Cracker From Sarma

 Here's the cracker I received from Sarma, full of goodies.  Thank you Sarma!

Bounty From Lorrie

 Lorrie spoiled me with the cracker exchange.  There were a bunch of little packages, as they all wouldn't fit in the cracker.  Top is the packages, chocolate included, and bottom is the packages exploded view.  Thank you Lorrie!

Christmas Crackers Made

 I made these Christmas crackers for an exchange on Crazy Quilting International.  They're stuffed with embroiidery goodies.  Mine in exchange haven't arrived here, but I'm not surprised.  We've gotten no mail since the 14th.  

It seems the real meaning of the twelve days of Christmas is waiting the twelve extra days for your mail.... at least in the foreign service.

Thank You Melissa!

Thank you, Melissa, for the beautiful floss and fabric!  This was definitely worth the wait and way generous.  Thank you so much!

Gift from Jeanne

Beautiful thread, a pair of scissors, and a very nice project case from Jeanne S for the birthday exchange.  Thank you very much, Jeanne!  It was definitely worth the wait.  

Ornament From Tara

Thank you, Tara, for the lovely ornament and thread!  This was part of the BBInteractive exchange, and I thank Tara for her lovely gift!

Mitten For Tara

Yay, my mitten made it to Tara in Canada!  I sent it at the end of October, and it was for an exchange sponsored by Brooke's Books' Yahoo group.  This is how it turned out.

Exchange From Joyce

I received Joyce's autumn ornament in the mail.  Isn't it cute with the leaves and acorn?  It's hanging on the key rack in my office now.  Thank you, Joyce!

All Edged Up

I have a whole spool of this fluffy rickrack for finishing, yet this is the first time I've used it.  I think it came out pretty well for Joyce's autumn pillow ornament.  I'd made the ornament last year, and finally finished it!  The design is Acorn Sampler by Periwinkle Promises.

Thank You Sue!

We had an exchange of temari back in the spring.  I had to hurry and make mine quickly because, while I was back in the US, our ability to mail items from post was severely curtailed.  Temari are too big to fit in the small box we're allowed now.  So, I hurried and made, with the aid of my friend Florine, a ball for Sue.  It was the one with all the nautical charms on it; she sails.  In return, I received this one a couple of weeks ago.  I love the colors and the design!   I'm going to have to try it myself, as I'm getting to be a little bit comfortable with C10 marking.  Thank you so much for the ball, Sue!  I love it!

Thank You Jennifer!

Jennifer M and I participated in an ornament exchange in July.  Mail being what it is here, it took a month to get to me.  It's worth the wait, though.  Thank you very much, Jennifer!  The snowpeeps are so cute!

Temari For Sue

 This is the last temari I will be able to make for exchange.  The post office is to blame; because they took away our DPO zip code, I'm not able to mail anything that won't fit into a small priority mail box.  That means temari, because they're three dimensional, are not able to be mailed.  I'm severely bummed out.


To get back to this temari!  It's a C8 design that I saw.  This is my second time making the pattern, and I blinged it out a bit.  The colors are water ones, for the recipient is a boater.  Sue spends a lot of time on the water, so I made a temari to reflect her passion.  She's already received it and loves it.  I'm relieved!

Thank You Teresa!

When I got home from my vacation, one of the packages waiting in the mail contained all this.  Teresa sent it all to me as part of the scissor pocket exchange.  Not only is her scissors case beautiful, she gave me a bounty of threads too.  Thank you so much!  I love it!

Exchange Case Done

On time, even, I finished the exchange piece!  It's been received already, and she likes it.  Not much else you can ask.  I was disappointed in the pattern because the resolution was not good enough to make it easily read, on either the computer screen or printed out.  I muddled through that and got it done, though!

Another In Progress Photo

I'm done with the basics on this, but since it's for an exchange, I want to bling it out a bit.  It looks a bit plain at the moment even though the pattern is spiffy.

All Stitched Up

I finished the stitching and started putting together the scissors fob.  It's going to get done on time!

On The Frontside

Most of the case is done; it's time to stitch the front part.  The design has been hard to work with because the designer did it digitally, but didn't put the resolution at a high enough quality to print it out on a single full page or to blow it up onscreen to see properly.  Some guesswork has been involved.

Thank You Linda

This temari is even more beautiful than the picture.  It sparkles!  It's also a wonderful gift from Linda W in Cyprus.  We were in an exchange late last year, and hers was stolen by cargo handlers at Turkish Air in Istanbul, along with thirty bags of mail headed to the embassy here.  She made this ball to replace it.  Isn't that generous of her?  I love it, and it has a special place on my temari collection shelf.

Deadline Start

This is going to be an exchange scissors case and fob.  I started it this week, and it seems to be coming along pretty well.  Deadline is later this month.  Think I can get it put together?

Biscornu From Frances

Frances sent me  this lovely biscornu with the cutest googly-eyed fish card.  Thank you Frances, I enjoy them both!