A few pumpkin themed finishes.

The last few cross stitch things I finished have been under wraps while I was waiting for them to be received by the person I stitched them for.
I'm happy to say they have arrived at their destination so I'm now able to show them here.
The first one is Just Nan Autumn in the Square finished as a pinkeep. I had originally finished it as a flat fold but my flat fold making skills were not up to the mark and I wasn't happy with the way it looked.
I spent a week or more tweaking it here and there until finally I could stand it no more and took it apart to start over.
I didn't care for the visions charm I had purchased with the chart so I substituted a little squirrel charm instead.
The second piece is one of the JBW French Country series stitched using Carrie's Threads Caribou Hyde. I substituted the alternative French wording for pumpkin and finished it off as a flanged pillow using the same fabric I used to back the pinkeep.
I passed the chart for the JBW piece on to Nadine so over to you Nadine - I shall expect to see your interpretation of this chart soon :)
Lastly, a little scissor keeper by the Drawn Thread using DMC threads.

I made an apron!

I spent the best part of today making an apron as I'd (rather rashly) signed up to do an apron exchange a few weeks ago with my quilting group.
Although I enjoyed sewing when my kids were small the only apron I've ever made was at school when we had to sew our cookery aprons and matching caps :)
I'd emailed my apron partner for her preferences but didn't get a reply so I just did my own thing basing the design loosely on a pattern I'd seen in one of the Australian Patchwork and Stitching magazines.
I did the stitchery using white Kona Snow fabric with two strands DMC 797.
The fabric is from one of the Mary Engelbreit lines. I had enough fabric left over and would have loved to have made a matching potholder but didn't have the special insulated wadding needed to make it heat resistant.
I really enjoyed making the apron and now I want to make one for my daughter using this cute cupcake fabric I've seen on eBay.

A Five Star Mail Day

Those of you that know me well will have often heard me bemoaning the mail situation here and how I can go for a week or more without getting so much as a bill.
Not that I want bills but for someone who relies heavily on buying on the Internet waiting for those all important packages to finally be delivered is frustrating.
Today, however, I hit the jackpot! I received a whole bunch of packages and here's what was in some of them.
First up was a package from Christine in Canada
A short while ago Christine had made some mug coasters and I was one of the lucky five to receive a coaster for leaving a comment on her blog.
Christine had wrapped my coaster into the prettiest little package using some Amy Butler fabric (one of my favourite fabric lines) and she had tied it up with the most beautiful hand dyed silk ribbon.
As well as my coaster there were six more that Christine had sent along to donate to my quilt group fundraiser which is to be held next month in aid of Breast Cancer research.
Four of the coasters are in Christmas prints and the other two are done in pink ribbon prints. I really wish you could see these as each one has a Canadian 25 cent piece with the pink ribbon logo on it and these are in tiny little net bags attached to the coaster with ribbon. I know these are going to go like hot cakes!
Some other things in the package were a pack of machine needles for quilting, some green tape (not sure what that's for Christine) a skein of DMC Colour Variations thread, a quilting magazine and more yummy Amy Butler fabric.
Wow! That package was definitely worth waiting for :)
In another package were two patterns that I sent for from Buttonberry Stitches in UK. I usually buy just about everything online from the USA but the girls at Buttonberry are so helpful I was happy to pay a little more just to give them the business. I received a stitchery pattern pack for a drawstring bag by Australian designer Gail Pan and an apron pattern by Vanilla House.
The Buttonberry girls have also ordered in a couple of Cinderberry Stitches patterns especially for me and I can't wait for those to arrive.
On to the next package........I had ordered some Carrie's Threads in her sale and hmmmm, I'm not sure about how much I love these. It's my own fault as they were grab bags. I think I'll use them but I don't think I need to buy any more. It makes more sense to pay a little more for something you really love.
On to the next package which contained two of the wonderful Australian quilting magazines that I won on eBay and finally, another small package containing some Thimbleberries charm squares that were done as swaps with an online quilt group.
Now that's what I call a five star mail day!