Hot For Chocolate - What I Got!

Oooooooo, look at these yummy goodies I got for Yarni Gras' Hot For Chocloate Apron Swap! Madelyn really spoiled me! In the first place, I am a Pattern Nut...but the one pattern (yes, I think it's the ONLY ONE!) that I didn't have was the Sweet Treat Bag! Not only did she send me the pattern, but she sent me a Honey Bun to try it out! I can't wait to get started on it!

And then...the apron was soooo cute! The funny thing was we both chose the same chocolate fabric for our aprons, but Madelyn had some other fabrics that I didn't have. Like the beautiful chocolate nonpariel , and the chocolate chip fabrics! Arent' they gorgeous?

I really love the extras she sent and especially these fat quarters! There was some lovely lavendar spray starch! And notice the Dove Chocolate peeking out at the right side of the picture...yummmmm.....Thanks Madelyn! What a wonderful swap package!

Spooks, Rattles, Pots, and Pans Apron Swap!

Here's the AWESOME apron I got from Aunt Pitty Pat in her Spooks, Rattles, Pots, and Pans Apron Swap! I love this fabric! I almost used the same apron pattern for the one I sent her - now THAT would have been funny! But at the last minute, I changed my mind and made a different one. She also sent a cute potholder that she kept apologizing for how it was made - but I saw NOTHING wrong with it whatsoever! I sent HER a potholder very similar except it was round instead of oval - great minds think alike, LOL!
Modeling the apron and potholder is my very good friend, Julia! I thought she was a lot more photogenic than me, so I drafted her for the job! Julia is a really accomplished photographer. If you're interested, you can see some of her work on Red Bubble.

APP also sent an adorable crow/pumpkin decoration, and some wickedly cute cupcake-ees and picks. Thanks, APP - what a great swap package!

I'm So Behind On My Blogging...

This is going to be just a quick one-pic post...and hopefully I'll get some more posted later this afternoon. My excuse is that my computer has been losing its internet connectivity randomly. Very frustrating when trying to post! Replaced the modem ($100) and the power strip ($70). It's better...but I'm still losing the internet, just not as bad! Guess I'll have to call my ISP one of these days...

Anywhoot! Here is a picture of the wonderful backpack that APP made for me! As some of you know, APP and I met up in northern California in September while we were both on vacation! How fun is that! We are lifelong friends now :-) Actually, we were before too...but definitely will keep that friendship going now. She's terrific, as most of you already knew :-)

Witches Cupboard! Pics!

Here are some pics of what I received from Val's Witches Cupboard Swap, from Jenny in NC. She did an excellent job and I love everything! Here's the box before I unwrapped everything: She sent Raven's Feathers and Fairy Poo (chuckle!):

Look at this cool Bling Ring!

And I love this black pin!Some wonderful buttons - oh, how I do love buttons! Old ones, new ones - any button is a good button!

And this Spell Book is...well...Spell Binding! I love the Boo banner, but somehow didn't get a picture of that as it's laid out...maybe I'll take it to work to decorate my office and get a picture there.

Thank you, Jenny! It's all wonderful and very much appreciated! I'll post pics of what I sent out when I'm sure they have been received (since I was a few days late in sending).

Witches Cupboard!

I am soooo far behind on my blogging! My excuse is that I'm trying to get caught up after being on vacation (there WILL be pics from that soon!). I did try to post pics of what I received/sent on Val's Swap page last night, but I couldn't get the darn Blogger thing to upload my pics, so I'll try again tonight.

But I just wanted to at least get a Sneak Peek Pic of what I received from Jenny in NC! It's so awesome! I'll post the "unwrapped" version tonight!

An Angel, and An Adventure!

I was an "angel" for Val's Mama Mia Apron Swap. I didn't sign up for this swap because I hadn't watched the movie, but I told Val I would get it and then be an angel if she needed one. I bought the DVD, and then promptly lost it (in the house). I hunted high and low. I finally gave up and bought it a second time. Yep, you guessed it - I FOUND the first copy. Unfortunately, Val DID need an angel...but I was happy to craft this for Jody, just up the road from me in Alaska:

Jody liked green (except kelly green - just like me!), so I used this wonderful line of fabric - I just love that green/black/white combo, don't you? I also made a drink wrap and even put some beads on it, and included a package of green cocktail napkins, and a drink recipe I snagged from Aunt Pitty Pat's blog (more about her later!). I made a card using scraps of the fabrics.

Did you see the boa in the above picture? Jody can wear the apron and the boa...and use THIS to belt out "Dancing Queen" in the privacy of her living room, LOL! It's a microphone made of felt and even has a "mic button" (a black button)...hard to see in this pic.

Here's a closeup of the drink wrap - notice there are two of them - Jody got only one. I'm sending the other one to Val because she loves this particular green color! Sssshhhh - don't tell her!

It was my pleasure to make this package for Jody. For Val's next swap...I'm signing up right away! The theme is "Hot for Chocolate" - would could resist that?

Now...I mentioned "more about" Aunt Pitty Pat above...and here's the "Adventure" part of this post...APP and I are going to meet next week! Marcel lives in Kansas with Pitty Pat and all her other creatures, but she's flying (she and Pitty are in the air at this very moment!) to California to visit her Grandma Peachy, mom, aunt and other assorted relatives. Since I have vacation leave to burn, I decided to take two weeks and come down to Cali to meet her! The "Adventure" will be that I'm driving! Now, probably for a lot of you, that's no big deal, but I'm a Nervous Nellie Driver. But I'm taking this on as a personal challenge.

And I bought myself a CUTE little netbook, and made a CUTE little bag for it. It's so CUTE! Did I mention it's CUTE? So I'm planning on blogging on my way down and while I'm there. It's about 12-14 hours from where I live, but who knows how long it will take me to get there...I'm sure there are one or two fabric/quilt shops along the way, LOL! And oldest son, Ben, gave me his GPS to use, so between the netbook, wi fi spots, and the GPS, it might take me a week to reach my destination! Just kidding...I'm figuring I'll be there in two days :-)

So...wish me luck, and I'll keep you posted on my progress!

2, 4, 6, 8! I Got Pom-Poms!

On August 19, I posted one of those "10 facts your fellow bloggers need to know about you." One of the 10 was:

3. I am the World's Greatest "Work" Cheerleader! I want whatever organization I work for to succeed.

This is very true (or I wouldn't have posted it!) - wherever I've worked, I have been a positive force for trying to make things better. Heck - you want your organization to thrive so you can keep your job, right? So it just makes sense.

My job right now involves composing often complex communications that translate technical system mumbo-jumbo to "plain talk" for end users - about 750 of them! Mostly they are boring. The communications - not the end users. Ok, well some of them might be boring, too...

But once in awhile, I get to write some that are a bit more fun. September 7-11 was National Payroll Week. Since the system I write about pays our Washington State general government employees twice a month, I got to write about this event all week.

On Tuesday through Thursday (Monday was a holiday), I sent out interesting metrics on how many paychecks the system had produced in 2008, error rates, taxes paid to the Feds, etc. By Friday, I had run out of stats, so I wrapped up the week by praising our payroll professionals who make it all happen. I was truly inspired, and laid it on pretty thick, LOL! I think I was seeing flags waving and hearing inspirational music in my head. The Big Boss read it and said it made him "all warm and fuzzy." The Assistant Big Boss shot me an email that said "That's it, Miss Ma'am! I'm getting you a set of pom-poms!" I wrote back and said "I want pink ones!!!"

Lo and behold, when I got back from lunch, there was Assistant Big Boss with....drumroll....PINK POM POMS! So, of course, I just had to put my hair in ponytails, don a classic pink sweater, and pose! I cut an initial "N" out of black paper...and stuck it on my sweater...uh...you'll notice it's on TILT! Had hubby take the picture and being a man, he apparently didn't notice it was askew. Oh well...you get the idea.

Don't worry, now I'm gonna hang up my pom poms where I can't do any more damage with them...I don't think I want to be the OLDEST "World's Greatest Work Cheerleader"....