Blog / swaps

So in exchange for the succulent pincushion I sent my swap partner Ina, she sent me an absolutely ginormus patchwork pincushion (it's about four inches tall and seven inches in diameter!).

The huge pincushion was actually the second one she made for me; the first was the tiny one pictured above, which Ina also included in my package, along with some pins, buttons, and ribbons.

Both of the...

In March, I took part in a pincushion swap organized by Claire over at Claire's Crafty Blog. For my swap partner Ina (who lives in the Netherlands--my first international swap!), I made this succulent pincushion out of felt.

The pattern is taken from this excellent tutorial for an appliqued succulent sachet, created by Laura of Bugs and Fishes (I love Laura's blog and felt projects!). All of the elements are handsewn, and the pincushion is stuffed with leftover quilt batting.

In other news, I never heard from Kristin, the gal who won my giveaway day pinback buttons (sorry, Kristin!), so I've gone ahead and drawn another winner.

Congratulations, Kitten Delicious! I'll be contacting you to get your address so that I can get the buttons out in the mail to you ASAP. Thanks again to everyone who entered!

So in exchange for the matryoshka cross-stitch I sent Adaiha, she stitched up this adorable crafty kitty for me, using this vintage transfer from doe-c-doe's Flickr stream.

I love the little cross-stitch details, especially the little x's that form the pattern on the fabric spilling out of basket below.

The back of the hoop is finished off beautifully with a piece of goldenrod floral fabric.

After the success of our embroidered button swap, Adaiha and I decided to do another swap. For our second go-around, we decided to make mini embroidered pieces (I used a three-inch embroidery hoop). Knowing that Adaiha liked matryoshka dolls, I stitched one up using a pattern I found in A Rainbow of Stitches, one of my favorite sources for cross-stitch and embroidery designs.

I used some mint...