Happy Birthday! (think of the voice of Frosty the snowman here)

So, yeah, that just happened.
 I had another birthday, last Friday!
Woo Hoo!!
After dealing with so much these last few months,
 I was happy to have added another year under my belt.
 My on-line friends and my real life friends have been so great!
When I got to work a co-worker/friend had left these (from her garden) on my desk.
 Aren't they beautiful??

Then my friend, Robin, brought these great HTF Munki Munki prints and gave them to me!

Hubby came to work and took me out for lunch.  Zingerman's YUM!

When I arrived home these beauties were waiting for me from my friend Cori! 

 (Who was NOT supposed to buy me anything). 

 We usually celebrate by going out to dinner as her birthday is in July also.

We ordered Chinese for dinner and hubby bought me my favorite desert, Tiramisu.

My daughter, Shelby, took me out for dinner on Thursday to celebrate. 

 My son had the best line about my birthday too. 

 He asked me how could he compete with 7-11? 

"They celebrate your birthday by giving out free Slurpees to everyone!!!"  

LOL

On Saturday we did some running around and 

one of the places we went was the Calder Dairy farm in Carleton.

Geese on parade!  

They were walking in a straight line all by themselves.

  How odd!

What's a trip to the farm without a photo of the Calder cow?

As you saw from my last post I worked on napkins most of the rest of the weekend. 

 I just want those babies finished and out of my life! 

 I have a new project planned, but more about that once I have my fabric pulled.

Other friends from the internet sent cards, a cake, some fabric and some Best Press too.

 (Thanks, Dianne, Windy and Abby!!)   

No gifts from the family though.  

I guess that means I am free to buy whatever I want right? 

 That's how I am taking that one!  

It was a little disappointing if I am being completely honest but 

I guess it is not as exciting to them to celebrate my aging, LOL.  

How do you celebrate your birthday?

~XOP~

Another Swap Received

I have just a minute before I have to head off to the dentist for a crown (someone I worked with told me that once I got my crown I would be a princess...I told him I'm already a princess and would just as soon pass on this particular crown!) and thought I would chat for a few minutes.  I HATE going to the dentist, especially for something like a crown.  UGH, I sit all white knuckled and everything while they work.  I think I may ask them for gas today to help with my dental anxiety!  ACK!  OK, taking my mind off that,  I received another wonderful swap package in the mail recently and thought I would share with you.

Some Flea Market Fancy with a little Heather Ross thrown in for good measure. Sweet huh?

Have you heard of Zulily? Me either, until my friend Mary sent me an invite. So off I went to check it out and guess what they happen to have on sale right now? Munki Munki pjs! Check out the pair I got. I'd show you but it won't let me borrow their image. It has skaters all over it. I love Munki Munki. I don't use them except to cut up and use in my quilts. Any of you Munki fans? If so you can use my code and I will get credit.

http://www.zulily.com/invite/plincoln485

So if you are a BIG fan like me, use my invite and order up a storm. I also found a percent off coupon code coupguru922 and received an additional amount off my purchase. When I subtracted it from my shipping I ended up only paying $1.95 for shipping.

Let me know if you check it out. Have a wonderful afternoon!! ~XOP~

FNSI and BIG Munki Munki Score

Alright, first things first.  You are probably wondering what I got done during the FNSI aren't you (Dianne)?  Well, not as much as I wanted to I have to say.  the culprit?  Tendonitis, I think.  I get shooting pains down the back of my wrists when I do too much hand work.  I thought it would be alright, but it was not.  I managed to get the bird house and the cat stitched (ok so almost all the cat) but I paid for it today.  I have been icing my wrists all day!  I took some NSAI too.  The pain actually makes it all the way up to my left shoulder and neck.  BUT...I *will* keep going so I can be DONE with this and move on to something I really want to work on.  This is umpressed...don't judge me!

 

Several of you made mention that it was too bad that embroidery is not my first love, or that I don't enjoy it and neither is really true.  I do like to do it.  I just don't like to do it with a deadline, so now I know that.  It is difficult for me to do it quickly because of the wrist things.  

So that takes care of what I got done for the FNSI.  Now on to today.  I heard that Marshall's had gotten in some Munki Munki pajamas.  EEP!  For anyone that doesn't know, Munki Munki is a company that was started by Heather Ross.  She designed and also owned the company.  She has since sold the company but they still use her designs.  So people buy up the Munki Munki and use it for quilts or for barter.  I went to the Marshall's by my house last week but nothing.  I had to go out today and...SCORE!!!  I got the whales and the elephants!!  

I can see wearing the top from the whale set but will cut up the rest and keep some and sell some later.  Isn't it funny?  Some people sell this stuff by "one leg panel" or "one sleeve".  I guess that will now be me!!

I also went to Sew Fresh Fabrics today and bought the fabric bundle for the A Zig A Zag QAL.  It was pretty reasonable and if you buy over $35 they refund your shipping if you put ZZQAL in the comments.  They had a sweet Kona FQ bundle to go with the Loulouthi I am getting in.  I need to start going though my old stash and selling some stuff to fund my habit.  I owe Crazy Quilt Girl the national debt!!!

Off to make some dinner and maybe ice down my wrists and try to stitch some more.  ~XOP~

The Wide Wide World of Fabric Swapping/De-stashing

I have recently stumbled into the world of fabric swapping. Not the kind where you get together with your friends/enablers and swap but on the internet. I had NO idea there was such a subculture of swapping occuring on the internet, did you? Some are calling it "de-stashing" too. Do you have a Flickr account? If you don't you really should. In addition to being a great place to post your photos, share your photos and get a ton of inspiration it is a wealth of "groups". Who knew? There seem to be groups for just about everything but today I want to talk about swapping.

I have run across 2 swap groups that I am particularly interested in. One is called Craft Room De-Stash (Let's Swap) and the other one is called {Designer}Fabric-Stash-Swappy-Poo run by Heather of Alamode blog fame. In the second one you have to ask to join and be able to follow the rules of the group.

I have learned soooo much about what's hot and also have dipped my toes in the swappy waters, oh yes I have. This is AWESOME!! Do you know what ISO means? I didn't, but I do know. It means "In Search Of" and is something you list in your profile in Flickr. That way when you post a photo of something you have to swap people can check your profile and FM you. Don't know what FM means either? OK, it means Flickr Mail. When someone wants to "talk" to you about what you have to swap they FM you. You do need to add them as a contact in order to FM them though so make sure you do that. Once in awhile people take a photo of a stack of fabrics and put notes directly on the photo saying things like how much they have of that particular fabric or if one or more in the stack have already been spoken for. You could also put a note on one you want and then FM about it. Neat huh??

I had some velveteen Innocent Crush (AMH) to swap and I got some amazing Munki Munki fabrics in return for my fabrics. Wanna see what I got from Jessie? She was sooo generous with me and I am so happy! OK here ya go...

I was so excited about this! She even sent a nice little note thanking me for the wonderful swap. This was my second swap. I swapped a charm pack for some other Munki Munki fabric too. I didn't have any at all and people have been very generous. If anyone out there reading this has some Munki Munki or Mendocino to get rid of I'm your gal! LOL. You can always check my ISO and FM me!

OH, and because I told you all that I would here is a photo of me with my new hair style and highlight. Pretty similar to the old one just a few more layers which I'm not sure you can see from the front! Alright, enough education for one day. I have more to tell you but need to take some photos (in the daylight)

Just one more thing (can you stand it?) if you get a chance you should watch the movie called "Breast Movie". I came home from quilting last night and caught the end of it and laughed so hard!! It's about a guy that is an adult movie director and wants to make a serious movie using his adult film actors. The last hour I saw had no nudity in it but they do have some rough language, not profanity but anatomical words if you get my drift. Extremely funny and kind of cute though. If this kind of thing offends you then pretend I never said a word!

Have a great day and we'll talk soon!
XOP