What the mail brought and gifts.

As I have not been writing many letters any more I don't receive many either.
But I recently received...
Spoonful the beautiful zine from Australia. That was the only thing I charged my credit card with for the last six months as I cannot afford any online purchases any more. But I have been reading Spoonful since its first issue and I do not want to miss it. You can buy it here too.

I loved its pages on dragons and cross stitch as well as about Anthea's wedding! Congrats dear!

I also received a letter from Gabrielle, a life long pen friend from Scotland with whom I had lost contact for some time. She wrote a snail mail letter and sent me this lovely pair of earrings. Thank you Gaby!Friends are for ever!

Finally my other dear sea glass friends from Scotland Juliana and John sent me another big beautiful parcel with sea glass from Scotland as well as gifts from their recent trip to Zakynthos, Greece. It was strange getting Greek gifts from Scotland! The Caretta Caretta sea turtle hutches on the beaches of Zakynthos so the tea towel and the onyx egg base are turtle themed.

 Sea glass from Scotland.

 Shells and sea glass from Zakynthos island.

 I managed to frame my Count your Blessings in a beautiful IKEA frame I had. It looks lovely in it, doesn't it? Whoever wants the travelling pattern still has time to comment on the blogpost here only and you might win it!

 Last but not least a lovely handmade recycled gift from a dear friend. She made the pouch and the necklace herself. The pouch is made with recycled cut pieces of chips bags and the necklace has handmade beads made of paper from magazine pages.

I really loved it!
I suppose by now you have realised that the analysis of the photos I am posting is low as I have no more free Picasa space. So you can see my photos even if they are originally beautiful and clear they look a bit blurry on the blog. Unfortunately I can't do anything about that right now.
Also I have changed my background putting the sea sunset theme. It looks so much like the beach at my summer house at sunset that I prefer it for the summer.
Good night every one...or good morning! Thanks for reading!

A giveaway win and a travelling pattern giveaway!

I was very lucky lately with giveaway winnings.
I usually take part only in giveaways organised in blogs I follow and read. Recently the sewmamasew blog did a huge giveaway where lots of bloggers gave away things they made or had. I was the lucky recipient of Hopfaldera blog's giveaway.Muriel is a quilter from the Netherlands and here is what I won.

Some lovely lace, a handmade fabric needle booklet and a card! Aren't they beautiful? Thanks Muriel!

Also I recently took part in Kathy's travelling pattern drawing and won so Count your blessings by Shakespeare's Peddler arrived to my home along with a beautiul fabric piece that Kathy was generous to send.

 I stitched it on a piece of canvas I had and am planning to frame it and give it as a gift and then restitch it on Kathy's fabric and keep it for myself. I used the recommended DMC threads and only replaced the dark brown one with a similar as I didn't have the original requested.

So now I have to let the travelling pattern go to another home so whoever wants to stitch it just say so and leave a comment here and I will draw the name on Wednesday 20th.
Have a nice weekend!