more goodies in the mail

I knew something was coming, but had no idea what. Yesterday in my mailbox there was a box from Liri. You know it took me all of 3 seconds to tear into it, right?

 

The box seemed bottomless - how did she get all this fantastic stuff into one little box? Must be magic!

But I'm curiuos about those obviously chocolate round things... I haven't torn into them yet (I'm not the chocaholic most women are, so I'm saving these for a craving!), so there's some speculation about what they are... They do look good, though!

Thank you so much Liri! Completely unexpected, but very much appreciated.

And that embroidery...I must address it separately because I truly could use it backwards and other than people asking me what "nagihcim" meant (much like Joann wondering about "awoi"), it's THAT beautiful! One day I might be that good...yeah, right, in my dreams!

Then it was my turn at the post office. Yep, I'm an overachiever that way - swap blocks went out already today!  Long story short - one batch had to swim to England.

But I realized I only had one box for mailing, so I was "that lady" at the post office this morning...

Now the hubby is sleeping - it's his weekend to work, so I'm trying to be quiet, but dying to get to my sewing machine. So I decided to play around with my QuiltPro program (not sure that even exists any more, all I hear about is EQ, but this program still works for me) and try layouts for the swap blocks.

I tried to post my layout here, but it seems I'm unable to figure this out...I've tried everything I know to do, so I guess you'll just have to wait and see!

But this post needs some photos, so let's go see what's blooming...

bleeding heart

old fashioned bleeding heart - notice the different shapes of the leaves?

I know I have a white one out there, too, but apparently it's not blooming...

epimedium

okay, everybody together: grape hyacinths!

lungwort (or pulmonaria) - yes, it blooms bi-colored and I love the spotty leaves

it wouldn't be fair to skip my blooming lawn...without the dandelions' and violets' green foliage, my lawn would be much more dirt-colored!

and finally, my magnolia. 

This last is in the "cat run" - an outside enclosure we built off the kitchen for the kitties to be able to play outdoors without the danger of our busy road.  Every year we add a few things for them to climb on using scraps of wood leftover from various family projects...the magnolia was already there. 

And I'm sorry for some of the photos being blurry.  I have little photographic skill and it was windy besides and I'm impatient and, well, I could make up more excuses, but mostly I'm impatient...

Now do you suppose I should quilt something?

Katie

PS It's May, so I've got another dolly waiting for a quilt.  This one will be MY scraps and I've already got a plan...

PPS The exam was really a review and easy peasy.  I shouldn't have worried, but you never know and I was a Girl Scout for enough years to know "Be Prepared"!