, smaller, quilt out of nine of the blocks.

Finally, here's a picture of the finished charity quilt that I blogged about earlier. It's for Downy's Touch of Comfort program.

I've got another mini quilt I need to finish and mail out on Saturday for the Quilt Swap Boot Camp for Newbies group on flickr. I guess I had better log off and get to work...