I got the best birthday present ever!!!

Yes, it is my birthday and I am not even ashamed to admit that it is one year off the big one - no, silly not my 21st but thankyou!  I may be young at heart but next year I will actually be 50 and I think that is where I will stop!  My husband gave me some lovely goodies this morning and I received some other things from friends and rellies and they are all lovely and all appreciated but the best present ever!!!! is the email I received telling me that the first of the boxes have arrived in Afghanistan.  And there are pictures!   This is the only one I can share with you, sorry, but you will just have to take my word for the fact that there were big smiles on the faces of the recipients so far.  That makes me really happy!   

The lovely warrant officer said our female soldier was delighted with her quilt and even teared up a little when she read the label.  The laundry bags were greatly appreciated too.  It is a nice feeling!

Thought I would share my birthday presents with you.  First a couple of quilt books,

 and a couple of dies for my GO!

 Some chocolate from my boys

 and a gorgeous handmade needle book from my sister-in-law!  How cute is that!

 I have had the luxury of spending most of the day in my sewing room today - except for lunch out with my husband who just happened to be working from home today - a real luxury!  I managed to progress a bit on the McKenna Ryan Christmas present I am working on.  everything is fused down now and ready for me to sew.

 I will leave the sewing till a time when I can really concentrate!

 And finally I have refined my plans for another Christmas present.  This is all I can show you at the moment.  Those aren't actually half square triangle blocks - they are actually going to be court house steps but I needed to decide where each colour was going to go for best balance.  I have probably sewn about half of the blocks so far.

This is a Christmas present for a friend who reads my blog (and lots of my friends read my blog now girls so no point trying to guess - ha ha ) so this is all I can show you till after it has been given!

Ok - I am no tech nerd but I am not totally ignorant either but can someone please tell me how to sign up to Bonnie hunter's blog so I can follow along with the Orca Bay Quilt - damn all you girls who are writing about it as you have fired up my curiosity!

Till next time...happy stitching!