Happy Birthday To ME!

Earlier in the month it was time for my birthday for another year & boy did my beautiful bloggy friends, along with friends & family far away, keep my Australia Post & parcel delivery men very busy. It reminded me of birthdays as a child when the parcels just kept coming and everything made me want to giggle with delight.

 

This year I joined the Fat Quarter Birthday Club which has been a lot of fun. Up until now it has just been posting of little parcels of fabric goodness to others & hoping they were to their liking. If my 13 parcels were any indication then I think everyone in the club must have been tickled pink by their parcels. We are supposed to send one fat quarter which is a great present on it's own but the range and amounts of fabrics received made me grin like a Cheshire cat!

 

Here a glimpse of all the fabric goodness... all star fabrics in my book!

 

 

And here's the little added extras..... minus the M&Ms included. It has been 15 days since my birthday so I think that is a good excuse & one I will use again later in this post. Threads, ric rac, buttons, tiny scissors, bookmark, coaster, kitty stitchery, braid, coffee, buttons, charm, labels, magic needle book & needles, mug rug, soaps...... on and on and on.

 

 

Even the cards are treasures including one beautifully creative masterpiece at the bottom right. Spoilt!

 

 

Then there is a few pressies from dear friends you know. Anthea from Hibiscus Stitches made me this wonderful bag. She knows me well - lime green with pussy cats on it. The black & white spot lining is delicious too. No longer am I the plastic bag lady of work. Every day I take those vital things I always seem to be needing back & forwards in my lime kitty bag. Beautiful Anthea, Thanks again!

 

Shez from Enjoying Life sent me a mega birthday gift in her usual kind & generous style. My dear friend Shez wins the prize for being the first to make tears come to my eyes on seeing what beautiful gifts were in my parcel. You will have seen some of my pressies on Shez's post for the Birthday Love Club but of course I never realised they were for me. Shez knitted me one of her gorgeous scarves in blue, green  & coral. I am loving that coral colour in tops so great choice. The fat Qtr, kitty button & label were my Birthday Club pressie. There is an Astor Manor charm pack (yum!) and the gorgeous pink and black candle holder that looks like saucy lingerie with pink candles. It is part of my decoration in the bathroom and looks wonderful. I should photograph that too.

 

 

Here we get to the weepy part. Shez made me her pink and chocolate teddy bear bag with glorious stitcheries on the front. I saw this on Shez's blog and went 'oh lucky person, wonder who that is for?' Me! Me! Me! I couldn't believe it. The inside is as pretty as the outside and with a pockets and a clip to hold the keys I am always searching for. It's a good size too so will be my craft fair shopping bag. It will get its first outing in just over a week at the local Craft Fair on the first weekend of August.

A close up of the stitcheries too. Too cute & stitched in one of those lovely variegated threads. Thank you again Sheryl, you know I love everything!

The big win in this is that I am over the moon to get two bags from these gorgeous girls, both so different and for different purposes. I have made many bags for gifts but only ever one for myself & it is a smaller handbag style. Hence my being a plastic bag lady. I have even brought a Japanese fabric patchwork bag from the op shop for $3 as I hadn't made one for myself. Now I have my lovely work bag that I take along with my handbag and my special stitchery bag that is so roomy and pretty to take to guild meetings and show off at craft fairs etc. Lots of room for purchases too! Of course, with both, I will get asked 'did you make that?' and will love telling everyone, 'my gorgeous friend made it for me for my birthday!'

Now here is where the tears came a second time, to be expected from my dear friend Leanne from Lizzie the Quilter. You may have already read on Leanne's post that she wanted to include cats in my present due to my love of the furbabies and the passing in February of my little man Brunnie. I knew as soon as I saw the stitcheries that it was my little Brunnie so was choked up at Leanne's thoughtfulness. The stitcheries are by Bronwyn Hayes from Red Brolly and are of her Brutus the Cat but my Brunnie (& I) always saw them as being tributes to him so these gifts are very special. Of course the fabrics, threads and ribbons are also gorgeous and the stitching and sewing immaculate. Leanne is a master of our craft. Thanks you my dear, they will be treasured always!

 

 

See it just goes on & on & on. Next is my birthday swap present from the Mrs Martin's Lets Celebrate swap and my partner Glenys. She is lucky enough to have two family members who do woodwork so she sent me a lovely wooden mini quilt holder her father made. It's gorgeous and I am thinking of using the green Red Brolly stitchery that Glenys made me here to make a wall hanging to go on it. It should fit my mini club wall hangings too - yippee!

 

 

In the photo at the back is the stand, hard to see from the front, I'll need to do better pics once it has a wall hanging to show off. There is also a charm pack of Joy Christmas fabrics, two boxes of choccies (this is where the excuse - it's been 15 days since my birthday - again comes in to play), some lovely napkins that looks like pretty patchwork quilts and a set of 5 cute decorative lanterns to hang up to make a space pretty & fun. I have plenty of spaces needing that. Another great swap gift Glenys, thanks again!

 

Well aren't you all birthdayed out - there's more I would like to show you that have a crafty theme from friends and family but I think that can wait till another post.

 

Thanks again to all my generous Fat Qtr Club senders plus Anthea, Leanne, Sheryl & Glenys - it was a wonderful birthday, better than I every thought possible (in my advancing age.....).

 

Happy stitching - I do have some to show soon too.

Tracee xx