Gifts from Afar

 

This has been my lucky week! Not only has someone made my PictureBox quilt (which has me completely and totally chuffed!) but, on top of that, a host of packages arrived from around the world and I just had to share with you. Better still, I only paid for one of them, and that one even had free postage!

First up - the quilt. After I wrote my tutorial, I was a little nervous about the thoughts of someone making it and it all going horribly wrong. But then, I got an email last weekend from the lovely Beverly all the way out in Oklahoma with a picture of the quilt top she had just finished and it completely made my day. Here it is, isn't it lovely? I love how the different fabrics give it a different look and can't wait to see it when she's finished quilting it. Thanks so much Beverly for making it :-)

I think my most eagerly anticipated moment this week was opening my package from Australia to find this scrummy Saffron Craig fabric.

I adore her beautiful designs but her fabric is a little on the pricey side for me, and postage from Australia to Ireland is not cheap. So when I got an email update from her website late one night with a special free international postage offer, I just had to jump at it! (The fact that I was the far side of a couple of glasses of wine certainly helped my decision making process ;-) Note to self: browsing fabric shops while enjoying a tipple does not make for a healthy bank balance!) I think I'm going to use the little bird fabric for one of my Amy Butler Style Stitches bags, and the Beetle Bugs will go into my baby boys blankets and quilts. But I don't quite know what I'm planning for the Magical Lands fabric (the very top pic) - isn't it gorgeous? Its very large scale so it will definitely be something special!

Next up - my scrap swap arrived and my lovely partner, Tracy, was SO generous in the scraps she sent. 

I asked her for yellows, oranges and purples as I'm very light on these shades and she totally obliged, sending a huge quantity! Plus, she sent me chocolate. Do you see the one that's left? That's because I already ate the rest. Thanks so much Tracy, I'm so delighted with everything I got!

She also sent some fab little goodies too - I love the buttons and the little bag and have about a billion different uses for it!

I also won a few things lately - a lovely giveaway for these pins/clips over at Sugar and Dots - aren't they gorgeous? They'll brighten up my wardrobe!

And I was delighted to win a crafting competition over at Hungry Hippie - and received my prize today. I was blown away by all the stuff I won - I couldn't even get all of it in the picture.

I was thrilled to see there were lots of essentials included like premade bias bindings, ric rac, ribbon, buttons, zips, a really lovely book of little purse patterns, some great fat quarters and - jackpot - 2 Moda Charmpacks in Arcadia, which I have seen online - they're even nicer in real life and totally my taste. Can't wait to make up a quilt with them. Natalie also included a precut quilt kit and even though the pattern is not totally my taste, the fabrics in the kit are great so I'll be stashing them too. Better still they include lots of colours that I don't have a lot of!

So far, so good, right? I was pretty happy with my lot this week and was just uploading the photos this evening to blog when an email popped up in my inbox from Kristie over at OCD saying....wait for it........I'd won her Sherbet Pips giveaway!!!! Yes, that's right, Sherbet Pips - it seems like its the hottest fabric in the quilting world right now and is sold out anywhere I've looked for it in the last few days. I'm totally excited about this one and can't wait to get my hands on it, I'll be watching that post from Canada every day now! Thanks so much Kristie!

 

P.S. I'm off down to the shop to do the Lottery now seeing as my luck has never been so good!