A pox on the phony king of England...I mean the flu...

 

Thanks for all your well wishes as I waged a legendary battle with the flu. I still sound like I'm chain smoking 20 packs a day, but I'm feeling much better. Hopefully I'll be back on my A-game by the weekend :)

The Make Mine Modern swap deadline is tomorrow, and even though I was stricken down by the plague this week, I would have felt terrible using that as an excuse when I had 3 whole months to get everything done. So as a matter of principal, I couldn't let the flu beat me! And you'll be happy to know that I prevailed!

Kaelin: 1, Flu: 0.

Aside from getting awesome stuff in the mail, one of the perks of being in all these swaps is that it's made me notice something about myself...that I work best under pressure. I've yet to miss a swap deadline, even though I'm always chasing down the final mailing date like Seabiscuit. And I know some of you are probably thinking my habits are going to bite me in the butt one day...and they might...but I'm not worried :) I think I always manage to pull it off because I don't really wait until the last minute...I honestly carry around my project ideas in my brain (or my sketchbook) for several weeks. I'll get an idea, think about it, search my partner's photostream some more, and then let my revisions/new ideas marinate for a bit longer. Sometimes I delay because I'm still in that stage, and sometimes I delay (truth be told) because I'd rather sit on my keister and watch Man v. Food/Pawn Stars/random documentaries on Netflix with the hubby. Hey, I'm only human :)

Here are some a lot of photos of my partner's freshly completed package :)

You'll recognized this one...

I used a variegated thread for the first time! It's a yellow one from Sulky.

You won't recognize these...

Notice anything new? There's a coffee coozie, some Greenfield Hill fat quarters, and a yummy linen tote just begging to be filled with delicious fruits and veggies at a farmer's market :)

Look at the wee shoppers buying flowers! How could this not tempt you to visit your local farmers market?!

It's lined with a cute dot print from Amy Butler's Love collection, and includes a small linen-lined zipper pocket.

I also made an insulated coozie for my partner to wrap around her beloved coffee. I used one of the Parisville Fan prints for the letters (which read "FUEL", hehe!), and it also lines the back.

None of my nice, staged pictures turned out very well, so I wrapped this around my Chai Tea this afternoon. It was on there for all of 30 seconds, so no worries partner, you're still receiving one clean, unused item :)

I'm really excited about this package, and hopefully my partner feels the same way when she opens it! Since I made her wait so patiently, I'll be sending it Priority tomorrow to speed its arrival up a bit :)

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Good News & Bad News

The bad news is that I'm pretty sure the Bubonic Plague has resurrected itself from Medieval times and infected me, so today's post will be short and sweet because after I finish typing this, I'm going to pop in the Sound of Music, wallow on the sofa in a tissue-covered mass of self pity, and then slip slowly into madness a coma.

The good news is that I received my Make Mine Modern package yesterday, and it was GLORIOUS!!! I seriously can't believe all the cool little goodies she sent me. I'm super excited because it all revolved around the Parisville line, and even though I stinking love that line, before this I really didn't have much fabric from it. But now that has been remedied, thanks to my awesome partner MyFabricObsession (aka Rebecca)! You can't see the title in the photo below, and I forgot to snap a photo by itself, but the book she got me is "I Love Patchwork", which had been on my "to buy" list for far too long :)

The hoop is my favorite, so I'll show that part first :) You won't believe how tiny and intricate some of her stitches are.

Even the back is adorable!

A pincushion/storage pockets/hanging scrap basket all rolled into one...

A precious wee bundle of Parisville fat quarters (and what's that pink piece of felt on the top?)

Why it's a wee baby needle book!

But that's not all folks! In one of our discussion forums, I mentioned wanting some kind of organizer for the 1.2 million remotes and game controllers floating about in our living room, so she made me this remote holder to drape over the arm of the sofa. I'm so excited...you don't even know.

...and there's even a big pocket behind the remote section for a magazine, tv guide, etc. She's so awesome! I love all the little details she worked into all my items :)

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