Potholders and Teatowel Swap

I recently joined in the latest swap organised by Rhonda, Sharon and Rose at Down_to_Earth, but have been so busy I haven't had time to put up photos of my efforts - and the lovely items I received from my swap partner Jo, so here goes:

These are the lovely patchwork potholders and teatowels Jo made. She said she learned how to make her own bias binding for this project. Thanks Jo - they are beautiful. We also exchanged recipes - Jo gave me her recipes for Stuffed Courgette Ring Crumble and Sweet Potato Burritos. I'm planning to try those burritos some time this week.

These are my finished items (sorry, not a very good photo).

The materials I used were a new piece of fabric I bought from a charity shop - about 2 metres long which means I have enough to make something else in the future, and the teapot and coffee pot were cut out from some calico offcuts I already had, and appliqued on by machine then chain stiched in contrasting brown thread. I got the template for the tea and coffee pots from Tipnut, where you can find loads of free resources for all sorts of crafts. I increased the size of the picture on a photocopier.

I think some of the great things about these blogs swaps is how we look for inspiration from other bloggers, learn new skills, brush up on old ones, find ways of using existing items from our stashes or find thrifting materials from various sources. And of course, get to meet new people too!