Last week I told you about quilt tops that Debbie had sent.  I had said the three of them I was passing on to my friend Doreen who is a driving force in a local Quilts of Valor group.  Well Doreen came by and picked the up…and of course, in typical Doreen style, brought me goodies.

Check them out….It’s a scrap box of Kaffe prints.  YAHOO!!  
She sent these as I always tell of my love of stars and polka dots.  Doreen is so thoughtful.
…and she didn’t forget the kiddos.There were all sorts of goodies for them.

Doreen is so sweet.  She was thrilled to get the donated tops.  Gradually the group she works with is catching up with Quilts of Valor for our county.  In four years or so that they have been working at it, they have done about 100 quilts a year.  Impressive for a small group…right??

The quilts that Doreen picked up will be going to a neighboring county.  All of the counties in Iowa do not have a Quilt of Valor group and Doreen and a friend are working to honor the veterans of other counties as well.  These will be put together and passed along to those veterans.  If anyone wants to make quilt tops that are in patriotic colors, Doreen will happily find the quilts a home.  As always, many hands make light work.

I got packages in the mail too.  This one came from Jan from The Colorful Fabriholic.  I hadn’t read Jan’s before so ended up on a bunny trail checking  it out.  (you all know how goes)  Jan has some beautiful quilts.  She’s a regular blogger too.  It’s hard for me to follow blogs of people who don’t regularly blog.  I’m not saying everyone should blog as much as I do…but something regular like three times a week or so.  Anyway…here is what Jan sent. Continue reading →

My mailbox continues to be a popular place…as is my doorstep.

I got a fun box from Deb in Owatonna, MN.  She lives close to my old stomping grounds.  I grew up in New Richland, MN and Owatonna was the shopping spot of us if we were going to a “bigger” town.  They had a Woolworth’s and I remember getting a pop at the eat shop they had.  When I got older that had shut down and I remember going to the movies there once I could drive.  I have lots of memories of Owatonna.  In fact as I kid I remember going Christmas shopping at the farm store in town.  Seriously, the only presents we got often came from the farm store.  It was all good though.

Anyway…back to the box that Deb sent.  I LOVE this bag.  I’ve finally made the switch and have been using reusable bags so this is perfect.  I have to admit, I won’t take a nice one like this to the grocery store though.  I love it!!

…and did you see there is a Kona card.  Oh my.  That’s PERFECT.  Kelli is going to want me to be sharing that for sure.

Here’s the other things that were in the box.
Goodies.  I am religiously using the shea butter cream.  My hands are in such terrible shape.  I have 4 kids here in diapers and washing my hands all the time between diapers, nose wipes, food prep and working with the dog have my hands SCREAMING in pain from dryness.  
I’ve been using the shea butter lotion religiously.  It’s been WONDERFUL.  I LOVE it.  I’m not to smart and am slow to put things together but I am wondering if Deb makes it.  I liked the lotion so much that I decided to see if I could find more.  I ended up going to Google and google led me to Etsy and Etsy lead me to Namarya Soap.  That’s where the lotion is…then I looked and the owner is from Owatonna.  So…Deb might be Namarya Soap or it might be someone she knows.  Regardless, I ordered more.  I actually order several of the lotions.  I’m keeping them strategically around the house and putting it on where ever I am and and whenever I think of it.  I haven’t tried the soap yet….soon though and I tried the lip balm too.  I’m so excited to try the others…if they are as good as the lotion, I’ll be sold on them to.  You can find the shop on Etsy HERE.  I recommend the lotion!!

Rosie loves her toy.  Isn’t she getting good at posing.  I’m so proud of her.
There were orphan blocks?  Do I have any takers for these?  The 30s print ones are all different.  I think there are 12 of them.  The other blocks on the right are all the same.  I think there are 10 of those blocks.  I’d love to pass them on to someone who make charity baby quilts with them…or would make more blocks and make a different sized charity quilt them.  If you’re interested, drop me an email at [email protected]  **UPDATE these have a home.
There were things for the kids….Did anyone else have a spirograph like this.  I had one in the exact same box.  Oh I loved mine.  I never did get the hang of making them as amazing as the designs on the cover of the box.  I can’t wait to share it with my kiddos.

CUTE socks…sewing themed.  They made me smile.

WOW…I was so excited to see these…do you recognize what it is?  Continue reading →

I did so good last week.  I didn’t mess up a thing with my mail and mailbox posts.  This week I hope I can do as good.  Carver was here, he knock my stack of boxes over.  We picked it all with the hope that it was all together in the right boxes and that the right notes were with the right boxes.  Here I go…wish me luck that I got it right.

This was one of two huge boxes from the same person,  “J”  well I think it’s a J…it could be an “L”…that is all the note was signed as.  There was no return address on the box either. She has send other things before.  Today she writes that she has been hitting up estate sales and cleaning out her own things.

This is how things look at my house when boxes come.  The kids are always looking on.  They were thrilled with this box.

There were puzzles…

..and learning games….

and more goodies….
and more goodies.  Seriously, the kids played with the new toys that were in the box for about 3 hours in the morning.  They took turns and everyone got to play them all.
It made for a wonderful morning for me!

…as the infomercials say…BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!!

To the left are hand stitched blocks, beautifully done.  To the right is a quilt kit.  I think a block of the month.

There were these amazing blocks.  Included were the papers and more fabric.

Look at them…AMAZING!!

There was another stack of hand stitched flower garden blocks too.  Oh my.
I talked to Kelli and we both didn’t know what to do with the hand stitched blocks.  We ended up deciding that we’ll auction them off here on the blog in a couple weeks and use the proceeds to go towards charity quilt postage.    Neither one of us will finish them.  Our sitting time goes to cross stitch projects.

Also in the box were a wall hanging….
…and this fun quilt.  It’s all stripes.
I’m not sure where these will go yet but I’m sure we’ll find a good home for them.

WOW…all of that from one blog reader!!

The next box is the box I can’t find a note for.  The outside of the box says Roxie…but this is one of the boxes that got tipped over that Kalissa picked up.  There was an empty box with it and that box had no return address.  AHH..Please forgive me.  I can’t remember which box it goes in.

This box was lots of cross stitch and a few other goodies.

Floss including a quality hoop and floss…a fun fabric panel too!!
Check out this horse quilt block.  How fun.  
There were lots of towels for embroidery…  I love the green stripes….There were embroidery books…

My favorite was this… Continue reading →