Exchanges and a bit of decorating ...

The mailman has been very busy delivery sweet exchanges to my house again. I participated in an exchange on the Pals BB. The exchange was to stitch and finish either a pinkeep or a pincushion. My partner, Abbie (no blog), stitched Lizzie*Kate's Land That I Love and finished it into a pinkeep/scissor holder for me. This was Abbie's first pinkeep! She did a lovely job ...


here's the back .. love the scissor pocket .. oh and she made the scissor fob too. Abbie included the scissors, some fabric, needles and a few patterns in the exchange package.

Karen and I have been friends for a long time and participate on a lot of the same exchange blogs. For the frist time were finally paired up as partners. We were paired in the Fair and Square Exchange. We decided to "finish" each other's pieces instead of sending them "un-finished" like what we normally do in the exchange. Karen stitched Patriotic Bouquet by BBD and finished it into a pinkeep ... I love it!

and look how she "signed" the back ... how cute and clever is that! I love these two exchanges because one is from a new friend online friend (Abbie) and one is from a dear friend I've know for a few years now. Now every 4th of July, when I bring out all my decorations, have these two lovely pieces to remind me of two lovely ladies ... aren't exchanges great!

Now to share some 4th of July decorating with you ... this is our kitchen table ...

my only new decoration this year was this wood wheel barrow that I found at JoAnne's when they first put out their 4th decorations ... it's so cute!

And here's my mantle this year ... I'm still playing around with it a bit ... I think it still needs some red, white and blue flowers ...

Waving Hi to all of you ... thanks for visiting and leaving me comments .. I love them :)

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for friends ...