Favorite Things Swap

It has been a long, dry spell between swaps for me, but I finally signed up for Shawnee's Favorite Thing Swap! We were supposed to send at least three of OUR favorite things - and that could be anything...a kitchen tool, a sewing notion, a yummy treat, or even an apron :-) They could be all handmade or all store-bought! My partner, Mary Lea of Wyoming, sent me this fabulous package! I was so excited and she wrapped it with a lot of care and love :-)

See all the cute little number tags? She had sweet little messages on the back of each of them!

And here's what was IN all those sweet little packages!

Mary Lea sent me two projects to work on: some towels to embroider and a cute pattern to make. Some yummy looking salsa fixins and an awesome individual salad dressing container. Look at those cute cookie cutters! I love the ribbon and baker's twine - you can't ever  have too much of either :-)  Some Bath & Body Works hand soap and a bar of soap that smells really good. A ceramic owl and owl stickers. Oh, and the packages were wrapped with owl ribbon! What a haul! Thank you, Mary Lea! 

 

And here's what I sent to my partner, Jeannie! One of MY favorite, kinda new things are "hexies" or paper-piecing in general. I didn't think I'd like paper-piecing until I tried it, and now you can't stop me! So when I found this tutorial from the Zen of Making blog here: http://www.thezenofmaking.com/2013/08/tutorial-english-paper-piecing-travel-kit-hexies-part-3.html, I just knew I had to make one for this swap. It looks complicated, but was remarkably simple to put together. There's a LOT of hand-sewing though, just a warning if you don't like to hand-sew (I love it!).  

And here it is open, and filled with goodies:

 

 The empty Altoids tins make perfect hiding places for a stash of the paper shapes, and a cute little sewing kit, including a magnetic felt pinkeep. A pair of scissors and several fat quarters complete the kit so she can start right in making hexies. Or, if paper-piecing isn't her thing, she can use it for a regular sewing kit.

Now I need to make one for myself!

And here's the rest of what I sent her...another of my favorite things are the Clover Wonder Clips - don't know how I managed before these! I sent her the "regular" size, but I love the jumbo ones, too. Also, a bamboo point turner and presser - I could NOT sew without one of these for those nice sharp corners and points! Some Thread Heaven and a box of flat-head pins. Some addictive Trader Joe's chocolate-covered caramels, and of course I had to include one of my Shoop-Shoop Bags - I added a few hexies and some images of sewing machines, using printable fabric sheets - she said she liked anything with sewing machines on it. I hope she likes her package as much as I liked the one I got :-)