I'm Back - Surprises in the Mail

I had a lovely time at my sister's house. We played cribbage, Scrabble and Yahtzee to our hearts' content. She also passed on a bag of novels she had read for me to read and pass on to others. It rained most of the time I was there, so when we went outside it was for the purpose of going shopping.

I returned home to find the house dark in the middle of the day - blinds drawn and silent. The hubster was sick and apparently had been sick the entire time I was gone. He is feverish and achy. I immediately offered anything he might need/want, but he didn't want anything, so I picked up, swept and spot mopped the kitchen and put on a pot of homemade beef noodle soup.

Once the meaty bone and cut up veggies were in the pot, I went out to get the mail - oh how wonderful - two parcels. One had been ripped open during mailing and the postal service had placed plastic around it with a note of apology. Luckily no damage was done to the two books


a special and gorgeous bookmark





and lovely papers




sent by Amy Nelson of An Li Na Designs. I was the winner of a giveaway on her blog. If you are not familiar with her blog, you must go over and see it. She is in the process of making a Draconis for a quilt she is making. She also sometimes has tutorials and of course giveaways.

In the other package was a beautiful ring-bound journal with a cute bear and a 3-D bee with a great message on the cover and really nice paper inside.


It is the perfect size to carry with me to sketch while I am out and about.

It was wrapped in a brightly colored, stunning tissue paper. Can't wait to use some of that in my current artwork.



I won these in a giveaway at Peggy Gatto's blog. If you don't know Peggy, you should stop by her blog. She does all kinds of art and takes lovely photographs.

So even though I am feeling sorry that my husband is feeling so miserable, I am at the same time brightened by these lovely gifts. I have also been contacted by the winner of the Keith Smith book given away here on my blog and will try to get it in the post tomorrow.

I am thinking that perhaps the first day of Spring (not necessarily the first spring day) will be another good day to have a giveaway. Stay tuned!