Valentine lovelies

My two Valentine exchanges have come in and I have been thoroughly spoiled! The first one came when I was home from work - in the Hand Dyed Fibers Exchange, Vikki got my name and sent me a yard of ox-blood red linen plus chocolate! Wow!

You know how sometimes our SO sort of half listens, picks up only part of the comment and then acts on that partial understanding? DH doesn't do it often (it's more likely to be me many times), but when he does... I've stepped into a new role at work, and this one involves some travelling. Because of that, DH and I agreed that we would have our Valentine's celebration on Friday or Saturday instead of Thursday. The weekend before Valentine's, the package came for my 2nd exchange - DH had to sign for it, and realizing that it was the valentine's day exchange, put it up until we celebrated. In the meantime, the person who sent it was wondering why it hadn't been acknowledged. DH thought it was like the "do not open until Christmas packages".

Anyhow, he gave it to me on Saturday night with candle light, tablecloth, wine and a lovely dinner. Cindy's gift was more than up to the atmosphere - a beautifully stitched and finished purse filled with floss, french straight pins and wonderful goodies. Notes and postings went out today to verify that the package was received and is very much appreciated.

If Cindy ever decides to offer cyber-finishing classes - I'm her first student! Here's the link to her blog showing what she sent: http://stitchingcorner.blogspot.com/ and the photos:

Aren't these just fabulous? Each time I look at the goodies, I find myself smiling. See the little strawberry? It has holes in it and I think it's going to make a darling floss keeper. The straight pins are a French brand - I have some of this brand that I got at a quilting shop but they are so long that they don't work well for most things. These are absolutely the right size! And the floss - I have been playing with the idea of getting some of the Carrie's Colors next time I'm at a place where I can get it - and tah dah! Here it is!

The photos do not do justice to Cindy's work. This is the sort of thing that really inspires me to stretch out beyond doing samplers and having them framed. A great thought to carry me through winter!

Wacko weather!

Yesterday the high in West Michigan was 48 degrees - we got up this morning to 4 degrees. Due to the rain that fell before the temperatures dropped all the roads were iced up and due to the high winds (gusts of 40 mph) and dry snow, we had whiteouts. I worked at home today!

Exchange days!

I sent out a winter exchange a few weeks ago - I'm hoping that it has been received! There hasn't been a posting on SBEBB yet. I received a lovely frosty hued biscornu from Carol in New Hampshire on the 20th, as well as some lovely goodies. Carol is a wonderful exchange partner!

I'm working now on a goodie for the SBEBB Valentine's Exchange which is to be mailed this Friday. I'm on schedule for a Wednesday finish so I may be sending it out on Thursday. I also have a little something in process for a Valentine's exchange that was organized on the Hand Dyed Fibers Forums - it's to be mailed on Monday, February 4 (which is my mother's birthday). I'll probably send Mom's birthday present out on Thursday with the SBEBB exchange so that she receives it on or before her birthday. Yes, I have the present!

In addition to working on my exchange responsibilities, I have to do a small wall hanging from Marie Therese Saint Aubin's book representing Wilson - our fourth cat - for DH. As Wilson is all black, colors are easy and DH has selected the fabric he wants. I love the MTSA designs - so elegant! Because she suggests the shape of the cat rather than actually drawing the cat, they work up quickly.

Then I'll go back to my rotation on Marriage of the Minds and the 2004 Marquoir for DH plus a third project, yet to be decided. I have some spools of Vikki Clayton's new colors and I'm trying to decide which one I want to use in a project. I also got some charts for the AMAP smalls during the HDF's group buy, so I'm thinking one of those projects on the antique white linen that I got from Vikki. I like doing small projects right now.

This year I want to overcome my finishing fears - If I take my time, I can do a respectable job of finishing. If I rush, especially doing something new, I am usually disappointed. So I'm giving myself plenty of time to do the finishing on these latest projects.

snow snow and more snow!

We've had the strangest weather! Snow last night and today following temperatures of 52 last week! A thunderstorm last Friday! Bizarre - perhaps more attention needs to be paid to global warming!

On the stitching front - finished a small for the winter quaker exchange at SBEBB, started the Marquoir 2004 on the midas linen DH picked out - with HDF's Gandy Tango, I'm plugging along on "A New Beginning" - I'm almost half done! I'm 60% on Marriage of the Minds and need to start Sarabande again. I've signed up for 2 valentine exchanges - 1 at SBEBB and the other on the Hand Dyed Fibers forums. These will be fun stitches! I'll post photos of the winter quaker finish after I find out that it's been received.