Quite a bit on my plate..

I've got a lot to do over the next week!  I am still in pursuit of a lovely dress to wear for my brother's wedding... I've been dithering about this for days now, and in spite of my plans weeks ago now, I am as disorganised as ever...  So, rushing around at the last minute, I went ahead and bought some absolutely glorious fabric from Ray-Stitch.  I am so delighted with it - it's an organic crossweave cotton in a shade called rust.  I think I am going to pair it with some of this lovely Amy Butler fabric (Martini in grey) - they do look fairly scrumptious together, in fact they look so scrumptious that I am afraid to start in case I mess it up.  Fingers crossed I get it right.  

I'm also crocheting a little cardigan to go with the dress - that's a bit easier because it's a fairly straightforward pattern.  But I have to go and really crack on with it this evening or I am going to be in a serious panic because I have to do all this by next Saturday...  And worse than that next week is a really busy one because we have family visiting on Monday, and then we are off up to London for the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) on Thursday. This will be my boys' 5th GBBF I think - it's a very civilised festival with an ace family area with lots of toys and games for them to play with.  An excuse to include a cute picture of them at the the festival in 2005 - aged around 20 months.  Lovely boys!

I'm also got a swap to do - I couldn't resist Meridien Ariel's Bookish Craft swap.  I haven't really got the time but absolutely couldn't resist this one - books are so important in my life.  My partner is Melanie who likes The Hollows series by Kim Harrison and other urban paranormal books.  Urban paranormal is a totally new phrase to me, so you can see how far this is out of my comfort range!  But that's what these swaps are all about - it's fun to have a challenge.  I have an idea of what I am going to make for her - I just hope it works out ok and that she likes it. And that I get it finished somewhere even close to the deadline!

And on top of all that, today, I get an order for one of my crochet bunnies...  I am delighted to get it - especially as it's from someone who has bought from me before - I love a repeat customer.  My gosh, it couldn't have come at a busier time - but hey!  I can take crochet to the beer festival can't I?  I've breastfed twins there in the past, and no one batted an eyelid - so crochet's not going to cause a stir!

Right, I have to go and tuck my boys in, and then it's time to get to work!

Claire's Pin Cushion Swap

I'm so busy doing tons of creating in preparation for my 1st ever craft fair (have I mentioned this before??!!) next week, that this blog has been severely neglected. But, even though I feel quite panicky to be separated from my sewing machine just now, I really do need to do a little round up of the swaps I participated in during April - especially now that May is here! First up is Claire's Pin Cushion Swap... My swap partner was Jessica of Frosted Treats. She was really quick of the mark in getting my swap gift to me (a swap swot indeed!) - look at the dinky little pin cushion she made: It's so pretty and such a great idea to use a pretty cup as the base of the cushion. It's already seen plenty of use - it's very useful to have such a stable pin cushion to shove pins into when I'm feeling full of sewing frustrations...! She also sent me loads of lovely extra goodies (yarn, pretty buttons, trims and more!), all with a blue theme. What a treat! My return gift was sent at almost the very last minute - no change there then! - and I'm afraid that DISASTER STRUCK... (I may be overstating this a little)... it got caught up in all the volcanic ash delays and so Jessica had to wait very patiently for her swap goodies to arrive. Here's what I sent... Jessica makes gorgeous cupcake beads for her Etsy shop, so I thought a cupcake theme was the obvious choice. I think she liked it - I certainly enjoyed making it. A very successful swap all round. You can see all the other pin cushions that were swapped over at the Flickr pool. Thanks to the very talented Claire for setting it up.

First Ever Artist Trading Card

Over at UK Handmade, Kella of Creative Wishes has set up an ATC Swap group. The 1st swap is now underway and the theme is Trees. Here's what I've come up with. I'm pretty satisfied with it for a first attempt and I hugely enjoyed the process of thinking up what to make. I am looking forward to it as an opportunity to learn lots of new techniques and to experiment within the limits of the form. If you want to get involved then pop over to UK Handmade and sign up to the ATC swap group - swaps are going to be taking place every month.

A Large To Do List..

I don't expect anyone to read this post really. It's mostly just a reminder to myself of the stuff that I've signed up for/volunteered for over the next few weeks... First, and of most interest to you, dear reader, is the Great Big Etsy Midlanders Giveaway Competition. I can't tell you just how Big and how Great this giveaway is going to be. Put Sunday in your diary and get ready to sign up for the 1st round of prizes. Over at UKHandmade I'm taking part in their 1st ever Artist Trading Card swap. I had no idea what ATCs were (learning all the time!) but as soon as I had a look at some of the ATC groups on Flickr I had to sign up. Just take a look at some of the brilliant work in the Fabric and Textile ATC group. Our 1st theme is Trees - and my 1st ever ATC is just about complete - I'm looking forward to seeing what other people have made, especially as some of my favourite crafters have also signed up. I've also signed up for Claire's Pin Cushion swap. As I've really got an enthusiasm for pin cushions at the moment (a brilliant opportunity to mix crochet and fabric), this hopefully isn't going to be too stressful. Just to make this a less tedious list of stuff I have to do - here's a pic of one of my recent pin repositories. Finally I've just this minute decided to take part in Kitschy Coo's Design-It-Yourself Clothes Sew-Along. The group is using Cal Patch's book, Design-It Yourself Clothes, which is an introduction to making your own patterns. I bought it last week but definitely need some motivation at having a go - so here's the kick up the arse that I need. My dream is to own a pair of trousers that fit... But we are starting simple with the skirt. As I appear to only have 10 days, I better get ON....

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!

Looking back to Christmas & a big yay for 100 posts!

Wow, Christmas was a busy time here at Craft Matters Towers! I've been absolutely shattered since Christmas and it's been hard to pick up a crochet hook or plug in the sewing machine. But all the hard work was definitely worthwhile. Another Christmas project I signed up for was the Crafteroo Secret Santa Craft Swap organised by Vonnie of Blotted Copy Book. I stalked my Secret Santa partner - Helen from Kitty Ballistics Creations - for a little while and managed to work out that she liked the colour teal (which made life easier because it's one of my faves), and she needed a new pin cushion. So, in my ever-literal way, I made her a teal pin cushion! The base of the pin cushion is crochet and the top is foundation pieced patchwork (you see, I have learned something on my patchwork course..). I also made a sort-of-matching needle book and sent some lovely pins in a cute tin, some pieces of wool felt (Kitty Ballistics creates lots of very witty felt creatures like these...), some vintage thread, and some choc & posh tea bags. It was great fun putting it all together, and I think I am going to make more of the pin cushions - they combine two of my favourite crafts, which has got to be good. From my Secret Santa (Jane at Hooked Yarn) I got some fabulous goodies... She made this wonderful bauble which I absolutely love, as well as a very pretty red crochet angel, a handmade notebook, some choc (yes!), teabags, and a star-shaped cookie cutter. Judging by the great appropriateness of these gifts I know that Jane has been paying very close attention to my various posts and online activities! It was lovely to receive such a beautifully wrapped, thoughtful gift. So thank you Jane, Helen, Vonnie and Crafteroo for all the Christmassy fun and inspiration. And YAY! this is my 100th post. It's taken me a long time, but I got there in the end... It's amazing to think how much my crafting has changed and developed since I started blogging. I would never have believed that I would be writing my own crochet patterns for a start. Post number 101 will be the BIG CELEBRATORY GIVEAWAY! So don't forget to check back very soon.

PennyDog's Garden Swap

PennyDog's Garden Swap has been such a great experience - I feel lucky that I got paired with Chrissy - it's been great to get to know her better (she goes dolphin watching! she lives in Aberdeen! she is considerably cooler than me!) and she has been so generous. Her parcel of goodies arrived here yesterday and as you can see I got some fabulous things - a lovely hand-printed tote bag (that I have decided to use for current crochet projects), a fabulous hand made ring and fridge magnets, a very stylish b&w rose picture, a japanese lantern, some chocolate (that didn't last long) and some incredible fabric. I also got a 10% off voucher for her brilliant shop. See, I told you I did well! There's been some other great swap parcels - you can take a look at the Garden Swap Flickr group. A huge THANK YOU to Chrissy for all the lovely thoughtful goodies you sent - can't wait to make something fabulous with that fabric!

While we're on the subject of the swap I thought I'd blog the bag I made to go in to Chrissy's parcel. It's a small bag (about 20cm x 20cm) made with navy cotton twill with a handsewn, wool felt, flower garden applique. I have to say that I am pretty much more proud of this than anything I have ever made, and it was VERY hard to send it off to Aberdeen. Doing the applique was a real challenge (I always like to set myself a bit of a challenge when I'm doing swaps!) but I think it worked well and I got the slightly retro feel I was going for. I'm also very pleased with the colour combination, because I'm never confident about how colours go together. The handles are recycled from an charity shop bag find, and I used that bag as a template for this one. That's my bag making top tip actually... You can find some ace bags in charity shops - I like to use them to make a pattern and reuse all the bits and bobs (handles, zips, buttons, beads, etc), that come with them. I am really hoping Mary Portas' ideas to revamp charity shops don't catch on - I'm worried I wont be able to find bargains any more...

A pattern for a tiny flower

You can now find this pattern over at my new blog - Very Berry Handmade.

Challenges and Swaps

I've signed up for another couple of things - just can't resist... Actually I always find it helpful to have something to be aiming for - nothing like a deadline to improve my creativity! And they give me a really good reason for trying new ideas and techniques too. This month I'm going to be working on Blotted Copy Book's Duelling Crafters' Challenge. Vonnies rules are as follows:

• Your starting object must not cost you any money. So no charity shopping it up. I am watching.
  
• You can spend no more than GBP£10 or the equivalent (USD$15, CAD£17, AUD$20, €11) on supplies to alter your starting object
  
• A flickr group will be created for this project and all completed projects must be submitted by 9pm on Friday May 29th 2009.
  
• The winner will be selected by vote which will be hosted here. Voting will open at 9.30pm on Friday May 29th 2009 and will close on Friday June 5th 2009.
  
• Any soliciting of votes will mean a penalty against the entry with possible disqualification. Play nicely, please.

When I first read Vonnie's post I was really interested in taking part but couldn't for the life of me think of anything that was within my capabilities! We have some lovely chairs that I would love to repaint and re-upholster but there's no chance that I could manage that between now and the end of May! It would be rather a scary steep learning curve. Then a week or so later I remembered this tie of my dad's that I found when we moved in here (his old home). I kept hold of it because I really love the fabric and because it was my dad's 'going out' tie, so it reminds me of lovely family occasions. And I wondered if I could make myself something with it. My initial idea is to use to make a wallet for my business cards. Think it cold look quite cool with the right lining fabric and a funky vintage button. I'm really looking forward to using the fabric.

The other thing I've signed up for is Kerry of PennyDog Jewellery's Garden Swap. The rules for this are:

• You must make one handmade item in a garden theme, this can be something for the garden, or something with a gardeny theme- insects, flowers, etc.
  
• An item of a crafty nature that your swap partner can use in their own crafting- fabric, buttons, stickers, etc
  
• An edible treat- chocolate, cake, etc

Really looking forward to making a start on this one - I have some ideas, but I want to do a bit more thinking first. My partner is Christina of SpoiltPig and I want to make sure that I send her something that she'll like!! I've been having a look at her excellent resin jewellery in her SpoiltPig Folksy shop and I am a bit scared because she is clearly a trendy young person & I really am not... But hey, it's good to be swapping slightly outside my comfort zone so I'm looking forward to it.

Miss Piglet

Here's a new little bit of ami fun... I call her Miss Piglet because she looks a bit like AA Milne's Piglet, but she's definitely a girl... The pattern is taken from Nicki Trench's Super-Cute Crochet.It's the 1st one I've made from there and I'm really pleased with the book - the pattern is very easy to follow, and there is a helpful template for the dress. I have no idea what the yarn is. All I can say for sure is that it's definitely cotton! It's a present for my friend's daughter - her birthday is next week, so I am a little surprised at how organised I have been!

What I haven't been organised about is taking a photograph of all my lovely swap goodies from Izabela as part of the Time for Tea swap. I have to confess to diving on the contents of the box, immediately starting on trying out one of the ginger teas (yum!), putting the cute teapot keyring on my car keys, putting the yarn and buttons in the relevant stashes...and completely forgetting to take a photo. Naughty me! So I have reassembled all the goodies - thanks so much Izabela and thank you too Vonnie at Blotted Copy Book for organising the Swap - it was fun. I was particular pleased that Izabela was kind enough to send me The Encyclopoedia of Crochet Techniques by Jan Eaton. It was a book on my wishlist and has already come in handy a couple of times. Sometimes I forget that although I crochet a lot, I am still a beginner, and it's good to have something to refer to when I get stuck.

A Little Experiment with Patchwork and Quilting...

I didn't want to make my swap partner something crocheted for the Time for Tea Swap - Izabela is such an expert at crochet (take a look!), so I thought I would have a go at something different and make use of some fabric from my stash.

I pieced together bits of fabric in strips and then in turn sewed them together until I had a rectangular piece of patchwork. I then cut a piece of toning fabric to form the base and a piece of fusible fleece to provide the padding. I ironed this lot together then cut out 6 coaster-sized circles. Then I used some thrifted bias binding to bind the edges - I was lucky enough to find a huge box of different shades of bias binding in our local Oxfam a while back. So it was great to use different colours - I think I like the pink best, what do you think?

I am pleased with result, and it was so enjoyable to do... I think I might make a few more - if I do square ones then they might not be quite so fiddly either!

The coffee mug in the photo up at the top is from my gorgeous Cinqe Ports Rye coffee set and dates from the late 50s. That's another charity shop find - just ocassionally I get lucky and find something very lovely. Makes all that trundling round worthwhile.

Our parcel from Utah has arrived!!

Oh wow! We had so much excitement here yesterday when our One Good Book Swap package from Fischer & his mum arrived for Dan & Tom. They have been so generous & made some great choices for my lads.

Here's the anticipation - they loved their names being on the outside of the parcel!

Lisa & Fischer had sent some gorgeous little treasure boxes full of all kinds of fab things - stickers, sweets, little books, bear sticking books, bear pillowcases (thank you SO MUCH Fischer's grandma), bear cookie cutters & bear Xmas ornaments. Just look how pleased they are with their boxes:

They couldn't believe how many little gifts they found in the treasure boxes!

And there were even more things in the parcel! Two lovely books - Growing Up Grizzly & Sleepy Bears - which are both delightful. We have already learnt so much about bears that we didn't know before. We have also looked up about the USA & Utah in our atlas & so the boys know a little bit about where Fischer lives. We've all been interested to read about the Great Salt Lake, Salt Water Taffy, Grizzly Bears & Bald Eagles!

Here's a huge display of everything they got:

An enormous thank you to Lisa and Fischer for this wonderful parcel - the sticking alone has kept the boys occupied for the last couple of days. They have especially loved the 2 bear sticking/counting books. This is just the kind of thing that they love & we got down to doing some sticking straight away:

This has been such a fab experience! Thanks so much to Jill at Life With Nature Girl for organising the swap - we have had a great time & hope to keep in touch with our swap partners.

My swap parcel got to where it was supposed to go...

For some reason I was convinced that the parcel I sent to Fischer & Lisa as part of Life With Nature Girl's One Good Book Swap wouldn't get there. I think it was because the parcel rattled in a most suspicious manner (due to the Smarties sweets I enclosed) & I imagined it would be unwrapped and detained by US customs... But it finally arrived, and I was so excited to read all about it - Fischer looks so pleased I must have looked at Lisa's blog 30 times today. There's nothing like gift giving to brighten your day.

I chose to send We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, mainly because it is one of my boys' favourites (and I like it myself!) and because I think the style & illustration (by the marvellous Helen Oxenbury) is quite English - which I thought would be good for an international swap. If you don't know this version of the story you can watch Michael Rosen reading it on You Tube. One of the reasons why I am so fond of it is that it always reminds me of holidays we have had on the beautiful coast of Suffolk which certainly has some areas of 'thick oozy mud'. We never saw any bears there though...

The swap challenge was to send a book and associated items picking up on the theme of the book. So I made a reversible 'Bear Hunting Cloak' for Fischer with an appliqued bear on one side & his name on the other. I also sent a little ami puppy to accompany him on his bear hunts - just like the children in the story have a dog to journey along with them. I had a great time making these - once I found this fab tutorial for a Superhero Cape at Puking Pastilles, I knew exactly what I wanted to make - it was a great challenge & I really enjoyed it. Big thanks to Jill for organising & to Lisa & Fischer for being great swap partners.

One more swap before Christmas..

I couldn't resist... And this time it is for ME! I am taking part in Sassy Apron Swap - Winter 2008 run by Lucy at Sassy Apron Swap. I haven't got a clue what I am going to make for my swap partner (good job I have got until Dec 1 to get it done & dusted) but I am very very excited about having a Christmassy themed apron all to myself! I love to cook (you can see some of our family recipes & foody experiments at our Seasonal Matters blog) Christmas cooking & baking is the highlight of the year for me, so having my own sassy apron to wear is just fantastic. Can you tell I am excited?

Haven't got much done today - got Lisa & Fischer's parcel in the post this am, have done a tiny bit of crochet & listed another lovely furry Xmas stocking on Etsy & as I haven't got a picture of an apron I'll post a picture of that instead! I want to make some bigger stockings - one each for the boys I think & maybe some for the shop too. I have discovered a wonderful new local shop - Abakhan - that is a an absolute treasure trove of fabric, yarn, trims & other bits of pieces. I could have spent hours there & no doubt will be back often, but all I bought was some ric rac & fake fur for the stockings. I have a hankering to make a Christmas stocking out of some tweedy fabric with a fake fur trim... I think it would be pleasingly 1930s...

Finally I have some new things in the shop!

I have had such a productive few days I feel quite proud of myself. I have been working hard since we came back from our holiday to get some projects finished (always a problem for me, a well-know procrastinator...). And I have managed to list 10 (yes 10!!) new things in our Etsy shop. Hurrah! It has been looking so empty lately, although I shouldn't complain about sales, I have been feeling very conscious that it looked so sad.

The amigurumi elephant & octopus look so cute there that they will hopefully inspire to finish the squirrel, the hippo & the frog that I have *almost* completed. And from there I could do with a couple of sales to convince me that it is worth crocheting some more. I really enjoy making them but my boys already have enough stuffed toys!

Excitingly, I now nearly have everything completed & gathered together for Jill's One Good Book swap. I have really enjoyed putting this one together & reading my swap partner's blog - F is for Fischer. Lisa's book reviews are fantastic, as are all the descriptions of what she & Fischer get up to. I am just hoping that they haven't already got the book I am sending as my swap gift. I tried to make it a rather English book & one that my sons really love. Well, I guess I will soon find out - the deadline for posting is this weekend & I hope to get it all finished tonight so I can post it off tomorrow morning.

How did I ever do without one...?

Here's the first needle book I made myself back when I was starting to craft with any kind of seriousness. It's the most useful piece of equipment that I have - no more hunting around for my fave needles through the various boxes and tubs that make up my 'storage system'. It's practical and pretty too because it's made with my favourite Liberty tana lawn fabric - I really love it & have no idea how I did any sewing without it. It makes me feel very professional too! The ones I have run up since have sold well in the shop too, so I am obviously very fond of making them. The later versions have little ribbon and button closures too & I like finding just the right button for each scrap of fabric.

A more fiddly needle book I made recently for the Fairy Tale swap is this little lily pad (my theme, chosen by Lottie, was The Frog Prince). I think it came out pretty well although I now wish I had made the lily a little bit bigger (sorry Lottie!!). It's made almost entirely with wool felt - dark green on the outside, light green on the inside and the white flower. When I was making the flower I got to thinking it would make a lovely hairclip - so I am hoping to try that out when I get a chance. I think I am slightly put off by the fact that I HATE cutting felt - it always seems to go wonky - especially when I am cutting teeny tiny bits... I expect my hard-living 20s did for some of my fine motor skills. Of course felt is so lovely to sew that as soon as I get the cutting out of the way I forget all about how annoying it is & come up with lots of lovely new ideas for it. I am currently working on a very cute little Xmas pudding and a lovely little Christmas stocking - prototypes of decorations I hope to sell in the shop. Great fun!

I can't resist doing another swap...

I had such a good time doing my 1st two swaps that I couldn't help signing up for another one, run by Jill at Life With Nature Girl. It's a book swap for kids, which is great for my 2 because they love stories... At the moment their favourites are Oi Get Off Our Train by John Burnigham (always popular with adults and children in our house) and The Bear by Raymond Briggs (the 1st of many by Raymond Briggs I hope). I really enjoy selecting new books for them & I am really looking foward to picking something out for our swap partner. That is, of course, if we survive our camping holiday next week - it could be that we never escape the mud...

I've got loads of stuff on the go, craft-wise at them moment but not much finished. I realise that I am absolutely terrible at finishing stuff. I have a whole series of crochet animals which are just requiring some finishing touches - my boys have made up a chant: "a squirrel with no eyes, a frog with no eyes, an elephant with one eye, an octopus with 2 eyes" etc., etc. There's also 6 sets of hair clips requiring clips, a tiny little felt bunny that looks like it's been dismembered. Not to mention all the half done Xmas decorations that I was trying to get ahead with, hahaha.

As a result this blog post is extremely short on photos, so I thought I would include a pic of the amigurumi (there's that word again) frog I designed and made for Lottie as part of the Fairy Tale Swap. I am most pleased with him - although he does look rather drunk I think. I think what takes him out of the ordinary is the gorgeous Rowan Scottish Tweed Yarn in Lovat (what a gorgeous name...)that I used.

Oooh, and I found another local wool shop - hurrah! It's a teeny tiny little place called Dream Wools in Tunstall (ST6 6BD), but it is packed with all kinds of goodies - Debbie Bliss, Sirdar, etc. I got some of the softest yarn imaginable - a total impulse buy - some baby llama stuff called Miski. It is woven in Peru under the auspices of The Mirasol Project which supports communities there. So that helped me feel a little bit less guilty about something I really don't need. I also failed to ask for (or maybe keep) the receipt so I have to use it for something for myself... :) :)

Our swap from Nature Girl has arrived!

Two posts in two days - what could possibly prompt such enthusiasm for my blog?? More wonderful swap gifts of course! Thanks to Jill and Nature Girl my boys are thinking that their birthday has come early this year...

As you can tell by their faces! I think they are quite pleased that mum has been getting into this swapping thing. They are huge fans of dinosaurs so the gifts, with their dinosaur theme, were just perfect.

First there were 2 gorgeous softies who are right at home in our very jungly garden. I love what Jill has done with the fleecy fabric here - especially the light green check - which makes a very cute stegosaurus. And I love the shape of the T-rex. She's also used layered buttons for the eyes, which are also a great touch. There has been much (mostly) good-natured scrapping over the ownership of these 2 - it's so hard to share things that are this much fun!

Then the wonderful T-shirts with more dinosaurs... I know I posted these pics yesterday, but the boys are so gorgeous & the shirts so fantastic that I am going to indulge myself and post them again.

And best of all are the appliqued pennants! The boys were so delighted - they are very keen on pointing out who owns what at the moment ('that's my book', 'that's my puzzle', 'that's my....' repeat ad nauseam) so the fact that these had their names on was a HUUUGE hit. I had to rush round finding string, hammer & nails so that we could put them up over their beds straight away. Jill has made a great job of these too - making use of their favourite colours & some lovely fabrics.

We also got some super cute finger puppets, some dinosaur fossils (not the real thing, lol) and some extremely exciting American sweets. I also got a piece of lovely floral fabric & buttons! I feel like we really got lucky when we got matched with Jill & Nature Girl for our swap. Huuge thanks again for them & to Chloe at Mee Crafty for organising it all.

Fairy Tale Swap - Result!!

I feel so bad that I haven't had a chance yet to blog about the wonderful box of goodies I received from Lottie of Love Lottie as part of the Fairy Tale Swap. Lottie has sent this beautiful needle-felted elf. I am just so impressed by her skills - the elf's little face is absolutely gorgeous and I love the details on his clothes, especially the little wooden button.

My sons think he is one of Father Christmas's elves & I have a feeling that he is going to become part of our Christmas celebrations in a big way. I just hope they are not expecting me to make a needle-felted Santa Claus - I don't feel up to that at all!

I think the close-up pic shows what a great job Lottie has done - he has such expressive features, which must have been so hard to create. I'm not sure if I believe her when she says she hasn't done much needle-felting before!! Isn't he fantastic?? It would be good to think of a name for him - I will have to set the boys to work on that one.

And as if that wasn't enough I also got these gorgeous little lavender shoes made of felt with some very pretty embroidery. I think they are lovely & much too special to hide away in my wardrobe. I am sure that at least one of them will go on the hooks on our bedroom door (once we get round to putting the hooks up of course). What a great swap!

Although actually that isn't quite true because I haven't actually completed my half yet!! One bit is done but I have to get a couple more bits & bobs before I can start on my other bit of creating for Lottie. It's been a real challenge which is one of the things I like about these swaps - it's good to get the opportunity to do something different and have the discipline of the swap theme to contend with. I will give Lottie a hint & just say that it has been great to practise my crochet a bit...

Mee Crafty Swap
Our other swap parcel from Jill & Nature Girl in the USA arrived this morning and caused huuuge excitement. I want to get more photos taken before posting properly about it, but here is a picture of two very happy boys doing some enthusiastic jumping on the bed wearing their lovely new T-shirts. All I can say is that Jill and Nature Girl certainly got it right when it comes to the tastes of my 2 sons.

London!
One of the reasons why I am so behind with posting about our swap gifts is that I was allowed out on Friday & Saturday & went to meet up with some old friends in London. I was a bit too knackered to do as much as I wanted to do, but I did get the chance to visit a couple of fabric shops & the treasure house of a haberdashery/fabric shop MacCulloch & Wallis. I didn't get a lot of stuff because I was really aware that I would have to carry it around all evening, but was very pleased with these vintage trims and some bargain fabric that I picked up from The Cloth House in Soho. I think they will come in handy for some Christmas crafting I want to do & for some more pin cushions I am working on.