Holly Jolly Swap Blocks

Mom and I finished our swap blocks and got them in the mail yesterday. For anyone from the swap who may be reading this, I'm in group 1 and mom is in group 4.

Here's samples of my blocks:

For some reason this picture came out really bright. The blue is ornaments and doves and as you can see the red has snowflakes.

My theme is ornaments (in case you didn't notice). I made them all different. I know they won't be together, but I had a hard time with the idea of making them all the same. The one on the left has yellow beads at all the crossing green lines and the one on the right has white and red beads. Some of the blocks have a different shape, more like a teardrop; on those I hung the teardrop both ways. Some have a simple ribbon, others have snowflakes made out of beads.
Here's mom's blocks. I know I should have put mine together and only snapped one photo like this. Anyway, the nine patch is of candy canes and the word "Joy". Her theme wasn't ornaments, but gingerbread "men". Here's one of her ladies.

Annie Swap #2

I finished my "Annie" doll over the weekend and sent her to my swap partner today. Because she hasn't received her yet, I'm not going to post pictures. I will however put in a plug for the next Annie doll swap. She's a very easy doll to make and surprisingly tiny so shipping is CHEAP. I paid just over $2 to send her.


The sign up for the second Annie Swap ends April 30th. If you would like to see some samples of the Annies from the first swap check out the flickr group. They are really turning out cute.

note: click on the image to go to the instructions on how to be apart of the swap.

Neat Swaps!

I thought we had until the 31st for these swap, but I just noticed sign up is until midnight tonight. Aunt Pitty Pats is hosting two swaps; an Annie Doll and a Re-Cycled Apron. I've signed up for the Annie doll swap. Once sign up has ended she will be sending us our partner or recipient along with the Annie doll pattern. Other then using the pattern to make the body of the doll there's full freedom in this swap. She wants everyone to use the pattern so the dolls will be consistent. I didn't know it until yesterday, but this swap will be fairly inexpensive. The doll is made of 1/2 yard of muslin. Do you know how cheap that stuff is? I bought mine yesterday for $1.99 a yard. I know agreeing to make something without having the pattern up front can be a bit intimidating, but don't make it that way. Look at it as a challenge for your crafting abilities. I just made a purse for the Bend-The-Rules Sewing swap and hadn't seen the pattern before signing up. Was it a challenge? Yes! Was it doable? Yes! Was it fun? Oh, yes! Sara from The Plaid Post used to do Win It Wednesday. On Thursday she would post a new pattern/tutorial she had found online and say you could win the item on Wednesday. Wednesday would roll around, she had the item finished and ready to be sent out to the winner. She didn't make a practice item before hand. So now you have a chance to do the same. Make an item you have only seen one picture of.

The Re-Cycled Apron swap is all about "up-cycling". Take an old shirt, jeans, or some other fabric item no longer needed and give it a new purpose. To a point this swap is cheaper then the Annie Doll swap because you don't need to buy anything unless you don't have things like thread, scrap fabric, or other random embellishments on hand. You are not given a pattern for this one. You can either follow her example or come up with your own design.

To sign up for either of these swaps go to Aunt Pitty Pats blog to get her email and the list of things you need to send her like your name and address.