I Made Out This Christmas part 2

As promised, I wanted to show you more gifts received from friends.

The first is from Joan. I met her while working in Dallas, Texas this year. She is a quilter in every sense of the word. She is the only person I ever met that buys fabric by the bolt.

Against my better judgment, Joan is determined that I become a quilter. I think there is no hope, but I am willing to try. I received some beautiful fat quarters, a subscription to McCalls Quilting and a cute pink bag to carry my quilting supplies in. I was thrilled with these but the treasure was a ceramic house for my Christmas village of a Quilt Shop. I have named it Joan's Quilt Shop and will make a sign to sit in front of it for my village next year.

Don't you think it is precious....., I do.

I also received a mountain load of gifts from Vicki. She is my new knitting friend. We have not met but it seems like I have known her for years. She was my secret sender in the One Skein Exchange and made a beautiful pin for me knitted on toothpicks. I will never get over that. We decided to stay in touch and send each other knitted gifts for Christmas, etc.

She had mentioned that she like the fingerless mittens that I had sent my One Skein Exchange person, so I made her a pair for Christmas. When I received her package, I almost fainted. I received homemade creme candy (melts in your mouth) made from a receipe from her grandmother, as well as homemade Chocolate Bark candy (I seem to have a piece in my mouth all the time). She also sent homemade marmalade that has been a part of my morning breakfast since I received it. So delicious. She made the marmalade from the fruits that her sister brings her.

I have some beautiful note cards that I can only send to special people that can appreciate them. Vicki said that they were a Bible school project with yarn scraps. According to Vicki, there is no end to what she can do with scrap yarn.

I have no words for the yarn. But I should not be surprised, Vicki's taste in yarn is breathtaking. I will never find a project that will do it justice....however, it will be fun trying. The colors......no words can express.

She admitted that she used my blog to find out what I liked. I had mentioned in a previous post that I liked Creme Brulee coffee. I can not find it very often around where I live so when I go to a coffee shop that has it, I become a very good customer of theirs. To my amazement, she sent me Creme Brulee coffee from her favorite coffee shop. I am sitting here at this moment savoring the aroma and taste of that coffee. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Vicki.

And now my knitted gift....I have never tried to design any knitting. She made me a skinny scarf that she designed and made herself.

I wore it to my local weaving/knitted shop and got so many compliments. I was smiling so hard you would have thought that I had made it.

Isn't the internet wonderful. You meet such wonderful people.

I have a short story to tell you about another internet friend. I had been receiving emails of jokes for almost a year but did not bother to tell the person that I did not know them because I loved the jokes. I had to say something when I received an email asking for the address of a relative. I wrote her back and told her that I did not know her but would like to stay on her contact list because I loved the things she sent.

We sent back a few notes and she sent me a picture of her and her husband. When I found out that I was a diabetic, she wrote me to tell me that she was Type 1 and that I could control it. She sent me magazines, pamphlets and a cookbook as well as being a wealth of knowledge on what I need to do. Because of her help, I am not taking any kind of medication. I have everything under control with diet and exercise. I can eat anything I like but in moderation and have to watch portion size. Thank you very much Susie.

My daughter was a surprise to me on Christmas. She knits but that is the end of her love of fiber/fabric. She is very creative but in other ways. Since I had purchased a sewing/embroidery machine so that it would be easier for me to travel with than taking 2 machines, she asked me if I would show her how to use my Bernina 330 stand alone embroidery machine. I took it to her and showed her the basics. She said that she wanted to embroider some things and then bead it. WOW!!!! was I amazed when I opened a present from her and found that she had embroidered a tee shirt for me. She did a great job, don't you think!!!!

I think she is ready to move on to sewing.

Well, I go back to New Orleans to work on Monday. Have a couple of my friends to visit. I will take some photos of my friend Gail's knitting/weaving shop that is located in Gettysburg, PA about 15 mintues from me. I know you will enjoy them.

I am working on some socks that I will show you in the next post. I am in a Spinning Exchange so I have to get started on that. I have not spun in quite some time so I hope that I get something that looks like yarn out of this. In February, I will have a chance to take a one day class that will help me in spinning the yarn for the 2nd skein I am to send my exchange partner. You are to send one handspun skein in January and one in Februrary. I am going to try to concentrate on my spinning this year so that I can get better.

Other thoughts on my mind is to make some art dolls. That is the fault of Teesha Moore, if you check out her blog, you will see the most spectacular dolls. I was so envious.

I have also joined a fiber artist group. They have an exchange making fiber postcards that you can send through the mail. I thought that this would be fun to try using fiber and Paint Shop Pro.