Holiday Swappage

So I picked up an overflowing bag of mail yesterday afternoon, collected by my next-door neighbor while we were out of town. Amidst all the junk mail and bills was an early Christmas gift from my Ho Ho Holiday Swap partner, A.J. Dub of Harriet the Homemaker Strikes Again. She sent me not one, not even two, but three beautiful Christmas ornaments!

The first one I opened was this amazing little dynamo of a quilt block ornament! I was completely blown away by it! Those half-square triangles are literally half an inch square. HALF AN INCH, people. Can you imagine piecing something that itty-bitty? Because I sure can't. : ) And just look at those teeny hand stitches! Such incredible workmanship, and it's adorable.

But it gets even better: This ornament is, of course, based on my Kissy Fish quilt, one of my all-time favorite quilts, as well as my first tutorial. How thoughtful is that? I really was touched by this ornament. Not only is it meaningful to me personally, since it's a quilt block I designed, but every time I look at it I'll think of all the wonderful blog friends I've made (one in particular!), and how nice it is to have you all. It will have a place of honor on my tree.

As if that wasn't enough, there were two other ornaments in the package—this pair of lovely little flower ornaments.

And she even threw in these adorable handmade Christmas cards as a little extra.

All I can say is, I was wowed by this swap package and I think I definitely got the better end of the exchange. : ) Thank you, thank you, thank you to A.J. Dub, what a delightful surprise after a long trip (and so nice to open while dealing with the aftermath of overly tired children). For more about A.J., go visit her blog.

Now, wanna see what I sent her? I'm almost embarrassed to show it to you after what she sent me!

Yep. It's a bird. I'm obsessed. It's kind of strange, because I don't especially care for birds in real life, but give me a fabric bird and I'm all about it. : ) This one is based on the free "Pretty Bird" pattern from Pillow and Maxfield. I shrunk the pattern down about 70%.

I had grander plans than this. I thought this bird looked vaguely partridge-ish, so I wanted to make a second ornament—a pear. Then A.J. would have had a partridge and a pear in her tree. : ) But the final week before I left on my trip got a little crazy and unfortunately that fell through the cracks. Sorry, A.J.! Well, now that I've received her package, I think I definitely owe her a pear!

Thanks to AnneMarie from Gen X Quilters for organizing such a fun swap. I hope it will become an annual thing! Happy (early) holidays to all the holiday swappers out there!