I Love Mail :)

When I was younger, I always had a pen pal. I used to love writing messages to a girl about my age in some "exotic" place like Indiana (hey, when you're 8 and live in NY, Indiana is pretty exotic). Perhaps more exciting was always getting a letter from her. It didn't matter so much what she wrote about - it was probably our mutual love for some teen movie star of those days - but more that someone had taken the time to put something together for me and pop it in the mail. Then it travelled all the way to NY just waiting to be opened.

Now, I've outgrown the idea of a penpal - I have plenty of friends from my travels in college, grad school and my time living in Boston whom I communicate with via e-mail, Facebook, etc. But, the idea of getting mail is still fun. My current living situation is such that I don't get mail delivered directly to my home, but rather have to pick it up at a postal box. Oftentimes, my mailbox is full of flyers, magazines and of course, bills, but other times, it's such a joy to open up my little box in the world to find a card, or better yet a pink slip!

Now, a pink slip doesn't usually elicit a response of joy, but in my case - it means only one thing...a package! So this morning, after waiting the requisite amount of time from handing over my credit card number, I found a pink slip waiting there just for me.

I had ordered a bunch of fabric from The Quilter's Paradise last week and it arrived today (well, technically it arrived on Saturday, but I have to wait until Monday to pick up mail). So, to add to my already large stash that I picked up at the Shop Hop, I added these four beautiful holiday prints...

The tan one has holly sprigs on it and will hopefully serve as a good background for some pillows my mother has requested for next Christmas. Given my success/completion rate with last Christmas' gifts/projects - I figured I should get a jump start on it now.

I also found the panel below - which made me very excited. I purchased two of Nancy Halvorsen's "Art to Heart" books earlier this year and was super thrilled to find a panel that went along with some of the projects. I'm hoping I can whip these up for my quilt guilds bi-annual Holiday Silent Auction/sale.

And with that, I should probably head to bed for the evening. I've got a bright and early day ahead of me in the office.