Friday Night with Friends for February

I had a productive evening – yay! 
I prepped the hexies for the flowers I have to make for my February partner in the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap

And I finished putting second rounds on two flowers for my own garden.  There is a story about these flowers.  Penny was my partner in December and she sent me two sets of second round hexies.  But there was a problem.  When I tried to sew the hexies on to their chosen flowers they were just too small.  I was in touch with Penny and she explained that she had downloaded the hexie templates and had hit "fit to page" instead of "actual size" and never realized the templates weren't the right size.  Of course, she felt very badly about her mistake. 
But never fear Penny!!  I was determined to use the lovely hexies she had sent.  One set is a directional print in orange, pink, green and white.  The other is hot pink with neon yellow dots.  I love bright colours.  So I took the hexies apart to rebaste them on to new papers.  The directional print ones worked fine and here is the exciting flower they created.

When I went to resew the hot pink hexies I realized there was another problem.  Penny had used a narrow hem on the hexies and there were a few that just wouldn't fit on the slightly bigger hexie papers.  But I was determined to use the fabric because I love it!!  So I decided to play with the techniques I had seen on Karen's blog.  edited to add... ( I had put the wrong name here in the link.  What a clutz!!)
And this is what I came up with.

Isn't she a beauty?!!  She is definitely going to be a diva in my garden.
I  don't usually baste through the hexie papers but I had to with these ones due to the extra bulk in the seams.
This isn't the first time that I have had to resew items from my swap partners because they are the wrong size.  I have had to take apart and put back together a few hexie flowers because they were too small.  And I have one waiting to be redone because it is too large.  Fabric has a lot of give and if there are very small discrepancies in size the hexies can be stretched or scrunched together to make them fit.  But sometimes they just have to be redone. 

That’s the way it goes in swaps.  It took me a long time to learn that.  The very first block swap I joined, my very first swap partner didn’t send me anything.  And I made her a beautiful block, using fabric that I loved.  Ah…  I’m glad I didn’t give up right then and there because I have had a lot of pleasure from making things for my partners which often stretch my creativity because they use fabrics and techniques which I haven’t tried or wouldn’t choose.  And of course receiving packages in the mail with pretty pieces in them is always fun.
And then there are the prizes.  I received two prizes recently which I haven’t shown yet.  One of the three swaps I am involved with this year is through Quilting Swap Blocks Australia which is organized by Sue Belleli.  This girl has a lot of energy.  She runs at least four different swaps (there may be more),  seems to take on multiple partners in each of the swaps for herself each month and she is a real estate agent on the side.   I participate in a paper piecing swap with the group.  I hate paper piecing but I want to get better at it so I thought I would join this group.  At Christmas Sue had a few giveaways for her swap members and I was one of the winners!  Seven pretty fat quarters and a charm pack arrived from Australia.  Thanks Sue! 

And then in December I was the prize winner in Friday Night Sew In which is hosted by Wendy of Sugar Lane Quilts.  Another package from Australia.    She sent me a really cute and very “friendly” panel. Thanks Wendy!

I hope your week in sewing has been as much fun as mine!
Janet