Look what a little bit of money gets you!

I wish I had something great to explain about my absence, but I have nothing. Just busy, busy with life, work, gardens and yard. The only sewing I have done is on some hst's I needed for a new quilt I am designing. I finally finished them up...a little over 500 of them. I LOVE hst's. They are in strong competition for my affections with 9 patches. Now..a design with both of them together??? HEAVEN!! I will post a pic and a little bit more about that quilt later on.

Here is what $10.70 bought me:




Jan, over at "It's the cat's house, I just live here", posted awhile back that she was thinning her stash a bit and she was willing to send folks boxes of fabric for the shipping. I jumped on that bandwagon REAL quick and asked her to send me a large boxful..cost $10.70. I threw caution to the wind and told her to send me anything. I have found that when I get stuff this way, even though it may be stuff I would never have purchased, I end up LOVING it in quilts. Nice way to expand a little! Well, as you can see, Jan didn't disappoint me. I LOVE everything she send and never expected soooooo much of it!! Thanks so very much, Jan. I will be sure to send you a pic when I incorporate some of this in my quilts!!!!

Went out to hit garage sales with Hannah...against my better judgement..this morning. I swear that girl is a sale jinx!! Usually when I bring her with me, we either find no sales or nothing at them. Today was pretty much going along that way until our last stop. There we bought this:







A close up of the design:



This is a full 12 place setting set of china including all the bells and whistles...without a single chip! Now, it can't be that new...looks like 1980's or 1990's to me, but let me tell you...with 6 kids growing up here, I have NO idea what china without chips looks like! As a matter of fact, even though the kids are almost all grown now, if you looked in my cupboards, you would find mostly plastic dinnerware, completely mixed bowls..most plastic or at the least chipped, etc. This set comes with:

12 dinner plates
12 dessert plates
12 coffee cups
12 bowls
3 canister set
3 stacking bowls
1 large covered casserole dish
1 large serving tray
salt and pepper shakers
creamer and sugar holder
spoon rest
candle holder
2 matching placemats

She was asking $50 for it..I got it for $25. Now, I know some of you may be thinking that wasn't such a great deal for an older set, but it has NO CHIPS!!! Sigh..small things make me so happy. This set really is me..maybe I am outdated, too. Hmm...
Washing everything up now so I can get it all set up in my kitchen. I am pretty sure I even have some fabric that goes with this pretty well..new napkins! Hmm..wait a minute..if we actually USE these..they will get chips..and break...and....and.....