In My Mail….

I’ve had a busy mailbox with unexpected things.  It’s been so fun.

First off, one of the things I was worried about as I’m retiring from regular childcare is my postage budget.  Seriously, I often spend $175 a month on postage getting packages out to charity groups.  I haven’t thought much of it as I consider this part of my charitable donations.  I don’t want to cut back on that as I believe it’s a wonderful cause…but, with me needing to watch my money a little more carefully, I wondered how that was going to work.  Then last week as I was making the decision on whether to retire or not, a letter came with a $100 check in it from an anonymous donor and then the next day another check came from another blog reader.  Seeing that made me know that somehow, it would all work out and I wasn’t to worry about that anymore.  Seriously, thanks so much to both of the people who sent postage money.  It couldn’t have come at a better time.  It’s truly one of those moments when I know I’m being taken care of and my worries are needless.

This quilt top came in from a blog reader in Iowa.  No note real note…just a paper that said “I hope you can find a home for this”.  So I’m assuming it was meant to be anonymous.

Happy news.  I did find a home for this.  It’s going to Lori in ND.  She purchased a longarm and has started finishing quilt tops and donating them on to Sharehouse a treatment center in North Dakota.  She is always in need of twin sized quilt tops.  She’ll happy finish the quilts and donate them on to Sharehouse.

What an awesome charity and what a sweet soul Lori is to support them.  If you have twin sized tops that need a home, send them on to Lori.  I can supply you with her email address so you can connect up and send the tops directly to Lori.

The next box came from Joann…and it was filled with…
Cross stitch goodies.  OH MY!

There were all sorts of goodies…

There was Aida cloth.  Kelli uses that from time to time and I also pass that along to my nieces who cross stitch.
There were other things to cross stitch on….bread cloths, bookmarks and little booties for babies.  I had never seen those before.
There were a couple pattern and kit pieces.

…and LINEN.  I squealed to see linen.  The piece in the upper right of the pictures was EXACTLY what I needed.  I have a long project that needed a long length of linen and I am going to use this for it.

I had just put a piece of linen in a shopping cart online and was planning on purchasing it.  This came at the exact right time.  Thanks so much Joann.

In fact, Kelli is coming today and we’re playing with the cross stitch stuff.  I have a batch of coffee tea dye in the works as I write and this is going to get a little dunk to darken it up.  I’m so excited.  I know Kelli will be too.  We are both in a big cross stitch phase right now.  I’ll write more about my cross stitching soon.

I got a box of fabric goodies in from, Deb.  Deb has sent some amazing goodie boxes in the past and I really appreciate it all.

Kelli got to the box before I did and I didn’t get a picture of all that was inside it before she started digging.

Kelli is still making masks for the hospital.  Right now the hospital is slow so nurses are getting call time, meaning they don’t go in to work.  Nurses are getting paid through a CARES act program so the hospital is asking they do something worthwhile at home while on call.  Kelli volunteered to make masks so that’s what she’s been doing.  She saw the box, squealed and asked if she could have fabric for mask making.  I said sure.  I was sure Deb would be happy to know the fabric was going to a worthy cause.

I didn’t get a picture of all that Kelli took.  The box was so full that some is still here….

Aren’t these all so pretty laid out.  I love that chartreuse color…
I picked several and saved them for myself.  I have the nice totes in my closet and there is a little room in the boxes…so I thought, why not, right??

Did you see that green in the upper left of the photo below.  It’s a calico which I have tote for calicos so that went in my save pile.  I saved the stripes in the upper right too.

Oh…do you see the batik half square triangles??  I’m hoping the next round of Bonnie Hunter’s Unity quilt might use these.  Wouldn’t that be awesome if I could use them in that??
I closed childcare but not grandma care so the books will be used with my grandkids…thanks for thinking of them Deb.

Thanks so much to everyone who sent goodies my way from the postage support, to the cross stitch, to the quilt top, to the fabric.  All of it is so appreciated.  You all are so sweet to me and couldn’t be more thankful for you all.