quick last minute barter

My friend, Lynn, contacted about doing a barter at the beginning of the year. I was so excited!

It is her 30th anniversary this year and I felt so honored to be asked to make this memento. 

In the middle of life filled with packing the house and taking care of children I was thrilled to have something to force me to sit down for awhile. It kept my fingers busy and allowed me to relax.

Such an enjoyable barter!

Especially since in return I received all of this AMAZING homemade soap and honey from her bess!

Wowza!

Anna's bowls

These are the wonderful ceramic bowls that I received from the barter with Anna. They are beautiful and timeless. I am thrilled to own her pottery. There were 2 larger bowls and and a set of 4 smaller bowls. 

I really like how the bowls have so much character. 

They are just beautiful works of art.

I take such pleasure in using them in the kitchen and at the table. 

With the set of 4 nesting bowls she gave them an anthropologie look when she hand painted them. I adore them. These 4 are my favorite. The style is perfection. 

The swirls in the bowls are mesmerizing and beautiful, too. 

And, that yellow... heck yes. 

They're just so pretty and I'm grateful to finally have a chance to show these to you. 

And the inscriptions on the bottom are the icing on the cake. Each one has a sweet signature that also declares it mine! They just couldn't get any better. 

I dying to know when I get to barter with her again!

quilt for Anna

Last year my friend, Anna, brought me a quilt that she had tried to make. It just working out for her and wanted to barter services. I was so excited! You see, Anna works wonders with ceramics and I couldn't wait to get myself some of her pottery. 

It took a bit of work but I was happy to do it. And she did give me the layout of how she wanted it and the corner blocks on the quilt top finished. I assembled the top as best as I could and wound up with this beauty. 

I had a great time free motion quilting it, too. There are the flower shapes along the border. I used chalk to hand draw out the flower shapes and then  traced the chalk with the free motion foot. I quilted in the ditch on the center. It emphasized that beautiful pattern.

There wasn't enough of any one fabric to do a solid backing and I didn't want Anna to have to go out and buy any more fabric so I pieced these blocks together. I did my best to do blocks similar to the blocks and patterns on the quilt top. I really like how it turned out.

Here's a close up of the quilting in the ditch for the center quilt top pattern.

And the free motion flowers. This was my first attempt and this design and I'm quite proud of it. This is such a beautiful and cherished quilt. 

I can't wait to show you the bowls I received in return!!