Chevrons and HST Swap-erific Goodness

Hi everyone, sorry its been so quiet on the Strawberry Patch front. My life is slowly being taken over by boxes!

I did get an amazing treat in the post this week that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. My Sew Happy Geek Runner swap parcel arrived all the way from Stephanie in Denver over at Spontaneous Threads!

I cant tell you how thrilled I am with my runner, perfectly made, perfect colours and fabric and SO me! It is made to live in my new kitchen and I cant wait until we move and I can put it in its new home. How Stephanie knew it would be just right for that room is magic itself.

I just LOVE those HST :-)

And the quilters linen and label on the back are so fab, makes me want to sort my labels out asap.

Not only did Stephanie make me a runner but a gorgeous bag too. Apparently she likes her runners rather long and Id noted a smaller size on my preferences so she used the leftovers for the bag, lucky me! It is already filled with new goodies to take to the new house and decorate with. Because of course that is far more important than moving the furniture or pots and pans over there!

I was thoroughly spoilt because I also got some beautiful ribbon and  a mini charm pack that is so cute I may not be able to bear using it!

Aside from packing this week I have also been doing some preparation of this months double dose of 'Merry Meet & Make' two festive workshops at our local craft evening that I run.

I have been busy sewing Hoops and promised Laura that I would show mine, she has after all shown hers!

I am hoop mad at the moment. If I can sew it, it goes in a hoop! Again, I'm hoping to keep hold of these to go at the new house but a few friends have already said quite loudly which ones they would love to receive for Christmas! I got lots of inspiration for my hoops from Kristie over at OCD.

This week we went simple at Merry Meet & Make and made raggy wreaths, just like Hadley did a few weeks ago. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately for me) we had a full house at this weeks workshop and it was so busy I forgot to take photos of all the amazing wreaths! I didn't get home until gone 11pm after all the crafting and nattering. I did photograph my efforts the next day though

This is my funky festive wreath that I made as the demonstrator for the workshop, it is silk and cottons that I had accumulating in my stash, it is now wrapped and on its way to my brother and his wife to start their collection of decorations as their first Christmas as a married couple.

On the night I made a much more traditional mini wreath with green gingham, red holly fabric and gold ribbon. We used wire florists rings which cost less than 50pence each at our local wholesalers. They are perfect for the job and have an inner ring and an outer ring, with the mini wreath I tied my strips around the inner ring and then more strips on the outer ring giving me a really full look. On the bigger funky wreath the strips were made longer and tied around both together.

Ive got a review coming soon of a great pattern I tested, I cant wait to share it with you and hopefully there will be a little giveaway to go with it!