My Schnitzel & Boo "Parcel of Awesomeness" has arrived!

 

Last week I posted about the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap and showed you the parcel of awesomeness that I sent to my swap buddy - Fiona Tchan.  Today it gives me great pleasure sharing with you the amazing parcel of awesomeness that I recently received from the super wonderful Filomena Parbery @so_filomena from New South Wales.

 

Firstly these are the inspiration mosaics that I posted for this swap featuring a mixture of different techniques with a preference for lime green & teal:

 

 

 

I knew from the moment that the parcel delivery guy handed me the parcel that something special had arrived - just look at how the parcel was addressed!

 

But before I show you what was IN the parcel, these are the teasers that she had posted on Instagram.  I had seen most of these posts and I must admit, I did wonder if those gorgeous hedgehogs were headed to Bendigo... (Instagram photos reproduced with Filomena's permission)

 

 

 

 

 So, back to the parcel... this was written on the envelope:



I was getting good vibes about this parcel!

 

I'm not going to share what was written inside the card but it brought tears to my eyes!  Such beautiful words!!!

 

And here is the beautiful Hazel the Hedgehog quilt that Filomena made.  I love the pinky red nose on the top one!!  The quilting on this is just extraordinary!

 


I was thoroughly spoilt!  My favourites - Cadbury Peppermint chocolate & Nutella.  Also some peppermint tea and coffee.

 


One of my favourite Australian fabric & stitcherie designers is Rosalie Quinlan, and Filomena generously included 3 fat quarters of Rosalie's fabrics together with some buttons and two skeins of Cosmo Pearl 5

 


These are absolutely adorable.  Filomena has crochetted these coasters herself and they will go beautifully in my kitchen.



A packet of green Ruffle Elastic

 


This is absolutely gorgeous - it is a Tea Bag Holder with a tea bag design foundation paper pieced on the front.  The fabrics are just gorgeous, especially the red text used on the inside.

 


The tea bag holder opened up and showing the contents - herbal tea bags & coffee bags.

 


A close up of the inside.  I love this red fabric! 

 

This really brought a tear to my eye - not only did Filomena spoil me rotten, but she also thought of my little purr baby Gemma and included a treat for her as well!

 


Gemma says thank you Filomena for the Love Hearts! xoxo

 

I really am just totally overwhelmed by the awesomeness in this parcel!  Obviously Filomena has had a lot of fun stalking me and researching my preferences. 

 

One of the hashtags for this swap was #makeaquiltmakeafriend and that is so true.  Through this swap I have got to know two new quilty friends - Fiona and Filomena.  I have also enjoyed watching Fiona create some wonderfulness for her swap partner; and watching Filomena's swap buddy make the gorgeous mini that she sent to Filomena.  Feel the quilty love!  There are so many talented quilters out there!  To view more wonderful creations look up #schnitzelandboominiquiltswap on Instagram.

Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt Swap (Round 3)

 

I recently participated in the "Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap" (round 3) which was hosted by Schnitzel & Boo.  As there were over 950 participants this year, we were divided into groups and I was in Nicole Young's group (@lillyellasworld).

 

This was a worldwide swap for people of all skill levels and our partners were kept secret (we did not know who was making for us - at least we wouldn't know until our parcel arrived - and the person who sends to us may not be the same person we are sending to).  The deadline for international shipping was 16 January or 23 January for domestic shipping.

 

All photos on Instagram were posted with the hashtags #schnitzelandboominiquiltswap  & #makeaquiltmakeafriend and #mofanicole (for Nicole's group)  There are some amazing photos in these feeds so please check them out when you have time to do so. 

 

When we registered for the swap we were required to complete a questionnaire about ourselves answering questions about our likes and dislikes and we were encouraged to post an inspiration mosaic board on Instagram to assist our swap buddy.

 

 

My swap partner was Fiona Tchan @fionamadeit who lives in New South Wales.  I was told that Fiona likes modern quilts, low volume fabrics and rainbow minis.  Her favourite colours are blue & green and yellow & grey.  There were a few other snippets of information a bit more personal in nature which I will not share on here.  We are encouraged to include a few extras in our parcels and one of the things that Fiona requested was sewing notions.

 

This is Fiona's inspiration mosaic

 

I noticed that most of the quilts that Fiona liked featured flying geese; so I decided to go with the rainbow theme and feature flying geese.  I chose to make "Right Round"  - a pattern by Janice Zellar Ryan of Better off Thread.  It is part Dresden, part New York Beauty and all geese (foundation paper pieced).  The quilt measured approximately 22" squared.

 

Choosing threads to applique the centre circle and to quilt with

Pin basting in preparation for quilting

Quilting time.  I stitched the ditch around all of the geese and sewed a circle echo around the background of the main circle

About to bury the threads

Completed - yet to be blocked.

The quilt label - printed on the computer.

Me holding the finished quilt.  We were asked to post a finished picture on Instagram so that our swap mamas could tick us off the list.

 Fiona's parcel of awesomeness:

  

This is the parcel of goodies that I sent to Fiona

 

A home made card featuring some Aunty Cookie fabric

 

a Quiltworx Quilt Dot badge in her favourite colours (not the best photo)

 

Sewing notions - a strawberry pin cushion and some Wonder Clips

Some Washi tape

A Key Fob in her favourite colours & a "Fiona" key chain

the back of the "Fiona" key chain

Some Lindt chocolate

And I made Fiona a Bruce crafty carrier in her favourite colours. 

One of the joys of participating in a quilt swap is the fun of stalking your partner and trying to personalise the gifts that you make for them to their style and taste.  Sometimes this can be challenging but I really enjoyed making these for Fiona.  It was an anxious wait once I had posted the parcel to see if and when it arrived, but it did, and she posted these:   

 

I have to admit I had a little giggle when I read her post.  I can imagine the mix up as we both have the same name - silly Mr Postman.

Since typing up this post my own Schnitzel & Boo parcel of awesomeness has arrived YAYNESS!!!  I will post about this separately.

Utter Schmadness....!

You may have noticed that I was missing in action from my blog for the past 10-days whilst I have been busy with some secret squirrel sewing projects (many of which I cannot share with you yet).  There are a number of very special people whom I am madly trying to create special thank you presents for - some of which have already been sent & received so I will blog about those shortly - some are still in production and/or still in transit through the mail.

 

Recently I have also been doing some pattern testing for Juliet at The Tartan Kiwi and Kristy at Quiet Play (neither of which I am permitted to share with you yet), and I am currently assisting my friend Sharon with another sewing project.

Next Year's Swaps:
 

There are a number of swaps via Instagram set up for early next year and I seem to have gone slightly insane by joining "just a few" of them:

 

The "Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt Swap (round 3)" is being hosted by Schnitzel & Boo and is due to be completed & dispatched by 23 January 2015.

 

The "Whimsical Woodland Mug Rug Swap" is being hosted by SoooCharming and is due to be completed & dispatched by 02 February 2015.

 

The "Kitten Mini Quilt Swap" is being hosted by Marni at Frankenstein Fabrics and is due to be completed & dispatched by 31 March 2015.

 

The "Rainbow Mini Quilt Swap" is being hosted by Kate Basti and is due to be completed & dispatched by 06 April 2015.

 

The "IG Mini Oz" swap is being hosted by Michelle Rees and is due to be completed & dispatched by 10 April 2015.

 

There was also a "For the Love of Bonnie & Camille" swap which I *JUST* stopped myself from completing & sending off my application once I had realised how many swaps I had already committed to.

I have also been in discussion with a quilting friend in New Zealand about the possibility of starting up a Trans Tasman mini quilt swap, however we decided to put those plans on hold until at least mid next year due to the large number of swaps already set up for the start of the new year.  Meanwhile I have offered my services as a "Swap Mama" in one of the above swaps so that I can gain some more experience, however I am yet to hear if my offer has been accepted or required.

 

I have a lot of stalking and sewing ahead of me....

 

Existing Bees:

 

The current round of the Quilt Club Australia Bee 5 (QCA Bee#5) concludes this month and I have decided not to continue with this group next year.  Although it was good experience for me and helped to improve my sewing skills, I feel that I have enough commitments and something had to give.  Despite my queenly rule being back in August, I am yet to receive a quarter of my bee blocks from this group...

 

I have been promoted to assistant administrator in the Quilt Club Australia Paper Pieced Stars Bee (QCA Stars Bee).  We have a few of this year's members who are either retiring from our group at the end of this year, or are taking a sabbatical next year, so Carlie and I have been busy recruiting new members.  We now have 11 members for 2015 so we are taking a break in January and commencing the monthly bee in February 2015. I thoroughly enjoy this bee and we had a wonderful group of ladies this year.  I know many of the new recruits so I reckon next year should be just as much fun.

 

The Quilty Sisters Instabee continues and we have two new members joining us in January.  I have completed all of my blocks & gifts for this year and have already made a few bee blocks in advance for next year. 

 

So there you have it.  Utter Utter Schmadness!!!

 

If you need me I will be in the sewing room...