I have the nicest friends, they send me amazing things they've made....

 For the pincushion swap, my friend Jo , who lives in Scotland, made me the most amazing treasure chest!  I didn't know that she was making this for me, but I was very hopeful when I saw her sketch and the plan and then in really short order, the pincushion in progress!  This lady doesn't mess around, she gets an idea and just goes with it!  I was getting more and more excited about it when she threw out some info that had me convinced that this was NOT for me, after all, and I was so disappointed.  So imagine my thrill when I opened a box and found this pincushion inside! As you can see, I like pirate things, another friend made me this quilt last year.

The pincushion even came with it's own map!  It's stitched and burned and is just adorable.  Jo also included some great pieces of fabric, parrot pins and mini teacup pincushion, too.  WHAT a fabulous package, I am over the moon with it all!

 Look at all the booty in the treasure chest!  And there's a felt needle holder, too.  It's got it all.  The workmanship is amazing, all the handstitching, just so time-consuming and I am so flattered that she did all this for ME!  Wow.  What a nice, talented lady Jo is!  Thank you so much, Jo!

 I also received a wonderful mug rug in our swap, from my friend Sudi-Laura.  She and I have made things for each other before, placemats, so we are a good match, too.  I love this mug rug, all the colors of the rainbow, which everyone knows I love and my nickname and a great black and white binding along with perfect sewing- another big hit!  Thank you, Sudi-Laura, aka isaacsmama!

 And, I am so spoiled- 2 of my swappy friends sent me mug rugs just because I had admired them so loudly!  Spiced Coffee sent me one that commemorates the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Rabbit.  Isn't it great?  I have in on my desk, it looks wonderful in the office.  See how it goes with the rug (that needs to be vacuumed)?  Perfect!  I love it, and she sent me more of the cool fabric and some hula girl fabric, too!  I feel so rich!  Look at the embroidered bun-bun!

 And, I received this from my buddy, Kimmie- because I threatened to cry if it didn't come to me!  lol  (That worked great, I'll use that line again!)  Seriously, Kimmie and I goof around a lot together on Flickr, pretending that we don't like each other, but I think it's obvious now- she can't help it, she loves me.  :)    She also sent me a great snap bag and a cool, bright tin full of stick-on shapes, very fun package to open! 

I just have to say that I appreciate everything that people send to me, I'm just not very good at blogging about it in a timely fashion!  I have more to show, too, something I can drink copious amounts of wine out of!  :)  I'll save that for another day, though.  Thanks to all my swappy buddies, you're all so good to me and I know it!

Rainbow Village, the doll quilt....

I don't know what I would do without all my helpers.  Godzilla, aka Nosey Parker, wants to rid those houses of their antenna.  Monster!  I have been locking this quilt up for weeks to keep it safe at night!

I managed to finish it, though, finally, with a little time to spare.  I can't show you what is under the sun in case my partner is peeking in.  *wavies, hi there!* It spells something out, though, I'll show you after it's been received because it's a really cool effect and I copied it from my friend, Pam/Uberstitch, with her blessing.

Anyhoo, Rainbow Village.  It's not dull or boring, it's just as vibrant, I'm afraid, as it appears.  In retrospect, maybe it's too vibrant, but it's done and it is what it is.  I hope my partner doesn't get sick of it too soon.  I matched the binding to all the fabrics on the sides of the quilt, as nothing I had in my stash was auditioning quite right. 

The houses all have little metal plates sewn to the back and on the back of the quilt are little pockets with very strong magnets in them.  That makes the houses removable and interchangeable, so she can rearrange her houses any way she wants them.

In the pond- a small, subtle fountain. A vintage button plays the part of the sprayer.  Tulle netting tones down the white of the fishie fabric.

A rather ordinary label, name blocked out to protect the surprise.  I love the tiny house fabric for the backing.  I was lucky enough to stumble across that online a while back and knew it would come in handy!

I think she's going to like this, at least I hope she does.  I did have fun making it.  It turned out almost exactly like I had pictured it in my head and in the sketch, with a few changes. 

Castle Teacup Pincushion, for swap....

I was lucky enough to get a really fun partner in the Scrappy Pincushion Swap at Flickr.  I decided to make her a castle in a teacup.  :)   I had a teacup pattern that I got from Jodie at Vintage Ric Rac and used that as a starting point.  I drew this sketch for inspiration and everyone seemed to think I should go for it, so I did. 

After a couple of blunders which I won't subject you to here, but can be seen in my Flickr photostream (think pornographic!  eek)  this is what I ended up with.  Wisteria Castle.

The roof comes off and so does the tower, so you could actually put it back together like this short, stubby version.  :)

Under the false floor are small polished stones to give it weight and stability. Please note the manacles on the dungeon wall!  See the tiny lock on the door? 

Find the tiny key under the tiny mat!  The door flips down over the moat, but that's purely decorative.

Details of the wisteria on the castle tower.

The flag needed a Coat of Arms.  :)

And EVERY castle needs a faerie princess, right?  She is a pin-topper.

I hope you like it, I had so much fun making it.  The castle tower is a heavy cardboard tube and I wrapped the fabric around it and sewed it down, then glued the excess at the top and bottom into the tube.  I made a puffy bit for the actual pincushion part and glued that into the tube from underneath.  I got some great advice from a fellow Flickrer when I botched my first roof attempt and with her help, I am 100% happy with the new roof and the whole thing, actually.  I wanted to keep this, very badly, but the horrible kittens had their eyes on it and I knew it would be safer in some other household. 

Hellooooo, Gravey!