Exchanges!

First off my 4th of July squares from MelissaP. (no blog) via Fair & Square arrived:

She stitched me up some Lizzie Kate. And the bonus of a partner with the same name? The squares came with my name on them! lol No pic of what I sent, ’cause I haven’t sent it yet. But I will be done by the day mailing is due, no sweat. And I love what I’m sending so I’m enjoying the stitching.

Next up I got word my Just Nan Exchange (HOE) made it’s way to Bernadette in Australia.

Another sewing set. A lined (white muslin) zippered pouch with a band from JN’s Winter Blues (all motifs are from Winter Blues), scissor fob, covered tape measure, floss tag & bluebird needle book with needle threader.

And the backs, except for the pouch which I forgot to flip; the stitched band is only on one side. I did make a couple of changes to the designs. I used gold beads & braid in place of the white and the silver the chart called for, the gold matched the cotton fabric that I used for the pouch and backings. I did use the pearl beads that were called for in the center of the fob & tape measure. Oh and I did change the pulled eyelets on the floss tag to rhodes stitches. I felt a pulled stitch would not work well on a floss tag. And! I forgot to take a picture of course, I did include a pair of gold handled embroidery scissor with the fob.

Now for the bluebird. I thought I was being Terribly Original & Oh So Creative with this guy. Turns out not so much.  It’s Fine-ally Finished. I swear I thought that I came up with this all my own, but then I was surfing Jackie’s site and saw her bird. And I can’t swear that I didn’t see her’s first and just didn’t consciously remember it, so I can not take credit for the idea. And damn-it, Jackie’s is better with the emery berry hanging from its mouth. The pattern I used for the bird was not my own – that I freely admit to. Anything more difficult than a stick figure is beyond my drawing abilities. Birdie came from The Purl Bee. I used felt for my bird and did use quilt batting for between the layers like the pattern suggests. And both wings do lift so you keep needles on each side.

In I can’t share a picture news: THE BABY QUILT IS NEARLY DONE!!! All I have left to do is hand stitch the back side of the binding. Never mind it took me two tries to get the binding sewn on correctly. Even with directions right there in front of me. Even though said directions had pictures and small words. *sigh* I’m hoping to put it in the mail Monday along with my F&S exchange.