Introducing Mr Squishy

My parcel from Kristen has finally made its way through the Icelandic ash, so I can reveal the details of our pincushion swap! The pincushion above is the one I made for her, using the same Kokka fabric as I used for this zippered pouch and a couple of vintage buttons from my mum's stash.

I knew that Kristen was a knitter not a sew-er (I hate 'sewer', it looks like, well, 'sewer'...) so I wasn't really sure what else to send with the pincushion. In the end, I choose these little goodies:

Some cotton wool (?? obviously not 'cottonwool', but what do you call 'wool' that is actually cotton?), just because I loved the beautiful colour; some buttons covered with traditional Japanese fabric; some funky flowery ribbon and a little book on crocheting soft toys. I don't suppose Kristen reads Japanese but I think the instructions are easy to follow if you can already crochet. And if not, well, I hope she enjoys looking at the pictures of cute little Japanese toys :-)

Anyway, my parcel from Kristen arrived on Friday and I was Very Excited. When I opened the box I saw this little head peeping through the packaging...

...and it turned out to be Mr Squishy! Look at his lovely heart eyes and long dangly legs - I don't know if I can bring myself to stick pins in him.

Next it was time to open all those tempting, sparkly presents...

... some lovely soft tartan fabric (very appropriate, coming from Scotland), the teeniest-tiniest pencil-shaped buttons in a cool little paper bag, some green boiled sweets and a Crunchie! A Crunchie!

*** Note to future international swappers/gift-givers: expats love to receive food! ***

What a lovely collection of goodies! Thank you so much Kristen! And thank you Claire for organising the swap. If you're interested, you can find more pictures from the pincushion swap here on Flickr too.

I wonder what swap I'll take part in next....