Swapped Goods

At our guild meeting this week, we had a swap! The kind where you get assigned a person to create for, they can give you suggestions of what they'd like, colors, etc., but you don't know who you are partnered up with until the reveal. Well I got to make for Kae/
katrineannetteeagling, and thankfully, she was really helpful with suggestions.



She really was hoping for a fold-able thread catcher, so I searched around and finally decided to make her a Fold Up Mini Thread Catcher using the tutorial by lulu_luka/Studio LUCA. This is one quick and fun little make. My first one (bright orange interior) turned out a little sloppy considering I used contrasting thread on the final stitching, so I tried again, and was pleased with the second - the blue and orange one - which I gifted to Kae.



But that was a little too small for my main gift, so I took another suggestion from her list and made a set of potholders based on the Spiderweb Potholders Tutorial by Julie/Jaybird Quilts. You might remember I tried this tutorial a few weeks ago, so I knew the basics, and really enjoyed trying a palette outside my norm. Kae seemed really happy with what I made her, so that was good!

As for me, I received a gift from Jennifer, who I hadn't met before. I kind of embarrassed myself, because I wasn't 100% sure what my item was when I opened it! I finally decided it must be a couch sewing caddy, right?

Thankfully, Jennifer came up to me after the swap and told me nooooo...... she had actually made a double potholder with hand-holds. Of course! I had put potholders on my suggestion list, so then that made perfect sense. And she was so sweet to use some of my favorite fabrics and colors. The size is generous enough it would also serve well as a table runner/
trivet. At any rate, I look forward to using it!

Swaps can really be stressful, at least for me, but they are also a good way to share a bit of yourself as well as receive something a fellow-creator has put their heart into. And that's a good thing.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Gifting

Log Cabin Hexi Potholders, a free Craftsy pattern by SewCanShe, are one of my favorite scrappy projects, and they're perfect for a quick little gift. Come to think of it, I've gifted every set I've ever made.... hmmm. Anyway, I decided to sew up a set for mom for Mother's Day.



Per the usual for these, I used Linen Mochi Dots for the backing. That with a layer each of insul-bright and batting in the middle, makes for nice sturdy potholders.



Of course, I needed to wrap them, and adapted Jeni/In Color Order's Fabric Envelopes pattern to fit the potholder pair. (I cut my fabric and interfacing 12 1/2" wide by 24 1/2" tall.) I found the perfect-sized piece of Anna Maria Horner's Hand Drawn Garden in the stash, and fussy-cut to center the roses down the front of the envelope.



I did use SF101 Shape-Flex in place of the medium-weight interfacing suggested, basically because I plain like it, but that did result in a pretty flimsy envelope, but it worked great as a 'wrapper' and mom thought it was perfect, so there you go. Oh, and it has a snap! I'm still a 'read every line of the instructions' snap-applier, but I had great success with my SnapSetter Tool.



So that all worked out well, mom was pleased, and as usual, it was nice to have a couple of quick little finishes. Oh yeah.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday!