Goodies for Me!

I stayed home from work today, sick with some stomach bug. I'm feeling much better now. After sleeping all morning long and fighting off chills, I finally got myself up and dressed around 1 p.m. or so and have been sitting around, reading a book since. Until there was a knock at the front door.

I don't know about you, but when I'm home alone, I don't much like answering the door. We have a security peep hole, but it really just gives you a blurry image of the person at the door. No way of telling if that's a clipboard and pen in their hands or a butcher knife dripping blood. Of course, in either event, I probably don't really want to be bothered, so most of the time, I don't answer.

But today I had second thoughts. What if it's the UPS guy with a package? Hummm. Yeah, even a UPS guy with a butcher knife might be okay as long as he has a package for me, so I decided to risk it. And there she was! No, not the UPS guy but my favorite mail lady! She knows I quilt (she recognizes a paper wrapped bolt of fabric when she sees one) and knows I buy from eBay occasionally (sometimes, in spurts that cause her to strap on her hernia belt daily for a week or two at a time), so she was quite excited to see my car in the driveway, knowing she had packages for me, particularly since one was too big to fit in my mailbox. One of these days, I need to do something nice for her, like make her a tabletopper or something. She really is a sweetie!

And what did the mail lady bring me, you ask?

First of all, the package that was too large to fit in my mailbox contained a new, smallish cutting mat. I love this size for taking to class or when I'm working on something scrappy where I'm only cutting one block at a time. Unfortunately, my last one warped on a road trip to Utah last year. On a recent cyberspace visit to Connecting Threads, I noticed they had notions on sale, so I bought a new cutting mat and a larger needle punch/embroidery hoop (I have the smaller size but needed the large one too). I also picked up a package of rusty red buttons (which will make nice berries on a Christmas wreath wallhanging, I think!), and a couple of books.

Next, I received the new Star Garden book from Amazon. I'm kind of perturbed with Amazon right now and actually tried to cancel this book, but wouldn't you know it? They shipped it just before I was able to cancel! I DID want the book though, and I'm glad it arrived. I'll have to tell you my Amazon story in another post.

Patty over at Just One Quilt Megged me the other day when she showed a new kit she had ordered from Primitive Gatherings--it's a Christmas wool candle mat. Check out the pumpkin wool candle mat Patty just finished from another of their patterns. Extremely cute! Then I Megged myself and ordered another pattern for a Christmas project--there's actually two patterns in that one. I love their stuff, don't you?! And, by the way, did I just Meg you?! No? I'll keep trying!

Finally, last but definitely not least, I received the beautiful Moda Sanctuary bundle that I won from The Calico Horse. Thanks so MUCH Donna! I just love it! I know Donna and Cheryl (Polka Dots and Rick Rack) are leaving for Quilt Market in Houston--they must be sooooo excited to go see all the new stuff! Particularly since it means getting out of the LA area for a few days, I suspect. The cool thing I wanted to tell you all about is that Donna included a cookbook called Serving Up Hope that contains a collection of recipes from the employees and customers of The Calico Horse. I love these kinds of cookbooks--the ones that contain real people-tested recipes and recipes passed down in families. The price on the cookbook is $15, and of that amount, $12 goes to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. If you love these kinds of cookbooks too, I bet you could order one from The Calico Horse--email Donna through the shop blog to find out if it's possible and the cost, but remember she'll be gone for the next several days. Oh, and just to tempt you a little, guess what it has in it? Cheryl's recipe for the famous ball of cheese! You can get that free from her website right now, but that should give you an idea of the yummy stuff contained in this great little book.

I think it's time to get a cup of coffee and see if I'm feeling up to quilting now--I can't just be a slug all day, and now that I have some new quilty stuff to play with, I'm feeling a little more motivated to get up off my dying rear end and do something. I'm heading into the Sweat Shop. Thanks for stopping in to visit!