{ Hoop Up! Stitch & Send Swap } My Theme and Received Stitcheries

Fellow male quilter and friend John (aka QuiltDad) is hosting a wonderful swap over on flickr for embroidery. The idea came to him from some of the swaps he participates in over at Craftster. A whole bunch of us wanted to explore the challenges of embroidery so the Hoop Up! Stitch & Send Swap was created. John was trusting enough to let me help lead a group of poor souls on this crazy adventure.

About 40 members were separated into 6 smaller assignments and given names: We have John's Jackrabbit's, Jennie's Blue Jays, Solidia's Squirrels, Tacha's Toucans, Ryan's Raccoons, and Sudi-Laura's Sparrows. What a wild bunch! We all are having so much fun with this swap. Each of us had to pick a theme for our embroidery and stitch an example piece for the other member's of our group to follow. Then mail pieces of fabric to the other members of our group to stitch on for us. At the end of the swap, everyone should have between 6 and 7 finished pieces depending on the number of members in your assigned group.

The theme I chose was vintage modern owls. I wanted my partners to put a modern twist on a vintage owl pattern. I'm going to use all the pieces I receive in an owl themed quilt. This is the stitchery I created for myself:



Today, 2 finished pieces flew my way (along with some nice extras). One from Amy:


Isn't he neat! I love his one brown eye and the fabric leaves she added. Amy also sent me a FQ of owl fabric. I think I'll use it in the quilt I plan to make. Thanks Amy!


An owl from Dena (aka Rowdy Raccoon) arrived today as well. Isn't he wonderful?


His fabric feathers really make him special. The yellow dot fabric she chose for the moon was a great choice. It really looks like cheese! Dena also sent me some fabric to incorporate into my quilt. Thanks Dena!


I've been working all week on a project for Dena. Her theme was trees and forest animals. She included a Bad Bird tree pattern in her inspiration mosaic. It looked like a good challenge so I decided to make it for her. Even though the tree was a Christmas Tree, I decided to use non-traditional colors to make it different. She told us that there were no limits as to how we make her blocks so I just went with it. I hope she likes it! Please excuse the bad pictures as I am using my old digital camera to take them. I adjusted the colors in photoshop the best I could.




I'm starting Amy's stitchery this weekend. Her theme is vintage Sew-on-Wednesday. I've found a cute pattern online I think she'll really like. Stay tuned!

Happy stitching,