Guest Post: Marian from Lady Face

Today I am having a guest post from the sender of my wonderful Covert Robin swap package. The sneaky peek of my swap package you all saw in my last post will now be revealed! 

Hi everyone!

I am Marian and I blog over here at Lady Face.  I'm honored to be guest posting today here at Little D and Me.  Deanna is awesome, I'm so thrilled to be here!

A bit about me, I've been quilting for a little bit over a year now, and am loving it.  I'm an admitted fabric and swap addict.  I'm a stay at home mom to these two adorable monsters and I have a wonderful husband who is currently in school at Idaho State University.

 Matthew is almost 3

 Abby turned 2 April 2nd

We also have a very awesome dog named Hobbes.  He's wonderful.

Ok, I'll admit I was a bit intimidated when I found out I was paired with Deanna for this swap.  Have you seen her sewing skills?!  Everything she makes is extraordinary and I was a bit nervous, and very excited, for the challenge!  I mean, I've never even sewn with a zipper before...I like flat things like quilts, so I started out by reading her blog to get to know her a bit.

I had planned to make Deanna a handbag (who can't use another bag, right?) but then I saw this post on her blog that included specific "hints" for her swap partner (me!) and so I gratefully changed directions a little bit.

Now, one thing to know about me is I like to give people what they want.  Since partners for this swap were surprises and we couldn't go and ask them, I was very worried that I'd make her something she already had six other versions of...or use the one fabric that she hates...stuff like that. This post was such a great help because I knew that I could make her something she did want!

I decided to make her a mini-quilt to hang in her home and add some other goodies to go with it.

I checked out her favorite photo's on Flickr and specifically noticed this one, and this one of buntings.

Oh boy, I love myself a good bunting.  In a fabric, in a mini-quilt, on the wall, in anything, so I was glad to see she likes those too.  From there I pulled fabrics from my scrap box that seemed colorful and happy that she would like.  I cut out triangles and placed them on top of a quilt sandwich I put together that was a good size.

 I never did measure the finished mini-quilt, so I don't know what it's dimensions are...

I figured this would not be something to be washed so I was a bit loose with the those technical parts of this project.  I stitched the bunting flags in place with hand quilting thread, added the ric-rac and the birds with the same thread and then added a scrappy binding.  I didn't take a photo of the back, but I also added yellow hanging corners in the back so Deanna can hang it where she wants to.

My house is terrible for lighting and while I worked on this is was too yucky to photograph things outside

I wanted to add something more so I cut out a bunch of squares for her hexagon project that I hope she'll be able to use, and included some 2.5" squares I had already cut for granny squares.

Seeing how amazing Deanna is at making clothes I got some fabric for her at JoAnn's here in Idaho. I've never been to Canada before but I figured there was a good chance she didn't have any of this cute print yet.  Isn't this fabric adorable? If there's anyone that can make something beautiful with it, it's Deanna!

This fabric is by Lisette and feels wonderful.  Great quality and will be awesome to make clothes out of.  

I wanted to have some kind of packaging for the extras so I followed Jeni's tutorial for her lined draw string bag and whipped up one of those in literally no time at all!  The hardest part was picking the fabrics.  I used a solid green for the lining.  It is such a great tutorial!  I can't say enough good things about it.  I'm definitely planning to buy her pattern that has multiple sizes.

The top is Amy Butler Full Moon and the bottom fabric is Heather Bailey's new reprint of Freshcut.

Here is the whole bunch of goodies with the bag

And that's what I did for the Covert Robin Swap!  I'm glad I was able to push myself and challenge myself creatively in this way.  It is so much fun to make things for other people, I loved this swap!

Thanks Deanna, for letting me be your guest today!


I'll only add one more picture of the whole works together.  I took this shot right after I opened the box, so the mini quilt is a bit wrinkly from being mailed.  No worries, though, I ironed it.

Just look at all those gorgeous squares!  Must come from a great stash!

I was so excited I didn't even move the box out of the picture! 

Thanks so much for the swap Marian!  It was absolutely one of the best I've received yet. 

P.S  Just a peek at our bonkers Alberta weather... this all fell this morning and didn't stop falling till, well, it's still falling!