The Secret Exchange

A few years ago I met a professional quilter online who over time has become a good friend. She proposed we do a craft exchange this year, and I got brave enough to accept. We decided to do medium size projects, and I thought I'd make her a recycled linen nap size quilt. That's what I was working on for the month of February and part of March.

The pattern is called Wave Runner by Cozy Designs, and was fairly simple to put together. I stayed with a three-color design using these remnants for the top so I could make the waves in the colors of sand, sea and snow. I used a variety of embroidery threads to quilt the piece, from #3 cotton perle to some of that ball thread I picked up in a bag from Goodwill. The poem that I wrote and embroidered on the quilt is all about my friend (and in a way, me back when I was writing PBW.)

Everything I used to make the quilt was what I had on hand, recycled or leftover from other projects. Even the tag I put on the quilt is a piece of white fabric from Fabscrap. It's not perfect, of course, but I'm quite proud of how it turned out. I'm also not going to post a pic of the finished quilt because what I wrote on it is very personal.

For her project my friend made me this beautiful beach bag. It's not only perfectly made, but in my favorite colors with a lovely bird so much like those we see when we walk by the lakes.

My friend is a little psychic, too. I think it's safe to say that whatever happens to me, I do refuse to sink.

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Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Valerean

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