Fellow bloggers

Surprises

December 14, 2012 at 9:10 am by Claudia

I often get requests for a custom scarf order. One of these, from a reader in Texas, was for a scarf in the deep purple silk and bamboo yarn I’ve used in the past. I had some on hand but, as it turns out, not enough, so the scarf I was crocheting ended up being half again as long as it should be. Off I went to the yarn store to buy some more of the luscious yarn in a new dye lot and that scarf was completed and sent off the other day.

What to do with the short version? An idea.

A head band. A unexpected surprise.

There. You can see it a bit better in this photo – taken by me with my iPhone, which always ends up being a somewhat surreal experience.

I think I might make some more. I wore it all day long and it took me right back to my childhood, where a stretchy cotton headband was worn daily. I’ll find a photo someday and show you. Or not.

On another note, I have been spoiled lately. I’ve received a couple of surprises in the mail. Remember Judy’s giveaway? In that post, I said I’d had my eye on one of Judy’s pillows for a long time. Look what arrived on my doorstep:

The pillow I’d had my eye on, that sweet green pillow with the piece of vintage embroidery, was sent to my by Gail, a longtime reader of the blog. Gail is a Veterinarian with a kind and loving heart.

Isn’t it lovely? I was delighted with Gail’s lovely surprise. Thank you, Gail. (I’ve sent you an email.) It looks so pretty here in the living room. And thank you, Judy, for your beautiful creation.

My friend Sheila told me to look for a box that was coming in the mail.

In it was this adorable sheep. Handmade out of wool. Oh my. You know I love sheep. I have a couple of Putz sheep in my studio (one of which is in this blog’s header) and this one is a perfect addition to my sheep ‘family.’

Isn’t it amazing? A name will be forthcoming. Thank you, Sheila!

The salt shaker snow globe came in the same box as the pillow. From ever generous Judy. She also included an adorable wooden angel made from a domino and a key.

You can see it hanging from my Miss Keyboard’s School sign – over there on the right. Thank you, Judy!

Such wonderful surprises.

Of course, if I had been a bit more patient and a lot wiser, I would have waited to open these until my solo Christmas morning. Oh well! I will gaze upon all these things which embody the goodness and generosity of my dear friends and be very thankful, indeed.

I will be back at 8:00 est for A Favorite Thing. See you then.

Happy Friday.

A Priceless Gift

December 9, 2012 at 10:50 am by Claudia

Friday afternoon, I heard the toot of our mail delivery truck’s horn. Lori, our friendly mail person, always toots the horn when I have a package waiting. She handed off a rather large box. I discovered it was from my friend, Donna. Donna is a fellow blogger who writes the wonderful blog, An Enchanted Cottage. We go back a long way, as Donna was one of the very first bloggers I met when I started blogging back in February of 2008. We have been friends ever since. We have a lot in common, not the least of which is our deeply felt love for all creatures. We are animal lovers, pure and simple. We believe in rescuing our pets, in finding a home for those dogs and cats who are in shelters and have been abandoned.

When I read Donna’s card and note, the tears started. And as I unveiled her gift, they poured.

Donna, who is an artist, created a piece of altered art from my favorite photo of Riley and Scout. Here’s the original photo:

I snapped this picture one day when I was sitting in the living room. It was one of those moments in time that I would have missed had I not had my camera right beside me.

Donna painted out the background and embellished the dogs with her hand painting.

Another view in the late afternoon light on the day I opened it :

Not only did Donna beautifully and lovingly enhance my babies, she matted the artwork and added a favorite quote. And placed it under glass in a beautiful white tray.

Don, who came home while I was unwrapping it, and by the way, Donna sent this to both of us, was stunned. He couldn’t believe someone would do this for us. I couldn’t either. But I know my friend Donna and I know how big her heart is.

I love that quote.

We love and miss our boy. Scout misses him. This moment in time, when Scout gently checked on her brother who was getting increasingly frail, breaks my heart and fills my heart at the same time. And now I have this unbelievably beautiful piece of altered art – this lovingly painted portrait of my beloved children – from a dear, dear friend. It is priceless to me, as is her friendship.

Donna lives in Massachusetts. I live in New York. We often talk about meeting up at some point halfway between our homes. It’s only a couple of hours away. Donna, once the winter weather is past, we are going to do it. That’s my vow.

Thank you.

Happy Sunday.

Goodies: For Me & For The Shop

November 26, 2012 at 9:36 am by Claudia

Blogging friends, who are true friends, of course, are lovely indeed. Saturday afternoon I went out to the mailbox and found a package from sweet Judy Clark. Yay! A birthday present!

Be still my heart – that little wall pocket (birdies! sweet little house!) is adorable. I remember admiring it on a previous A Favorite Thing post of Judy’s. Bless her heart, she remembered that and sent it to me. See the vintage Singer sewing machine manual on the right? That was in the box, too.

The other item needs a wee bit of explanation. If you recall, last year at this time I started to obsess about the little Nisse made by a Danish company called Maileg. I saw them peeking out at me on several blogs. Finally, right before Christmas, I found a wee nisse in the Garnet Hill catalogue. That started it all.

It was the little guy on the right, who normally lives on my desk in the den.

Several months later, Judy made her own version of a nisse for me – the sweet girl in the center of this photo. And a few months later, Miss Judy sent me the two nisse that are on either side of sweet girl.

Is Judy an enabler? I think so.

Back to the birthday present:

I don’t know how on earth she did it, but Judy found this canvas bag from Maileg.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I am in Nisse Heaven. Would you care to lay a bet as to how many nisse I can acquire?

I warn you, you may lose. I am nisse-crazy.

Thank you, Judy. Judy is a wonderful person and an amazing crafter and seamstress. You should visit her blog and her Etsy shop, which is packed full of her gorgeous creations.

But before you do that, I’ve 3 new scarves listed in my Etsy shop. Yes, I’ve been crocheting like crazy.