Some gifts, some new friends and the winner of the Travelling Pattern giveaway....

I was lucky enough to receive this surprise package from Chiara of The Grey Tail - I wonder what could be in these two wrapped parcels?

Look at all the lovely goodies I received.....

.... and isn't this pincushion so sweet?

 Thank you, Chiara, you are such a lovely friend.

Now, onto my next news.... no, not the announcement of the winner of the Travelling Pattern - you are going to have to read a little longer for that news, sorry!

The other day I managed to catch up with two of my lovely bloggy friends who also live in Melbourne - Christine from MacDonald's Patch and Melody from The House on the side of the Hill (Melody's DIL is very ill so any thoughts and prayers you can send her way would be greatly appreciated).

Me, Christine and Melody

..... and of course we exchanged gifts!

I was lucky enough to receive this gorgeous hand stitched bag from Melody and the equally gorgeous felt brooch from Christine.  Lucky me!  Thanks, lovely ladies.

I gave each of them some fat quarters (they are both more patchworker than cross stitchers) and a pair of scissors (you can never have enough pairs, I say) with a beaded fob made by me.

Of course, not all went as smoothly as planned.  We were supposed to meet at my LNS, Lazy Daisy and then go for lunch at a local cafe, Miss Marie however, my car would not start!  So, instead, Christine and Melody came to my house for lunch where I entertained them with a floor show of the tow truck driver dragging my car out of a very narrow carport (which is on an angle to the lane) without a scratch!  Needless to say, the girls had to hold my hand as I watched in trepidation.  The tow truck driver did an amazing job, I must say - thank you Kieran from RACV!

Luckily, I had some yummy homemade soup and quiche in the freezer so lunch was a snap!

But, most importantly, the three of us got on like a house on fire and we had a great time!  Bloggy friends are the best!  Thank you, Christine and Melody for visiting with me - I am looking forward to the next time.

My next piece of news is that the daughter of one of my dearest friends, Linda, has just had her 21st party - she is off to do a Summer course at Columbia University in NYC - how exciting is that.  Here I am giving a speech at her 21st party this past weekend.

.... because here is the name of the winner of the Travelling Pattern - Summer Garden by LHN:

 .... and the winner is......  Sarah   congratulations, Sarah, you will love stitching this design.

and now, of course, I cannot finish such a long post without a Furio pic.  Here he is helping me sort out my sock drawer - NOT!  So much more appealing is a nap on my nice soft bed (ever since I bought the wool underlay I cannot get him off it! lol!)

Have a good week, everyone,

Winner of my 2nd Blogaversary Giveaway will be announced on my next post - so stay tuned!

hugs,