White Quilties have gone postal!

If you were in this swap, watch your mailboxes for your shades of white quilties swap package. They all left town today! Fortunately, this was an easy swap to do. I figured everything out on paper first, and amazingly it all worked out to the letter without any switching around at the end. Phew! Whomever you receive a quiltie from has also received your quiltie! If you have any trouble with identification of a quiltie for questions or for thanks, just e-mail me & let me know as I have a list of who you received from.

Thanks for a great swap and challenging swap to boot, and for hostess gifts and extra white quilties . . . wow, you have given me a project to do now! Pictured here are all of the extra quilties I received - 15 of them, oh me oh my! Thank you SO much! They will become a wall hanging or a book! beautiful! I so appreciate this.

White Quilties! Linda Garcia

From Linda Garcia in New Mexico, we have our last set of White Quilties-wow! Altogether, we have 25 participants that came through and completed this swap. Two of the participants created TWO sets of 4 . What an amazing and fun challenge this was working with white as a color! Since so many of you enjoy creating quilties, I have 2 more quiltie swaps planned this year and that's not including the 'shades of spring' due July 19th. I will make a 'new swaps' announcement soon - in May!



Now, back to Linda's Quilties! Here you can see all of them, as Linda very kindly made an extra one for me. She used an interesting photo of white things printed onto fabric, and she also used tulle, white flower sequins and eyelet lace. On the back she also added an image, plus a velvet leave and a stick pin with a pearl head - see below!

These quilties are really nice, Linda! Thanks again for participating.

Over the next few days I will be swapping these out, packaging them up and mailing them out. I will let you know when the swap is complete!

White Quilties! Rena Matus

Rena Matus does not live too far from me, so with prior arrangement she was able to DROP OFF her quilties on Saturday! Steven & I were working in the yard so we even got to say hi -that was fun! Rena has taken class from me in the past, and her sister Dottie - also a student and swap participant, lives very nearby me. I am hoping they will both drop by for my Tag sale (with lots of art items) on May 9th & 10th!

Rena's shades of white quilties are so lovely -with beading around a stamped saying, "A Snowflake is Winter's Butterfly" and a beautiful butterfly she made herself out of Fantasy Film . I recently found out that Rena made the butterflies-wow! She put a package of fantasy film in her package for me to try too, thank you! I love the way Rena labeled her quilties and I am not sure how she did it . . . printed on a ribbon? Rubber stamped? (Yes! Rena told me she stamped onto the ribbon). It looks fantastic. Here, take a look -click on the photo for more detail:

I also love the way the butterfly wings catch the light. Thanks, Rena!

White Quilties! Fanny Fairbanks

From Fanny Fairbanks in Natick, Mass - WOW! We have 4 gorgeous stitched, eyeleted and buttoned Shades of White Quilties. These beautiful Quilties just came in yesterday, (TODAY is the due date) and when I emailed Fanny to let her know they were here, she emailed me back saying, "Talk about last minute, huh? I was seriously intimidated by the level of work of other swappers which petrified me to the point of procrastination! Looking forward to seeing which I get back!" ~I am quoting Fanny only to make a point . . . . because I do sometimes hear, often after the fact, that participants at times feel intimidated when they see me post the other participants swaps on line. You know I certainly don't post the work to intimidate you! I post it to share it, to inspire you, and to showcase your art. When people finally "dive in" and start working on their swap pieces after they have been procrastinating because they wonder if they are out of their league . . .well, I find they make the most beautiful and creative art! Case in point is right here. Fanny's Quilties are exceptional! Look at some more views - close up views by clicking on the photo.






Fanny also has her own website and even wrote a post about making these Quilties. Go to Fairbanks Fancy Goods to see additional photos & to read more!
Fanny sent me a most beautiful assortment of trims in her package, too. ThanK you! They will be put to good use. I also loved the way Fanny did the back of her quilties . . I took a photo but it did not come out : (
Fanny punched a hole in a little 1 x 2.5" moo card (sm calling card) with vintage photos & she sewed it/tied it to the back of each quiltie . . . great idea.

White Quilties! Joanie Hoffman

From North Beach, Maryland, Joanie Hoffman sends 5 Shades of White Quilties with an explanation! Her tag states, "White is the combination of all colors of the visible light spectrum. ~Wikipedia. So my SHADES OF WHITE Quilties had to have some color. I just couldn't make them any other way. I hope you enjoy yours! xoxo Joanie Hoffman"

: ) I think your Quilties are just great, Joanie! This is a "shades of white" swap and the theme is open for interpretation. I personally LOVE seeing everyone's take on the themes. It really is refreshing and keeps me thinking creatively.

Thank you for the extra quiltie, Joanie. I love the backs of your pieces. Wow, I think I am going to be able to make a wall hanging or a book with the extras that participants have generously sent! Now please do not worry if you did not send an extra. This IS always optional and I realize sometimes time is a commodity for you. I appreciate what comes my way and I certainly don't grovel if a package has only the required swap pieces --that is okay!!! Click on any of the photos for more detail on Joanie's excellent workmanship.

White Quilties! Cynthia May

From Claremont, California, Cynthia Vaca-May sends five simple and yet beautiful, shades of white Quilties -thank you! Cynthia used plain white fabric but spritzed with a soft shade that has a little sparkle and rubber stamped a butterfly and the saying "You have my heart" directly on the fabric. Cynthia left the edges raw and did some decorative stitching down the middle.

There is a close up below, click on any photo for more detail!

Collage Mania ::: not swap related, but of note!

More than 100 artists worldwide have donated 235 fiber collages to benefit the American Cancer Society -- and I am one of them! You can see one of my donated collages, to your right. The other one can be seen on my art blog. Both will be available for purchase by a donation to the American Cancer Society. Where? On Virginia Speigel's website! Collage Mania will be held May 5th and 6th with a preview of all the collages (so you can shop before buying!) beginning on April 28. More information is available on Virginia Spiegel's website -she is the organizer of the event. * * *100% of the proceeds are donated directly to the American Cancer Society, through Fiberart For A Cause, which has already donated more than $150,000 towards cancer research and education in the past three years. WOW. I am very proud to be a part of this and hope you will support it too! This cause is close to my heart as cancer has touched my family more than once. Both of my collages are in honor of my father, who is still in rehab/nursing care after the removal of a cancerous tumor this past March.

Sincerely and creatively yours, lenna

Altered by Design ATC swap: Lisa Mallette

We have our second entry in for the Angels, Fairies & Divas ATC swap sponsored by Altered by Design! These ATCs are created by Lisa Mallette from FT White, Florida. They are beautiful & unusual! Lisa created two sets of 5 ATCs (plus an extra one as a gift) and she used a piece of acrylic in making them so they are dimensional. She also stamped on the acrylic making them very dimensional! Wonderful job, Lisa, and I love the images you chose.

Here are some more pictures, click on any of them for more detail of Lisa's ATCs. There is still room in this swap to join and it is due in my hands May 24th. Details are HERE.

White Quilties! Fiona Brockie

From Aberdeen, Scotland, Fiona Brockie had sent wonderful quilties for our shades of white swap -wow! I love all the free-motion embroidery Fiona has done and all the different unusual embellishments; transparencies, paper images, trims & beads. I will let the photos do the talking!

Click on any photo for more detail.
Beautiful!

White Quilties! Dawn Sellers

All the way from Oregon, we have a set of beautiful Shades of white Quilties from Dawn Sellers! Dawn added a bit of beautiful iridescent fibers to her quilties -just lovely!! Thank you for participating Dawn, as I know you are very busy!

Here are some more views of Dawn's quilties, click on any of them for a larger photo.

White Quilties! Jolande van de Beld

Ahhhh, we have received . . . . TULIPS with our shades of white quilties, from Jolande van de Beld in The Netherlands! When I first announced the swap, Jolande wrote and said she had never joined a fabric swap or made quilties before, but she thought it sounded exciting & wanted to join! I gave her some info and off she went . . just look at these wonderful quilties Jolande made!

In her package to me Jolande included a note that said, "I have ironed tulips in the middle because those flowers are surrounding me this season. I live in a part of The Netherlands where you can enjoy fields of bulbflower this time of year. As I told you in my e-mail: it was so much fun to make them!"

Thank you Jolande, for participating in something new from a far, and for the extra Quiltie & fibers for me! Lenna

Click on any photo for more detail!

White Quilties! Sharon Schutt

Five beautiful shades of white quilties arrived the the other day from Sharon Schutt in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sharon created an extra quiltie for me as a gift and four for the swap. Thank you so much! Sharon hoped there was not too much color in her quilties.... I told her no! What's nice about these "shades of" themes is that it is truly up to your own interpretation. So have fun, do what you like and do what you think describes the theme. : ))

Note! *Saturday is the last day for arrivals in this swap. I have received 18 packages and I am expecting 11 more by the 26th -then I will swap these wonderful quilties out!



Click on any photo for more detail! Below is the BACK of Sharon's quilties, don't they look great??

A new look

Maybe it had to do with changing my hairstyle (see photo in the sidebar) but recently I felt I needed to change the look of the creative swaps blog. You are not imagining things!! I felt too "squished" writing in the old center format template, and so I opted for a stretch template here very similar to my Creative Lenna Blog. I've made the colours different for each blog and I hope that helps! Let me know what you think by leaving a comment. Thanks! Yours, Lenna

White Quilties! Myfanwy Hart

All the way from Hampshire, UK, we have received 4 lovely shades of white Quilties from Myfanwy (pronounced MerVANwe). I did not figure out until today that Myfanwy has her own family business and website to boot! Both are called Sassa Lynne and she supplies textile artists with threads, yarn twists, viscose, scarf packs, silk pods and more! Myfanwy has also studied for a City and Guilds qualification in Embroidery. She included yarn twists in her quiltie packs for the recipients and for me. In lieu of postage she asked me if she could include a bunch of yarn twists and threads instead, which she did, to my delight!

What fun. Myfanwy Quilties are a bit diffent, which I like, and for her signature she hand wrote on the back of each Quiltie. Thank you!

Thank you for voting!

I had two polls up on the swaps blog, so you could vote on new swap ideas -- they closed for voting yesterday. These polls were open for a little over a week and I am so amazed and pleased with the number of votes received. We ended with 75 votes in the first poll and 55 in the second!! Wow. Thanks for taking the time to let me know what you were interested in! I have a much better idea now of what art swap ideas you are excited about and I have also learned a lot more about some other popular swap ideas that I was uneducated about! I never would have come up with the idea for a Row House (altered house swap) unless one of you had suggested it! : ) Here's a link to Kathy Wasilewski's blog if you haven't heard of a Row House swap either and are curious to see if it's something you'd like to participate in.

If you missed the closing tally on the swap ideas voting, the results are posted below. I have combined the 2 polls for these results; so these are both my swap ideas & your swap ideas. The percentages vary because the second poll had fewer votes than the first!

• small hand made books > 41 votes - 53% (highest)
• itty bitty colages (3"x3") > 38 votes - 50% (2nd highest)
• canvas collage (largest=9x12) > 25 votes - 32%
• "shades of" Quilties (6x6) > 34 - 44% (3rd highest)
• A charm swap > 20 votes - 36%
• Star Ornaments > 17 votes- 20%
• ribbon swap > 11 vote - 20%
• Anything fabric+Alpha Stamps > 13 votes - 23%
• A row house swap > 26 votes - 47% (4th highest)
• 5x5 page swap (paper) >19 votes - 34%
• Pendant Flag swap > 12 votes - 23%

I will add all this info to my own thoughts and ideas and announce new swaps due in August and beyond, a few weeks from now. As always, if you have any ideas for swaps you can send them to me at anytime.

thanks again! yours creatively, lenna

Altered by Design ATC swap: Frieda Oxenham

Mmmmmmm! What a delicious treat was waiting for me in my mailbox just the other day. Frieda Oxenham from Peebleshire, in Scotland UK, has sent in 6 wonderful and colorful felted ATCs for our Altered by Design 'Angel, Fairies and Divas' swap! Frieda is an award winning quilter and her mixed media artwork is always amazing! I am so happy to have her in this swap.

Frieda wrote about how she created these ATCs on her blog. I'm sure you would enjoy reading it. Frieda has mixed paper collage images from Altered by Design with felting, fabric, hand stitching, bond-a-web and beading! Below are more scans of Frieda's swap art, click on any of them for more detail. Thank you, dear Frieda!!!

Shades of Spring/ Brown + Blue Quilties ::: Anne St. Louis

We have our first arrivals for the Shades of Spring/Brown + Blue Quilties!! Anne St Louis from Calgary, Canada sent in 2 sets of four Quilties for our swap due July 19th.

Anne wrote to me, "I know these aren't due until July, but the first day of spring was such an inspiration, I just couldn't stop making these. I tried to create each page slightly different from each other."

You have done a great job, Anne, and it is really fun to see this color-combo in person!
















Anne also made a special hostess gift for me - thank you, Anne! In keeping with the spring & nature theme of this swap, Anne decorated a mini tin for me. It's beautiful! I willl share it with you here, remember you can click on any photo for greater detail.