Today's the day!

My partner for the {Urban} Home Goods Swap will be revealed today! Sorry that I won't be able to tell you right away who it is (sshhhhh! it's a secret!).

I participated in the first round and had such a great time (both creating and receiving!).

I know that I posted about what I received (and perhaps gushed a little bit), but I'm not certain that I was ever organized enough to post pictures of what I made (it was sent out in a rush right before my trip to Amsterdam in the Spring). I indulged in some hand stitching fun (my partner listed a preference for embroidery). I happened to have some lovely linen, which I embroidered and made into napkins. For your viewing pleasure:

As a little extra I included an ode to buttons in cross-stitch (to accompany a small collection of vintage buttons):

I'm looking forward to some more creative fun this go-round!

New Year - back to the old...

The New Year has started - goodbye to pneumonia infested 2010 (which was a fine year otherwise)!

As I sat behind my sewing machine this weekend, I realized that I had not actually been behind my machine since October!!! How I have missed it!

My crafty plans for the new year mostly involve revisiting abandoned projects. Remember this quilt? It was intended as a gift for my husband's 40th birthday. I am now aiming to finish it during his 40th year. Ambitious? Not really, but probably more realistic.

For quality couch and new TV show time, I have pulled out another WIP. Rember these?:

I'm working on making them into this:

This project is inspired by Yvestown's crochet blanket which I have long admired. Regrettably, I bought plastic yarn (cheap acrylic). I wasn't sure that I knew how to crochet well enough to invest in nicer fiber. I regret my choice. It's just not as much fun to crochet when you are running cheap acrylic across your winter chapped hands. Blechy! Good thing the colours are enough to draw me back into the project. Perhaps these colours will help to combat the grey, dreary weather that is happening right now? Brrr.