this week...

This week, I received the most perfect pillow from Jennifer as part of the Pillow talk Swap. I got so lucky this round!! I had been secretly hoping this cushion would come my way, it's just perfect don't you think?

Not only does it look stunning from the front it has an equally amazing back too.
As if that wasn't enough she also sent a ton of fabrics and some very cute fabric labels that made my heart skip a beat!

Thank you so much Jennifer, you need not have worried I really, really LOVE it!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finished this month's Cocorico Bee block for Krista.

Her theme was 'hit the slopes' and there are some truly amazing blocks produced already by my bee mates. Well worth to have a look at the group pool here or you can click the new button Megan made for us on my side bar.

I used Kerry's paper piecing pattern but decided to mix things up a little. I used the freezer paper method as I prefer it to traditional paper piecing and just made the individual segments. I improvised the suit case and then played around with my individual blocks until I was happy with the layout. Then I added strips to make everything fit. I finished up with some hand stitching to accentuate the fact that there's a mitten missing.
I know nothing about winter sports but I do happen to know about packing for a trip and somehow there's always a missing mitten!

I wonder if the lost mittens just ran away from home to hang out with the lost socks. I bet they are smoking behind the bike shed hoping not to get caught and sent home again ;-)

x Leila

I received my lovely doll quilt from the wonderful Brittney!

She did a wonderful job making this Roald Dahl inspired little red riding hood. The illustration from his book "Gruesome Rhymes" shows little red holding up a gun, this was causing a bit of a stir in the Doll Quilt Swap group. So Brittney decided to give her a rotary cutter instead, making little red just about as bad ass as I am ;-)
My partner received her quilt as well so that wraps up this swap for me...sad face. It was lots of fun and I can not wait to do the Doll Quilt Swap again!

Yesterday I got an email from the lovely Elaine showing off her version of my circle quilt tutorial. Isn't this beautiful?! I love it.

Did you see the hearts she added instead of some of the circles? Sweet! This turned out such a warm and cozy quilt it makes me want to snuggle up on the couch under this and eat lots of chocolate and watch crappy telly. When you click on the picture it will take you to Elaine's blog where you can read all about this quilt and her other fun sewing projects.

Thank you Brittney and Elaine!!

x Leila

yeah bebe!

Click here to go to the groups website

I'm an official bebe in this round of the Doll Quilt Swap {DQS10} over on Flickr!
Soooo excited and a little scared too, the talent in this group is a bit intimidating I must admit. I've also rated myself as intermediate level, and I'm starting to doubt that decision now *nervous little laughter.
But I will look at  this as a great opportunity to challenge my creativity and meet some wonderful people along the way.
No partners are assigned yet, this is a BIG swap so it takes the mama's a while to get everyone sorted {wouldn't it be fun if they had a quilted version of the Sorting Hat!} But future partner I will post something especially for you soon!

Are you playing too?

x Leila

Dear Mr. Postman...

...thank you for bringing me this wonderful package!

~Katie Jumps Rope in the Flea Market and then Sits Down~

Received from Lucinda isn't she amazing?! This was by far my favorite of all the little quilts in this swap soooo happy it's mine now :-)

Should you feel like starting the year off with a nice swap over on Flickr, the deadline for the second round is 31st of January. No sign ups, just finish a quilt and send in pictures to the swap host before the 31st.

x Leila

Swapping {Hoops} yay! post!

I received my lovely hoop from Sarah today!!! 

Here it is on my wall with two hoops I made and rejected for the swap, it's the bottom one with the bird. I love the text balloon! {in case you can't read it,  it says 'are we there yet? are we there yet, are we there yet?''}

Not only did she send me this amazing hoop but also some pretty cool goodies, check this out!

Thanks a bunch Sarah!

How are you coming along with your christmas 'to do' lists? Seems that for every thing I check off my list something else gets put on!

x Leila

Are you still there?

If you are you're my most favorite person in the world! I've been such a bad blogger lately~ sorry!

So time for some catching up.

I've joined yet another swap over on Flickr. I'm feeling like I should join a support group now "I'm Leila and I have a swapping habit" lol! But they're such good fun and I figured since I only join one at a time it's ok ~right?

Here's my entry made from this fab tutorial

Itty Bitty Ticker Tape Quilt 

This swap works a little different from the others I've entered so far. 

Instead of us all getting paired up with a partner we send our entries in anonymously. All players get to vote on their favorite mini quilt. Then after everything is added up our swap host divides the quilts up according to votes and popularity. Most popular quilt entries are more likely to get the quilt they voted for first. 

It pretty much works like we used to pick teams in gym class!

Now honestly, I don't think I ever was the last girl standing when it was time to pick teams, but this swap might be payback time for my luck in school!

 I hope my Itty Bitty Ticker Tape Quilt isn't going to be the girl nobody picked to be on their team!

I'm waiting for the weather to clear up a bit so I can take pictures of my latest quilt finish.

Be back soon!

x Leila

Swapping {Hoops} part two

I've made another hoop for my partner in the Scrappy {Hoops} swap over on Flickr.

Something quite different just to see how she would react!

I've used woolfelt on a  linen background. I wanted a more natural look but still colourful. Thinking about things we most definately had in common but not neccesarily sewing related, I came up with 'breathe' Because we all do! ;-)

Although I'm pleased with both hoops I've made I'm finding it pretty difficult to translate my partners likes into a design.

Perhaps I'm just overthinking this a bit too much!

I'd better make my mind up I would like to get this posted monday.

All grey and raining here today. Perfect day for some sewing :-) 

What are you making/ swapping?

x Leila

Swapping {Hoops}

I'm back!

Cornwall was so beautiful I'm already missing it!

But I missed my old Singer too, and it didn't take much persuasion to get to work on something special for someone secret.

I joined The Scrappy {Hoops} Swap over on Flickr. Another really cool swap  hosted by Heather and Kerri . There's just so much creativity in these groups it's absolutely amazing to watch what everyone comes up with!

Here's a hoop I made that might be heading towards my partner.

I'm not sure yet if she'll like it so I'm just dangling this one in front of her....

in the hopes she'll bite!

x Leila

Scrappy Pincushion Swap

Look what I got!

My swap partner domtoniburton in the Scrappy Pincushion Swap swap sent me this lovely pincushion along with some great goodies!

It came all the way from Australia complete with little koala and echidna {an australian hedgehog so I've been told } buttons ~ so cool!

It's been a really good post week for me! 

x Leila

I've got a secret

I joined the Scrappy Pincushion Swap on Flickr.

It's really fun and low pressure, wich is exactly what I wanted for my first swap!

So with my freshly assigned secret partner information I started stalking, browsing through photostreams and blogposts, trying to get a feel for what she'd like.

And this is what I've come up with {after two other failed attempts!}...

I really hope she'll like it!

x Leila