Swapping things

When I went through my camera getting inspiration for my last post I realised that I had a couple of 'swappy' things that I hadn't shared yet.
Tatyana showed her thimble collection in a post and after I commented on the (great) size of it we decided to swap thimbles.
My collection is still very small as I only started collecting when I went to America earlier this year. (I was actually buying a thimble gift for a friend and decided they would be a cool thing to collect myself!!) I've decided just to collect from places I've been to; luckily I have spent 24 hours in Brisbane, on my way to visit my son in Queensland, so a swap with Tatyana was quite acceptable!!

I've also sent Siggy blocks to several people overseas.... when I realised that Jeanneke didn't have one single New Zealand one in her (vast) collection, I offered to send her one. Then Donna (no blog) asked to swap and Marga and I have also swapped. Marga's for me is still on it's way to New Zealand but mine to her has safely arrived in the Netherlands.
All three I have sent off have been the same design, although Marga's had a 3-D effect... I forgot to cut my stitchery on-point; you can just see on the photo below where I appliqued the centre to the background!

And a post about swapping just has to mention my recent postcard swapping passion. I participated in Sheila's postcard swap and was tickled to be paired with (the same) Jeanneke. We originally got to know each other through the 365-day photo challenge we did last year.

This is the gorgeous x-stitch postcard made by Jeanneke.

I sent this postcard to Jeanneke.

The theme for this swap was Autumn and what a giggle that we both had a similar inspiration!!

(I saw the pattern I used for my apple on Staci's blog, the confused quilter. She had made the cutest little pumpkins, but my mind's eye saw an apple instead. I was pleased to have a chance to try it out! The pattern for the pumpkin (easy foundation piecing) is found here, I decreased the size to make it suitable for a postcard.

JoAnne, the Patriotic Quilter, and I have also swapped postcards.

Beautiful Fall/Autumn theme. JoAnne posted hers in a
cellophane envelope so it arrived in pristine condition.

I was still in my Kowhai mode so JoAnne received a spring one from me!

We recently had the MOML's nephew staying for a few days. He wanted a farm holiday so had lots of fun with the animals.....

...and got hooked on sewing. He spent his last 20 hours with us in a frenzy sewing postcards to send to his family and friends. He told me about 100 times how much he was enjoying sewing. He went through my scraps and took a bag home with him; hopefully he can use his sister's sewing machine to make more postcards :-)

Tonight, as the third Friday night of the month, is Friday Night Sew In. I've signed up with Wendy to join in. Now to have a little think and see what I will be doing :-)
Thank you for visiting, happy stitching and have a lovely day,

Coming up for air.....

Gosh it really has been head down and tail up the last few weeks.

Here I am now, taking breathe, trying to determine what I have got to show for my efforts and my time away from blogland ... Luckily my camera is a (fairly) constant companion so a quick look through that reminds what's been happening.
WARNING this post is pretty photo heavy but I haven't babbled too much so I am hoping you will cope with it all..... I guess you know where the delete button is if it's too much for you!!

Ok why not start with a spring photo? Exciting to see the garden take
on a new look!

Spring also brings finicky weather. A bit of rain flooded the river.
Somewhere to the right is the bridge and access to half the farm!!
Actually more of a swollen river than a flood, really.

Still plenty of these critters to look after.
These ones are having their last ever feed of milk...

...before being taken right 'out the back' to be weaned. Cant hear them bellowing
out there, plus there is lots of grass for them to wean onto.
Two bulls heading out with them in readiness for mating with the heifers.

Oops another spring rose.
One I got for my birthday, it's going to be lovely.

While 'out the back' it was a time to have our yearly visit to the Kowhai Trees.
Pockets of yellow scattered throughout the bush.
Always an interesting adventure to get down to them.

This shows the size of the trees. Would hate to guess at
how old they are?

Such beautiful flowers. We were maybe a bit early to visit them, before they had opened
properly but we knew bad weather was coming so thought they might be storm
damaged if we left it any later.

The Kowhai were my inspiration for the postcard I made for Sunny.
(If it looks familiar, I showed the original hexie-flower a few posts back).

And this really happy one arrived from Sunny.
I am loving these postcard swaps :-)
Thank so much for swapping with me, Sunny.

Wild pigs can be the bane of our lives as they dig up the pasture with their
snouts, ruining whole paddocks, then hiding in the thick bush.
 Hunters' paradise.
This one is likely to have been orphaned and has taken to living with a small
mob of cows 'out the back'. Affectionately known as Ralph, I guess he
won't always be this cute.

I've done a bit of sewing lately.
I made this pin cushion as part of the Sewing Essentials Club for
 The Country Yard. It's got crushed walnut shells in it - I love the feel of them!!

And how do you take interesting photos of a Block Roll?
Hopefully the bear my YD made me earlier this year does a good job of
 showing it off.

I made this for Mum for her birthday.
I bought the fabric possibly 2 years ago; every time her birthday, Christmas or
Mothers' Day comes around I tell myself I will make it up...finally I have!!
I lined this with iron-on pellon which made it twice the size of my other block
rolls but it will keep all her embroidery blocks well protected!

Congratulations if you have got to the end and thank you for taking the time out to visit!! There's a bit more sewing to share with you but I will save it all for another time or two.
{By the way, last post I guessed at the layout of Pam Buda's sewalong; yes, my guess was the same as her's, I'm so pleased, I cant wait to get it together properly :-)}
See you all another time,
Happy stitching,

My guess...

For the last little while I have been following along with Pam Buda's Nabby Dowry mystery sewalong.  I've been using it as my leader/ender project so I've swayed between keeping up and getting behind, depending on how much other sewing I've been up to.
Week One we made zillions of Half Square Triangles (it seemed like zillions but was actually only 162). That was a bit daunting and I did wonder what I had let myself in for... however once they were done that was it and from then on it was just a case of joining them into blocks.
Here are the first nine blocks we made (one a week).

oops sorry, distracting background!!
Interesting the number of different blocks you can make using
the same components.

Initially I thought there was a bit of a pattern thing happening, swapping out the darks/lights or with the corner triangles but after a while I lost the plot and just sewed them without trying to second guess what was happening with them.

Last week was a change with these blocks below added to the mix—

This week is the grand reveal so there is a bit of thinking going on. We actually have made 11 blocks and how on earth does one use 11 blocks in a quilt?? The fabric requirements talk about setting triangles so I think they'll be on point--- maybe even in a zig-zag style setting??
Anyway here is my guess... I quite like the flying geese units radiating out from that centre block, however I have no idea if there could be a placement pattern with the outer blocks.

(Yes, it is similar to Janet O's guess but honestly, it is all my own work!!)(Kathy has also had a guess layout, see it here.)
Only 2 more sleeps until we find out what we are making :-) Thanks Pam for a fun adventure!
It seems I will have to have a delve into my UFO cupboard to find another project I can use as a leader-ender project. It is a great way to make progress on older projects!

You may remember that I have recently done a couple of postcard swaps... Sheila is organising another swap so if you are interested in having a play, visit her here to sign up. (I'm participating again - I think I am hooked!) (They are pretty straight forward to make so don't be shy).
And somehow I've found myself pushing the YES button for some secret Santa swaps - woohoo - lots of fun and -woohoo- lots of secret sewing will be happening around here!!!
On that happy note I will leave you,
Thank you for visiting, happy stitching, and have a lovely day,