Yes, I got a lot of mail today. Joe walked in with a ton of mail, and the mailman is yet again being overworked by me...a wheelbarrow might be in order.
First of all, I received a mystery Christmas block from Mrs. Claus...I kid you not...The name and address was Mrs. Claus, The North Pole. I, however, saw that it was postmarked from
St. Petersburg, Fla, so maybe Mr. and Mrs. Claus are on vacation there.LOL I know a few people from that area, so don't have it pinned down to one person, but maybe it really was from Mrs. Claus. I must have been a very good girl this year indeed. As you can see by the pic, the sparkly one with the pinwheel in the center was from Mrs. Claus.

Second, I received a wonderful Friendship block from Pam who is in my SBS Friendship Group. It is signed in the middle from her. It is so lovely!

Third, I received the most gorgeous voiles from Janet who is in the UK. We were worried that it would not arrive, as it took 10 days to be delivered, but they finally came, and they were well worth the wait. Can you see how many wonderful colours and voiles I received? What fun I will have with the embellisher using them! I will now buy Janet some goodies at her favourite store in the UK, but I just wanted to say a "Big Thank You" for picking out such stunning voiles. Oh, there is a dvd in the pic of the voiles...that is a dvd that I ordered of the course that I will be taking from Linda Matthews on machine felting..I will also be going on line with the course, but I am so excited with that!

Third, my dear friend Maggey from Illinois sent me a gift" just because". Those kinds of gifts are always so nice, as there is no special occasion for the gift, but she sent it because she wanted to send me something...How sweet is that! It is a lovely handmade wallet, which can be used for a credit card and some bills. It is so nice, as you can see. Thank you so much Maggey!

What a day this has been! Joe and I finally took a walk in the PM, as I had so much sewing to do, but it was a lovely walk that looped the town, and we throughly enjoyed it, even though it was a bit rainy and cold. Fall has definitely hit Dunfanaghy.

Nanette from Freda' s Hive http://fredashive.blogspot.com/ has come up with a wonderful oh so cute block for a swap.I have included a pic of a block that someone made, so you can see what it looks like. You can find the tutorial of the block at Nanette's site...It is a wonderful house that we are all making into Christmas blocks.
She and Terri ( http://purpleandpaisley.blogspot.com/) are the hostesses of the swap. There are 48 people in the swap total and 12 people in each group. We will all make 12 blocks and thus receive 12 lovely Christmas houses which will make a lovely quilt or whatever each one of us decides to make. I have already met a few of the swappers who have come to my blog. and it is nice to get to know everyone and see each other's blogs. The blocks will be a wonderful memory of our swapping experience. We will send all 12 blocks to Nanette, which makes it so much easier. I bought some Christmas fabric today and will plan my first house tomorrow. The planning of each house will be great fun! I got some novelty print that has Santa Claus and other Christmas characters on the fabric, so I am planning on putting them on the door to welcome the visitors to the house. What fun this is going to be! Thanks Nanette!

I finished the borders for my landscape wall hanging that I did with the Babylock Embellisher...I machine quilted some fancy designs in the border and will be doing some free motion stitching in the actual scene that I created. It is turning out nicely. I will have it posted this week. Today, I have my quilting bee, so I will busy there all afternoon from 2-5 PM sewing and chit chatting. We will be talking about the Saturday bee, which is an all day event. All the bees are meeting at a central location, and we are making a charity quilt for the Catholic Church to help them raise money for a new roof. It will also fun to meet the gals from the other bees

Oh, check it out, I added a pic of my parents...I thought I should include their pic...Also, my dad made a wonderful doll house that I wish that I had now for my dolls. It was given to a grandaughter a long time ago. Anyway, I have added some info in a "PS" at the end of my post
"Dedicated To My Parents."
I was thinking about revamping my sewing room, and thought that if my dad were alive, he would have made me stunning shelves, furniture, etc.

My Angelina Fibres arrived from Barnyarns in the UK. http://www.barnyarns.co.uk/ and I thought that you might want to see what it looks like if you never saw it before...It reminds me of tinsel that you see around Christmas time. When you are punching the base with your embellisher, if you add Angelina Fibres and punch it in, it really makes it sparkle. You then cut off the excess fabric around the base using an acrylic ruler and rotary cutter, and then you place the base onto fusible interfacing( Pellon 911ff) and steam iron. It is just gorgeous! My husband Joe ordered this for me when he also got the embellisher and the book/dvd for me. Well, I am waiting for the duck cloth to arrive from Nancy's Notions, and then I will begin my pillow...Petals on the Nile...It even sounds romantic and exotic. Then you will get lots of pics of the whole process. More to come!

PS: I had to stop the order to Nancy's Notions...The shipment of the 4 yards of duck cloth would have cost us over 40 dollars, which is double the price of the item, so I cancelled it.I then quickly ordered from Cotton Patch in the UK...I can't recommend them for service...It takes 5 days just to process the order and then another 5-7 days to ship it, and they are right near us in the UK ,but I am out of duck cloth and I need it for the base for the lightweight fabrics. Well, I will have to wait. I was trying to avoid ordereing from them, but $40.95 for shipping is way to much.
I ordered 5 yards, so it is a waiting game now. Plus, they would have put 4 yards in a box, as duck cloth is heavier, and then I would have had customs on my back...don't need that.

I got two beautiful postcards today. One was from Jo Ann who is a member of the FiberartPostcard Group and who resides in AK. She sent me a very modern postcard for the "Anything Goes Swap"...I loved the colours and the flow of the patterns..The trims and designs gave the card a lot of movement. Thanks to Jo Ann!

Then, I got a wonderful postcard from Rhonda from Idaho, who is in my SBS Friendship Group.Well, I was taken aback...the scene really reminded me so much of Idaho, which I had visited many years ago.She said that she lives on the family farm, and boy did she capture that beautifully in the scene that she created. I loved it! The colours that she used were so visually pretty and I could imagine myself there and her love for the outdoors. Kudos to you Rhonda!



Then, I received the "Pillows" book written by Christopher Nejman, and his wonderful dvd from Nancy's Notions at http://www.nancysnotions.com/ Their service was wonderful. It only took three days to get here from the United States. I also want to commend their Customer Service Department. I was trying to find a medium weight duck cloth to purchase online, and it isn't easy to find. I saw that where I did find it, it was in 10oz or 12oz weight. I couldn't get anyone to tell me what weight was the medium duckcloth that I needed for the base that I was going to use for my lightweight fabric(voiles) and Angelina Fibres...Well, a product specialist from Nancy's answered my email promptly and told me that a medium weight duck cloth was 10oz. I ordered a few yards, and it should arrive in a few days.



Getting back to my wonderful purchase....In the dvd, called "Designer Techniques,"Christopher & Nancy talk about various techniques that are used in the book to make the pillows illustrated.


I will start off with the pillow called "The Petals on the Nile" because I was mesmerized by the technique that Christopher showed on the dvd. I will have Joe take pics of the process, so you can see it...It is amazing! I will be doing all this with my new Babylock EMB12 and what fun that will be!

Last but not least, I received a siggy block from Freda who lives in California. She is in my International Siggy Swap. She had a lovely center block of her home state, and various purple and orchid fabrics...lovely!

Another very busy day for my postman...I will have to think of something to get him for Christmas.LOL

Ok, Tracy initially started this, but since you are carrying the torch, I must rise to the challenge. Then I got tagged by other people like Jan and tagged her back, so I am finally figuring out how to play the game.
Here are the rules:
1.Link to the person who tagged you.
2.Put the rules on the blog.
3.Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5.Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment.
6.Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Here are 6 random things about me:
1. I am a radio operator.
2. I am afraid of bugs.
3. I love bubble baths.
4. I adore all tropical fruits.
5. I love gadgets of all kinds.
6. I love everything to do with fantasy.

I have tagged the following people at these blog sites:
Bec: Oh Sew Busy at http://ohsewbusy.blogspot.com/
Kath: Railway Cottage at http://www.railwaycottage.blogspot.com/
KR: Praise patch Productions at http://www.praisepatchproductions.blogspot.com/
Cathy:Quazy Mama at http://quazymama.blogspot.com/
Carol: Love to Quilt at http://camah3.blogspot.com/
Katherine: Quilter Going Bananas: at http://quiltergoingbananas.blogspot.com/

These are great blogs to visit, so visit them sometime, and you will have a blast!
I have to add that Jan got me into blogging so a big thank you for doing that, and for being my friend. You have to visit her blog at http://www.jansmusing.blogspot.com/ It is so much fun!

As the title of the post indicates, I received a lot of mail today. Joe brought all the mail into the computer room where I was working on a machine embroidery project, and said that the postman jokingly said, " I need a wheelbarrow for all your mail." Big LOL from me to the funny joke made by the wiseguy postman.

I first received fat quarters that I won from a Bingo game that we played on The New Quilting Club Yahoo Group. The funny thing is that I didn't purchase the bingo card. Philla, who is one of the moderators, gave me the card as a surprise gift, and I landed up winning. As you can see, I won some wonderful fat quarters.

I also received four postcards. Three of the postcards came from friends in my SBS Friendship Group. One was from Susan O., who included a lovely line that Joe and I both loved:"If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden, " and the background fabric was a garden of flowers. The second card came from Niagra Falls, Canada, from Karen, who gave me maple leaves with a pretty machine embroidered flower.She said that the white satin fabric of the trillium petals were from remnants of her wedding dress from 35 years ago...amazing! She explained that the trillium is the provincial flower of Ontario and is used in many logos of organizations or government programs. The background were made from small maple leaves from a tree in her backyard, and then she painted them with craft paint and stamped them on the black mottled fabric. Of course, the maple leaf represented Canada and the green stitching represented her Irish connection of Listowel. Then there was a very lively and cheerful card from Cathy in Fla. who called it Summer Breeze, and it really gave both of us a breath of summer...Joe made a point of saying, "Boy that is colourful and cheerful."We have not had much of a summer here in Donegal County, so this brightened up our cool, fall weather day. Lastly, I got a very special postcard from Susan P. who is in my Postcard Pizzazz Group... She got it "just because"...and it was special because she said that she was thinking of me when she made the card, and then sent it to me just becuase she thought of me...How nice! She recycled her DH's t shirt and called it "Memory of City Life." Well, I owe her a postcard for sure..."just because" she is so sweet.

Lastly, I got five siggies today. One is from Kieny from Taiwan and the fabric is a wonderful Asian exotic fabric with a mouse in the center to represent the year of the rat/mouse. The second siggy was from Antje in Germany, and her center block had a beautiful bird. Pam from Virginia sent me a cat in the center and a very bright coloured background fabric, and Franca in Italy told me that because she loves animals, she sent me a block with the cutest cat in the center block with a starry background that made me feel like a star. Finally, Ruthie from Utah, in the USA sent me a beautiful black fabric with a center that says, "Piece Thru Quilting, " and everyone is holding hands. Lovely thought, isn't it?

It was definitely Christmas in September for me today, and I am a very lucky woman indeed.

I went to Colleen's blog, and it was so interesting... I really loved it! I read about a gadget that is free to download called Seamingly Accurate. It helps you achieve consistent seams. Well, I clicked on the link that Colleen provided, and it took me to the site at www.reannalilydesign.com and I downloaded the gadget. There is a wonderful tutorial with pics on the site, and by gosh, it really does work. I can see this working in a lot of situations. Thanks Colleen for the thumbs up on such a wonderful product. I loved the site too, so it is well worth checking it out. I love gadgets in general, but anything that is free, is an added bonus.It is always nice making new friends through our blogs, and so nice to share our lives in such a wonderful way.

I received a double whammy as they say. The postman delivered a letter from my friend Jan, who was a member of the Postcard Pizazz Group. It was a postcard that she sent from a swap that we were in a long while back. Why was it a double whammy? I got a beautiful postcard and also some scraps of gorgeous delicate, see-through fabrics that were absolutely sparkling. I immediately thought of my Babylock Embellisher...but oh my, the fabric would also look good on any future postcard that I would create. I was really taken aback. The postcard was magical! The dragonfly looked alive. Jan just emailed me and explained that she free motioned the dragonfly, and she didn't use an embroidery machine. That is amazing! She did the whole dragonfly free hand and then beaded it herself. I loved the background fabric, and everything just sparkled. I appreciated how much work went into that postcard, and as you can see, it really gives you a sense of a wonderful fantasy.