Last Friday, I met up with two non-blogging quilting friends; one from Burlington and one from Texas! We exchanged gift bags and look what was in mine! This gorgeous batik — all the way from Hawaii! I love batiks and the colours in this one just send me.

Last year, the friend in Texas had sent me this fabulous thumb pincushion which I would now be lost without. I don’t use it on my thumb, though — for hand piecing it seems to be perfect on my index finger. I had used the bottle cap type finger pincushions before I got this but this is far superior.

I guess I really did go on about how much I loved it because she gave me the pattern to make more! I can’t wait to try this pattern out. The pattern also includes a regular pincushion — interestingly, they suggest using dried rosemary to stuff that pincushion.

Not only the batik from Hawaii, but look at this wonderful applique pattern! This will be fun and, as it’s not all that huge, relatively quick to complete, I think.

Yesterday we were doing some tidying up/cleaning up and, as part of that, had taken the kitty beds up off the floor for a moment. Smudge, being not the most patient kitty in the world, decided he wanted to curl up in his kitty bed then and there. He didn’t care if it was perched in a chair. He almost instantly went to sleep. Of course, we left him and the kitty bed there until he woke up.