More Swappy Stuff

First off, I must show you the most amazing item I have ever received in a swap:

It is a polymer clay buddhist gnome. He's perched on a cute little box. I love him and have named him Bodwinkle the Jolly Monk of Haversham... Boddy for short. He was made by the amazing Makayla Jennings and I'm so amazed and humbled by her talent. Totally beautiful.

Now for my much more humble addition for one of my three swap partners. Her collectibles were Moons, Occult, and Halloween, so I went with moon and Halloween and did two small items for her. First is this little zippered pouch.

It was a definite learning experience, as I have maybe sewn one zipper in my life, and it was not into something with a lining, or on a curve. It turned out pretty well, considering, though it does have one little spot where it's a bit wonky. I also am not an adept embroiderer, so was pleased with how this moon came out, considering it's free-hand drawn and used this really fiddly "shimmery" second thread to give it a little sheen.

Ask me why I had random sparkley star fabric and gold star buttons... I won't have an answer for you except that I have craft shopping amnesia and sometimes leave JoAnn Fabrics with $50 worth of stuff that I have no idea why I bought or where it came from. At least I got some use out of them!

So, I also decided to do second items for each of my partners and decided to make fabric headbands for each of them. There was a really simple and straightforward tutorial and printable pattern at The Long Thread. For this one, I went with Halloween, because I had just enough scrap fabric left over from my Halloween Swap fabric to make this headband. I added the little crochet flowers to make it a little more interesting.

Finally, the requisite embarrassing "action shot of the headband. I actually does look quite cute and because it has elastic on it, it stays in place pretty well. I've made 5 more since this one!