EB New year swap - part 2: revealing my creations

As soon as my partner (Vikki) posted her list of things she would like to receive, I knew exactly what I would make for her.

She asked for a 'Make it Perfect' Versatile Wrap Skirt, and I happened to have the pattern sitting in my 'to-do' pile crying out to be used. Picking some fabric proved a little harder. After a fruitless trip to Spotlight and several hours online I found some that sort-of met her tentative request for brown and aqua. The skirt was very easy to make and I really liked the end result. I've got more of this fabric, and also some with a cream background instead of the brown. I'm planing on making one for me as well.

Vikki also had a superhero cape for her son as another item on her list. The tutorial for a reversible cape she had linked was actually sitting in my list of bookmarks - another item on my to-do list. As the skirt had been so easy to make that I decided to make tughhe cape for her son and one for mine. Because I could fit three across the width of fabric I made a third at the same time and gifted that to someone else as a surprise.

These were all made entirely from my stash, and are identical except for the letter on the black side.

I used shot duchess (sort of like satin but with a rough texture) for the blue side. It shimmers from blue to silver in the light. The emblem is my own design and uses the reverse of the main fabric for the shield and some black crepe and green felt for the rest of the design.

The other side is silky black crepe with red satin for the diamond and some flame-print polar fleece for the initial.

Applique on slippery satin fabrics turned out to be a little challenging, so the diamonds are not as neat as I would have liked, and it took ages to do three at once, but I think the end product is pretty fantastic.

Jack refused to wear his so I hope the other ones went down better at the other end!

EB New year swap - part 1: look at this!!!

Wow - Jack and I were the lucky, lucky people who got a wonderful gift from Susan. She was a bit sneaky by not putting her name anywhere, even on the card, but I'm an efficient blog stalker so she hasn't tricked me!

I know everyone was drooling over the sneak peek she posted weeks ago and now I can show you how wonderful the whole thing is!

This was a 'mystery swap'. We had to provide a list of three things for our partner to chose from. This was a bit hard for me because there wasn't really anything I really, really wanted to have made for me. I just started writing a list and kept adding to it as I thought of things. I figured that my partner would be able to pick something she really liked making without too much pressure. In hindsight I probably made it much harder for her to choose something - there were about twenty things on the list in the end!

Firstly our wrapped parcels - one for Jack and one for me.

This is the lovely embroidery that was featured in Susan's sneak peek. She made it into a drawstring bag and it will make a perfect library bag. I've been thinking about making one for Jack for some time but now I don't have to! And how cute is the monkey!

Hiding away inside the bag was Mitch the monkey.

He is made from fleece fabric and Susan has done an amazing job. Check out his ears and his adorable face.

Mitch was very well recieved here - I'm not sure how Susan and her boys managed to let him go. I had quite few hugging photos but Jack had his eyes closed in all of them so I finally got one of Mitch 'driving' the bike. He is now outside helping Jack and Dad pick tomatoes, and hasn't left Jack's side since he was liberated from his wrapping.

And as a bonus there were a few goodies packaged up for me. Yes, that is Jack's little hand trying to pilfer the peanut butter rocky road while I was taking the photo. He was very good and put it straight in the fridge for 'later'.

Thankyou so much Susan. This has been a wonderful package to open!

Off to the post office I went...

.....and sent away this little bundle of goodies.

What could be hiding away inside?

This....

and this....

and maybe even this.....

Warning - one or more of the above photos could easily be red herrings designed to confuse my swap partner and throw her off track.

She will find out for sure when she opens it on Sunday.

I'll be back then to do the big reveal, and also show of what I receive in return.