Wednesday, December 11, 2013

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my place. The tree is up at last, after a mammoth and necessary house clean, and the special table runners and wall quilts I've made over the years are on display.

And just as I was thinking to myself this morning that we could do with a few more tree ornaments, the postie arrived with a big package from Sharni, my partner in Maree's 6 items Christmas swap. And among the many beautifully wrapped parcels were these ornaments - aren't they gorgeous! I can't wait to open the other parcels, but apart from a little bit of shaking and wondering, I'm being good.

 
This huge stocking stuffed with pressies is from Maria in WA, my partner in Cheryll's Christmas swap. I'm a bit embarrassed because the parcel I sent her was a lot smaller, but it does contain lots of things I hope she'll like.


And this one is from Grethe in Norway, in Chookyblue's annual Secret Santa Christmas Swap, which is always a pleasure to take part in. What a cute little stocking. The parcel came with stamps. not just those boring postal stickers; one of the stamps features the famous Norwegian painting The Scream. Not Christmassy but I'm thrilled to bits with it; you don't see one of those every day!


Of course I can't show you what I made for my partner Dagmar in Germany, but I can show you the ornament I sent her. Yep, it's a moose - she's a fan of these animals so I was pretty lucky to find this drawing to stitch, knobbly knees and all (the moose's not mine, just in case you were wondering).


We've all been in touch with each other - it's lovely to get to 'know' other people; even if we never meet we can still be friends - that's the beauty of this bloggy world.

So a huge 'thank you' to swap organisers Maree, Cheryll and Chooky, and to my generous, wonderful partners.

And now I'll show you what I've been making lately. These two bags are on their way to my young niece and nephew in NZ. The strawberry bag is a Joanna Figueroa pattern and was nice and easy to make (although I did groan my way through stitching the 12 leaves)  and the toy bag was easy too - and I love that fabric (from Spotlight).




 

9 comments:

Susan said...

Those presents look very tempting! Lovely decorations, especially the moose stitchery. Cute bags.

Michelle Ridgway said...

Definitely looking very festive at your place Jan. The ornies are lovely and I adore the strawberry bag!!!

Anonymous said...

lots of excitment at your place Jan,enjoy all those goodies.xx

Grethe said...

Yes, what a lot to enjoy! Glad you noticed the stamp one my envelope, the post lady put it on! Nice to be in different swaps:-) lovely strawberry bag; Joanna F. Has some great things.

Indigo Blue said...

Lovely litte bag. I too have a SSCS parcel waitig to be opened on the 25th and it has come all the way from Australia. I really enjoy swaps but do not always see them advertised in time but I like to see what those taking part have made.

Quiltmoose - Dagmar said...

The cute moose has settled comfortably in my home and has quite a few admirers :-) Thank you so much, Jan!

creations.1 said...

Oh wow!! Such a lot of xmas goodness you have received Jan - I love blue in xmas decorations!

Maria said...

Enjoy opening all your goodies Jan..
Opened my gifts today and I love them all. Thank you sew much.

Quilting Chemist (Danette) said...

So many wonderful gifts...Merry Christmas!