~Christmas Swaps~

To finish off my SANTA swap in my on line stitching group Friends in Stitching (FIS) I received this very colourful table runner from Chookyblue

Thank you so much Chooky!!!

I have decided to pull out of FIS as I have a bit too much on my plate at the moment with my singing lessons....JoJo and other things in general

I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of this group so you never know I may be in it another day!!!

My partner to make for was Sandi

My gifts to her were this basket 

together with a pin cushion, scissor fob and needlebook

Sandi is a huge Anni Downes fan as I am so I used Anni's Christmastime fabric and pattern for this basket

S for Santa I sent a little stitched Santa bag with a little pattern by Anni 

A for Antlers was this handsome sparkly silver reindeer

Nativity a printed panel

T for Treat was a box of chocolate chip biscuits

A for Angel a little hanging stitchery.

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The other swap I was in was Maree's 6 item swap

For this I gave a little pouch

inside was a stitched cushion top

and a pattern for a table runner

Starting from top left is something for the tree

something to read

something for the sewing room

something smelly

something to eat

My partner to send to was Stephanie
Thank you Maree for organizing this swap!!!

My partner that sent to me was Helen

I received this reindeer wall hanging

and JoJo received a couple of treats too from Helen

Thank you so much Helen!!!

A fun year of Swaps for me!!!

I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy 2014 with Peace, Joy, Contentment, Good Health and much Stitching coming up.......and of course Cooking

Love Dzintra xo

* A N G E L *

Today I had 2 little parcels to open up for my FIS (Friends in Stitching) On Line Stitching Group.

Angel!  First a beautiful Angel that I have hung up and the next a lovely golden heart decorated with blue....both so gorgeous!  I'm going to write Chooky's name and the year on the back of my Angel and remember this Swap!

Merry Christmas to all my bloggy friends.......readers.......followers and everyone out there.....

Wishing you all Peace, Joy and Contentment and a fabulous New Year to follow....

Love Dzintra xo

* T R E A T *

Today's Treat from Chooky are these absolutely beautiful cards....just beautiful!

Loving this one

And this one

Isn't this little calf just adorable!   Thank you Chooky!

A for Angel tomorrow which will complete SANTA

* Antlers and Nativity....Friends in Stitching Swap *

Continuing here with daily gift opening

One gift a day with letters from S A N T A

S for Santa is the post below

Next comes A for Antler opened yesterday

Chooky told me that JoJo could open the Antler gift...

You should've seen her face when I told her this!!!

A set of sweet little reindeer lights!

When I got up yesterday morning JoJo was sitting downstairs next to the Christmas Stockings so that's where we hung up the lights....just perfect!  Thanks Chooky!

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Gracing my gifts has been Chooky's little cards....such nice detail!  Here is N for Nativity all ready for the big reveal this morning

A lovely stitchery

Looking perfect on my new hanger from S for Santa

What fun to open daily gifts!  Thanks Chooky!

My Gift From Santa

I've opened the first of the gifts from my online Stitching Group 'Friends in Stitching'...

Every day from the 20th we open one gift....The gifts had to pertain to the first letter of SANTA...

And here is my gift from Santa....a handy little quilt hanger...Thank You Chooky!

Parcel Received....

Woohoo today I received my parcel and it was from Chooky!!!  How exciting...I was beginning to think it may have been the one from Tasmania.....then perhaps from Nundle.....and then Dubbo and I got a huge surprise when it did arrive!  Now to wait till Friday when we will all start to open our gifts....what a lovely thought....Friends In Stitching!

~Eat...Read...Sew...Smell~and Shoes~

In continuing the post from below I have now opened all the gifts in Maree's 6 Item Swap from Helen except for the one Under The Tree which I will do on Christmas Day

Above is Something to Eat......Festive Fudge

Something to Read.......this little booklet with some lovely little recipes

Something for the Sewing Room plus fabric

A gorgeous fat 1/4......Shirt pins.......Magnetic Pin Collector and 2 quilt labels

Something Smelly.......a Lavender soap bar in a little gauze bag all beaded!!!

Great pressies and such fun to open one a day (with great restraint held)!!!

Thank you so much Helen for these very thoughtful gifts and also to Maree for hosting this fabulous Swap!!!

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And on a different note here I went up to Canberra earlier in the week and had seen these shoes before a few times......being a sucker for shoes this time they came home with me!!!  I just love the colour.....

Gosh hasn't this year just flown by......My Mother used to say that the older we get the faster time goes.....how true is this!!!

~Maree's 6 Item Swap Received~

I joined in Maree's 6 Item Swap earlier in the year and this parcel arrived here this week for me from Helen.......At this stage I'm not sure of Helen's blog!!!

Box of gifts including a little bag for JoJo.....how sweet this was......

A card for JoJo from Helen also

So far she has put the gift under the tree and is being very patient

Unlike me who has decided to open one a day as the suspense is too much!!!

The first one opened is a tree ornie

How cool is this.......a little paintbrush looking like Santa

Next one I opened is 'Sewing Room'

A lovely fat 1/4

Shirt pins

Quilt labels

Pin Magnet

And tomorrow I think I'll do 'Read'

What fun is this!!!!

Thank you so much Helen and also Maree for organizing this fun swap.......wooohooooo!!!

~A Quilt Workshop.......Past Times

Recently I attended a workshop for this lovely quilt

Past Times by Lynne Wilson

The quilt was made up of fat quarters so I went 'shopping' in my stash......

bundled up my fabrics and tied a ribbon around them all ready to take in to the workshop for Lynne to have a look at......

The fabrics were a mix of traditional and country and mostly deep colours

The most unlikely combinations were put together and they looked great!!! 

This is laying out the blocks so I have put them in this post for handy reference to it

I am up to this part but not sure if I will get to it before Christmas!!!