The mail's been good!

Lately, I'm not too swift on showing you what I receive for swaps and shame on me!!!  I, truly, have been getting some beauties!  As you all know, I'm a bit of a swap junkie!  I LOVE making mini quilts and love swapping them.  It's always exciting to see what I will get back and how well my partner gets to know the real me without my knowledge.  Then too, there is a fun swap out there called, "Little Quilt - sew, vote swap group" where you make a quilt, submit the photo to the administrator and the group votes on which quilt they like best, second, third and so on.  Then, the 1st place winner gets her first choice, the 2nd, her first choice (unless it was also the first choice of the #1 winner) and so on.  A bit confusing, but it all works out.  After all the votes are in, the administrator posts the top ten for the round and we're all anxious to see how we placed.  For the last round I made two quilts.  Lets see if you remember them:

href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35289170@N06/7977854161/" title=""Bloomin" by mamacjt, on Flickr">

And, I received two back, but this first one was everyone's #1 choice and it is a beauty!  My dear friend (who moved away before we ever really got to know each other well enough, Annie (freezeframe03) made it and it couldn't be cuter!

Here are some close ups.  Check out all that fussy cutting:

How cute, huh?  Then, she was so clever in attaching a label on the front of the quilt.  Check this out:



Too cute!  You really must check out her Flickr pages.  She is quite the talented lady!!!

In addition to that beauty, I got this one from Gocks Frocks (Kristen).  I loved the quilting on it (although I wish it was on white........duh, big surprise, huh?):



Then, after making probably a half dozen quilts (or did it just seem like that??) for my absolute favorite swap of all, Fab Little Quilt Swap, I received a marvelous quilt and an amazing package from Rick (gnittinknam).  I am overwhelmed by his talent and generosity:



Isn't that quilt gorgeous?  And did you see the goodies?  Fabric markers?  YEAH!!!  I've thought about buying them for sometime, but never have.  You have no idea how much I can hardly wait to play with them.....and then too, hand dyed fabric?  That's another thing I've wanted to play with forever.  I even bought some this past January, but never have had a chance to cut into it.......and lastly, teeny tiny buttons.  Like I can't use those????  Hello!!!  Buttons seem to be my middle name lately!  Wow, what a package of goodies!!  Thank you sooooooo much, Rick!  I think this is the best stuff I ever got in a swap!

How fun, huh?  I love it!  Swapping is kind of like Christmas.  Sometimes, you get such neat stuff and can hardly believe it's for you, but then again, sometimes not so much and you wonder what your partner was thinking.  Lately, I've been extremely lucky......almost too lucky, but in the beginning of my swapping career I got some real duds.  It's all in the swap, I guess.  One of these days, I should photograph some of the bitty blocks I have gotten.  They are truly amazing too!  I wonder why I never thought of doing that until now????  Duh!!