Final finishes for 2014 and Hello to 2015…..

2014 saw me working on quite a few crochet projects…..

I finished off one last baby blanket to go into my baby gift giving basket, I love how these colours work so well together…..

2014 also saw me making lots of crocheted scarves for gift giving and this is my final scarf for 2014 and is now sitting in my gift basket for someone very special next year…..

I also finished of another baby blanket for a work friend’s baby boy and forgot to show you a photo of it, my friend loved it so that’s good

I also forgot that I’d taken a group shot of a few of the blankets I’ve finished over the past year as well as a couple from 2013 that haven’t found a home yet but I’m sure someone somewhere will be having a baby and one of these will find a new home……maybe in 2015??? It’s amazing what you can accomplish when confined to bed for a couple of months lol……

And to prove I’ve done more than crochet in 2014 here’s a flimsy called “Charming Stars” I finally finished, I just need to decide on a border fabric and then it will be off to the quilters for this one in 2015….

I also wanted to thank all my followers and readers of my blog for taking the time to read my blog and comment as well as making my year such a fun one and I wish each and every one of you a HAPPY & SAFE 2015 and hope you’ll come and visit me over the following year to see what I get up to

Ondrea, a very special friend!

Every year for our Birthdays and for Christmas we send a little gift off to each other and this year this is what Ondrea sent to me, totally spoilt again this year! A beautifully soft knitted face washer with some lovely smelling soap wrapped up inside it. A lovely snowman button by Barb Smith my all time favourite character for Christmas with Santa a close second lol. A beautiful hand stitched hexie pin cushion and some yummy snowball choccies which I have to admit eating one or two or three of them by now hehehehe…..

Here is a close up of the pin cushion, Ondrea is such a neat and tiny stitcher….just gorgeous! Thanks Ondrea I look forward to hopefully seeing you face to face sometime this year if all goes to plan and then I can give you a great big hug but until then here’s a big cyber one heading your way (((((((HUG)))))))

These are what I sent to Ondrea, I didn’t send her any choccies as I know there are certain things she can’t eat so I didn’t want to tempt her…..I started working on cross stitch again this year after not doing it for over ten years but the bug has bitten me again so you just may see more of these popping up again next year in different forms. I know Ondrea loves purple so I used a cottage garden thread to work with on her Paris themed cross stitch and included an owl note book and owl ornament as I know Ondrea loves owls and I couldn’t resist either of them when I spotted them earlier in the year.

Thanks Ondrea for being such a special friend and I hope you had a lovely Christmas XXXXX

FHF Swaps Gift number 12….Thanks Sharon!

This beautiful giant Hexie table mat was in the last parcel I got to unwrap on Christmas day…..totally blown away by it Sharon it is utterly gorgeous!! I’ve already placed it onto my coffee table in the lounge room so i can admire it and hubby has been warned not to place anything on it or else!

Thank you so much for being my swap partner and making the twelve days leading up to Christmas such fun, I felt like a kid again getting to open a surprise each morning

I also want to thank Shez and Peg for organising and running the Friends having fun swaps throughout the year you’ve both done a marvellous job and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for our swaps in 2015…..Big hugs heading your way girls (((((((HUGS))))))) Love Barb!

Santa sack swap sent and received….

 

These are al the gorgeous gifts I received from my partner Dasha in the Santa Sack swap, a gorgeous shoe bag with a pretty crocheted flower on the toe of the shoe, a peg apron so I can hang my clothes up look really pretty and swish, a beautiful mug bag I can use to take my coffee cup and supplies with me when I go away and a beautiful little Christmas ornament which makes me think that for next year I’ll need to start looking for a special Christmas tree so I can start hanging all my handmade/friends ornaments on it as I’m getting quite a collection now from the swaps I’ve been participating in over the years.

But wait, I didn’t forget these two I just thought they deserved their own photo! Aren’t they both beautiful, the one on the left is a needle case full of assorted needles and the one on the right it the most scrumptious pin cushion, I’m not too sure what these two styles of stitches are called that Dasha has used but I’m impressed! What a lot of work has gone into the both of them

I want to say a very big THANK YOU! to Dasha for being my swap partner and getting to know her through our emails over the last few months and maybe if things align we’ll be able to meet up one day in real time and have a good old chin wag over a cuppa. Thanks Dasha  and maybe we’ll both get lucky and get paired up again in another swap in 2015???

This is the Santa sack I sent off to Dasha……

Filled with all these goodies…..the final gift for Christmas day was the table runner, just click on the picture and you’ll get a larger shot of everything I sent to Dasha. I’ve heard back from Dasha that she loved everything I sent her so that makes me feel good as I always worry whether my partner will like what I’ve made/bought for them

I also want to thank our swap Momma Cheryll for organising and running this swap you do an amazing job Cheryll making sure all the parcels arrive and no one is left without their swap parcel on Christmas morning (((((HUGS)))))

Day 8,9,10 & 11…..FHF Swaps

Day 8: cream cross stitch material with a magnetic pin keep

Day 9: Tissue holder made up in Midwinter Red fabric

Day 10: three pretty Christmas tea towels

 

Day 11: A beautiful dilly bag made up with my all-time favourite fabric designers Bonne & Camille.

Thank you so much Sharon for making my Christmas that much brighter and fun, I’ve loved opening up all my parcels from you!

Just one more sleep and I’ll be able to open number 12….I wonder what I will unwrap in the morning

I want to take this opportunity to thank Shez and Peg for organising these swaps, I’ve had soooo much fun and can’t wait to see what we’ll be getting up to next year with our new swaps

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

One on one Christmas swap with Cheryl…

 

Cheryl and I have been doing a one on one Christmas swap for about three years now and Cheryl has never disappointed me with what’s she’s selected to make or send in our swap and this year was exception….Cheryl has gone all out to create the most wonderful parcel but I’ll let the pictures do the talking and you’ll know exactly what I mean!

here is my adorable elf having a bit of a sunbathe, isn’t he just gorgeous!!! Love him Cheryl!!!

here’s a close up of his face, Cheryl does such amazing detailing with her dolls faces, look at that shy grin, who wouldn’t fall in love with that smile he’s now sitting on my dresser watching the world go by 

But wait there’s more Cheryl also included this very Christmassy stocking which said “no peeking” well I couldn’t resist having a quick peek and found a beautiful bottle of fabric covered buttons hiding inside it. Cheryl also included a hugs ’n kisses pattern with the two cottage garden threads needed to stitch it up, I can’t wait to start on this one! I also received this gorgeous glittery Santa box filled to the brim with yummy lollies which I wont show you as I’ve already eaten quite a few being the little piggy I am at this time of year LOL.

Thank you Cheryl, I soooo love our one on one Christmas swaps and I have to say I’ve already started to plot and plan for our next swap for Christmas 2015 and because I know we’re so alike I have a funny feeling that Cheryl is doing  exactly the same as me LOL

My gifts to Cheryl were a snowman cushion because I know snowmen are one of Cheryl’s favourite characters for Christmas decorating so a snowman had to be in her parcel somewhere……

I also included a snowman bag and filled it with a few smaller parcels to tease her….

Here is a picture of all that I sent her minus the little parcels as I forgot to take a photo of them before wrapping them up DUH! but if you go to this post on  Cheryl's blog as  Cheryl has more photo’s of what I sent her there.

Thanks for being such a fun swap partner Cheryl and  I can’t wait for our next Christmas swap and hopefully we’ll be able to exchange them face to face at the November Mill Rosie meet up in 2015 if possible

Day five, six & seven…..I’ve been very spoilt by Sharon these past three days! and FNSI Results…..

 

I finally got a chance to take a few photo’s of the beautiful gifts I’ve been opening from Sharon in our FHF Swap for the past three days and to say I have been spoilt is an understatement!

Day Five:

Two Mistletoe Lane charm Packs

Day Six:

A gorgeous Gail pan Christmas wall hanging

Day Seven:

My very first honeycomb in one of my favourite fabric ranges “Midwinter Reds”

A close up shot of them all together totally spoilt rotten by Sharon! Thanks Sharon I’m having a ball opening each and every parcel

I’ll also try and do another post very soon on another gorgeous swap parcel that I’ve finally been able to open I just need to take a few photo’s before I can do this so keep an eye out for more fun surprises in the next day or so.

I also participated in Friday night sew in last night and managed to finish a bit more on one of the  embroideries I’ve been working on and below is a picture of them

One more to finish of and I can finally get around to making up this cute wall hanging and pop it into my Christmas gift basket for next year….yes I’m already thinking of Christmas 2015 and this years Christmas isn’t even over yet LOL what can I say except I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!

Days two, three & four….. the fun continues

Day two saw me opening this gorgeous carry basket, I’ve long admired Sharon’s baskets since my sister Anne picked one for the Mill Rosie lucky dip at one of our meetings this year and now I have my very own in gorgeous Midwinter Red fabrics!

Day three I opened this very weighty parcel and out popped these yummy smelling vanilla candles MMmmm I love me some candles!

Day four I opened up another parcel with this beautiful crochet hook organiser inside, so, so, so me!!! I’ll be putting my most used crochet hooks in this very fancy pouch and it folds up beautifully for easy carrying with my crochet projects. Sharon certainly knows the way to my heart!!

Thanks Sharon I’m feeling very spoilt and can’t wait to see what number five parcel will reveal tomorrow

I’ve been spoilt!!!

I closed my eyes this morning and rummaged under the Christmas tree to select my first parcel to open from Sharon  who is my FHF Swaps partner and I wasn’t disappointed!!! Look at the gorgeous project pouch I unwrapped.

I’m very impressed Sharon as you’ve managed to combine the two things I don’t like working with plastic sheeting and the dreaded zips! Now I have my own personal project pouch and to top it off Sharon has made this beauty with my favourite fabric designers Bonnie and Camille ooohhhh I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Thanks Sharon you’ve made my day

Today has also found me finishing up my November and December Charming Stars blocks that I’ve been sewing along with Terry I didn’t get a chance to even look at making any blocks for November as I had quite a few swap commitments I wanted to concentrate on but now they’ve been done and posted off I thought I’d better get a move on and finish a few more blocks before the New year arrived.

Row one done and dusted……

Row two done and dusted…..

Rows one and two finally sewn together, now to start on making up the blocks for rows three and four I’m hoping to at least get this top to the flimsy stage before 2015 but we’ll have to wait and see what I can accomplish while on my holidays over my Christmas break….