Monday, 16 February 2015

Secret Valentine Exchange - what I made

A couple of months ago I signed up for Sanae and Ute's Secret Valentine Exchange, because I love sewing little gifts for people AND I love getting parcels in the mail. Win, win! The recipient of my Valentine's gift, Kelley, emailed me last week to say she had received her parcel, so I can now safely show what I made for the exchange (my own gift hasn't arrived yet, but that's OK - mail is sometimes very slow around here).

For the exchange I was given some information about Kelley: she likes blue, purple, green and grey, is fond of cute animal prints (among other things) and enjoys gardening. When posting overseas I like to make things that can fit in a large envelope, because our postal charges are ridiculous once packages are deemed thick enough to be 'parcels'. So with all these things in mind, I decided to try out the Straight Stitch Society's 'forget me not' jewellery pouch pattern, which is a round pouch with several internal pockets for small jewellery items and a central space perfect for bracelets and larger items. I used a lavender-coloured linen for the main fabric and some chambray-coloured linen and spotted quilting cotton for the interior. I love the way this worked out and this pattern is definitely going to be used again and again.

I also made a little heart-shaped zipper pouch in Cloud 9 canvas (I've previously made one for my daughter as a Valentine's gift and it's been a great little schoolbag coin purse) and one of my 'Nude Food' sandwich wrappers (tutorial here) in a doggy print. As Kelley likes gardening I added an envelope of parsley seeds from my back yard, because even if she already has parsley growing I always think it's nice to plant seeds from somewhere far away. I wrapped everything up in pieces of Chinese and Balinese calendar (one of them dates from nearly two decades ago, evidence of my serious paper-hoarding tendencies) and sent them off to California.

Kelley sent me a lovely email thanking me for the presents, but really the pleasure was all mine. I so enjoyed putting this little package together that I can hardly wait for the next SVE!





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6 comments:

  1. Lightning McStitch17 February 2015 at 20:49

    What a fabulous gift. I love all the fabrics you've used. I've been thinking about adding that straight stitch society pattern to my collection for gift sewing and you've convinced me I should!

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    1. marisa18 February 2015 at 11:16

      Yes it's perfect for gift sewing, and it's one of those things that, once you've done it once, you could whip up very quickly. Great for using up lovely scraps of leftover fabric, too!

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  2. Unknown18 February 2015 at 06:30

    What a beautiful gift(s)! Love that pouch - such a clever design with all the interior pockets. And I agree that sowing seeds from a different part of the world is a very cool experience! Kind've makes our big world feel a little bit smaller:)

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    1. marisa18 February 2015 at 11:18

      Thanks Lucinda :) I do love all the little pockets - it's such a nice pattern.

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  3. Ute18 February 2015 at 10:02

    I love the gifts you made and how you incorporated the things she loves! How creative and thoughtful! Parsley from so far away and even from your own garden is indeed special! Thank you so much for contributing to this wonderful exchange!

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    1. marisa18 February 2015 at 11:20

      Thank you Ute :) All my lettuces have gone to seed now, so I think I'll keep some seeds for future gift exchanges!

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