I said the pouch idea would have to wait but it didn't have to wait very long. By Saturday night I'd picked out a new group of colours and a piece of batting the right size and started in on my second adventure in string quilting. I think it turned out pretty awesome.

The snap frame is one of a pair I ordered from Goodness last spring. My pouch is about 3 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/4 inches deep. The snap frame was really easy to put in; I looked through the pictures in this tutorial (from the Small Object) before starting.

The fun of patchwork is always looking at what I've got when I'm finished and remembering where the larger pieces of these fabrics are: here I see a quilt for Rob, presents for sisters, cousins and friends, and my circular needle roll. The lining fabric is a scrap from making up one of my favourite Regency dresses (which it seems I've never blogged about - I'll try and fix that sometime).

Inside my pouch lives a charm bracelet I bought from Wisecraft's shop a couple of years ago. The string patchwork somehow made me think of this bracelet and I'm very glad it finally has a proper home; I'm always so worried about it catching on things in my box.

I need to post these guys before I forget entirely (or it's summer and too late for posting Christmas things). I finally got all the eyes sewn onto my owls and hung them up in the living room just after Christmas (I'm the type that leaves the tree up as long as possible - it's so cheery). There are all sorts of fabrics making up these owls - wools and blends, corduroys, even a velveteen that was in my stash. Picking the eyes was quite the job - I'd never noticed before how many single buttons I had - but eventually I found enough. I love to see them in their great swag in the living room. They're a friendly looking flock.


Speaking of Christmas decorations, my parcel from The Small Fox Ornament Swap arrived the other day. I was hoping for some sunshine this weekend so I could take some really nice pictures of them on the tree before it came down but the weatherman promises snow so I'll just have to make do with the picture I took on the table after unpacking them.  They are all so wonderfully different; each with its own special character. I'm looking forward to pulling them out every year and remembering where they came from:


1. Clothspin Santa from *
2. Crochet Tree from Chicken Betty
3. 'Cecil' by Sarah
4. Garland (with teeny yo-yos!) from Julia
5. Woven Heart from *
6. Pink Penguin from *
7. Bird from Dawn
8. Owl from deetlesbird
9. Holly Berries from Keri

Thank you to all of you.

*Somehow I am missing three names - I'm hoping to add them as I learn them.

I'm participating in an ornament swap this year. It's being organized by the Small Fox and I signed up a little over a month a go. I spent a little bit of each day last week getting my ornaments made and photographed before sending them off. Each person in the swap makes and sends ten ornaments and gets ten different ones back.

I decided to make Moonstitche's Zakka Style Owls as ornaments (I just thread a piece of embroidery floss through the top of the head and hide the knot behind the face). I love this tutorial and have been wanting to make more of these guys for our decorating this year. I cut out a whole bunch and picked ten particularly cute little guys to send away. I used a bunch of different fabrics for my owls - corduroy, wool, suiting fabrics (that may or may not be wool), and even some velveteen I found tucked away - and made sure that the ten I sent out did not include any duplicates.

There is a Flickr group for the swap where you can see what other people are making and get loads of ideas for making stuff yourself.