Celebrate swap and some more secret sewing....

 This pretty parcel is heading of to Leanne my partner in the "Lets celebrate" swap as of this morning so you'll have to wait till Leanne gets it before I can show you a photo of what's inside :)

 This is another pile of secret sewing I've been using my holidays to prep for, I'd better get a wriggle on with these as there are 16 to finish of and that's just the swing tags I still have the actual gifts to make yet lol.....

 More secret sewing......

 and just a little more of a tease of some more secret sewing that's going to be happening at my house over the next few weeks......I'm so proud of myself as all the secret sewing/prep stuff I've been working on has all come from my stash,not one new piece of material has been bought so far and my Christmas fabric stash still looks like I haven't made a dent in it LOL :)

and to give me a bit of a break from all the secret sewing I'll be doing I thought I'd start on some knitting.....why oh why aren't there more hours in a day??? What are you working on at the moment, is it like mine a lot of it under the radar and in the secret category???

Secret sewing and a few finishes for OPAM....

 I finally got around to finishing of these hexies and they're now in my Christmas box :)

and a little bit of secret sewing has been happening while I've been on holiday as well as secret prepping work being done for when I'm back to work I have them ready and waiting for me to pick up and just start stitching, I love being organised!
A very productive holiday I must say and even more to show you when I get the chance to take a photo over the next couple if days :)

FNSI Results and a finish

 Friday I worked on finishing of these stitcheries, now to put the borders on them and pop them into my Christmas box....

 I also worked on this baby blanket and finished crocheting the last few rows and then spent a couple of hours sewing in the last of the thread ends......I love how these colours look together :)

Here it is folded and wrapped with a pretty pink bow ready for the new bub :)
I've tried over five times to get this blog post up so fingers crossed number six is the magic number lol....I've been and visited a few blogs that were stitching last night and I'm off to make myself a cuppa and relax and blog surf a bit more to see what all the other creative ladies got up to last night :)

Finally!

Finally blogger is allowing me to post a photo update on the baby blanket I've been working on :) I've nearly finished this one, just one more repeat of the pattern and I can sew in the remaining ends and wrap it up with a big pink bow and put it away till the baby makes its grand entrance :)
I've  started planning a secret crocheted blanket for Sharon, a little one on one swap we worked out between us but with no deadline on when it's to be finished though I am aiming for Christmas next year at the latest so no sneaky peeks of Sharon's as I work on it, I'm still trying to decide on the pattern will it be a ripple, squares, puffy flowers and what colours to use, decisions, decisions??.
 I've also started working on a secret ripple blanket for my hubby for his birthday next year, I'll certainly post a few progress photo's of hubby's one as he doesn't read my blog so it's safe to showcase it as it grows :)
I hope to catch up with you on Friday for FNSI which for me will be during the day as I'll be going out that evening and I can't pass up an evening of not cooking the meal and no washing up dishes after, now can I??? Anyway hope to catch up with you soon :)

Holidays....

 I finally finished stitching block 4 0f Rosalie Quinlan's "It's a red work Christmas" will get block five ready to start work on tomorrow, I hope it doesn't take as long to finish as this block took!

 First three blocks sewn together, now onto the second row starting with block 5 tomorrow....

This is the journal I sent Leanne for her to open on her actual birthday as she was going away near her birthday we talked it over and decided I would send her main gift once she'd returned from her holidays but I wanted her to have at least a little something from me to open so I sent this to her :)
I was going to post a photo of the pink baby blanket I've been working on but blogger is choosing which photo's I can post and won't let me post it so I'll do another post with a more current update on how much it's grown  real soon :)

Swaps & Finishes.....

 This is the bag I made for Leanne for her Birthday for the "Let's Celebrate" Swap I joined this year. I had a lot of fun making this bag and I love the colours in the fabric, I may just need to make myself one as I nearly kept this one for myself lol.....

 Inside Leanne's bag were all these sewing related goodies as well as choccies but I forgot to take a photo of those but if you pop over to Leanne's blog at http://lizzie-the-quilter.blogspot.com/ you'll be able to see the photo's she took of what she received in her birthday parcel :)

 This is what I sent our swap Mumma Cheryll for her birthday and I've received an email from her telling me she loves what I sent her so all's good :)

 This is what Narelle sent me for September's fat 1/4 swap, love anything red & white and those buttons are sooooo cute! thanks Narelle everything you sent me will be put to good use :)

This is a belated birthday gift from Wendy, unbeknown to Wendy her birthday parcel that she sent me back in April didn't arrive and on hearing this she sent me a replacement parcel and this is what arrived in my mailbox this week :) Thanks Wendy you're a trooper!! I must admit this missing mail thing has been happening a lot lately this year I wonder what's happening with the mail around these parts :(
So I can now put a few more finishes on my OPAM list for October as I didn't add Leanne's birthday gifts to it last month except for the journal I mad her which I've just realised I haven't posted a photo of so I'll do another post soon with a picture of that as well as an update on the baby blanket I'm working on which has nearly tripled in size due to me being able to work on it for longer as I'm on holidays for the next couple of weeks :)

A couple of new projects started.....

 I couldn't wait to start on this blanket for myself, I just love the brightness of the colours together using just a simple repeat ripple stitch. I'm looking forward to snuggling under it next winter :)

I also started working on a new baby blanket for a co-worker who's expecting a girl, now to wait till later today to find out what colours I can choose for the fourth baby blanket I'll be starting for this year the mum-to-be loves bright colours so I suggested she look on my blog at the latest colours I'm using in the blanket I'm working on for myself and if she's happy with them I'll go and buy a few more balls and start on hers, now to just wait to hear back from her before I can zip of to Spotty for a spot of more wool shopping lol :)

Another finish....and thank you!

 I didn't officially join in with FNWF sew in last night but did finish crocheting the last few rows on this baby blanket, it's much bigger than my other blankets as the mum to be wanted it big enough to go from cot to single bed as the baby grew.

 Here it is all wrapped up and ready to be given to the new mum when I next see her :)

I also couldn't resist Spotlights latest wool sale and decided to make myself something to cheer me up after losing my baby "Belle" earlier this week, I'd also like to thank everyone for their condolences in my last post in the sad passing of our beloved Belle, she's been part of our lives for over 15 years (the entire time my hubby and I have been together) so it's a been a very emotional time for us both and I appreciated each and every comment you've  sent and I'm just sorry I couldn't personally reply to each comment but it just makes me want to cry when I re-read your comments so I'll just say thanks to you all here and hope you understand :(