Private Swaps

Many people in the blogging world set up their own private swaps with their bloggy friends. I hadn't until recently when the lovely Sadie from Stitching up a Storm asked if I would like to participate in one with her. Needless to say I jumped at the chance as Sadie is wonderful at stitching all sorts of things.

I quickly discovered that private swaps contain none of the pressure of big online swaps. Because we were keeping what we were making for each other secret. So no commenting on Flickr, or hours spent stalking. Just some happy sewing for someone you like, making something you hope they will like.

Well, I got my parcel came from Sadie this week and she did so good! Look for yourself -

 Did Sadie get me right, or what?! DS, Sew Stitchy, Oh Deer!, Pez. Hexies, diamonds, perle! OMG she is spot on here.

And that gorgeous counted cross stitch decoration. I really admire that because long ago I tried counted cross stitch. I never made it to the finish line. I was halfway through, realised that I had gone wrong somewhere and that was it. No more counted cross stitch for me. But Sadie is amazing at it.

And I just love those little lines of deer on the envelope back. Thank you so much Sadie - you did a brilliant job!

What did Sadie get in return? Well, remember that perle stitching I have been doing of late? And that hidden zip? It was all for her.

Forgive the rather deflated look to this cushion. I did not have a cushion insert big enough to plump it up properly. I am hoping that plumped up it looks much better. An anorexic cushion is not much good for anything after all.

No matter how many photos I took of this cushion the navy linen refused to ever photograph properly for me. But Sadie managed to get one that truly shows the colours. So I nicked borrowed it to show you.

I would also like to mention that Sadie sent me chocolate too, and for the girls. That didn't make the photo, but the gift was appreciated. I feel terrible as I bought chocolate for Sadie and forgot to put it in the package. Honest! I hang my head in shame.

I have another private swap lined up for the new year already. And I am planning a second - though the participant(s) don't actually know it yet. Doing this with Sadie showed me that it is a great way to exchange things in a low pressure way.

Susan