A hint of Spring

I recently took part in a Spring ATC swap organised by the lovely Penny of The Linen Shelf

I used a combination of seed packets netting and ribbon, sewn together and finished with a fabric flower.

I couldn't resist adding some butterflies to a few of them!

the flip side

and this loveliness arrived in return!

what a gorgeous combination of flowers, birds and Spring things!

thank you all so much!

Penny's gorgeous little bird and lace mix complete with it's own handmade packet

Sabrina also had birds on her mind with the 'privilege of song'

birds, buttons and Ric Rac from oogleblops

Annie's ATC is so delicate, beauitful colours and texture

Jo from Fiddlesnips with birdsong and tiny Dragonflies

My special thanks to Penny for hosting this delightful swap!

Piles of stuff and sneak peeks

The latest QB5 project has been a challenge and a half! We sent each other a foundation piece of our choice and a pack of bits that could be used or added to as the maker wished. Nathalie's Asian themed envie was a dream to work with, not that I'm in anyway biased of course! love this kind of thing!

a sneak peek of the calm side of her coaster,

wait till she sees the reverse, tis a tad brighter (understatement...) ekkk!!

Patty dear Patty sent us a toasted flattened sardine tin to work on

I'm not quite finished but it's coming along nicely!

Carole our resident sewing Queen mailed us all an embroidery hoop and some fabric

I just knew that French dictionary would come in handy one day...

A cardboard house arrived from Linda and by special request I did a little Swiss twist

what is that man doing??

My pack to the gals contained a Bingo card as the base and I sent a selection of guy stuff. Until recently I had very few pictures of men but MIL went shopping I now have more men than I know what to do with!! now I just need to get on a make something with this little lot myself!

Building up

I decided to make a Kiwi Carole snippet roll, something NZ to mark the events of the past few weeks

I started at the bottom with a 'stone' brick shaped button

kia kaha - forever strong

a Tiki on top of an 8 cent bus ticket from the Christchurch Transport Board, think I'm showing my age here... ( I have a cupboard full of this stuff...)

Paua shell pieces

I found a 1957 receipt from a shop along Columbo street, my grandfather had bought himself a new vacuum cleaner!

a Tui bottle cap from Kiwi Carole

and International flag ribbon

and a strip of Pohutukawa fabric and some woolly wool to complete the look

Many many thanks for all of your kind wishes, it'll be a long long time before things return to any kind of normal in Christchurch. The city continues to rock and roll and my mother went out and bought some fabulously named Seismic Putty, I kid you not, now she's stuck down all her ornies ' to stop the blimin' things sliding off all the time' down but not out...