Fiber and Pulp

Autumn?

Skip an I have been away on our annual visit to the Great Smokey Mountains in northeastern Tennessee for the past week. I spent Thursday (after my last blog post) packing and readying for our trip. Friday we drove the 500+ miles southwest to the resort in Gatlinburg (where our condo unit is - I inherited this from my Mom). We own week #42 in apartment C102 of Laurel Point Resort. Unlike most of the resort time-share units sold back in the 70's, this one came with an ownership deed (getting the deed reassigned to our names took some paperwork and legal stuff back in my executor days). My parents paid $8000 or so for this week when they bought it - the market value now is about $2800. I guess that tells you a lot about time-share vacation market trends, eh?

We like the National Park nearby and enjoy the scenery so we keep going. It is one of only three places my husband will willingly go on vacation with me (he's a serious home-body:). He always enjoys our week there - though both of us could do without the general tourist-y-ness of Gatlinburg itself (shrug). Usually when I am there, I go out to roam quite often (daily:) but this year I was quieter and only went out three times.

I took just about the right amount of fiber work along with me, which surprised me. Generally I take way too much or way too little. I took along Blue (my featherweight sewing machine) and the stalled Flower Sugar quilt and managed to finish piecing the backing for that top. I've only dithered with that for about three months. :P Now to make an appointment and take the whole shebang to my longarm quilter!

I also took a new project I just bought - a mini mosaic kit from Cheryl Lynch of Curvalicious fame for my bicycle quilt. The very first instruction was to chop up the 2" squares of fabric included in the kit - into 3/8" squares!

As I'm doing all this somewhat precise cutting, I could not help wondering what I had gotten myself into! :) I needed to separate the cut up squares into color piles and, knowing my clumsy ways, I decided to use an ice-cube tray to keep them under control (fingers crossed as I did it:).

This photo shows my cutting progress about halfway. In total, there were background bits (at the far left), bicycle bits (the red), bicycle basket, metal parts bits and finally 'road' bits. The last three were very subtly different (dark blues, dark blue grays and dark green grays). None of this was spelled out in the directions so maybe I was seeing differences where none were intended?

Here is my finished mosaic:

 

Of course, there was quite a bit of fiddling between the beginning and the ending points. Grin. I forgot to bring along my tweezers (I was surprised that there wasn't a pair in my tool bag, too) - the instructions definitely call for some - but my, um, fat fingers managed the task of handling the tiny squares ok. Surprised me! :) I had thought this would be a tedious process that I would have to soldier through to get the end results - however, much to my shock, I really enjoyed the whole technique. There was a real pleasure to fitting the little bits into recognizable shapes, to choosing just the right sized little slice to suit each portion of the design. I must have enjoyed it because I made a label for the back with my left over squares:

To get to this product, I had to take a drive out to the local quilt shop (one of my three outings), Mountain Stitches by Susan, on Gatlinburg's Arts & Crafts circle drive. I've been there every year we go to Gatlinburg (maybe five or six times in all), so I'm familiar with the shop.

It sits middle-ways into a small strip of artisans galleries and shops near the beginning of the crafts circle. Even way back in the 30's when Gatlinburg began to be billed as a tourist destination celebrating the Appalachians, the local powers-that-be encouraged artists and craftsmen to move into the area to draw more tourists. Now there is an 8 mile drive on the north side of town where such folk congregate - painters, photographers, potters, etc of all sorts. It is a pleasant drive and I always enjoy the circuit.

You may have heard about the devastating fire that ran through this region last year in late November, burning out much of Sevierville (the next town northwards) and parts of Gatlinburg. There was a lot of evidence of the fire around town when we arrived, even though it is almost a year later - many burned out buildings and empty places where such were removed (including two building and the office/pool complex in our own resort). I was startled when I went into to Susan's to see that her inventory was down by at least half from my visit last year. As I chatted with her at the checkout counter, she said this past year had been the worst, economically, in her entire tenure with the shop. No surprise as the fire damage deterred a lot of visitors I'm sure.

She has always featured a pleasant mixture of Civil War repros, batiks and very cheerful modern prints with a gentle leavening of 30's repros as well. This year there were no batiks, minimal 30's and only a room full of moderns and another of basic Civil War prints. I was very focused on finding a border for my mosaic (I settled on that black-on-red floral print you see around my bicycle mosaic in the photo above). I also wanted to buy a small batt so I could quilt the block but she doesn't stock _any_ batting (she told me she gave up carrying it as her clientele, mostly tourists, just didn't buy it) ... and some more fusible to make the label with. Unfortunately, the only fusible she carries is Heat and Bond Lite which I am not too fond of using ... but I bought a half yard anyway as it was what I could get. :) I also bought two spools of Aurifil thread (one dark red in 50 weight to quilt the bicycle with and a medium red 12 weight for hand embroidery). 

Once I had those goods, I tootled back to our unit and went on sewing up my mosaic. The entire bicycle is covered with tulle to hold the little squares and will get quilted around each 'tile'. Since I could not get a batt, I deferred the quilting until I got home to my Bernina (and batting:). I did not have any extra tulle to cover the label I made so I just stitched it down with Blue using a medium gray Aurifil thread. The grid kind of loosely runs through the centers of the tile squares (each of them is fused in place). Some of the 'tiling' I did on the label turns out to be 'invisible' - the background print is red and the side red triangles I laboriously pieced in place blend in so that it looks like I did nothing in those areas. Shrug.

I kept to my recent sleeping schedule while I was on vacation - bed by midnight, sleep until 11 or 12 noon. Sigh. I am literally spending half my life asleep. :P Sleeping that late was somewhat complicated by the fact that the construction was proceeding with repairs and there was a huge jackhammer breaking down the concrete foundations and removing them, preparatory to rebuilding the office/pool complex. Noisy ... but I barely heard it. I am a heavy sleeper. Sigh.

Another project I took along is a new knitting bag - a shawl pattern I bought while in Kansas in May with some lovely Malabrigo yarn in the Arroyo colorway:

Hmm, you might conclude, looking at this photo, that I like purple, eh? :) I neglected to bring needles, though, so I managed to finagle a (very brief) visit to the Smokey Mountain Spinnery on Saturday afternoon, on our way back from the grocery store. I didn't want to upset Skip who was very nice to stop for me so I just ran in, bought  needles, and left. I've visited before - this is a GREAT fiber shop. I thought I might get back to check out what was new but never did, this trip. She stocks a wide variety of needles (bamboo, birch, steel, square steel and carbon) - much more varied than I expected! I decided to splurge and try the carbon ones as they are reputed to be easy on the hands. So far, I love them. :)

I cast on this shawl (225 stitches - strained my counting brain cells:) and have worked about two inches of it by now (knitted all the way home in the car) ... I am undecided whether to continue with it or rip it all out and pursue a different pattern with the yarn. Not because it isn't working up in beautiful colors but because it is so tedious - garter (all knit) stitches. Sigh. The result will be warm and soft if I persevere. Tactile sensory pleasure in the knitting, too. :)

The last project I took to work on - my Happy Village class project - I never even opened. The lighting is not too good (standard household) in our unit and I neglected to bring my work light along. All those 'low volume' prints I used in my town buildings demand good light to discriminate between. :)

I did go out driving and walking in the park at least one entire afternoon. I stopped at the main visitor center which includes a nice small museum of park wildlife and history. My favorite part of that is the large topographical map display in the entry lobby - not often you get to see a 3D map of an area, especially one as interesting as mountains. :) This time I also sat and watched the award-winning movie they show on short loop (about twenty minutes long?) which has some breath-taking photography of the park. I visited the book shop, too, and bought a book about Cherokee basketry and basketmakers written by a professor from North Carolina's university. Interesting to read (and I actually read the text all the way through:). It was inspiring to read about people who kept the native traditions alive despite all the hardships they have endured (mostly at the hands of invading Europeans). 

Of course, I also bought some goodies for my grandson (which I need to mail off to him:). Sadly, I had left my cane at home in Maryland and I never did find any good ones for sale while we were away. I just took my time and tottered carefully around.

As I left the visitor's center, I spotted an interesting travel vehicle - could get interested in owning one of these, I think:

Isn't it cute? Crawling in and out of it might be beyond my body these days, but the foot loose life has always had a secret appeal to me. I'd guess that is a legacy of my youth (we moved A LOT when I was a kid) combined with familial tendencies. :)

I found a very nice 'Quiet Walk' area that I had taken another year as I drove through the park and stopped to enjoy a half-mile or so hike (on the flat) and photography.

There was a little evidence of the fire along this path but not much - it runs past a low area with lots of standing water in summer, I think (was damp and mossy when I was there). In no particular order, here are some photos I took.

 

I quite enjoyed my trek, short though it was, through the woods. This is the kind of terrain I grew up playing in when I was at my grandparents houses and it holds a lot of nostalgic pleasure for me ... there is the peacefulness of being outside in nature, too (though the sound of traffic is never far away - this park is heavily visited).

I stopped again during my drive to take photos of the mountains. The day was overcast and there was little or no color on the hills - they looked somewhat foreboding and unfriendly that day. :) I was startled by how much rock was showing this year - generally in the past the mountains have been too overgrown with trees for their rocky ribs to show.

The first weekend we were there, it rained all day Saturday. In the late afternoon, the clouds blew over and the sun came out. Sitting on our balcony, I managed to catch some photos that show _why_ this is the Great Smokey Mountain area:

 

As you can see, there was more color developing on our side of the mountain than in the park. :) The mist rising from the rain looks very like smoke - hence the name of this region where the valleys are narrow and the hillsides fairly steep. This entire mountain chain is very old - it was formed by the impact of the continental plate that carries Africa against the North American plate, back when both were part of Gonwondaland (I _think_). The movie I watched in the visitor's center noted that these hills were once higher than the Rocky Mountains and that all the sand forming beaches along the East and Gulf Coasts are the remains of these mountains washed down to the sea! Kind of awe-inspiring to consider time on that scale.

Our trips down and home were similar in length though we took two different paths. Going down we took Interstate 70 west to 81 which runs diagonally through Virginia into Tennessee. Coming back, there were reports of extreme traffic on 81 so we went eastward across southern Virginia to pick up I95 northward past DC on the eastern side. Traffic was worse but never awful coming home and we spent only 30 minutes more with that route. I doubt we'll do that again, though, unless we feel like a tour of rolling farmlands and Virginia small towns. ;)

I did manage to take some flower photos at one of the rest stops in VA (most of them aren't too fancy):

 

On the whole, it was a very pleasant trip. Skip and I are quiet people so we enjoy quiet vacations. :)

:) Linda

PS Linking to Freemotion by the River. :) Also to Let's Bee Social. :)







 

Streets and Alleys

I think I have mentioned before that I am participating in a bee with the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild this year. This past Sunday when I attended our monthly meeting (the one where Victoria Wolfe spoke), I picked up a new Quilt-in-a-Box project to work on. I had fun yesterday making my block for this person's box!

I really enjoy improv piecing, in whatever form it comes - crumb piecing, mile-a-minute, jazz piecing ... I've heard the process called a lot of things over the years but I always enjoy it. There is a lot of satisfaction for me from taking a handful of scraps and making something I like. :)

In this case, I took the scraps other sewists left in the box and assembled a block I'm thinking of as City Streets. The focus print this member chose is that black-on-white city buildings design. Since this is the last month (I _think_) of our bee, there were lots of blocks already made in the box (I'm not sure how mine will fit in with the others, visually, but I could not deny those scraps:). That is the second pleasure of working with this kind of bee - getting to see what everyone makes with the same fabrics. :)

I took all the little building scraps and combined them with the three or four shades of greens as my first pass ... then with the black-on-white dot (seemed like a kind of generic, blurry city background image to me:). Once I had bits from all that, I started adding black print 'streets' to the bits. Then, after all that sort of 'coleslaw' of fabric, I had to assemble the parts into a map.

Took an incredible amount of thinking and sewing - I didn't measure ANYTHING and only used my rulers to trim and square up bits. I'm astonished that it all came together so well (um, I like it anyway; no telling how it's Mommy will feel about my efforts:). 

At the end, I had three rectangular panels that I subdivided and joined to get a big square area. It was gratifying how easily the whole thing worked ... and I do think it looks like a city map with buildings, streets, plazas, etc. :) Here is another photo for you:

Today has been interesting, too. We need to get a car charger installed here to charge up our new Bolt ... the electrician has been here since 8 a.m. (I am writing this at 2:50 p.m. and he still has 'an hour or two' of work to do, he says). Of course, the power was off in the whole house from 8:15 until about 1:30 in the afternoon (thank goodness for digital book reading on my iPhone!). I never thought about the fact that most of the things I like to do (at home) are electrically powered. :)

Getting a charger installed isn't usually so time consuming... but ... they discovered that the entire fuse box (actually breakers) had to be replaced first. Our house was built in September 1974, so all  that old work had to be brought up to current building codes and safeties. _Then_ he can install the 220Volt 32 amp line to our carport to charge the car. 

I'm just grateful that there are people who specialize in this kind of work and that I don't have to figure out how to do it myself - our house would likely burn down. :P

:) Linda

PS. Linking to Let's Bee Social today. :)

Weekend Inspiration

Not much of this showing here in eastern Maryland, yet. The weekend was pleasant - in the mid70's during the day but breezy and mostly overcast. I've seen some brown leaves falling but nothing with color so far.

I had a pretty exciting weekend, myself. Saturday I went to a class at Photoscraps in Sykesville, MD. This was a 'make up' session for a class I missed last month. As it turned out when I got there, the other student who was scheduled did not come so I got more-or-less a private lesson. :) The class project was a shadowbox with the theme of Beach (one my favorite things:).

I learned things I had never done before (making molded figures, painting with textured colors, fiddling with hot glue sculpture) and had FUN. It was a bit difficult in that Lisa, the teacher (and co-owner of the shop, I _think_) was also serving as clerk for the shop along with her husband ... and got called away from my class frequently. I had sympathy for her as I've been there myself in the past. She seemed to be much better at 'multitasking' than I ever was. :)

Anyway, here is a photo series of the results of my efforts - not perfect, but pleasing. I was there from 12 noon until they locked the doors at 5 p.m.! I apologize - the metallic paint reflects the camera lights more than when you see this - but none of the photos I tried to take in plain light could visualize the back of the shadow box niches correctly. Sigh,

 

As an added bonus, I got to drive the new (all electric) car out to Sykesville and back - a good way to get me comfortable with where the controls for the radio, a/c, cruise control, etc. are located ... and to get used to the way the car drives. It has regenerative braking which means that when you are not actively accelerating, the energy of the wheels rolling is used to recharge the battery. When you drive a standard (internal combustion) engine, you get used to pushing in the clutch and free rolling down hills and such. This car does not allow for that - if you aren't pushing the accelerator pedal, the car slows down. It also means that you don't put in the (non-existant) clutch to start around corners and tight bends, you just push more gently on the 'go' pedal. :) Didn't take me long to get used to but it _is_ different. 

The silence of the drive is the most noticeable difference to me - no engine noise. :)

Sunday afternoon was the monthly meeting of the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild at the Owings Mills Public Library. Victoria Findlay Wolfe was here this past weekend, teaching for the guild and lecturing at the meeting. I did not take her class - too slow to register and all the places were filled - but I'm sorry, now that I've heard her speak. What a wonderful person!! I found her approach to quilt making and speaking very familiar and still inspiring. She approaches designing and thinking about the creative process very much like I do which I found delightful (of course:) and was continually encouraging the audience to try just a little bit more, to look with their eyes (not their brains) and to take risks. :) Her quilts are wonderful and I bought her newest book (published by C&T), "Modern Quilt Magic."

 

There are some really exciting quilts in this book. Not for the faint of heart, imho. :)

Today was pretty quiet. I piddled around online for a while until Skip got home from work. After he and Hugh went grocery shopping, Skip and I drove out to  the fast charging station in Glen Elg again (my driving both days on the weekend used up energy:). While the car sat to charge, we strolled across the road to Ten Oaks Tavern for dinner. The food was good (I had some delicious pulled pork and apple pie a la mode for desert) and I enjoyed my time with my spouse (whom I see much too rarely to suit me:).

I managed to take Skip home in time to get to my Faithful Circle guild meeting this evening - I haven't been in a couple of weeks and it was good to see quilty friends. I took my aboriginal top and the Halloween mini swap quilt I received for show and tell. A happy end to a great weekend.

:) Linda

Brownian Motion

I don't know how often I say this but I the last two days have been a bit .... odd. Not gone-on-vacation odd or sick-in-hospital odd ... just, no-clear-theme odd. :) Thursday mornings are the weekly time for my Faithful Circle guild to meet. I do enjoy going to this group (and the Monday evening one) but I am struggling to wake up these days - the meeting starts at 10 a.m. 

This Thursday was worse than usual - I literally could not pry my eyes open at 9 a.m. so I could get up to start the day. The weather outside was gray and damp (it rained on and off all day) which did not help me any, either. :P Usually after the guild meeting a group of us go to lunch together and I have been enjoying that chance to socialize quite a bit. This Thursday, sadly, I didn't get the chance. It was noon before I could manage to get myself upright. Major sighs.

As it happens, I had a doctor's appointment at 2 p.m. with my primary care (family) doctor. It was meant to be a follow-up to last  month's sleep study - and about time, too! Of course, I do indeed test as needing a CPAP* machine (*constant positive airway pressure, I think) - the thing blows air into my throat/chest so my airway doesn't collapse and block off my breath. That's what makes the deep snoring and heart problems associated with sleep apnea. My doctor agrees that I need a new machine (apparently they are only expected to work well for about five years and mine is older than that). Someone is supposed to get in touch with me next week to get me a new model. We'll see - it can't come fast enough for me!

The flowers at the top of this post were planted along the sidewalk running up to the doctor's office - I loved the bright colors on such a gray day! Someone had cleaned leaves off the sidewalk but there were still dyed patterns from them which I loved looking at (people who do Eco-dyeing would love these effects):

Concrete is a porous surface - I wonder how long it will take for these leaves to wear off? :)

Pattern is all around me wherever I go - I tend to get distracted by it, no matter what I'm doing. My doctor's aide was wearing a scrub top with a pretty flower pattern on that I like. Luckily she was tolerant of me taking a photo of the design:

It reminds me a little of something Jen Kingwell would sew, maybe. I took the time to draw it out on my computer but this blog platform doesn't seem to accept pdf files. Sigh. I think I will try to do at least one applique block of this flower.

In my (snail) mail queue on Thursday afternoon came my Halloweenie Mini quilt from Manon K. in New Mexico - sooo cute! There were fun little goodies in the bundle, too:

Here's my little quilt giftie:

And a closer look:

This is such a nice use of hexagons - and the fabrics she chose are cute, too. I'm looking for a good place to hang this baby for the holiday. :)

I've already been using that 4.5" square ruler she sent (I didn't know Fiskars _made_ rulers:). My evening sewing this past week has been playing with two sets of 5" charm squares of Australian aboriginal prints. Sort of improv, sort of 'disappearing nine patch' ish. I finished sewing up all the squares that came in the two sets and it seems to be about lap sized (or maybe large baby size). I ordered some more Australian print in blue to border and back this and I'm looking forward to quilting it. I probably will give it to my modern guild's charity project when it is done. :)

The camera makes this look very pinky-plummy but it is actually pretty orange and purple and gold. Shrug. It was too dark and rainy out when I wanted a photo to take outside pictures. Maybe when I get it sandwiched and quilted? :)

Today I had the same problems with waking up (same gray, chilly weather out) ... but didn't have to struggle to go anywhere. My son and husband decided when Skip got home from work that we should go to the Apple store in our shopping mall to buy new phones (been three years and two new versions of the iPhone since our last round of buys). My husband had already decided to change our phone service from Sprint to TMobile (don't ask me why:). Sooooo, we were at the shop for some time (more than an hour) getting all that arranged. 

He did treat us to dinner at Panera's afterwards (I had their Napa Valley chicken salad with apples and grapes which I love:). Hugh is suffering from depression right now and I felt sad that I could do so little to help him (except explain that a good doctor and some proper medications would certainly help him - I _think_ he was listening to me:).

The new electric car continues to delight Skip. He has found (no surprise to me) that he drives much more economically than the standard the company publishes. He's getting about 30% better 'mileage' than the posted expectation which makes him happy.

Tomorrow I have a class at Photoscraps in Sykesville so I'll get a chance to drive the car for that - I hope I don't miss any important buttons. LOL!

:) Linda

PS Linking up with Design Wall Monday. :)

Moving Forward

Skip and I took a very pleasant drive yesterday to find the two fast charging stations that are closest to us (as it is likely to take a week or more to get one installed here at home:). One is at a High's gas station in GlenElg, the other in a shopping center in Overlook. Both work fine though one is on the ChargePoint network (with which we have a membership) and the other is with EVGo (which we do not; quite a bit more pricey:). Kinda like two different gas brands. Shrug.

I spent a little time yesterday working on my Village. Here's how far I got (see the photo above - that's where I started:)

As you can see (I hope:), I have started putting roofs, windows and doors, stairs and railings on my Village. There's a lot of work to go, but it is beginning to look 'real' to me. Fun! :)

Other than that, haven't done much other than sleep. Sigh. I actually woke up at 10 a.m. today ... but by 1 p.m. I was passing out as I tried to sew so I had to go back to bed ... and woke up again around 4, when Skip came home from work. Too much down time. Grrr.

:) Linda

PS Linking to Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share. :)

Busy Beginning

The biggest news in our family life is that we bought a new car on Friday/Saturday. Skip and I have been pondering a new car for several months as my ancient PT Cruiser has neared its end (197,000+ miles and 14 years:). We have wanted an electric car for years and the car makers have _finally_ caught up to our desires. We bought a new Chevrolet Bolt - the range is now up to about 250 miles per full charge which makes it a viable commuting car for Skip to drive to work daily (28 miles each way per day). He decided that he liked Arctic Blue as the color (I vetoed black or gray, otherwise I didn't care:) ... I think it looks silver up close; you can only tell it's blue from a distance. Shrug. It rides beautifully and is SO QUIET. Nifty. :)

We spent some time looking at local maps for charging stations - we have a call in to the electrician to install a station here in our carport. Until that gets done, he'll have to charge elsewhere. :) Of course, like all new cars, it came with new technology - I might actually have to read the owner's manual before I drive it. LOL!

Hmmm ... what else. When my Sew&Tell group met last Sunday afternoon, my friend Barbara showed a new top she had finished. She found the pattern and bought the fabrics when I still had my shop ... and this is a rather unusual palette for her ... but I think this is lovely, made with Amy Butler prints (mostly):

On Saturday, Barbara, Patty, Caren F. and I went to a quilt show. Caren drove us west to Westminster to Everybody's Quilt Guild's show. I quite enjoyed myself but took only one photo (who knows why no others got taken - I was enjoying my chat encounters with friends too much I think:). I took this photo to text to my exBrother-in-law as he grew up on a Pig Farm (in Illinois) and collects piggies. :)

I can actually imagine myself making this quilt - I have a fond (weak) spot in me for plaids and checks. :)

When we finished at the show, we ate lunch (at a local diner) and then visited The Blue House quilt shop on Main Street in Westminster. I like this shop - they carry a lot of very nice modern style prints - but I don't get out there very often. Caren especially enjoyed herself as it was her first visit. :)

After I got home from that trip, Skip and I drove back out to the car dealership in Clarksville to sign the papers, pay, and bring our new car home. This is the first time we have ever paid cash for a car and it was a strange experience. We've written bigger checks before (buying our house comes to mind:) ... but never for a car. Weird! :)

Today, Sunday, I spent the day in a class held by Faithful Circle with Karen Eckmeier - Happy Villages. When this book first came out (2008?), I bought a copy and have wanted to dig in ever since. Finally got my chance. :) Oh, we had FUN! The class was full (25 students?) and rocked big time. :)

Here are some of Karen's sample villages she brought along:

Here she is in front of the class, explaining how she built the river through her village:

She was a delightful teacher - very cheerful and supportive. She told us to play, relax, not measure but to think of the day as grown-up kindergarten. :) Since I never went to kindergarten in real life (started first grade when I was 5 years old), I try never to miss a chance to play. :)

Of course, I had to be different (I didn't do it to stand out, I had a vision of a Santorini-like place ... not sure if it will work out that way, yet:) ... I brought all white background prints for my house walls and bright stripes (remember that Challenge jelly roll?) for roofing. Here is my beginning village - not looking like very much, yet. :)

If you try really hard, you might be able to see different print textures defining the various house shapes? :) I'll share more as I work along on this piece.

Speaking of pieces, I finished my Halloweenie Mini quilt for the Instagram swap at long last. I made the flimsy about six weeks or so ago but finally had to quit dithering and just quilt it - I used glow-in-the-dark thread and went for simple. I'm calling this 'Bats! Bats!' in my head - I think all those pairs of triangles look like bats (most people see them as butterflies:).

I have to box it all up and mail it off to my partner tomorrow (the weekend has been just too busy to do it now - I only got the 'ship now' message late Thursday night). I hope she likes it!!

:) Linda

PS Linking to Off The Wall Fridays. :) Also to Linky Tuesday on Freemotion by the River. Also to Let's Bee Social.