Mailbox Love

I'm pretty close to finishing some projects but am not there yet. (And still hoping to finish my Drunkard's Path quilt before the BQL is over!) Over the weekend I will be sharing my final projects from my photography class as well as drawings from this first week of summer drawing. I also got my final grades and am happy to say that I got two A's and a B (would have been another A if not for one too many absenses) in my studio classes. Not bad considering how much I worked too. Definately made my day yesterday.

As for today, I got a few things in the mail (and I guess one package did come yesterday). There are a few more things coming to me, including my class kit for Rachel's Handstitched class, which you can see photos of on her blog. The other package is my monthly mixed media kit from Christy Tomlinson. I'm not sure how many of you are interested in mixed media work (or scrapbooking; she has a monthly kit geared towards that) but it is fun to get new things to play around with. You will see these things used in my drawing projects and I will talk more about my proposed work for that over the weekend.

I do want to share the things that landed in my mailbox though, in case you may be interested. I do have to say that no one sponsored this nor did I get these items for free (well, there were a couple of freebie gifts that anyone can get). I just love these items and know that some of you also embroider and/or knit/crochet.

First of all, I got my May shipment from the Year of Color Club from Tanis Fiber Arts. This is the second year I've signed up for the club and love getting a surprise in the mail every other month. Each month, Tanis sends a skein of her hand dyed yarn (usually a color/fiber combination not available for purchase) and a pattern for it. I do admit that I haven't knit any of the other projects (very, very bad of me!) but in my defense, it is because I lack small needles. I'm trying to remedy that but may have to order some online.

I do have the right needles for this month's project though, so I wound the skein into a ball so I can cast on soon. I don't have a ball winder so it takes time to do this by hand (and foot) and after yesterday, think it may be a good investment.

This club is a great deal even though it is one lump sum to pay at once. The yarn is beautiful and every pattern so far is something I do want to make up. If nothing else, take a look around her site and drool over the vast array of colors she has available. Yarn dyeing is something I would love to do one day but not until I get fabric dyeing down. I also would love to dye yarn that I spun myself, which may be something I start doing later this year.

The second package I got was also yarn. This time, it was my skein for Camp Loopy, hosted by The Loopy Ewe. The freebies here were the pin for participating and a handy knitting needle inventory. I was just thinking the other day that I need some way to keep track of what needles I have, so this is perfect. Now to gather up all of my needles and fill this out.

My project for the first month of Camp Loopy is the CashSilk Fern Scarf. We can't start until the 27th so I have plenty of time to wind this yarn into a ball to prep. I just realized that the yarn I picked out is pretty similar to the photos in the pattern. That was not intentional at all. Just great taste. ;)

Finally, I got some handspun embroidery threads in the mail from Dragonflylotus Designs. I am a member of Liz's thread club, but this package was another order I had placed. Liz recently celebrated her 30th birthday and as a bonus, if you ordered on a certain day you could get a few mystery threads. I didn't separate this order from all of the threads I have received so far, but here they all are. I do also have more threads coming to me, but not until my next monthly shipment. (Thread club members get free shipping if other orders are shipped with the monthly threads.)

There are great bonuses in her thread club and my favorite is the sample card she sends every month. There are swatches of the monthly threads as well as any new releases coming up. This is great for anyone who likes to see something before ordering online. Members get access to a presale of the new threads as well as a discount (and the free shipping option).

I am a believer in supporting indie businesses and would love it if you would check out any of the three here.

See you over the weekend with some artwork. I will also be finally catching up with everything here and checking out the submissions so far for the BQF! We are expecting very hot temperatures (for us and for this time of year... almost 100 degrees F today) and rain. Summer classes mean no homework either. Yay! Plenty of time to finish up some lingering projects.

Have a great weekend!