Being on the receiving end..

Lets rewind back to a few weeks ago, where I received a bounty of beautiful things when I was in Christchurch.

Starting with Friday night at Miriams where I was greeted with a bag full of pressies......the first of which included this lovely bag that Juliet made for me as part of my Scrap Bag Swap...

it was lovely to receive it in person.

And filled to the brim were a variety of lovely fabrics which have filled a void in my stash......and as I write this I realise I've forgotten to take that photo......I hope you can imagine, as its taken me a while just to get the photos I have here.

I put it to good use straight away.....and it's now officially my project knitting bag.....infact the other day I had it sitting down next to me with the sewing book that she gave me last year,

 and it made me smile :)

Along with that pressie, was a pencil name badge Miriam made for a blog post here ( yes forgot that photo too! ) and the book Anton and the battle.....I had won it on Miriams blog a while back and I had forgotten! (seem to forgetting alot ) It was a lovely surprise.....and it's been a hit with my youngest two.

The page below gives you idea of the storyline.....its such a familiar thing to hear in our house.....makes me chuckle that someone wrote a book about it!

And then there was Saturday, when I met my swap partner Fiona Marie at the Bloggers conference.

For the $5 pressie, she made this gorgeous Liberty Print purse, which had three buttons inside ( there's a cow missing ) and a mini sewing kit...can you see the needle? and the extra thread? its sewn through as decorative stitches....cute idea isn't it.   And also there is the name badge.....where? I suspect a little girl has nabbed it along with the missing cow button, and hidden it in some treasure box or purse

And then later that day, while Stella and I went back home to Debs place to relax.....we were admiring all the beautiful collections in her house, when I spotted this gorgeous flour sifter.....I exclaimed how beautiful it was, and that I'd always wanted an old fashioned sifter....and right then and there Deb handed it to me, and told me I could have it!......Speechless!!!! Couldn't believe it.....how generous is that?  And here it is.....I just love it!

I'm lucky enough to now have it as part of my collection....and it gives me pure joy to see this everyday in my kitchen.....I just love the colours and the folk art style print.....I think one day I will base a quilt around this....these colours are so me!

So there you have it.....isn't being part of the bloggers community awesome!?.....not only do they comment on your newest creations or console you on a bad day....you make more friends and as a big bonus you receive beautiful gifts such as these.