More Swaps from 2011

Here’s the one I did for the last Mug Rug Swap earlier this year… It was about 8.5″x10.5″ with 80 (!!) half-square triangles. With all the quilting, it was pretty stiff, but I was SO happy with it. The person who got it seemed to like it as well. ๐Ÿ™‚

Zig Zag Rug

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And then I was in a Doll Quilt Swap in March. This one was harder for me, because I was having a difficult time focusing at that time with all the other stuff going on in my life. But I managed to meet the deadline and get the little quilt sent off. I intended to make a blue/green quilt, but then the orange fabric with daisies appeared and I was completely distracted. The recipient’s photo is better than mine, so here’s a picture Tiffany posted of it around Easter:

Doll Quilt

I almost liked the back better than the front:

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So now I’m stalking Flickr to see when the next Doll Quilt Swap is and when the next Mug Rug Swap is (even though the current round isn’t quite over yet)… I really like working in these small sizes because I can try out a technique without a huge commitment and know if it’s something I want to explore more.

Experimentation

Mug Rug for Annie

Periodically I participate in some online swaps through Flickr, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I vastly prefer the start-to-finish swaps — the ones where you send a completed project to someone and get a completed project in return — to the block swaps. I’m too persnickety about my piecing to do very well in block swaps, because I’ve discovered that many people do not share my neuroses about seam allowances. So blocks come back all different sizes and then I feel guilty if I can’t use them or have to remake them, which is ridiculous.

So. Recently I participated in my second “mug rug” swap — where you make a completed mini-placemat for a coffee mug based on the preferences of the person with whom you were matched. It’s a blind swap, so you don’t know who is making a mug rug for you. This time I was matched with Annie, who has preferences very similar to mine. In her profile, comments to others’ mug rugs, and survey answers, she basically told me to “go for it!” So I did.

I decided to try a new technique that I’ve been wanting to experiment with (the Silly BooDilly‘s non-pattern pattern. When I posted the picture of it, Annie was one of the first responders and was so enthusiastic! It made me so happy!

closeup

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Annie sent to Sooz and Sooz sent to me and I sent to Annie, so we apparently were a little triangle of similar tastes… ๐Ÿ™‚

Here’s what Sooz sent to me — isn’t it AWESOME!?

Made by Sooz

And here’s the one Annie sent Sooz:

Made by Annie

I’d say we had a pretty rockin’ little group… ๐Ÿ™‚

(I love working in this size — small enough to finish reasonably fast, but big enough to feel like you’ve done something… But if something happens and it doesn’t get delivered to its destination, you’re not completely crushed — you can just make another one.)