Craft Neutral Christmas Bauble Swap

Slightly crazily, a little while before Christmas, I signed up to the Food of Love's Craft Neutral Christmas Bauble Swap. It was a bit crazy because I didn't really have time available to do it, but I couldn't resist - I'm always after more decs for my Christmas celebrations! And of course swaps are a great opportunity to experiment with new ideas - as you try to make things that you think will appeal to your swap partner. My partner was Caroline of Seawood Designs. She sent these brilliant ami reindeer for my 2 boys (they never made it on to the tree!). Caroline tells me that she used a free pattern that is available on the Lion Brand Yarn website if you want to have a go next year. As if that wasn't enough, she also very kindly sent these very pretty and delicate beaded snowflakes. I am sure that she put masses of work into these - they look very starry and shiny on our tree in amongst all the lights. I also got some rather scrummy G&B chocolate - although I nearly lost the chocolate to the boys and had to hide it in the bread bin! So a huge thank you to Caroline for being such a generous swap partner. For my part of the bargain I did some experimenting with crazy patchwork to make a little tree, and had a go at making yoyo hearts for a wreath. Here they are: I was pleased with both of these - particularly the wreath. It was fun to make the yoyo hearts and I love the way the colours are Christmassy without being too obviously 'green, red and gold for Christmas'. The fabrics are all from a Kaffe Fassett charm pack that I got from Cotton Patch. I used this excellent tutorial at Penny Sanford Designs for the hearts. The wreath is made with a circle of twisted wire which I single crocheted round in order to form a good base to sew on the hearts. I sewed the buttons on at the same time as sewing the hearts to the base, if you see what I mean! All in all it was a hugely satisfying swap, so huge thanks to Eileen at Food of Love for organising it. This is my 99th blog post! Look out for a 100th post giveaway coming your way soon.