You may remember me telling you about the #stitchingsanta swap organised by Sheila at Sewchet. You could opt in to either a knitting/crocheting secret santa, a sewing secret santa or both. Then Sheila matched us all up. What a fabulous idea, and what an organisational nightmare it must have been! Thank you so much Sheila. 🙂
The idea was that the goodies wouldn’t be opened until Christmas Day. My first parcel arrived well before then, which was lucky as the trip to Western Australia was going to get in the way. It came from Joey who blogs at littlebackdogsa. You might also like to follow this link to see why she calls her blog Little Black Dog.
Imagine my delight to see this parcel arrive at the door, all the way from South Africa!
Inside were lots of individually silver-paper wrapped presents. I am very easy to please, and anything wrapped in paper delights me!
Her card said
I am your Stitching Santa buddy, all the way from Johannesburg, S.A. I had so much fun putting these gifts together for you. I tried to keep it South African, but with your love for plants and birds as part of the theme. I hope you enjoy them
Joey’s instructions were to open one present each day leading up to Christmas, which was good because (a) I wasn’t going to be in Melbourne for Christmas and (b) I am terrible at not opening presents!!
I can’t remember the order in which I opened them, but I do know which was first, because I was blown away by this spoon and knife set. Look at those beautiful patterns!
There were a generous number of threads, chosen to suit my palette of colours! They will certainly be used over the year.
There was some tape. I am going to use the lacy one on a project that my Mum is working on. I think she will love the extra zing it gives her work.
Tapestry needles ~ Yay! I needed some with different sized eyes, and these have their own little house to be in. How did she know?!
A very cute coin purse….
and some South African chocolates and biscuits. These got eaten on the trip over to WA! Yum.
A note pad and pencil, because Joey must know that lists are the backbone of my life.
And there is more. Are you blown away by Joey’s generosity, because I certainly was, and still am. Here is a set of cards with a beautiful lacy pattern cut out of them, (I love writing letters), as well as a notebook (I love notebooks!). Of course the notebook has a Cape Town post mark, proteas and, I presume, South African birds.
Finally, some more South African themed goodies….two placemats, again adorned with proteas, and a bag that will be perfect on my walks.
Joey’s thoughtfulness and generosity is amazing. I can only hope that she had as much fun organising the gifts as I did opening them. Many, many thanks Joey. xxx
Her card was a postcard of the Ponte Tower. The photo was part of a project that is dear to her heart, and you might like to take a look. iwasshotin joburg 🙂 is a project where former street kids are given disposable cameras and encouraged to photograph their world. You can see more at iwasshot
Now, I did say that there were two parcels coming my way. The second was also a delight to receive, but it is a story for tomorrow.
17 replies on “#stitchingsanta reveal #1”
What a great day that must have been. Such a good idea to send a secret present to someone you don’t know!
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Isn’t it a good idea! Sheila is a whiz! I enjoyed collecting the things to send to my #secretsantas, trying to find things that match what i could find out on their blogs.
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What a treasure trove! Thank you for sharing all these lovelies with us 🙂
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Aren’t I just the luckiest person? All these goodies that are perfect for me.
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What a lovely thoughtful ‘Secret Santa’ 🙂 I enjoyed visiting Joey’s blog and reading about the little black dog and other pets too. Thank you for the link. I ran out of time to join Sheila’s fun Global Christmas gift giving – but this year I hope to be better organised 🙂
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Isn’t the story about how her little dog came into her life a delightful one? I do hope you can be involved this year (and hope that Sheila continues to organise it!) because both the sending and receiving the presents is wonderful.
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Lovely pressies! Dutch waffles – yum! I received a packet of these from a block swap partner in the Netherlands and thought I wouldn’t like them but they were delicious. I am intrigued that it says ‘Woolworths Food’ as I thought Woolworths was gone for good – there was an outcry in the U.K. when they closed all their shops as they had been in every high street for years and years. I must go and Google what’s going on.
Looking forward to seeing your knitting treasures.
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They were delicious. I suspect they are in South Africa because of the Dutch influence. I just noticed Woolworths on the packet too. We have Woolworths in Australia ~ in fact all the Safeway supermarkets were rebranded as Woolworths a number of years ago. They tried to muscle into the home hardware market, to break Bunnings. It wasn’t successful and they have had to close all the hardware stores.
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After reading a few of these Stitching Santa posts, I suspect Shiela will be overwhelmed with requests if she does it again this year. It all looks like so much fun–the thoughtfulness and creativity are amazing!
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You are right about Sheila being overwhelmed, and about it being good fun. I hope others enjoyed it as much as I did.
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And a Guinea Fowl prancing about!
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You will be able to make your own Meadow View 12 days of Christmas!
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I love following all these Sewing Santa exchanges. Every one of them is thoughtful, interesting and unique. I’m so happy you photographed all your treasures, Anne. I’m not very good at waiting to open gifts either, but I’m learning. What is it about a wrapped package? It’s magical.
It’s so nice to see practical gifts exchanged as well, things that are wanted, needed and will be put to good use.
Delightful!
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All of these gifts are going to be put to good use! Isn’t it funny about opening presents? The Fella has no interest at all, and can leave a gift still wrapped until I thrust it under his nose and make him open it!
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Oh that is so funny. Anne, I get excited when a package arrives, even when it’s something I ordered myself. Isn’t that silly?
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What a haul! Joey did an excellent job being a secret Santa. Sheila must be a mater of organization to arrange and host two simultaneous swaps.
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Yes, I think that Joey ‘stalked’ me very well 🙂 Sheila could hire herself out as an organiser!
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