Hexagon Swap Goodness and a Few Other Random Things

First things first, you know Heather right? Well, many of you may know that Heather's birthday is this month (yesterday actually) and that she has been doing giveaways all month long to celebrate. Heather asked a bunch of her friends (including yours truly) to come along for the party and bring presents for all of her readers - well, today is my day! Would you like to see what you could win?

Here we have the most recent (Spring 2010) issue of Stitch magazine, which I picked up at Quilt Market directly from Interweave Press, and four fat quarters from Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley collection. Stitch is my absolute most favourite magazine and it was pretty lucky that I was able to get this copy from them since they were running pretty low and not handing them out for free anymore - but I convinced the nice lady working the booth that I had already bought my own copy (which I had) since it is my favourite, and I wanted one to giveaway.

The post is not up yet, but should be at some point today *the giveaway has now been posted* so head on over to Heather's blog and wish her a very happy birthday (also notice that if you are a follower of mine and leave a second comment saying so you will get another entry!); Happy Birthday Heather - you rock!

And actually, speaking of Heather, I recently participated in a swap that she arranged on Flickr called {Handsome} Hexies - The Swap where we each had to make our partner 25 paper pieced hexagons based on their likes. The fun part was while you knew who you were sending a package to, you didn't know who was sending you one - good times all around! The person I was sending to was Brioni of FlossyBlossy, we have very similar likes when it comes to fabric and so it was pretty easy to make choices for her. For the most part, the people who participate in these swaps also like to send along some extra goodies whether they be handmade, bought, or supplies. I sent along a little mini quilt as well as an assortment of buttons with my hexagons, would you like to see?

The 25 1" hexagons are a mix of Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy (oh yes, I finally cut into it), Heather Bailey Freshcut, Amy Butler Daisy Chain (in the pinks), and a few other random one offs from such designers as Tina Givens, Joel Dewberry, Tanya Whelan, and Fig Tree & Co. I hand quilted the mini quilt using perle cotton and included even more Freshcut hexies (which I have since found out is Brioni's favourite fabric line ever).

Here's the back of the mini quilt:

The backing fabric is Tina Givens' Silhouette Polka in Pink, and I made a little hexagon tag too, here's a close-up:

I just found out that Brioni received her package this morning and I'm happy to report that she loves everything I included and is thinking of using the hexagons to embellish a travel sewing bag.

I also received my package yesterday, and my partner was Kate of One Flew Over! Here's what I found inside:

Yes, that is some Flea Market Fancy in the front, and it just so happens to be one of the prints that I don't have! Wrapped up with it is some Heather Ross tennis players, yay! Inside that lovely little package were my hexagons and here they are:

All of the hexagons are Liberty of London, and Kate also sent along some extra hexagon templates and Liberty of London cuts so that I can make more! Thanks Kate, you rock!

On Monday night, while Alex was at Frisbee, I got a little bored and decided to make myself a dress! This is the first dress I've ever made and might actually be the first piece of clothing I've ever made too! I had spent Monday afternoon clearing out clothes to send to the thrift store and found a couple of tank tops that had holes around the bottom seams from rubbing against my pants and from me pulling them down; I decided to re-purpose them and used the tutorial found here.

The top is an old black tank top, and the bottom is some fabric from Ikea. Oh, and check out my shoes - I just bought them and am in love! The dress is a tad poofy right now, probably because I spray starched the fabric when I ironed it, I'm hoping it'll calm down a little when I wash it - right now it sticks out like a bell all around me, hehe!

Okay, so I want to wish everyone an early Happy Canada Day and an early Happy Independence Day! Alex and I are flying to Moncton, New Brunswick tomorrow for his brother's wedding and won't be back until Sunday. Hope you all have a lovely weekend and some good time off with family and friends, I'll be back with more quilty goodness soon!