Pots and Pins

Ornament Exchange...

I had a moment of weakness...it sounded like fun...make ten ornaments and send them off to ten strangers and then I'd receive ten handmade ornaments from ten strangers in return...WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?

It's already December 6th and I have NOTHING purchased, let alone wrapped, for Christmas - not even for family and friends who live out of state!!  Craziness, that's what it is...early onset dementia...mad cow...and given that, this is what I came up with... 

A "ribbon-candy" ornament with beads on the end...and just to make sure they knew what it was supposed to be I included a little bag filled with REAL ribbon candy...I also included a little cinnamon-scented candle which sits in a "wreath" of pearly beads...as a peace offering for making such a lame ornament!

I don't know why I care what ten strangers think but I do...and I'm having hand-made-ornament-remorse...I do hope they'll forgive me...I tried, I really did!

 

They're in the mail now - ten little, bow-tied boxes, speeding their way across the country and one even went to Scotland!  I do hope they all have a merry Christmas and that the other 9 ornaments they get are all FABULOUS!

Christmas Blocks!!!

I don't like to complain about my mailman because I truly think he's a miracle worker - the fact that a letter can circumnavigate the globe and arrive in my mailbox always astounds me - in a world full of email there is still nothing quite like a hand-written letter or a postcard or a long-awaited for package!  However, today, just as I was getting ready to stick pins in my Postal-Worker Doll, my mailman arrived and delivered my Christmas Blocks from the Cottage Block Exchange sponsored by Nanette of Freda's Hive  and they are W O N D E R F U L !  Here's just a few of them - I'm not sure how I'll sew them together - I'll have to think on it a while but I love each and every one - oh, I left the labels on so I would know who they're from - but they'll come off before I sew them together!   

 

 

Inside my package was a cute little sewing charm - mine is a rotary cutter and a darling little sachet scented with lavender!

There are a lot of swaps out there and I think that most of the time everyone who participates is happy with their result (although I did participate in a swap where I sent what I thought was a fabulous gift and got nothing in return!)  So if you haven't done a swap yet - go for it - they are very fun - and just look at all these blocks! 

Thanks to Nanette and Terri who put all of this together!