do. Good Stitches swap + a cross-stitch heart quilt

After sending off my set of coasters to my swap partner Erica, I received the most amazing gift from my swap partner Alyssa, who blogs over at Pile O' Fabric. Using fabrics from some of my favorite designers, Leah Duncan and Lotta Jansdotter, Alyssa created a wall quilt featuring a cross-stitch heart, based on the original Salty Oat logo.

Isn't it amazing!? She hand-quilted the entire thing and then hand-stitched the Salty Oat logo in the bottom right corner of the quilt.

Also in the package were two wide-mouth zipper pouches (made from Anna's tutorial, which I've been meaning to try out myself) featuring more of Leah's fabric and linen. They arrived just in time for my trip to Houston and were perfect for holding travel essentials and Quilt Market goodies.

Alyssa put together a great tutorial for the cross-stitch quilt block, if you're interested in making your own.

Thank you, Alyssa!

do. Good Stitches swap: what i sent

Last week, I mailed a small package to Erica (an amazing quilter who blogs over at Kitchen Table Quilting), as part of a swap amongst the members of the Wish Circle of do. Good Stitches.

In it, I included a set of coasters I'd made for her using Essex linen and prints by Anna Maria Horner, one of her favorite fabric designers. The pattern for the coasters came from Rashida Coleman-Hale's I Love Patchwork. The coasters were fun to make---and a great way to use up scraps!---and I'd love to make more for both holiday gifts and upcoming craft fairs. I backed each coaster with a coordinating scrap from my stash, and quilted everything with zig-zags.

I also included a little bundle of scraps for Erica, in the colors she'd asked for: navy, green and gray.

This was such a fun swap to participate in, and it was nice to be able to get to know my fellow circle members a bit more. Hopefully we'll do more swaps in the future!

handprinted: a fabric swap II

Lately, I've been wanting to try my hand at printing my own fabric, so when I heard about the hand-printed fabric swap organized by Leslie over at Maze and Vale back in June, I immediately knew I wanted to participate.

After a bit of brainstorming, research, and experimenting, I settled on a simple triangle design.

I created a stamp using adhesive-backed foam and a plastic cap for the base and stamped away using black, aqua, and coral fabric paint. I made four fat quarters for my four swap partners.

I was super happy with the results of this experiment in fabric stamping---and only wish I'd made a fifth to keep for myself!

You can see the beautiful fabric I received in return here, here, and here.

craft social mug rug swap

Earlier this month, I participated in Craft Social's mug rug swap, the first swap I've done in awhile. For my swap partner, Yvette, I made this churn dash mug rug from linen and a floral print from the Dream On collection:

The inspiration for the design came from this Purl Bee project, which my friend Kait had reminded me about the week before.

In return, I received this adorable crocheted mug rug from Beth:

pillow swap: what i received

So way back last summer, when I participated in the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild's pillow swap, and made this pillow for Quilt Dad, I received this amazing pillow from fellow guild member Valerie in return:

I loved the color palette that Valerie used so much, that it wound up being the inspiration for our living curtains. Thanks, Valerie!

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

scrap swap: what i received

Using her scraps and mine, Katie made me this amazing patchwork tote bag for our recent swap:

{Here's Katie's post about our swap and here's what I made for Katie.}

scrap swap: what i sent

Katie and I recently sent each other boxes filled with our fabric scraps, and this is what resulted:

{A pair of quilted place mats made using Katie's scraps, my scraps, and linen from Ikea.}

quilting project: heather ross travel pillow

Soon after moving to North Carolina, I joined the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild (which has been a lot of fun to be a part of). For this past month's meeting, I participated in a travel pillow swap and created a pillow for my swap partner, John, of Quilt Dad fame. 

Using Ashley's quilt block tutorial as a starting point, I created the pillow from limited-edition Heather Ross for Spoonflower fabric and coordinating solids. I opted for an envelope-style back and straight-line quilting for the front. All in all, I was pleased with how it turned out.

P.S. Have you seen Heather's newest line, Far Far Away III? Love!

potholder swap: what i sent

So my dear blogging friend Adaiha and I recently decided it was time for another swap. (We've done a few successful crafty swaps in the past.) This time, we decided to swap potholders. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for me to use up some of my scraps (I love scrap-busting projects!) and practice the English paper-piecing skills I picked up in a hand-quilting class I took at Spool in Philadelphia a few months ago. So using little one-inch hexagons, I made Adaiha a blue and green potholder, lined with thermal fleece. 

I then used this tutorial to assemble the back of the potholder. Everything was completely hand sewn---a first for me in a very long time!---and I was really pleased with the results.

pincushion swap: what i received

So in exchange for the succulent pincushion I sent my swap partner Ina, she sent me an absolutely ginormus patchwork pincushion (it's about four inches tall and seven inches in diameter!).

The huge pincushion was actually the second one she made for me; the first was the tiny one pictured above, which Ina also included in my package, along with some pins, buttons, and ribbons.

Both of the pincushions are beautifully pieced together, and I especially love the buttons sewn around the top edge.

pincushion swap: what i sent + new giveaway winner

In March, I took part in a pincushion swap organized by Claire over at Claire's Crafty Blog. For my swap partner Ina (who lives in the Netherlands--my first international swap!), I made this succulent pincushion out of felt.

The pattern is taken from this excellent tutorial for an appliqued succulent sachet, created by Laura of Bugs and Fishes (I love Laura's blog and felt projects!). All of the elements are handsewn, and the pincushion is stuffed with leftover quilt batting.

In other news, I never heard from Kristin, the gal who won my giveaway day pinback buttons (sorry, Kristin!), so I've gone ahead and drawn another winner.

Congratulations, Kitten Delicious! I'll be contacting you to get your address so that I can get the buttons out in the mail to you ASAP. Thanks again to everyone who entered!

mini embroidery swap: what i received

So in exchange for the matryoshka cross-stitch I sent Adaiha, she stitched up this adorable crafty kitty for me, using this vintage transfer from doe-c-doe's Flickr stream.

I love the little cross-stitch details, especially the little x's that form the pattern on the fabric spilling out of basket below.

The back of the hoop is finished off beautifully with a piece of goldenrod floral fabric.