Pinch punch the First of the Month!

Yes, it's 1st February! I cannot believe how quickly January has passed, especially since we have had quite a lot of snow so I have been indoors more than usual. I really don't like the dark winter months and I am not a fan of snow either, so January and February are challenges for me.

However, I have done quite a lot of sewing, cutting out and participating in Swap bot swaps so perhaps that has helped dismal January along!

During the month I have made another I Spy Bubbles quilt and earlier this week I posted it to New Zealand, a gift for the new little grandson of special friends out there.  Another Elijah ( I made a quilt last year for our daughter's friend's baby, also named Elijah) so I hope he enjoys his bright quilt.

This week I also posted my Siblings Together quilt and today had confirmation that it had arrived safely in London.  Always a relief to know your hard work hasn't got lost in the post.  Today I also received a Thank you letter from Ava's parents as her Wise Owls quilt had arrived safely in Edinburgh.  Hurrah!

I have been busy putting my Zigzag Quilt together.  Almost finished the hand quilting with variegated Perle cotton and will soon be able to do the binding.

And I have participated in two swaps on Swap bot.  Both have now closed and the packets of swap fabrics are popping through my letter box.

The Scrap Vomit Squares Swap is the second of these swaps and I have taken part in both.  This time we had five partners and so far I have received swaps from three of them.  A great range of prints, colours, styles, etc which will be lovely when I eventually begin my quilt.  This is based on Katy's SV Quilt which you can read about on her blog Imagingermonkey.Imagingermonkey.blogspot.co.uk
I love this style of quilt, anything Scrappy is always a favourite with me!  I have been accumulating 2.5" squares in anticipation of making my own SV Quilt and the 2 Swap bots have added a different mix to my own squares.  Just need to finish a few more outstanding projects first.

The second Swap bot was called Shift Your Scraps Swap and this time we had just two partners.  One of mine lives in Wales so her parcel came a few days ago.. The requirements asked for a 200g Ziplock bag of scraps, 2.5" square and upwards. I was amazed and delighted when I opened Shevvy's parcel of fabric.  For a start there was so much that I felt I had to weigh it........ 335g!  This included some scraps, 20 x 5" squares, 4 LARGE pieces of fabric and so many 2.5" strips ( lots of them wof ) I think I could make lots of blocks for my other proposed quilt, the Scrappy Trip Along, also featured on Imagingermonkey.blogspot.co.uk although it was originally Bonnie Hunter's idea.
Thank you, Shevvy. Strangely enough Shevvy was one of my partners for the SV Swap so I hope she is happy with the squares I sent.  Think I ought to pop some more in the post to her!

 

The fabulous pack of Scraps from Shevvy!

So, a satisfying January: 3 quilts posted and 2 already with their new owners.
                                        1 quilt finished and 1 almost ready for binding
                                        2 blocks made for a Group Quilt
                                        2 swap bots completed
                                        Lots of 2.5" strips cut ready for my Scrappy Trip along quilt

I hope you all had a busy January too.