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Santa Sack Swap – My Gifts from Debbie

Santa Sack Swap – My Gifts from Debbie

As it often does this time of year, the day got away from me yesterday and I didn’t get a chance to edit the photos of all the amazing gifts that I received from my lovely swap partner Debbie. I’ll post this one now and then sometime this evening I’ll post the gifts I made for her.

I know it’s two posts in one day but I’ve got posts pre-planned for each day this coming week. So I hope you’ll indulge me. After all it is the season for celebrations and a little excess coupled with lots of extra inspiration can never hurt!

This is the third year that I’ve taken part in the Santa Sack Swap organized by Cheryll over at Gone Stitchin. I can only imagine how much work it is to assign partners each year, write posts to keep us all inspired and on track and then to make sure that everyone has received their parcel. Thank you so much Cheryll for all you do to make this such a great swap to take part in!

This year was extra special because when Debbie and I got our emails back in July with our partner assignments, we discovered that we only live about an hour and a half away from each other.

Right away we talked about meeting up and that’s exactly what we did earlier this month.

It was hard to resist squeezing the sack when I got home that day from our brunch so I hid it away in the closet. That way I wouldn’t be tempted.

Last Tuesday, Cheryll announced that Friday would be opening day. First thing Friday morning, I texted Debbie to see if she wanted to open our gifts at the same time. She thought it was a great idea so we agreed that 10ish would be the best time for both of us. She also mentioned that Trixie (the Hexie Turtle she made when she tested my Lexie the Hexie Turtle pattern) would be there too.

Well as you can imagine… when Lexie, Lanie and Rexie heard that they wanted to come too.

So I got everything and everyone ready.

I placed the Santa Sack filled with goodies in the middle of my new cutting table (that I had cleared of all the little piles of fabric, cutting mat and rulers.) Then fixed myself a cup of my favorite herb tea in my favorite Christmas tea cup. Then I lifted the Hexie turtles down from the shelf where they live and we all waited for Debbie’s text.

Photo of Santa Sack from Debbie

When we met to exchange our gifts, Debbie had explained that she chose the beautiful house fabric to represent gifts from her house to mine. Isn’t that just the perfect sentiment for this time of year!

Then right around 10 am, Debbie texted to say she was ready. It was finally time to start opening!

I can tell you, I was just as excited as the Hexie Turtles to see what was inside that sack.

Top of the Santa Sack trimmed with gold fringe

Turtle inspecting the gifts

I told Rexie that they weren’t actually Santa’s pants. They were a gift bag sewn to look like Santa’s pants but I don’t think he quite believed me.

Gifts that were inside the little Santa gift bag

I love the “Quilter” pin and will be adding it to my winter jacket. My initial in chocolate didn’t last very long! And it looks like I have some bag sewing in my future!

The small package wrapped in red tissue was opened next.

Lexie and Lanie agreed to hold it up so that you could see it better.

Lexie and Lanie holding up the little house pincushionIsn’t the house pincushion just so sweet with the silver Christmas tree and the bell over the door! And pins to go with it.

After that I opened the gift wrapped in the pretty Christmas ornament fabric:

Gifts that were wrapped in the pretty Christmas fabric

Here’s a close-up of that lovely Angel mini quilt:

Close up of the Angel mini quilt

A few happy tears made it difficult to see to text Debbie to tell her how much I loved it.

As it was included with the pretty Lenox mug and hot chocolate, I’m assuming that Debbie intended it to be a mug rug. But I just can’t imagine myself putting a mug on top of one of those angels and taking the chance it might get stained.

I hope she doesn’t mind if I add a hanger to the back so it can be the start of my mini quilt wall. I’ve been seeing so many mini quilt collections appearing on the various blogs and thought it would be fun to make one too.

Photo of Rexie pushing the Santa pants gift bag

Debbie had stuffed each of the legs of the Santa pants gift bag with a red tissue wrapped package.

Fat quarters and candy

One contained 4 fun novelty print fat quarters and the other held another cute fat quarter with peppermint candy to go along with the peppermint Junior mints and a peppermint marshmallow Christmas tree.

Lexie loved the fat quarters but Rexie zeroed in on the peppermint candies right away. Lanie couldn’t decided which she liked best… the fat quarters or the candy!

And then came the biggest surprise of all that touched my heart and brought even more happy tears to my eyes.

Look at this beautiful Christmas tree quilt!

The Christmas Tree quilt Debbie made for me

She used so many different Christmas prints that I just have to show you a photo of each of those trees!

The black tree:

The black tree

The red tree:

The red tree

The green tree:

The green tree

And last but definitely not least… the white tree:

The white tree

I was so involved in looking at all the different prints in the trees and then discovering that the background fabric of white on white with little Santa faces was actually more trees that I didn’t realize at first that I’d covered up the Hexie Turtles!

Hexie Turtle with their hats knocked off

And here are all those amazing gifts laid out on the table:

Photo of all the gifts from Debbie laid out on the table

And just look at where those silly turtles have gotten themselves…

Photo of the Hexie Turtle inside the Santa

On a bit of a silly note myself regarding those Santa pants, you have to know that I had the most difficult time trying to figure out how to word this post without actually saying “Oh, look what I found inside Santa’s pants.”  I just couldn’t help but giggle.

So thank you Debbie for the extra laughs and thank you for all the beautiful, heart-touching gifts. But thank you most of all for being a new friend who I look forward to getting to know even more.

 

 

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11 Comments

  • Danette
    December 22, 2015 2:09 pm

    Such beautiful gifts and I love the hexie turtles that helped with the opening. Merry Christmas!

  • Kim S
    December 22, 2015 1:54 am

    These are so fun! Love those turtles. Merry Christmas!

  • Gone Stitchin
    December 21, 2015 5:58 pm

    Oh fantastic post Sue… I smiled all the way thru the read…
    Wonderful gifts from Debbie… you two sound like you made a gOOd friend in each other. I’m so happy you joined in this swap again.
    Merry Christmas… xox

  • MA
    December 21, 2015 11:14 am

    What you found inside Santa’s pants and all the rest of the wonderful treasures! What an amazing amount of thought went into each and every thing you discovered. What a fun swap! (and even better that the wee Hex’s got to play along)

  • Susan
    December 21, 2015 12:25 am

    What a great sack full of goodness, and so cute that the Hexie family was involved in every step of the way. Wouldn’t it be fun if those started showing up in the blog world everywhere? =)

  • Theresa
    December 20, 2015 9:14 pm

    Lovely gifts. That wallhanging is pretty! How fun you got to meet your partner.

  • Rachel
    December 20, 2015 6:03 pm

    What a treat! And I can just imagine the muffled little noises when you opened the quilt over the little turtles!

  • Mary
    December 20, 2015 5:32 pm

    lol….I can imagine the giggles over Santa’s pants. It looks like you were blessed with many lovely gifts. Merry Christmas.

  • Marilyn
    December 20, 2015 5:09 pm

    I was looking forward to seeing what was in your parcel when I saw the picture Cheryll posted about your exchange day. Glad you had so much fun opening them with your Hexie Turtles. Happy Christmas.

  • Jenny Benton
    December 20, 2015 4:09 pm

    What fun – I’m sure I enjoyed looking at all those presents almost as much as you did!

    And don’t worry about doing two blog posts a day – they will all get read and enjoyed. Sometimes you just have more to tell than can be relayed in one post.

  • Helen G.
    December 20, 2015 3:09 pm

    What a delightful bag of goodies!! Shows a lot of time and thought. And gives me some good ideas for future gifts.
    Yes you are truly blessed to have a new friend and I am sure your friendship will grow during this coming year. Thank you for sharing your joy! Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year! Love the Lexies!

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