Swapping Synchronicity!

At the moment I've got lots of ideas for future posts - coming soon are: - A granny square pattern - Lovely pictures of the new knitting needle rolls I've been making - A pick of some of my favourite sellers on Misi - EtsyMidlanders - a focus on my fellow Etsy makers in the Midlands So that should keep me busy for a while! In the mean time I want to say a huge thank you to Elaine of Inki Handmade who sent me these brilliant stamps as part of Juanita Tortilla's White Elephant Swap. What a great package to get... It was a bit of synchronicity because just recently I had decided to buy a few stamps to brighten up my Craft Matters packaging. I've only got one so far (!), so it was fantastic to get 4 more to add to my very small collection. One of the great things about these swaps is that you get to meet so many talented crafters - Elaine has some fab things in her Etsy shop - and at the moment one of her lovely creations is up for grabs in The Lost Earring's Mystery Prize Giveaway. Pop round there straight away to be in with a chance of winning!

Lots of Progress

It really is about time that I reported on my patchwork progress. I now have 8 12" square completed (please excused crumpled appearance - it's been rolled up in my bag over Christmas!). It's been brilliant fun so far - working with the other women in my class has been very inspirational and it's been great to see the colours and patterns that other people have come up with. It is fascinating that the same block can be made to look so different by the use of colour and arrangement. We are about to start our new term and I'm very enthusiastic - just hoping that enough people join up again to keep the class going. It seems a shame that there aren't more people out there who want to learn this amazing craft. This week I've also been working on a needle/crochet hook roll to store some of my crafting clutter. By complete coincidence, a couple of my crafting friends both approached me with a request to make one for them, so I thought I'd do one for myself first to work out a pattern - it's going well - just need to finish sewing up the binding and then I'm all done with that. I also have a commission to make a card wallet and a bag, so I've been buying gorgeous fabric and boring stuff like interfacing from the brillant Gone to Earth (ordered yesterday morning, received today!) and Cotton Patch. What a busy few days it has been - I've got lots of new followers on Facebook and great comments on my blog so it looks as if there's going to be quite a competition for the bag on Monday. That's all hugely exciting and it's certainly helped me to feel very enthusiastic about moving on with lots of new crafting projects. I've signed up for a crochet challenge - A Granny A Day over at Meet Me at Mike's. The aim is to commit to crocheting one granny square a day in 2010 - well there's no way I am going to achieve that, but I might manage 1 every other day. That would certainly be good for my yarn stash and also I'm hoping to end up with a groovy throw that would brighten up our newly decorated front room. Then there's also a very cool White Elephant swap at Juanita Tortilla. This is a great idea because it doesn't actually involve any crafting at all... go check it out and sign up if you have some crafty bits and bobs that you can't think what to do with! And in amongst all of this activity I've also managed to list a few things for sale on MISI and Etsy (phew!) - here they are, for your delectation.