Friday is Play Day at my house!

I've had a busy week, running around most days, so I decided to stay at home today, instead of going out with friends or opshopping (saved money too!). I borrowed a couple of books on quilting from our Guild when I was there on Tuesday, and have been looking through them. One of the projects was completely different from anything I'd ever seen on a quilt, so I made a sample block for my collection of blocks. It is called "Sword Dance". The book is called "Quick Quilts To Make In A Weekend", edited by Rosemary Wilkinson. There are five contributors whose designs are featured, and it doesn't say who made up this one, but I love it! It required four pieces of tartan/plaid fabrics which I just happened to have in my stash, and a background of calico, of which I have heaps. The picture of the completed quilt in the book looks great! One day I might make a mini quilt or wall hanging using this pattern.
The next thing I did was applique a tea towel with a teapot, for an exchange I'm in this month. It is called a Tea Party exchange, and we swap a number of items with our partner, including a hand made teatowel or teacosy (I opted for the easy one), two Tea Party themed items (mine are pretty paper napkins and a mug rug), a tea party recipe, and a sweet treat. My partner loves dark chocolate, so I'm going to send her a pack of dark chocolate Tim Tams - YUM! The swap organiser wanted everyone to use one of two templates she provided, and I chose the teapot. I transferred the shape on to green gingham, zigzag stitched around the edges, appliqued the heart onto the centre, cut the teapot out and fused it on to the teatowel. Then I added a bit of green ricrac at the top, and fused half of an old doiley underneath, with a length of lace to finish it off.
Now all I have to make is the mug rug, and I've already started that, so it will be the next post on my blog in the next few days.