Art, Quilts, and Other Adventures

Debra's Birthday Gift(s)

My sister turned 30 a week before Christmas.  I mentioned it at the time.  I'm finally now able to post about her gift from my MOm and I, as it finally got opened.  I sent the box Priority, but it didn't arrive until the day after she and her family left for their Christmas vacation.  Luckily, they had a neighbor looking for it, so it was kept safe until her return.

On her birthday, my Mom sent her flowers at work -- the card said "Gift 1 of 30."

Yup.  We sent her 30 presents.

Here's a picture of the 29 presents we wrapped and mailed to her in all of their wrapped glory:

Some were silly (a bustier purse), some were scrounged from around our houses (a tin for candy), some were really nice (a framed picture of her son), some were antique (well, old anyway -- my Mom sent her the really old Cooky Book that she used to use when we were kids).  Some were practical (tissues, lotion, batteries, etc...), some were just for fun (crayons and a pad of paper, a book about Marshmallow Peeps).  Some were handmade -- an embroidered dishtowel that my mom had made, and a postcard that I made for her. 

She loves sunflowers, so I made one with 30 sunflower petals and her initial.  I wish I had stitched around the edge of the letter to make it stand out better -- live and learn, I guess.  She got a little sack with 30 pennies in it, and several things had 30 pieces of candy in them.  We had fun putting it together for her, and I think she had fun opening it and contemplating all of her goodies.

One of Yesterday's Photographs

Here's the postcard I was bragging about receiving in yesterday's post.  It's from Vicki.  I was so excited to get it!

I can't seem to get my other picture to upload today and I'm again out of time to deal with it right now.  I'll try again later -- I'm off to the Holiday Program at school.

Later in the day...

Yahoo -- I seem to be able to upload more pictures, finally.

The first is my very photogenic nephew, Colin.  I believe that he was looking up at my equally photogenic son (one of them, anyway...)

Last is a picture of the 3 cousins.  We have heard that there is a possibility that the other 2 cousins might be here in the spring -- 5 cousins together -- won't that make for a cute picture???  The boys were pretty fascinated with their year old cousin.  He's a lot more interesting than he was the last time we saw.  Yes, he was adorable then, but he's starting to talk and is crawling and is just really quite brilliant for a year old boy....

Well, the school Holiday program is over and I just got through with 45 minutes of arguing with long distance providers (and being thoroughly annoyed by them...), so it's probably time I attempted to do something useful today.   I didn't intend for this blog to just be a record of the cute children in my life, but I guess life often has other plans for us, doesn't it?  I did actually  manage to do some sewing last night, so I shouldn't complain too much.  Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I'll actually get some longarm quilting done.  I have so many ideas for quilts and clothing and a gazillion other things -- I need to keep them all in mind for when I have time for them.

*****Even later in the day.  Good grief.  The other picture was here before, honest.  Here it is again.  I don't know what happened to the darned thing.

Red postcard

Most of you probably know about the Fiberart For A Cause fundraiser in which artists from around the world created fiber postcards.  These postcards were used as thank yous for a $30 donation to the American Cancer Society.  The project has raised over $110,000 in just 18 months. 

My friend Lynn got to go to Houston this year to Int'l Quilt Market and Festival, where the postcards were available. I asked her to make a donation and pick out a postcard for me.  I received mine today, and I'm very excited about what she picked:

Keep in mind that she picked this out for me almost a month ago.  Do you suppose she could see into the future and know that I would be on a red kick right now? (Thank you, Lynn, for picking out such a cool postcard for me...)

 

A few weeks ago, somebody somewhere (on one of the many lists I belong to) was talking about how to display fiber postcards.  One of the ideas was a photo album-y thing they had gotten at IKEA.  Well, guess what!  I have one just like it, only mine came from Target about a million years ago.  I had only ever managed to stick one picture in it (there is a frame on the other side that flips over, but I wouldn't use it on the postcards, as it "mats" it to a smaller size).

Now all I need to do is fill it up with more postcards!  I've thought about joining the art2mail project, but I think that involves more postcards than I can commit to making at this time.

How's this for a deal: if you send me a postcard to fill up my frame, I'll send you a postcard in return.  If you are interested in trading with me, send me an e-mail and I'll give you my mailing address!