I am playing "Pay it Forward" with Libby and Monique. Here is the concept. Very simple to do and should be fun. Be one of the first 3 to leave a comment on THIS post and say you want to play and you will receive a gift from me and made by me within the next 365 days (it will be much sooner than that I promise). The ones chosen will place it on their blog and then their first 3 will receive a goody and then they will place it on their blog.....and the giving just keeps on giving! You must have a blog to play. And no anoymous comments please. So who want to play???

Pincushions, chickens and rolls oh my!

Lots of photos to share. I have been in a bit of a funk this past week and just haven't felt very bloggish/talkative. Sorry if anyone worried. I am still here though and plugging away.

Here are the pics of my pincushions for The Pincushion Exchange. I was blessed with 2 partners. They will not know which is their's until they open their boxes! :o) The pink make-do is on a very antique brass door knob. I love the bottom of it. I added a bit of crochet trim I had made, so buttons and a key. Then there is the large strawberry. It is made from pure wool. Used pearl cotton for the "x's". I painted a wooden spool for it's base in robin's egg blue. The back has a lil checkerboard accent. I do hope the girls will be pleased. And I am anxious to see what I receive!

I have also been working on my inventory for 3 shows this fall. One wool show in September, and then a quilt show and a fibre show in October. Lots of sister time!! So two chicken pillows and 11 chickens later....

The pillows are paper pieced. The chickens range in size from 3" blocks to 8" blocks.

I will end on the yummy cinnamon rolls we made. Mark made up the dough and I did the cinnamon and frosting part. The frosting is an easy peasy cream cheese recipe. Start with one large brick (8 oz I think) of cream cheese softened (very soft but not watery). Add 2 cups of sifted powder suger. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla to 1/4 cup of milk. Blend together well til no clumps of the cheese. If it is too thick, add more milk a teaspoon at a time. If it gets too thin, add more powdered sugar. This is my very favorite frosting. You just cannot go wrong with cream cheese! :o)

Again...Pincushion Exchange Swappers...those sending out of the USA be sure to mark your custom's form as "gift" and make the value really low, like $2.00 (Even thought it is worth much more I know!!!). This will help your partner out in not paying an arm and a leg for custom charges! Thankfully we do not have that here in the states yet. Just horribly high postage fees. I wish I had thought to mention this earlier. Sorry.

Pincushion Exchange Swappers...have you heard from your partner? I would encourage you NOT to send out your portion of the exchange until you have made contact with them and made sure they are still participating. By now everyone should have exchanged at least one email. I truly hope that no one backs out of their commitment. If you are left hanging, please let me know!! I have stressed several times how important communication is in these exchanges. We just do not want anyone to have hurt feelings or be disappointed!

Flowers for me today. Mark came home from Farmer's Market with this huge bouquet of flowers. I love them! Even has clover in it. I have been sicky this week with a touch of pneumonia and got crazy and passed out last night. Whacked my head on the corner of the wall and just basically scared sis and him to pieces for a minute. So no Market for me today again. I am so glad he and my sisters enjoy setting it up! Cause I havent been forever!!

Here is a close up of the flowers.

Sis is doing very well as long as she has her pain meds. So much damage is going to be alot of pain for some time I am thinking. We go to the dr again on Monday. I think they will be pleased with the incision area. It looks healthy to us. She washes it everyday and uses VitE gel on it. We keep the sock thing she wears changed too. That is about all we can do right now at 4 weeks into this. I suggested she get out a puzzle the other night just for something to do besides read. so that is on the table now. I found a couple of pieces tonight. We need to get a funner puzzle. This one is a traditional landscape type one and a tad boring. LOL I want a puppy or kitty one. LOL Or Disney even. LOLOL

Happy belated Independence Day! I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. I know many take extra days and make a full holiday. Mark was off Wednesday through today. Mark, Debbie and David did Farmer's Market yesterday. I got hit with my headache on Friday night and that took care of me til today. At least I got in my celebrating first. We were with family Wednesday and then again on Friday. It is dreadfully hot here. And HUMID! Definitely stay in the house weather for me. I haven't crafted or stitched a stitch in forever. I have to make myself do something this week.

Sis is doing very well. Thank you everyone for asking about her. She got the stitches out on Tuesday. I was shocked they took them all out, because several were very icky looking. She has some steri strips here and there. But the stitches are out. A benefit of having no feeling, is she didn't feel them remove them. (We found a happy thought!) Now she is in the part of therapy where she is massaging all the time. She has oil with Vitamin E and aloe vera and a Vit E cream. Her wrist cannot bend and her hand is in the "cupped" position. With her right hand she can push her left hand fingers down, they just pop back up with she releases them. She leaves the splint on also all the time except when she is massaging her palm.

I had my first of the season, fresh green beans this weekend. They were so yummy with potatoes and onion added. Hope everyone is staying cool.

Finally done! All the Pincushion Exchange partners have been sent out. If you do not receive yours, please contact me. In the email you will also receive the link to the yahoo group I started for us. This is totally optional, but I thought it would be a fun touch to add. All the pairs are listed on the swap page. If you signed up for both and only received one partner, that meant we didnt have enough to do both for you. It was a first-come-first-serve on 2 partners. If you did not receive a second partner and still wish one, please let me know and I will add you to a backup list in case someone decides not to play.

I cannot wait to see what everyone creates! Happy stitching, Angela

The Pincushion Exchange is closed to signups. What a great first time turn out! We have 31 swappers and a total of 36 exchanges (some are swapping both a case and a cushie). I will be working on getting partners paired and the info mailed out to you all early this week. When all info has been mailed out, I will post on here. The partner list will be on the website if you wish to see who got who.

Here is a pic of my red bathtub in our backyard. I love it! I took this pic on the 18th and the flowers around it (beebalm and tiger lilies are now blooming). Need to take another.

Thank you everyone for asking about Heather. We go back to the dr tomorrow. She was put into a step down split last week so her stitches could get air. Her hand is still being kept immobile. They started her on passive therapy for her fingers. With her right hand she pushes her left hand fingers down. And that is it. She is experiencing a lot of pain even with the high strength pain medicine. I know this is to be expecting with the amount of surgery, but I know she didnt realize it would be so much. Alot of the reality of the long months ahead is just now settling in for her. One of the first things she asked the doctor was if she would ever be able to sew. She does embroidery and wanted to know if she would be able to hold a needle. :o( This surprised me because I thought she loved to draw more and would be thinking a pencil. But she told me she really loved to hand sew. Our embroidery looks the very same. One can lay down the needle and the other pick it up and you cannot tell the difference.

I was the lucky winner on Morning Ramble of a goody collection of her homemade soaps and candles. What a wonderful mail day that was. And on a needed "pick me up" day. Thank you again Patty!