It's a wrap

Mark this on your calendar - I mailed a swap on Monday morning that wasn't due until Friday! Booyah! And oh boy I love this one! I made a Rebel mini for my Cotton + Steel mini quilt swap partner. Fiddly for sure, but also super cool. I made a kinda scrappy binding that's mostly navy with a pop of silver and pink.

As extras, I made a pincushion featuring that awesome silver fabric and a Mustang tea towel with mitered corners and a twill tape loop for hanging. I used the towel to wrap up the extras, including chocolate, a mini Sharpie and robot keychain. (My partner said she likes robots.)

The back is nice, too.

And last night I finished the quilting on my mini for the Thimble Blossoms swap. And its deadline isn't until August!

More swapping stuff

Looking back, I'm not sure what I was thinking when I signed up for six swaps that are all mailing in a few month's window. Crazyhead. I recently mailed one and have two others just about wrapped up, so now I'm getting started on the next three due in August.

Despite promising a break from pincushions, I just couldn't resist another for my Cotton + Steel swap partner using the same fabulous silver fabric featured in the mini. I used a bit of selvage for a little tag. Pretty ingenious, huh?

Then I got started on my Thimble Blossoms swap. My partner's favourite Thimble Blossoms pattern is the mini swoon, and her favourite colour navy blue. I made that the focal fabric for the four blocks, and then brightened the navy with four different prints.

I quite like the combinations sparked by her favourite colour. She's actually my second partner, my first having dropped out of the swap quite early, although after I specifically bought fabric to suit her tastes which are definitely not mine. But don't get me started!

Traditional with a twist

It's always bittersweet to mail a swap package. It's a relief to be done and exciting waiting for your partner to get it, but also a bit sad to let go of something you've put so much care into making.

This weekend I mailed my Alison Glass mini quilt swap package after finishing the quilted rainbow pouch. I only broke one needle on this zipper! Shattered, actually. I made a little collage to show off all the details, including the beaded zipper pull, nifty corners and awesome diamond quilting. I love how the blue thread looks on the dark grey.

Here's the back, with the label. I tucked a few little extras in the pouch - chocolate (including Canadian classics Smarties and Coffee Crisp which non-Canucks love), washi tape and a mini Sharpie.

And here is the mini in all its glory! I had been wanting to make a Storm at Sea quilt for a while, then I read my partner liked "traditional blocks with modern colours/arrangements" and I knew it would be perfect. Especially when paired with the saturated colours of these Alison Glass fabrics.

Now comes the really fun part of a swap - waiting for my partner to get my mini and for mine to arrive. It really ramps up the excitement when checking the mailbox!

Ps. I linked my rainbow pouch at Blossom Heart Quilt's Sew Cute Tuesday. If you haven't visited Alyce's site, check it out! Along with the Tuesday gallery anyone can join, she posts lots of great tutorials and block patterns. I've you've been admiring any of the blocks I've made for my quilting bee, she's one of the bee hosts and designs a bunch of the blocks!

Crazy ahead

Last night I finished the last thing I needed to mail my bee block package for June - so on June 4! That is crazy early for this chronic last-minute maker.

The June Queen Bee picked the Tic Tac Toe block, which I've made a few of now in the quilting bee and absolutely adore. I really like her colour scheme too, with low-volume black and white, grey corners and a bright colour for the X.

Again I made a signature block with leftover bits and cut charm squares from some of my favourite prints by Alison Glass, one of the queen's favourite designers too.

Her favourite colour is purple, so I made her a fabric basket with a purple lining and a purple and blue Kaffe Fassett print.

And now I'm all ready to mail! I will likely do that this weekend when I mail the package for my Alison Glass swap. Next month is the half-way point for the quilting bee, which makes me a bit sad since it's great fun. But that also puts me just one month away from being queen bee myself!