Easter swap

I am in charge of a swap at MJF. When the items came in this time, I decided to take pictures of the big groups instead of waiting 'till after I sent everything back to everyone. This way you can see what everyone got, not just the items I kept myself. There are ten people in the group; each makes ten handmade items and sends them to me, then I sort them out and mail the boxes back to each person with 10 different items in them.

First one to arrive was momof2jrt. She sent some cute bookmarks for every one to have; no two are exactly the same.

The next package to arrive was from Suzyhomemaker. She sent handmade bags for everyone, with a bag of handmade bath salts in it. My house has smelled so nice I hated to see them all go to their homes. She also gave everyone sunflower seeds to start their spring flower beds. You also see a corsage made out of felt and a yo-yo that was a extra gift she sent as a thank you for me hosting; I love it.

Kitchenwitch's box was the next to arrive. She thought hers didn't come out well. I think they are quiet lovely. I love all the soft colors. There are actually two images per egg. It is just impossible to show the front and back of the eggs at the same time. I wish I knew how she made these; I love flower fairies. It was a hard thing to give these up, but since there was only one that could me mine, I picked a purple one. Not an easy decision.

At this point I lost track of the order the items came in so I will just post them.

I didn't know summerbreeze was a glass blower. When these items came I was just floored. When I get my store up and running this will be a featured item in the store, so look for that around May first or sooner. I wish I had taken better photos; next time I will because these are gorgeous in real life. You would think glass would be fragile, but these are thick and solid yet still look fragile. I just loved them; so did my family. When in the upcoming months I open my web store, it will be dedicated to hand made items from all different types of artisans. I hope to carry lots of different things like this

Ktknits sent two different items -- bugs and pillows. There are two types of bugs but each person gets one bug, so it will be a surprise which bug each person gets. My kids just loved the ladybugs because they collect them, but we kept a caterpillar. For the farm girls involved, you may not recognize the yo-yos but I do; they are from another swap at MJF a while back I was in charge of that one too, every one sent in four different colored yo-yos to be traded with 12 other women (everyone made 48 yo-yos or something like that). So the yo-yos on these pillows represent a lot of farm girls not mentioned in this post.Willoetreecreek sent these sweet little Easter egg pins for everyone to wear. I think they are darling. She machine stitched decorative details with pink thread and machine stitched on ribbon. She hand stitched a pin on the back of all of them.

Leslie made doilies for everyone. I think she crocheted them then added the daisies. They will be cute as a decorative accent at Easter time.It has been a real interesting swap; I think the variety of items in this swap is the greatest I have seen thus far. It never ceases to amaze me the different talents people have, especially when they say at the beginning of the swap they have none.

I made hair clips for everyone. Funny I don't even know if everyone has long hair; oh well, I have no problem if they give them away. Some have crazy daises on them, others Easter egg yo-yos, and some plain yo-yos with buttons on a few too.Shmeg made bath salts for everyone, and she also handmade stitch markers. Stitch markers are a knitter's thing. I think they came out real nice. I kept oriental-looking ones. My kids wanted to keep all of the item that Mommom sent. She made two hand crocheted dish/wash clothes for everyone. These are some of my kids favorite things for in the tub. You should have seen the disappointment on their faces. Mommom is so sweet she then sent each of them one, too. Excitement galore!