Giving and receiving

Monday is Giveaway Day hosted by Sew Mama Sew. In addition, I realized I have passed 100 followers (woo hoo, how do you do? Who are all you people?) so that also warrants a giveaway. Come back Monday to see what's up for grabs.

Also, I want to say thank you to Amy for these items that I received in the Modern She Made swap on Flickr. Amy made me a stunning cushion cover and included a tea wallet with teas (yum) and some Union Jack Starbust candy (yum).

Do you see that she used Liberty fabric on the cushion and tea wallet? And the Union Jack label on the side of the cushion? I love that she gave all her gifts a British theme!

Thank you again, Amy! I have already started enjoying my sweets and teas:)

Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap

The making of a Christmas tablerunner (and ornament)...
Å lage en juleløper (og juletrepynt)...

Drew a sketch and made one block.
Lagde en skisse og sydde en rute.

Liked it, made two more and joined with some white sashing and border.
Likte den, lagde to til og sydde de sammen med hvite border.

Looked a bit plain (what's a Christmas decoration without red) - added some ric-rac and some appliqued stars.
Syns den manglet litt (hva er en julepynt uten rødt) - tilførte kroklisse og applikerte stjerner.

Decided on the day before the deadline that it needed hand quilting.
Bestemte på dagen før sendefristen at den trengte håndquilting.

Got a sick baby and missed the deadline. Sorry!
Fikk syk baby og rakk ikke fristen - unnskyld!

Finally finished hand quilting and binding.
Ble endelig ferdig med quilting og lukkekant.

Made a cute ornament (tutorial found here).
Sydde en søt juletrepynt (tutorial finner du her).

Said ornament tried to run away in the snow! But I caugh him and now the package is on its way.
Julepynten prøvde å stikke av i snøen! Men jeg fikk tak i ham og nå er pakken på veg.

I hope my partner likes her gift!

Håper mottageren liker gaven sin!

Doing the Happy Mail Dance!

I was on my way out to run an errand when I peeked in my mail box and spotted a package for me. When I saw who it was from, my heart started racing, I was so excited.

I had to run my errand before opening the package, so I literally ran (no small feat as the first leg was a 200 meter hill going up, while pushing a 25 lb baby in a stroller), just so I could get home as soon as possible. Well, I stopped running when I could taste blood in my mouth...

Well home again I opened the package carefully to find a tissue-wrapped gift and a card showing the cute village where Susan lives.

I ripped the paper off - and there it was - the tote bag from the Mouthy Stitches swap that I had been salivating over for the last weeks. Even more beautiful and vibrant in real life than on photos. My photos don't do it justice...

Not only was there a tote bag - I also received a super cute key fob and some delicious chocolate (which I had to taste fairly quickly after taking the photograph, being the chocolate-lover that I am).

Don't you just love the stitching she did on the tote? Susan is the queen of quilting with perle cotton!

See how happy I was to receive this? Very happy!

So THANK YOU, SUSAN - I feel like a lucky ducky right now! And if you don't know Susan, I highly recommend checking out her blog. She is super talented, funny and sweet - one of my very favorite bloggers (I am not only saying that because she sent me this tote and she didn't pay me to say it either).

I'm on a roll!

One more finish to report - I am really getting stuff done this month!
Nok et fullført prosjekt - jeg er virkelig produktiv denne måneden!

This is the tote bag I made for the Mouthy Stitches swap - I can't say where I've sent it as it is a secret.
Dette er vesken jeg lagde for Mouthy Stitches byttegruppe - men jeg kan ikke si hvor den ble sendt for det er hemmelig.

The exterior has "cascading" rainbow squares which I quilted with regular DMC embroidery floss - mostly squares but a few wonky stars are hiding in there too! The back was quilted with organic waves in rainbow colors. The main fabric is Essex yarn dyed linen in black.
Utsiden har regnbueruter som jeg quiltet med broderigarn - mesteparten er ruter, men det er noen stjerner inni der også! Baksiden quiltet jeg med bølgende linjer. Hovedstoffet er Essex yarn dyed linblend i svart.

I was hoping for a more vibrant exterior and was surprised how the linen fabric really changed the appearance of the bright squares! But all in all, I am pleased with the result.
Vesken skulle være litt sprekere i fargen og jeg ble overrasket over hvordan linstoffet endret utseende på de fargesterke rutene! Men jeg er fornøyd med sluttresultatet allikevel.

The interior fabric is an organic canvas from Cloud 9 - a fabric I think I will have to stock up on in more colors/designs. A) because it is very nice and B) because I think organic cotton is the way to go. The pocket is from Birch fabrics and is also organic.
Fôrstoffet er et økologisk canvasstoff - et stoff jeg liker godt og tror jeg skal kjøpe mer av i flere farger. Lommen er også i et økologisk stoff.

And then I made this little hand sewn EPP key fob - which took more hours than it possibly deserved as it was supposed to be a little add-on gift... But it turned out cute. And I did put new hardware on after seeing this photo, because I did really mangle the metal during construction.
Og så lagde jeg en liten håndsydd nøkkelring (som tok alt for mange timer). Jeg måtte bytte metalldelen etter jeg tok dette bildet, for man kan se ganske godt at det ble klemt stygt sammen.

So there, my first proper swap item completed and sent on its way! I hope my partner likes it and I think more swaps will be in my future because this was fun!

Now, I wonder when I will receive my tote bag in the mail (and where it is coming from)...

PS: Interesting fact - the light blue solid on the top right of the tote front and on the key fob is shirting material used for the Norwegian Police - the company I work for used to make their shirts and this a cutting from one of the productions. There "may" be some polyester in this fabric...
PS: Interessant fakta - det lyseblå stoffet øverst til høyre på fremsiden av vesken og på nøkkelringen er skjortestoff brukt til norske politiet - selskapet jeg jobber for lagde disse skjortene før og dette er et klipp fra en av produksjonene. Det er "muligens" noe polyester i dette stoffet...