NNC Valentine Exchange 2011

We recently concluded our Valentine Exchange for this year, and this time around, my partner was Jo.

The mailing out date was set for the 1st of February if your partner is local, or 25th January if your partner is overseas, so that our partners would receive their VE in time for Valentine’s Day.

Since Jo was my partner, and we lived not far from each other, we decided that we would meet up in person to pass on our Exchange.

My original plan was to meet up with Jo maybe at Sunway Pyramid so that we can chat up over tea or something, but, alas that did not happen.

I ended up just dropping off the VE at Jo’s house with just a quick ‘Hello’ as my son’s toilet was still not done yet at that time and we needed to do a lot of things to finish off the toilet ourselves. My hubby wanted to get some things at a DIY shop, and I needed to run some errands which I had to put off when the ‘Kontraktor Penyiap’ (supposedly the contractor who is to complete the unfinished job left by the previous contractor) would suddenly come unannounced at a time when I had planned on running errands. *sigh*

Anyway, when I got the VE from Jo, I got embarassed by what I had made for her because of the size and packaging of the box she gave me. Jo’s VE to me came in a lovely cylindrical box nicely tied up with ribbons;

My VE to Jo, however, was just simply packed up in a box and wrapped up in wrapping paper. So simple was the packaging that I did not even bother to take a photo of the packaging. *blush*

What was inside the box got me feeling embarrassed even further because, when I opened up the box and out spilled out a trove of lovely treasured items.

There was a ball of pink crochet yarn, a hand towel in red, a dark red zipper, 2 rolls of ribbons, gadget to make buttons, a pack of buttons, a lovely handmade towel holder and a piece of fabric!

I felt like I was celebrating my birthday early!

I especially love the handmade towel holder. It’s a lovely idea from Jo using round plastics which I am unsure what the round plastic is original meant for, but, I just love it!

Thanks so much, Jo, for all the lovely things!

As for the Valentine Exchange from me, I made up this Needle book and pincushion to match.

Jo had said at one of the Stitching Bee last year how much she likes the Needle Book I made for the draw in conjunction with NNC’s mini birthday celebration in October 2010. That gave me the idea to make her one when she was partnered with me for the VE.

I made it in blue, because, if I remember clearly, her favourite colour is blue. And, to match the Needle Book as a set, I decided to also make a pincushion with the word ‘LOVE’as it is after all, a Valentine Exchange.

Together with the VE, I also included a sticker with hearts and a card in line with the Valentine’s Day theme.

I hope Jo likes the pincushion and needlebook as much as I had enjoyed doing it for her.

BTW, I also made Janet a set of coasters, with the help from Em, my faithful embroidery machine friend.

This set of coasters were actually meant for the Coaster Exchange organised last year by Usha. Janet was not my partner, Alynn was, which I had long ago sent to Alynn.

However, Janet's partner had failed to send Janet her coasters despite my several attempts to get in touch with her to remind her of her commitment to the exchange *sad*, and so, when Margaret asked for volunteers to be Janet's Replacement Exchange Angel (did I get the term right?) to replace the one Janet never got, I volunteered.

I could not find time to do it earlier, and so only managed to sent it out when I sent out some other exchanges at the same time, which was only early this year.

Sorry, Janet, that this coasters only got to you spanning over two years! LOL! But, I hope you liked it and was worth the wait. *grin*

The Tiger got a pink heart!

You must be wondering what in the world I must be talking about! LOL!

I am actually referring to Valentine’s Day, which this year, also coincides with the Chinese New Year, and it is the year of the tiger, the year that I was born! My favourite colour happens to be pink, and my partner for the NNC Valentine Exchange for this year has the word ‘heart’ as the title for his blog, and his favourite colour is also, well, PINK! So, the tiger this year got a pink heart! LOL!

Hehe…never mind if you just got lost in what I was trying to say……. I think I must be going nuts, blabbering about nothing! LOL!

Anyway, this year, my Valentine Exchange partner is Paul, and I personally received my exchange gift on 23rd January, the day we had our January Stitching Bee (oopps! I have yet to blog about that!).

I would have ripped open the package then if not for Margaret’s ‘cane’ which always seems to be heading our way each time we thought we could have some fun! LOL! She `fiercely’ told us that we would have to wait till February 14th before we could open up our Valentine Exchange Gift. We couldn’t even take a peek, not that she would know if we did, actually! LOL! *wink* But, not wanting to be a spoil spot, we all waited till today to open up our gifts.

I stashed the gift under my sewing table so as not to be tempted to open it up when I came back from the Bee in January, but when 14th Februry came, I actually almost forgot all about it until after lunch time when I came online and everyone was talking about the VE gift! LOL!

So much for being so eager at first to open it! LOL! My partner must be disappointed that I wasn’t eagerly waiting to open up his gift exchange! LOL! *wink* Sorry, Paul! Well, put the blame on `Headmistress Margaret’ for making us wait until I forgot! LOL!

Anyway, what I got from Paul was a very sweet and lovely pouch hand embroidered with a heart surrounded by cute little pink daisies with blue leaves. Really sweet!

It has a Chinese saying, which, according to Paul, reads as “ren hui lao, xin bu lao” which he says roughly translate to mean “a person may age, but his heart does not”. How appropriate!

Paul said that he added the Chinese saying to give the VE some Chinese influence since Valentine's Day this year falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year. I think it worked. I like it very much!

I have always liked Chinese characters, but dare not stitch one in case I might be stitching the wrong words! LOL!

Paul even had a somewhat Chinese inspired fabric for the inner lining of the pouch. The Chinese motif is not that obvious though, but I like it anyway.

Paul mentioned in his blog about his `signature defects', but I hardly even noticed it as I was too busy admiring the sweet little daisies!

Paul, the gifts you said might be simple, but, it's not how big, small or simple the gift is, but the thought and effort that went into making the piece. I love the gift as I know that it came from the heart! *wink*

I love everything about it, even the little so called signature defects! That’s what makes it a work of The Heart of Paul!

Thanks a bunch! HAPPY VALENTINE’s DAY! Hope you had a great one!

BTW, here is the Valentine Exchange gift to my partner, Sabariah.

I decided to make her an embroidered pouch with her name on it, using my new pal, Em, and a pincushion to go with it.

At the zipper part, I added sme embroidery work too.

This is the first time I am doing this since I started making pouches, and I like the results. The next time I make pouches, I think I will add this little detail that makes such a differnce to the pouch.

I hope she will have plenty of use for both the items.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you too, Sabariah!

HAPPY VALENTINE’s Day to my hubby too! Hugs!