Christmas Swap in NZ

New Zealand Handmade is running their annual Christmas Swap. Its the easiest swap I have taken part in and is worldwide so anyone can join :)

Check out the link :)

My Handmade Christmas!

I have decided better to post now than not at all even though it has taken me this long to get organised!


For Christmas 2010 I decided a Handmade Christmas was in order. We had about 60 people over for the day and that meant I had to be organised! And yes all related in some way or another!


I made table cloths and decorated the tree.


The Christmas swap I took part in at New Zealand Handmade made such a difference too! I received the beautiful decorations pictured here.


A Xmas wreath which I have only just taken down from Chavah at Creating My Reality


A Xmas Faerie from Karen at Artful Addiction


nd a beaded Xmas star from Paula at Sieraden Designs.

Here is what I swapped for


We all had a great day!

Joy :)

Christmas Surprises

I received a lovely parcel in the post yesterday. It was my Christmas swap decoration from Jeannet in Holland. I was waiting expectantly for it ever since she said she had posted it and was very happy to have it arrive. Jeannet - from Quilting Jeannet - does the most beautiful patchwork. The pics from her blog look like she spends a lot of time creating wonderful pieces.

My parcel was in a yellow envelope, which I managed to photograph before I ripped it open.





Inside was the cutest, most lovely patchwork heart christmas decoration, with my initial on it
J for Joy.





And a pretty christmas card! There was also a nice little bar of soap (but unfortunately the journey must have been a bit rough and it got broken)





Thanks Jeannet. I love it. Now I need to get my Christmas tree up so I can hang the decoration on it.

Here is a pic of the packages I have been sending out. Jeannet's swap gift is also in the bundle.





And now that Jeannet has had her package delivered I can show you what I sent.

A blue and gold christmas bauble





Some little Father Christmas gift tags





And a card which I hand painted onto acetate to give it a stained glass window effect.





Then I wrapped the whole lot up in a fat quarter of this beautiful 'Liberty Roses' fabric that I thought Jeannet could use in her patchwork. (Wrapping presents in fabric is a Japanese tradition which I love)





I think this swap has been great for my first. I look forward to many more. If you know of any happening near you I would love to hear about it.

And I hope everyone in the Mitcham area went down and said hi to Karen. I hear the weather was not great but it is the Carols by Candlelight tonight and KAZZALBLUE has a stall at the Christmas Market in Nunawading.


Merry Christmas
Joy

Christmas Ornament Swap

This is just the busiest time for sewing and I have been going great guns trying to prep for markets, stock shops and make my Christmas Ornament for my Swap partner - Jeannet - who lives in Holland. I thought it was great to be able to swap with Jeannet and so I hope she likes the traditional deco I made. Funny how these things take lots of thinking time and not as much making time. It took me ages to come up with an idea - but I like the finished product. It is in the box, along with other things to post, but I won't put a pic up until Jeannet has had a chance to unwrap her gift (probably in about a week according to the post office). I can't wait for mine. I am very excited!

Anyway here are some of the things I have been making that have kept me soooo busy!

Here are some drawstring bags - which are great for kids for their swimming togs and towels as well as messy soccer boots or keeping library books dry!








And here are more finger puppets. I have lost count of how many of these I have made in the last month!





Here are the singlets our Dad has been busy knitting. Remember he is 80 years old so not doing too badly!





And the plastic bag holders. If you want to be eco-friendly then you can use them for rags instead. The ones with NZ pics on them are popular at the moment for Christmas pressies cos they are easy to post.





I also made a couple of toy elephants but they ran away before I could get a photo. So you see I haven't really been too slack about blogging - just occupied elsewhere. Karen will hopefully put up some pics of the markets we have had as well.

Happy blogging everyone.

Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap

Yesterday I found out who my Christmas swap partner is. Her name is Jeannet and she lives in Holland. I took a look at her blog
http://quiltingjeannet.blogspot.com/ and she makes such beautiful patchwork items. We have been in contact with each other and are really looking forward to the swap.





It's always nice to see what other crafters do and I am very excited because this is the first one I have joined in.

Thanks to Clare, from Clares Craftroom, and Robyn , from DaisyQuilts, for organising the swap. I'm off to get creative now.