Wow! Quilter Jen included a Cuppa Joe in with her package!

Well I've never been given a gift card to Starbucks before! But thanks to Quilter Jen, now I have :) Isn't that so very nice!!!? ;) And so are her 15 scrap-oh-lishious sets of blocks!

I guess it sorta qualifies as my first "Christmas card" of the year too! LOL speaking of Christmas, it is only 3 months away for all of you but only 2 months for us as we exchange with family each year when we are home for Thanksgiving. And I'm happy to report I have everyone in KY bought for except my Daddy.... still thinking on that one. ;)

See that cute purple fabric with the skelleton bones!! I'm gonna be sure and snatch that one up for me to keep for sure. He is sooo cute that it almost makes me forget about all the childhood memories of my classmates calling me BONY BONNIE. almost. Sure wish I was deserving of that nick name now. :/

Please know that as a hostess I do not expect hostess gifts. Really, I don't. I do accept them though :) It's always a nice surprise.

I've been in swaps off yahoo groups that required everyone to pitch in to give the organizer a gift certificate from her choice online quilt shop which for her equaled over $100 of shopping. LUCKY her! To me, I think that if the swapper wants to gift or not it is up to them individually. To me I get sucha thrill over all the mail in my mailbox and getting to have first pickings that, that makes it all worth it to host ;)

I only post the photos here on my blog of the gifts that I receive as it is my way to thank my swappers..... I'm getting pretty slack in the one on one email communication these days. Sorry.

Love from Texas!

Do you wannaquilt2? ;)

I just love the name of this next swapper from the HGTV board. Wannaquilt2's package arrived also on Wednesday. She had all of her sets so nicely organized in the gallon ziplock using large plastic paperclips to keep them from shifting around. ;)

and take a look at that Quick Quilts "Quick and Scrappy Quilts" book that she was able to fit inside her envelope too!!! Awesome! I love looking thru books and scrappy makes this one a new treasure. Take a look at a few I spotted inside! ;)

Ooough.... thank you so much Brooxie! You just gave me some new "reading material" for the carpool line next week. :)


Love from Texas!

9/22/10 Texana's package has arrived!

This package didn't have far to travel as it's from texana, who also lives here in Texas. Last time she sent me a lanyard from Stitchin Heaven and b/c she has sucha great memory about Nora liking it so much, she this time wrapped up plastic beaded necklaces for each of my 3 kids! Isn't that so sweet.

See them there wrapped up in red with each of their names on them. I'll wait until Nora is home from school and let them all open up together.... maybe tonight after supper is over ;)

and she also wrapped up her blocks in wax paper like I had done last time when returning the swap blocks. I am only sharing a peak with you of them b/c I didn't want to spoil their freshness. LOL ;)

But I think you will be able to get a good peak and all the pretty fabrics inside each package from my closeups. ;)

and here is the last of the 3 freshly wrapped packages. :) Aren't they all so nice! Thanks again Texana for the necklaces for the kidos.

Oh and OOPSIE! I nearly forgot to share a photo of what she included for ME! Not only a handful of leftover blocks (that I always love) but also she sent a baggie of I-Spy novelty fabrics to add to my g-r-o-w-i-n-g collection that I have for my twins I-Spy quilt projects! THANK YOU SOOOOOO Much! ;) You are too generous Texana!

Love from Texas!

using Black/White photo options

A few months ago in the July swap for scrappy 4 patch blocks, one of my participants shared a great tip! Using your computer to change a color photo to Black & White only.

On our HGTV discussion thread - She shared a photo of her fabric choices all laid out to see if she needed to swap out any before sewing lights and darks into strip pairs.

Too bad that one of my newer swappers missed that tip this summer.... b/c this set blocks will be going back home to her this time. They are still USABLE - there are several patterns by Bonnie Hunter where she calls for a 4 patch with only one dark used. ;)

Thankfully she was VERY understanding when I emailed her the two above photos and explained. ;) what she did next surprised me... she promptly made up another set and mailed to me so that she will still have a total of 20 swappable sets :) Thanks so much! They're Purrrrr-fect! :)

Love from Texas!

9/20/10 Mail Call

Today's mailbox had a large rectangular box in it. Inside were blocks from quilterpat6226 and also a little baggie with some goodies for me. :) Take a look - the first photo is what she packed on top for me. :) THANKS Pat!

I just love leftover blocks!!! They help my quilts grow faster than anything! :D and that panel of kid prints I think I can fussy cut around to use an ice cream, a turtle and a butterfly and more! ;) You are sooo thoughtful!

So I bet you are like me...anxious to see WHAT's inside the box.... hummm let's see. There were lots of ziplock baggies....

each one neatly labeled. :)

Just take a look at all of them un-bagged! :) Aren't they great!? Someone once asked me if I thought showing so many closeups of the swap packages as they arrive was "SPOILING IT" for the swappers.... I certainly hope I'm not. I'd say that I'm just making them hungry for more-MORE-MMMMOOORRREE!~ ;)

After all - if I don't show you as many closeups as I can along the way, even those of you who are my "Super Swappers" sending in 20 sets of 10... will not even get to see them all! It always fascinates me when I stop to think of how many "new to me" fabrics I've meet up close and personal as they come across my dining room table... thru swaps and also my annual FQ Bingo each year. You'd think after 5 years, every package I'd open I would find fabrics I've seen a dozen times before... but nope! Nearly all of them are new to me. AWESOME isn't it!? :D

Thanks again Quilterpat6226 for the extra leftover blocks! :) It makes me happy to know that I'll for sure get to keep some from you!

Love from Texas!

9/19 Package from Toryam

Take a look above - What's this??? This is SUPER SMART!

My swapper toryam from Mississippi (I just love typing that out - reminds me of my uncle Kenneth who taught me how to spell it) is sooo super SMART! She took a paper grocery bag and wrapped up her SASE and that is how she mailed to me her swap package ;) Cool ea?

Inside the mailing package was a ziplock with her 8 sets :) also wrapped up. Ta-Da take a look!

and she had written me a note telling me not only do they collect stamps and asking me if I'd cut off the lighthouses and return to her but also that she had made me a few extra blocks! Thanks so much Toryam! :) You are sooo sweet! Can't wait to see you again in North Carolina next spring :)

Love from Texas!

Mail Call - package from LindaWI arrived!

Ye-ummm! The due date isn't until October 15ht but already a few early birds have started to arrive - and I love it! ;) Just never know what I'm gonna find when I go to the mailbox... well I sorta do b/c my awesome swappers keep me updated and email me or post on the board before they mail so I'll know that their blocks are headed South! ;)

Take a look at these sets from LindaWI. She even sent some very cute colorful smile stickers! I know where those are gonna end up - on the twins' potty charts! :)

and she included some pretty Post-its for me! I did not even know that they made "pretty post-its" did you? Thanks Linda! and did you notice those large colorful paperclips? Perfect for keeping everything neat & tidy and well organized! Great thinking Linda!

and in other news... Nora has been really good about doing her homework every day when she gets home from school - today however she sorta got a little "sidetracked" when we got home - riding her bike and then playing with Paul Thomas... then I started the DVR on the new show I've been recording for her on PBS called "Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That." It comes on just as she and David have to leave the house in the mornings... and I know that she's been anxious to see it b/c for the past few weeks she's seen the commercials for it..

However after the show was over all I had to do was simply say Nora did you get new spelling words today? and she jumped up and went straight to the kitchen table and pulled out her homework. Of course Paul Thomas has to do everything that he sees Nora doing so he went and got his backpack and pulled out his papers from last Thursday and started marking them all up while Nora wrote out her spelling words... "See Ma! See? I do home-ORK too!" ;)

and while talking on the phone this weekend with my Dad - he asked about Paul Thomas' feet since his aunt bite episode about a month ago... so today I thought to get a couple photos so he could see. they're all better... just these little red dot scars... they will probably fade with time. Nor really noticeable unless you look close.

Again thanks to everyone who kept PT in their T's & P's. We really could not have guessed that he would have had such a fast recovery and very little pain after the initial bites. Our prayers were answered!

Love from Texas!

another Bonnie wannabe... meet Subeesews! ;)

I think possibly one of the BIGGEST Bonnie Hunter fans that I know of besides me of course - is one of my swappers Subeesews - have you visited her blog any this year? If not, then you are in for a real treat - it'll be like a new book to you - grab a cuppa...b/c she is the one of the most productive quilters I know in blogland! She makes a lot of Quiltville patterns and also several from Bonnie Hunter's books - her crab-apples is one of my favorite's that she has made recently!

So I'm so excited that she's involved in my Scrappy 4-patch units swap both last time in July and the current October swap! :) I know that the 4 patches I make are really gonna get used soon by Subee! :)

You may have seen her blocks already in her 8/29 post - she said it was all about the contrast... ;) and she's right - This is just a fun swap to see up close and in person - b/c you just never know what you're gonna get... a batik purple in the same block as a calico or a stripe?? Anything goes!

All that matters is the contrast - 2 lights, 2 darks. :) How about this pair of light/dark? :P Both photos taken by my 3 year old son :P this monring while I was sorting thru her package :) What's not to love about his chinny-chin-chin and that cute dimple!

and take a look - above - do you see the cats? Both in the WOW on the bottom left pic and then the teal blue cat in the hot pink batik.... ;) Meow! and I think I see cats in the photo below on the right... the light at the bottom...?

Just lots of great variety - and contrast! :) Cats, Bears, Chicks - won't they be fun to see and discover in their final destination of a quilt! :) Yep, just like "our" Bonnie Hunter... :)

Oh and I think Suebee and I are now trading FQs.... LOL as she was the winner of the "First to Arrive" prize last time in July - and so I sent her a FQ as her prize and now take a look at what she sent to me this time? ;) It's really just 1 FQ but the way I unfolded it, it looks like two. I think I recognize this farbic from a border I've seen in one of her quilts on her blog! ;)

Thanks so much Subeesews!!!

Love from Texas!