Presents!

And it's not even my birthday! I had another "I can't believe it" mail day today! First was getting a little print I bought off etsy from Hide N Seek and I can't believe how beautifully it was packaged! She prints her own envelopes and tied it with a red ribbon. Incredible!

The second was a envelope stuffed full of fat quarters from Jenn. I really can't believe it! She is awesome, these fabrics are incredible and beautiful!

Then last but not least, in a swap package for the Anything Goes block swap I'm hosting, dear Lucy sent me 6 beautiful FQs! I am too blessed with quilty friends!

I forgot about Tackle it Tuesday but I had been wanting to handdye some fabric for a special bag I have in mind. I bought some dark brown Rit Dye which I know some professional fabric dyers might get teir nose open about, but with a little knowledge of chemistry (salt and baking soda for the rest of us, LOL) you really can permanently dye fabric for quilts with it. I have some I dyed about 8 years ago for a quilt that has been washed 20 times and it's still just as colorful. Also, my parent's handmade soap takes all the excess dye out of stuff (wonder how we found that out??) so if it's washed and washed with their soap and the water is running clear, you're good. Anyway, I needed a dark brown, a light tan (tea dyed) and a yellowy/tan. The light tan came out just as I wanted! The brown came out purple. Huh. Back to the drawing board. I overdyed the brown with some tea/coffee dye. It is still a slightly purple but now it is closer to the brown I had in mind! From left to rigth we have tea dyed, onion dyed, tea and onion with a 2 second dip in the brown dye and then the brown is dye, onion and tea dye.

While the kids were napping I spun some more wool. This is not going as quickly as I'd like but then I am only working on it a few minutes at a time. I worked on it for a little bit and then I cleaned my kitchen, LoL! I am totally here and everywhere today, bouncing back and forth. I made my block for tonight by ironing it down. Haven't stitched around the edges yet. Hopefully I am not done sewing/spinning/cleaning tonight but we will see.

BTW, here's another peak into my house! My clean kitchen, except for the trash which I vehemently insist to Tony is NOT my job, LOL! Actually I would take it out but it's cold and my kids are still at the have to watch every minute stage and I'd have to walk all the way around the apartment building. :-D My kitchen is done in red, white and cherries.