Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Secret Gift Delivered

Last Saturday was our Guilds annual Holiday party.  We all look forward to getting together, kicking back, eating lots of food and exchanging our Secret Santa Gifts.  I was so excited about this party I could barely sleep the night before!

When I received the info on who my swap partner was, it took a while to figure out what I was going to make.  I kept flip flopping on ideas.  Too many!  Eventually I narrowed it down and got to work!

16" x 28 3/4"
A couple months back, I was lucky enough to win this bundle of fabric on from Nicole (Snip Snippets) Instagram!  Big surprise, and such a lucky win!  The fabric is Coyote by Hawthorne Threads and boy oh boy, it was so perfect for this project!

The pattern, 'Succulent Shelf' is by Amanda from Material Girl Quilts, it's a paper pieced delight in my opinion!

I first made potholders from it, and knew right then and there that I was going to make a shelf full of cacti!


I printed out the paper piece patterns, then paired up fabric for the pots.  I tried to get a good mix of color: aqua, gold, desert rose.  It looked good to me!


The colors are exactly as I planned and couldn't have worked out better!  Now, I must get some cacti potted in these pretty pots! 


Sweet Succulents!  


Another thing I like about this pattern, you can mix and match!  Any pot with any cactus!  


Once I had all the pieces and parts together I could get busy with the quilting.  Time was ticking down.  I needed to finish this fast!



Aloe and Cactus
Agave and Haworthia
Eye Candy Back!
At this time I should tell you I have gone totally bonkers with this pattern!  Not only have I made pot holders and this wall hanging, but I decided to make two mini wall hangings of a single cactus and one with three cactus.  Last minute gifts are always fun, don't you think?


Happily Leanne liked her secret gift!  Whew!  You never know!  They say give a gift you would like to receive yourself.  When it was finished I so wanted to keep it for myself!  And I never keep anything!!
  

LINKING:

26 comments :

  1. What a fantastic swap item, and I'm glad it was well received. :)

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    1. As much as I wanted to keep in myself, I had to give it up! I was a bit worried it wouldn't fit her criteria…thankfully it did!

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  2. Leanne is a lucky duck to have gotten you for a partner Jayne! The fabrics pair so perfectly with this pattern and wow your quilting really added to the cactus and succulents look.

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    1. Thank you for the kind words Lara! It's hard for me to make something specifically for some, and to have it be top secret makes it so much harder! If it wasn't for the fabric, I'm sure I wouldn't have thought about the cacti!

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  3. Thanks my friend for adding another project to my to-do list ;)

    I love this little quilt and think you chose the perfect fabrics and colors! Beautiful job!

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  4. I love your succulent pots - your partner was very spoiled.

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    1. She was super happy with it and that made me happy…except I kept wanting to keep it for myself!

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  5. this mini was SPOT ON. I absolutely loved it.

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    1. One never knows when making something top secret for others! I was pretty happy she liked it!

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  6. Hi, Jayne. Found you on Sew Cute Tuesday. This is the cutest wall hanging and so versatile. The fabrics are perfect with the cacti. What a sweet gift!

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    1. I love this paper pieced pattern! So glad I won that fabric, otherwise I may not have thought about the cacti!

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  7. I love those cacti! And the fabric is fabulous, too. I love the idea of making potholders out of them too. I may have to get this pattern myself...

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    1. I am in love with the cacti! And I highly recommend this pattern. The fun part is mixing and matching. Some of the pots I have shortened by leaving out a paper pieced strip or two…they are just fun to play around with! Maybe one day I'll make one for me in obnoxious loud colors!!

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  8. The cacti for Leanne are adorable. I love the various greens and the fabric for the pots is perfect.

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    1. I know you could make the cacti all one color…but that wouldn't be fun at all!

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  9. I don't blame you for wishing to keep this beauty for yourself, Jayne. I was taken with your pot holders. But this is certainly stepping it up! You'll just have to make another.

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    1. I ended up making several more of the cacti in various forms for family gifts. Hopefully I will recover enough to make one for myself soon!

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  10. I just love this! I have saved the pattern page on their site to purchase later when I get time to sew it.

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  11. Great job!! You chose some great fabrics.

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    1. I'm officially exhausted and burnt out from holiday sewing! I'm going to put my machine in the closet and wait until after the holidays to pull it back out!

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  12. The shelf full of cacti looks great! Great choice of fabrics. I am not surprised that she loves it. Who wouldn't!! Now you need to make one for yourself :)

    -Soma

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  13. Your cacti shelf is very neat. I love all the pots there, but the Agave is my favorite. I love how the chevrons are going one way at the top of the planter and the other way at the bottom.
    I am all for obnoxious & loud colors...they remind me of me!!!
    http://sewpreetiquilts.blogspot.com/

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  14. I love fun little paper piecing project like this, and they really can be super addictive! I've seen your progress on this on IG... the quilting turned out great on this!

    So, did you end up keeping number two for yourself? The best way to do Christmas presents... one for me, one for such and such...

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  15. This would have been a difficult one to give up, it is adorable! I love the quilting you did on it - just perfect!

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  16. Oh how I wish that I was your swap partner! I made that cactus piece for my daughter using the original fabrics and I loved it so much - I did not want to give it away! I love your version soooo much!

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