The Animal In You Swap

Another swap done! This one was organised by @terireymann on Instagram. (You might be seeing her name again, I've joined 3 of her swaps this year!).

The idea of this swap was to make 3 homemade items based on your partner's favourite animals. My partner chose a horse:

My partner had posted a few photos on her inspiration mosaic of pouches. So I thought this would be a great gift.

The second animal she chose was a dog:

This pattern is from Mollie Johanson's book, Stitch Love. He's an adorable Darling Dashschund Wrist Rest. 

And lastly, my partner's third animal, a fish!

I didn't get a photo of this after I finished it and posted it, d'oh! But let's face it, something had to involve hexies! 

I've also just finished another swap, due to be sent by Wednesday. My first attempt at a one hour basket:

Again, hosted by @terireymann, I thought I'd join in this one as it was only supposed to take an hour. Now that I've managed to make one, I'm sure the next one won't take me 3 hours! lol. Also, fusible fleece! Why have I never used you before??! My new favourite sewing companion!

ALL the swaps!

This last month has been a busy one for me with swaps! I have however, learned to manage the time scales a bit better! (Aside from one swap, but I was determined to use a fabric that I'd ordered from the States which took forever to get to me, by which time I'd had to give up and use other fabric instead! Sewing first world problems....lol).

The first one was a rainbow mini swap hosted by @katebasti on Instagram. I used a pattern from Quilt Now, issue 3, designed by Sonia Spence of Fabric and Flowers. It's a teardrop paper piece quilt, which I had a few issues with to start off. However, the lovely Sonia responded to a message I left her on her blog and helped me through it! She was so patient :)

I still need to work on my seam allowances, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I also added a different panel at the bottom by turning one of the teardrops into a kite. It reads "when it rains, look for rainbows", one of my favourite quotes and quite apt for this swap.

The next swap was a spring mini hosted by @beachbabyc on Instagram. I had the pattern for this picked out within minutes! Another one from Quilt Now, this time issue 8, designed by Collette Howie of Poppy And Poochie. The original Catherine Wheel pattern was in black and white, however, for spring, I decided to use nice bright fabric from a jelly roll I had in my stash.

I really relaxed and enjoyed making this quilt as it was back to my happy place of hexie paper piecing! I also made a little extra for this swap, an embroidery hoop balloon, this time courtesy of Mollie Makes issue 52.

The last swap was a tea lovers mug rug swap, hosted by the lovely @jenipher1982, who I got to make for :) One of her favourite themes was nautical, and I had the perfect fabric for this!

As a little added extra, I made a tea cosy using a pattern I found online at Messy Jesse Crafts. It's the first time I've ever made a tea cosy, and after my mum saw it, I doubt it'll be the last! But a lot easier to make than I thought. I'm definitely getting more confident with my sewing machine and things I'm attempting to sew.

I've signed up to quite a few swaps to keep me going for the rest of the year, but the next deadline isn't until July. I'm going to have a little time out this month and maybe start making some things for myself and family, like that tea cosy for my mum! And possibly a cover for my sewing machine, maybe even start a full size blanket, panic! Hopefully I'll find time to post up on this blog more often too.