Oh, Monday...

I'm still working on Poseidon, so I don't have a lot to show on my design wall.

My friend Beth (who blogs here) often sends me goodies from South Africa where she lives.  This is an amazing bit of batik -- I love the elephants.  It's about 20 inches square and I hate to cut it up.  So I'm trying to decided how to use it.  Maybe as a center of something?

 This is a wonderful little postcard Beth made -- the aloe flower has sparkly beads! And the leaves have spikes!  Just like a real aloe plant!

And these are some things I dyed last week.  I love these Caribbean colors!

Click here to go to Judy's blog to see some other design walls. 

The Mail Has Been Very Very Good to Me

Last week, my mailbox goodness reached epic proportions.  It started with this:

 As they say, "You had me at hello."  Who doesn't like chocolate?  But wait!  Even better -- I know, what could be better than chocolate? -- there was a whole bunch of stuff inside.  Stuff that doesn't mess with my diet.

Handmade tags, note cards, ATCs, envelopes, a little round box filled with beads, and some pens and buttons!  Who is responsible for this bounty?  My friend Jan, who blogs here, and her friends who have a group blog here.  They are mixed media artists who do lots of intricate, fun stuff.  I highly recommend checking them out.  I won this in a giveaway on http://foxontherunarts.blogspot.com/ .  So cool.

And wait!  There's more!  I swap blocks with my Sparkly Chicken friends (not all of them have blogs, but those who do are listed on the side under "Sparkly Chickens Blogs").  Anne Marie, who blogs here, sent me this colorful moose.


Just look at the wonderful embroidery (French knots are my favorite embroidery stitch).

And she included these goodies.  Cards with more stuff on them and some very sparkly yarn.



But wait!  That's not all!



In advance of my birthday, the mail got this package to me in record time!  It wasn't supposed to arrive until next month, but it's here!


Beth blogs here about her adventures in Africa.  She sent me these little bottles and the charms -- an elephant for Africa and a shoe because, well, I'm kind of a shoe lover.  The tall bottle is a vanilla sugar grinder from South Africa -- it's full of big crystals of sugar and chunks of real vanilla pods.  It's delicious ground onto ricotta cheese and over coffee.  This weekend, I'm going to try it on French toast, fruit and maybe some pancakes or waffles.There was some floral fabric.




And these wonderful batiks from Africa.  I love these giraffes -- maybe I should make a bag out of this?













 I love this one -- I can see this fussy cut up into a kaleidoscopic design.  I've included a pic of the selvage.

And these chickens are the best!  They're quite large and I love they way they're walking all over the fabric!

Thank you all for making this such a fun week for me!

Been Too Busy

to be a good blogger.  With the end of the year holidays and all the responsibility that comes with them -- I have been rather neglectful of this blog.

First of all -- this is a postcard I received in the mail from my friend Beth, who blogs here.

So cute -- a crocodile!  Look at the teeth!

Also, I received this a while ago and didn't post about it.  Beth and I exchanged ATCs (the whole sordid story is here) and I neglected to share.  Look at the lovely stitching on the envelope it came in.

Finally, I am a winner!  I won this wonderful batik FQ pack at my local quilt store, Stitcher's Crossing, during their 30th anniversary celebration drawing.  I love these colors!

Next: some dyeing stuff...