Swappin' and Sewing Slow-Down

I'm a crazy dog person and it's my dog's birthday today, so here he is in all his five-year old glory.

In actual crafting news, I've become a swapper! I have my first successful swap under my belt! I am a member of several fabric de-stasher groups on Flickr (Craft Room De-stash, Fabric Destashers, and Fabric Addicts Anonymous) and I've been lurking for some time. I looked at my stash and took the plunge! I plan to do a lot of de-stashing once I get back to New Mexico because I'm sure my tastes have changed quite a bit. It's a great way to get fabric out to people who are really going to love it and replenish your stash for only the cost of postage!

So far, I have very few items in my ISO ("in search of" - for the other newbies :)) list - mainly some old Tula Pink and any solids. I felt that solids were an easy thing to ask for.  I haven't really gotten into the hunt for old Heather Ross or Flea Market Fancy. It's just a slippery slope I don't want to slide down! Jenny [aka Krousegirl2 on Flickr] put together the packet above and included a baggie of scraps as well! (And a little pumpkin magnet that I put right on the fridge!) I can't wait to try out the chambray and the shot cotton. That Amy Butler Lime is pretty awesome too!

I have a couple more swaps that are pending - I think we're in the negotiating phase :)

I have several things in the works at the moment. Firstly, I'm still getting TwitterB blocks in and I am loving them! This quilt's gonna be cool. I cut into my Dream On fats - I'm going with something a little more traditional and vintage-y. (These are 5.5" blocks.)

I'm also working on a December Surprise, so that will be a lot of work with very little blog progress to show. And I am going to make a couple stockings for the Stockings for Kids collection that Purple Panda Quilts is hosting.

On top of that, I am taking on some seasonal retail work. So that means a mega-sewing-slow-down, resulting in what I can only assume will be a blogging-slow-down as the holidays ramp up. But I'll still be checking in and journaling progress when I have some to report!