The local craft swap was on Monday night.  This round there were five of us swapping, so we each had to make four things.  Here's the loot:

Marcia made the resin necklace which came packaged in the little fabric bag.  She made earrings to match, too.  Super cute!  Caroline blew me away with the notecards!  She secretly drove by all of our houses, snapped some photos and had her final drawing printed on cards.  I love these so much!  Lisa made a wonderful sugar scrub and bath mitt.  I am surprised no one in our group had done this before - it is a great craft and I can just keep adding sugar and olive oil as the supply goes down!  Gotta love that!

Suzanne made the mirrored sconce on the right!  She used small framed mirrors from Ikea and a lamp from Target (right, Zanne?).  She wired them and added the washers - really cool.  And me, well, I took a cue from Courtney and made gourd birdhouses.  A big thank you for sharing your idea, friend!  I bought the cleaned and drilled variety and painted them.  I replaced the leather loop for hanging with wire to give it a more modern feel.  I'm bummed that I didn't get a photo of them all together because they were all different colors:  green, blue, white, orange and yellow.  I kept the yellow one for us.  I will be making more to have as gifts - they were fast, easy and a really nice change of pace.  Plus, I find mindless painting soothing.  Bonus!

Thanks, ladies!  I love everything.  I can't wait until the next swap.  I'm already plotting....

And mostly for my own use:  past craft swap entries can be found here, here, here, here, here and here. 

Over the three day weekend:

I read this book.

I watched this movie with Fatty, the girls and one of Jane's friends.  Scarier than I remembered.

I pieced the back for the x quilt.

I ran three miles two days in a row.  Woo hoo!

I helped the girls cut and sew nine-patch pillows.  And then ran out of stuffing.

I wanted to chuck the little machine out the window.  I hate it.

I made ribs. And corn salad.  Twice.

We went to some friends' house and let the kids stay up too late.

I made my craft for my local craft swap.  And then swapped.  Details to come.

I took lots of photos of peonies.

It was great - hope yours was too!

I love my train case, made for me by my friend, the super talented Meg.  It came last week when I was feeling down in the dumps about running.  The timing was perfect and I adore it, especially because it is yellow and has houses and the illustrations are embroidered.  Thanks Meg!

And I have found a craft that I can do with the wrist brace on.  This is one of Hillary's Stitchettes...I finished the summer, fall and winter ones last year.  On to spring!

On Sunday, I made a pillow for a long overdue swap.  I pieced strips of linen with strips of a floral and gingham with the intent of making a striped patchwork pillow.  Once everything was pieced, I didn't really like it so I cut the piece into more strips and added the dotted print.  I finished that up, still wasn't crazy about it so I cut it again and added more dots.

Finally happy with the piecing, I quilted the front with back to back loopy lines and threw it in the wash.  After it was dried, I cut it to size and made the back.  I put in a zipper if you were wondering....and, for the record, I had to consult my own tutorial because it has been awhile, ahem, since I have done the zipper thing.

We are getting ready to go south for spring break.  I will probably post some, but not a whole lot while we are gone.  Just wanted you all to know in case it gets really quiet in this space.  See you soon.

I always look forward to my local craft swap.  We met last night to exchange our crafts.  This time there were 9 of us so each made 8 items.  And we had a theme: recycled.  The majority of our craft had to be recycled (or re-purposed).  Yes, I grumbled.  Then I realized I over-reacted and just started thinking outside my comfort zone of fabric and yarn.

The internet is an amazing thing.  A few weeks after the theme was decided, I saw this post of Ali's.  Oh me, oh my!  I loved this idea.  And I shamelessly copied it.  Kind of.  I couldn't find frames to be reused so I had to come up with a second option.  Lacking the necessary supplies, I bummed some lumber off of a friend whose basement was just finished.  I asked another friend to cut the boards for me.   I went through the paint cans in the basement and found a quart of eggshell white.  Then I hit the recycling bin.

One old issue of Domino, an Anthropologie catalog, a MiniBoden catalog and a PBTeen catalog made these 8 pieces of Recycling Bin Art with the leftovers being tossed right back from where they came.  All I bought was some small foam dots to mount the paper petals and the sawtooth hangers for the backs.  It cost about $5.

I got some great, creative crafts, too.  I am stilling missing two so when I get them, I will take some photos and share.  This is one creative group!  We swap about 4 times a year, the next one being in May.  I already know what I am making.  And I think I can do it with supplies I already have. 

Helen is a bunny who likes a bit of an adventure.

On Tuesday, she put on her shoes

and her favorite pink sweater and headed out for new lands.  Arizona is far away, but she knows that her new friend, Mary, is waiting for her.

After they play for a long time, Helen thinks she'll be ready for a nap.  It's a good thing she packed her pillow and quilt.

Sweet dreams Helen.  We will miss you.

Helen is from wee wonderfuls put-together book 1.  Her sweater is also a wee wonderfuls pattern.  The doll quilt and pillow were made by me without a pattern.  Making Helen and her things was so much fun for me.  Thanks so much for swapping with us, Jen and Mary.  We love everything you sent!

Click on the photo to see the great things we got!  They also sent us two great books, but Kate has hidden them somewhere.  Most likely, they are in her bed.

Happy leap day everyone!

Historically, winter is the hardest time of year for me.  I find that gray skies and not much sun don't treat me very well.  So when Sarah announced her gocco swap's theme as mid-winter, I grumbled.  Out loud.  I really wanted to do the swap, but mid-winter?  Ugh.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to print.  Fatty came up with all kinds of good ideas, but either they were entirely impractical (I cannot draw a groundhog, for instance) or they weren't very "me" (whatever that is).  I was looking back at some photos on Flickr and this one caught my attention.  It was snowy and gray and the sun was trying to peek through.  That gave me an idea.

I took a plain white doily and placed it on a black background and scanned it.  I then inverted the black and white, cropped it some and made my master.  I mixed a bit of brown ink into the yellow to get a match to the curry colored envelopes from the Paper Source.  I printed it on gray folded notes (also from Paper Source) and voila - my version of mid-winter.

Funnily enough, after I mailed them on Monday, it started snowing.  Yesterday was snowy and gray.  Today is snowy again, but the sun has come out a few times, too.  Tomorrow's forecast is for sunny skies.  Mid-winter indeed.

Thanks for hosting a great swap, Sarah.  I promise not to grumble if you do it again.

I printed my goods for the gocco swap today.  It was trial and error to find the right mix of yellow and brown, but in the end, I think it turned out good.  I am a novice at this thing, for sure.  It makes me nervous to be sending my item out knowing it is a bit, er,  rough around the edges.  I'll be interested to see what people think.  Fingers crossed.

I am working on my first quilt square for the Bee.  Jennifer sent the print in the background and the yellow chenille for inspiration.  I just hope it goes together like I have it in my head.   And that it goes with the other 11 blocks, too.  And that she likes it.  Once again, nerves.

Up this weekend....finishing our handmade valentines for Sarah's swap, working on Miniswap and trying to get one very very very overdue package in the mail.  Thank goodness that recipient is patient and kind and sweet.  Oh, I just wrote thank goodness.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Happy Friday.