Clothing Swap

At MOPS this week we had our annual children and maternity clothes swap. I have been hanging onto the 000-Size 1 clothes of my children. I have no idea why. Everything between Size 1-4 has been efficiently passed on to friends. So it was time to do some serious purging.

It is hard to get rid of outfits that your kids wore because you can still picture them wearing them and it although it was not long ago, because they grow so fast, it seems like an age ago. So I did pull out some of the clothes that I just can't bear to part with - yet.

These are the ones that went...

And because we are moving house, and I am purging the garage, I finally had the courage to pass on some items that we no longer use. I am pleased to say that the FP swing, awesome potty/step and Maclaren stroller went to three lovely mums. The baby hiking frame and portable baby seat went to two mentors who are grandmothers. And the box of Bob the Builder toys went to a playgroup. So nice when your things can find a new home.

The morning was attended by 42 mums (our biggest number ever!) and there were piles of clothes for each size and gender. The many leftovers are now making their way to a second indigenous playgroup of mums.

The same corner Before, twice During and then After the clothing purge.

It's nice to have another corner of the garage sorted out. What's left in the crates are clothes in larger sizes (size 4 and up now!) for my kids to grow into. I usually buy larger clothes at the end of the season sales and stockpile. So needless to say I went home from the clothes swap blissfully empty handed. Yay for me!

Novelty Swap Saturday

This week I received my Novelty Charms in the mail from Danielle of Threads and Mess which was remarkable given that her family is in the middle of a huge heath crisis and and she is hosting a handmade auction to raise funds for a specialist. See yesterday's post for more details.

I contributed three fabrics and so got back three packs all neatly wrapped. They are great for mini projects and I-spy quilts.

Inside was a pleasant array of girly charms.

A LOT more boy charms.

And some general charms.

My daughter had fun sorting them for her own collection to be photographed!

So thanks Danielle and all the girls in the QCA Novelty Charm Swap on Facebook.

Swapping Saturday #2

Rainbow Charm Swap

I joined in Lauren's second round of rainbow charm swap in July and the returned pack yielded some lovely tone on tone prints. 

Far Far Away 2

There has been a new destash page on Facebook where you can pick up some lovely prints. I am not quick enough I'm afraid but lovely Kristy from Quiet Play snapped up the blue version of 'the Owl and the Pussycat' for me. I never got this colourway but I did have the purple and orange version. 

So Kristy and I arranged a swap. She sent me 1/2 yard in blue and I cut into my stash of Heather Ross Far Far Away 2 prints to give her a selection of four fat 8ths in return.
She will get the Owl and the Pussycat in purple and orange, Sleeping Beauty in yellow and Rapunzel in blue.

I love swaps and have found a lovely group of bloggers through Facebook to swap with. Do you have similar experience with swaps. There is a whole page on Facebook called Fabric Swaps - Australia and International if you are interested.

Giveaway Reminder

Less than one day remaining in my Practically Paper Piecing Giveaway with a chance of winning one of two 'Summersville' charm packs. You can find it here.

Swapping Saturday

I was ill with influenza virus this past week. I literally could not get out of bed from Saturday until Wednesday. I have never been bedridden that long!

But I did get two parcels this week that cheered me up. 

Secret Santa Swap

I love this bag and the spotty fabric

I got the cutest little bag of goodies from Kelly of Made By Kelly. She stalked me well on Pinterest because I love handmade felt Christmas tree decorations. And now I have 6 to put on my tree in December. 

Rainbow Charm Swap

This is one that I had to supply 10 FQs of 'yellow' fabric for and cut into charms by the end of July. I was really surprised how great the return was. There are about 100+ individual charms in various hues of the rainbow. 

It made a nice bright ending to a wasted week of illness.

What about you? Have you participated in any good swaps lately?

Handmade Secret Santa

With only 2 days left in July I was hard pressed to get this secret swap parcel out in today's post. I had planned on giving my swap partner, the 'Happy Couple Handwarmers'  which I made with the Zakka Style Sew Along however, research proved that she was from Queensland where temperatures in winter are pretty mild. I don't know Cate at all but she does have a blog called 'Life Behind the Purple Door'.Further research revealed that, like me, she has a 'thang' for felt Christmas tree decorations.


So I checked out Flickr and Pinterest for inspiration and set to work. I do like hand sewing.

I came up with this felt and button tree.

This Christmas house.

And I had enough Michael Miller selvedges to make a couple of these cute trees as well.


I hope that Cate enjoys adding them to her tree this year. She is hosting an event from September called '100 Days of Christmas' and she is looking for bloggers to 'guest blog' during that period. Details can be found here.

I have to thank Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts for hosting this swap. It has added to my repertoire of sewing skills. I hope that a nice Christmas parcel makes its way to my house this week - I wonder who my swap partner will be?

Slashing, Swapping and Stashing Saturday

This weekend my husband and son are overnighting in Brisbane. My husband is off to the Super14 Rugby with some mates and Duncan is staying with my parents and going to the Planetarium.


So that leaves me with just Tristan and Frances. We did a lot of playing together most of the day and after rest time the kids watched 'Mr Bean' whilst I got stuck into some serious cutting for all the 3 swaps that I am in this month.

So I put in a new blade - very important - and set up my cutting mat on the kitchen bench. (I got to watch Mr Bean too!). 


Novelty Charm Swap - with Threads and Mess

1 yard of 3 different prints = 168 charm squares

Tone on Tone Charm Swap

1 yard of yellow, green and pink = 168 charm squares
(I was slated to do red and orange but another lady from QCA was hoping to join in and she took these off my hands - I am so grateful to not cut more). 


Colour Rainbow Charm Swap - with Sally Bally Creations

10 FQs of dominant yellow prints = 120 charm squares
(I have been trading with ladies from QCA for these because I have hardly any yellow in my stash)


Trading Fabrics


I have posted off a lot of fabrics to ladies in my QCA swap group this month.


3 yards of Kona 'Snow' to Lara  =  some yellow and 'Peeps' FQs


1/2 yard of 'Astor Manor' brown to Elaine  = 2 FQs of yellow

1FQ each of 'A bit of Whimsy' to Sally  = 1 FQ yellow
                                                         Lauren  = 1 FQ yellow
                                                         Olivia = 1 FQ of 'Castle Peeps'

1FQ of 'Forest Creatures' to      Lindsey = 1 FQ of 'Castle Peeps'

So I will have to post all of these off tomorrow.

Black and White Fat Quarter Swap

These arrived earlier this month from Danielle of Threads and Mess. She has a contest that has more FQs offered as a surprise but I am not sure if I will actually get around to making my B&W project for more entries.


Denyse Schmidt Charm Swap 

I also received some charms in the post yesterday. They were part of an international swap organised through 'That Moxie Girl' on Flickr. I had quite forgotten about them actually - so it was a pleasant surprise. 

Even though they are from different collections some of them look really good together. And some of them are prints I have never seen here in Australia.

And it feels nice to finish after many hours of cutting. 

What about you? Do you participate in many fabric swaps? If you are looking for a place to  swap, I am part of a small group on Facebook called Fabric Swaps - Australia & International. Come and join in.

Stars on the 4th

We Australians have our own 'Australia Day' to celebrate the foundation of European settlement of Australia in 1788 - it is a bit controversial these days because of our acknowledgement of the aboriginal custodians of this continent - but we do not celebrate to the same extent as American Independence Day. We never went to war with England over sovereignty of rule. 

I am happy to finally share a great USA patriotic project that my 'Handmade Swap' partner, Jodie, got on Monday of this week - just in time for 4th of July celebrations.

I was excited to make this for Jodie after I saw her post about wanting a red,white and blue runner for her dresser. I have been stashing a small quantity of RWB fabric for just such a project (my nephew is US born). I made myself a great runner earlier this year and I wanted to do something similar.

So I called on my quilty friend Kristy from Quiet Play for suggestions of patterns that included stars and a charm pack. She came up with a brilliant link to a pattern called 'Charming Stars' in the Moda Bakeshop. It was easy to put together. The charm pack came from Keepsake Quilting and I used Kona snow for the stars. I used simple lines about 1" width for the quilting and hand quilted the squares of the stars. And you gotta love a stripey Seussical border!

I also wanted to make the runner double sided to take advantage of the situation and some great leftover pieces. I used French General's textured solid for the rest.

Then I had leftover small triangles from the cutting process and had to make something with them - perfect enough to make a RWB mug rug.

Also double sided. "Coffee Up" is an expression used by writer and swordboat captain Linda Greenlaw, in her book 'The Hungry Ocean'. My current reading book in my car.

Kristy was again helpful in sending me some Hershey chocolate bars to send as an extra sweetener. So this is the package that Jodie received - sort of two parcels in one really!

I am linking up with....