Oh the people you do meet, and other musings on swaps

Fall swaps are in full swing and I must say, the cooler days just make me want to break out the autumn colors- some of my favorite no matter what time of year. I have some fun swaps and side swaps in the works and here is a sneak peek at what is going on in my little sewing corner of the world.

Scrappy Mug Rug Swap- Fall theme- V2
appliqued leaved and pieced Kona ivory blocks, prairie points and fall colored border and binding.

Close up of appliqued leave.

Scrappy Mug Rug Swap- Fall theme- V1- front
Pieced and appliqued leave, pieced blocks. Shadow quilting.

Scrappy Mug Rug Swap, Fall theme- V1, back

 The Scrappy Mug rug Swap is now in it's Fast Fall swap- you could either choose Fall or Halloween. I chose Halloween, one of my FAV holidays and my partner chose Fall. She likes leaves and symmetry. I made version 1 first, symmetrical and ordered and then had some second thoughts and launched into version 2 with more leaves, not quite as symmetrical but more leaves and more color. I'll send both to my partner. Two is better than one, right???

Always Bee learning- for Erin
Triangulations, V2

Always Bee Learning- for Erin
Triangulations, V1

Always bee Learning- for Erin. Her month- October- Triangulations- designs made from 1/2 square triangles. Luckily, I had half square triangles on the brain after the For the Love of Solids swap and really had fun with this. Erin sent 4 fabrics, 2 light, 2 dark. We could pair a light and dark, make 1/2 square triangles, with a paper piecing method that was very handy, and then arrange the 1/2 square triangles how ever we liked. I came up with the above 2 variations and if I were half as clever, I would have rotated the chevron picture 90 degrees to the right and made them E's, for Erin. (I noticed that later)…

And lastly a side swap with a new friend, Whitney and her daughter, Aidan. This was more than fun. I sent her sneaky peaks the day I sent her package in the mail and she should have it by now- so here are the finished swap items. We decided on a 20 minute tote for the girls (both 13 year old budding sewists) and the Jane Market Tote for the moms.

Whitney's tote- I pieced a strip of fun fabrics down the center of the pocket. I used my Go! Baby cutter to get the blocks all nice and uniform (front detail)

Lots of fun fabric- Anna Marie Horner, Amy Butler, Kate Spain, Denise Schmidt

Back pocket different than front pocket- why not! (Back detail)

Aidan's bag- from Remi- Echino fabric and a web handle. Remi sewed this from the 20 minute tote pattern, took more like an hour and 20 minutes, but she did it all herself. (Including a round with the seam ripper and a change of bobbin threads- "Honey did you really want to use black in the bobbin?". "It's not black, it's navy". "Did you really want to use navy in the bobbin?".)