Handmade gifts and Happy Post

I haven't been having much luck lately with swaps and Bees. I still haven't received anything from the HoopLaLa swap although the deadline was November 9th! My Sunday Morning Quilts Bee blocks for October and November haven't been seen either, so there has been a lot of anticipation when the postman rings but not much in the way of realisation. Until today!!




This lovely package of goodies arrived this morning from my partner, uberstitch, in the Modern Scrappy Bits swap. Apparently this is Pam's first attempt at a zipped pouch, I would never have guessed it is absolutely lovely.




It was even lovelier when I unzipped the pouch to discover that it was packed with more scraps. On a miserable, wet and windy day this was a real ray of sunshine, thanks Pam!

We had a quick trip up to Scotland this week but only had a short glimpse of this



and this





before delivering the doll quilt and heading South.

I have, though, managed to make another couple of Christmas presents and even roped in my OH on the handmade gifts front.

Last year I made Christmas snowman earrings for my DIL, son's girlfriend and myself using kits from Jillybeads but this year I decided to have a go at making my own. I discovered some seasonal charms at a local bead store and it took me all of 5 minutes to make this year's earrings.



So another two presents can be ticked off the list. My OH has even got in on the act by making these CD clocks, which again took him all of 5 minutes each.



For eldest son


For middle son

For youngest son

The clock mechanisms were just over a pound each and we used their own Cd's so all in all it was not only quick but inexpensive too. The clock parts were sourced from here

Actually they don't know that we have used their Cd's, but as we are constantly telling them anything that has been left behind when they moved out is fair game!

That Christmas gift list is gradually being whittled down, next up is toiletries and jewellery rolls.

Hope you are having a productive, handmade time this year too.

Linking up to Do Something Crafty and Happy Hour Friday and

Hoops and Hops

One of the reasons I started blogging was to join in all the fun of swaps, and so far I have swapped Christmas and Novelty fabrics and made 50 Polaroid blocks for Quiet Play's Say Cheese swap, but until now I had never taken part in a swap of finished items. This glaring omission is why I rashly signed up for Sew Allegorical's HoopLaLa swap even although I knew I would be moving right in the middle of it!

As a secret swap this was also my first time trying to second guess the likes and dislikes of a swap partner, very nerve-wracking! Aside from knowing that my partner was not keen on pink and yellow fabric, which wasn't that onerous a restriction, the rest was up to me. As I find it difficult to decide on fabrics at the best of times, deciding for someone else meant even more dithering than usual.

In the end I came up with two choices and my partner went for these

So with one decision out of the way there was lots more indecision before I finally decided upon a plan for these fabrics, but in the end this is what I came up with, I hope my partner likes it!

The deadline for posting out the hoops is today, so I have just managed to get it done in time, and fortunately in time to link it up as a finish to TGIFF at Quilt Matters too!

Another deadline awaits me tomorrow for my post on the Sew Seasonal Blog Hop but check out today's posts at Plum and June and Finding Fifth