Surprise Mail...

 Don't you just love to go to your mail box and find a wonderful surprise?  No, I don't mean the spider that scares you who is just trying to get warm inside a safe place.  Certainly not the bills that come way too often!  I am speaking of a package from a friend who sends you something out of the blue.  I love it!

 This is wrapped so cleverly in a sewing pattern tissue.  With a fabric strip tied in twine and a cute little stamped card.  I am totally intrigued...

 There was also a handmade card with a stamped bird design.  Beautiful.  Thoughtful.  Serene.

 I open to find a bundle of joyful fabric pieces.  All random sizes and prints.  Hmmm...

Here you can see the array of fabrics.  What a fun bundle this is.  Thank you Cory Dogwood.  You are the best blog pal a girl ever had.  Please visit Cory at her blog and see what she is up to.  Maybe I will need to find out how she makes her "ticker tape" quilts and use these fabrics to make one for myself. 
Even though Cory has a residence just a few miles from me and we must be shopping at the exact same local crafting store (Ben Franklin) I have never met her and yet we have been blog pals for two years.  I rather like the mystique of being a blog pal...kind of like years ago when I had a pen pal I never met. 
I adore your card and sweet bundle of fabric joy Cory Dogwood and I thank you sincerely. 
My ideas are beginning to churn on what I will do with all of these pieces.  What would each of you create?
Happy week to all...our weather is quite chilly and yet the sun is shining.  Rain is forecasted for the long holiday weekend.  Skiers will be headed up to the resorts and I will be staying home, warm and cozy sipping tea or cocoa.  Maybe stitching something...beading something...gluing papers...

Spring and Quilting...

Here we are April 1st and our weather has given us a glorious Spring day. The sun is shining and the frogs are croaking their mating songs. The Robins are searching the grounds for just the perfect things. I have spent the better part of the day working in the yard. I decided to put my blinders on as we still have some snow on the ground in the yard and also so I wouldn't get overwhelmed with the massive job to do just cleaning up the debris from such a harsh winter. I chose a small walkway near the pond and merely worked in a small circle hand raking and picking up pine needles, oak leaves, old acorns and heavy wet soggy mushy plant stems. After a few hours I had finished with my little piece of heaven walkway. I have daffodils blooming and there are even hopeful tiny new green sprouts on a very dead looking geranium I didn't think would survive the winter. Life is good. Now for quilting...my small little patches of cleanup work remind me of how quilting goes. In small little patches of fabric that eventually become the finished piece to be proud of. The photo above is a small piece of Cathedral Quilting I did all by hand about 4 decades ago. It was tedius and took forever because I wanted my stitches to be as tiny as possible. Now all these years later it is still perfect...in my eyes. Oh yes, I can see flaws however these only make it more cherished to me. Now days I don't quilt however I know that someday I shall...when I am ready. As I follow blogs and find things that really speak to me I was super fortunate to find Terri Stegmiller. I know many of you already know Terri but for those who don't here is her link. Terri is also part of 3 Creative Studios and you will find lots of inspiration there. From Terri's blog one day I visited the Twelve By Twelve blog. I was intrigued by the quilts that various artists were creating. They were each only 12 inches by 12 inches. Hmmm...now that seems much more doable than some huge king-sized piece that is montrous to work with. I digress but back in the 70's Dear Grandma and I each made king-sized crazy quilts out of small pieces of double knit fabrics. What were we thinking?!! And I don't even still have that monster...me who never gets rid of anything! I do hope you visit both Terri and the 12x12 just to see all the amazing art that is created. Twelve By Twelve had a lovely coming out party online for their book they published and I was super fortunate to be selected one of the lucky recipients of a copy. The book is published by Lark Crafts and Terri actually signed my copy that she sent to me. Thank you very much Terri. This photo above is the front of the book cover. This photo is the back cover. I have perused this book from front to back and it is so beautifully done. Each of the twelve artists who participated and created twelve quilts in the 12x12 inch size are featured. How fun and challenging that each quilt had a theme and it is amazing to see how each artist represented it in their quilt. I will definitely be devouring this book for a very long time. Each time I look I see something new and different. Who knows...maybe this is the catalyst for me to make a tiny little 12x12 inch quilt of my very own to be proud of for decades to come. How are you enjoying your weekend? Maybe a little outdoors and a little indoors creativity? This sunshine is definitely re-energizing me after all the gray, cold, wet and snowy days we have had. What?!! Rain is predicted for Saturday???