An Exclusive

For any of you wonderful followers that live close to my favorite quilt shop (Patched Works in Elm Grove) tonight will be special and I think you should go there.  Every Wednesday night for the past who knows how many weeks, they have featured fun projects which are simple and creative.  Tonight I will be the "feature".  No, not me personally, but an applique project (with free instructions and pattern) that I created just for them.  (Actually, it is a take off on something I did for a secret swap and haven't shown anywhere yet, but don't tell anyone!  That's also the reason I'm not showing a picture of it.  Duh!) You'll just have to go and be overwhelmed (I hope!)  They're open until 8 CST.

In the meantime, and for all of you who live too far away to go tonight, I can show you two things that I recently made and showed sneak peeks of last time.  First was to Mom Cindy for the STUD group.  Remember, STUD stands for "swap til U drop".....not something nasty.  LOL  The theme this time was pets and since we both have dogs, that was the object of both of our mini quilts to each other.  This is her "Sophie":



I was really undecided on how to do a dog (in actuality I wanted to do a cat), until I found those flowers in my stash.  Once I found them, the whole thing seemed to evolve from there and even after I was done, I had to get out my pearle cotton and embellish a bit with some embroidery.  Lately too, I have been enthralled with using buttons in quilts for some reason.  You'll see what I mean in the next one.

My absolute two favorite swaps in the world are the doll swap (which, by now, should be no secret) and the mug rug swap.  Personally, I wish they both were ongoing because my imagination seems to go in those directions with whimsy and fun.  For the current mug rug swap, the theme was Christmas and unlike in times past where we had secret partners, this time partners were assigned.  My partner, Laney, (lrmcdonald2000) posted somewhere that she loved color on white.  (Which by now, my friends, you should KNOW, is my very favorite to do!)  I knew immediately what I was going to make:





With a personalized gift tag, just for her!  (Did you note the buttons?????  Told ya!)  I had a hard time giving that one away.  After it was done, (and with the addition of a O ring on the back) I had it hanging in my kitchen for a few days just to smile at it every time I walked by.  I hope she is smiling too!

So, that's it for today, my friends.  I'm working on something else, but who knows how far I will get.  I still have so many ideas for this year, but I'm running out of time!  (I did get all 12 double and triple batches of Christmas cookies done though (and in the freezer) this past weekend so I'm one happy girl!!)  One thing off the list to do!!!  Yeah!!!  Hope your list is going as well............until next time........