The best kind of mail.

Getting mail is one of my favorite things.

I just really love seeing something in the mailbox with my name on it. Even if it's just junk mail. :) But the best sort of mail is not junk mail, of course. It's something personal- something quirky ordered from Etsy, a book from Amazon (but it's never just one book, is it? You might as well get a couple so you can get free shipping. Right? :), a letter from a friend.

Or an embroidery piece stitched especially for you by a stranger on the other side of the country. :)

You probably remember that I participated in the Wild Olive Stitch Swap. Today, a lovely package from Sara of Washington arrived! I was so excited. :) When I opened it up, I had to smile because everything was packaged up beautifully...in spring-colored tissue paper and yarn in my favorite colors.

Here's what was inside:

First of all, this beautiful embroidery piece. I really love yellow, red, and turquoise together (could you tell from my quilt?), and I mentioned this in the swap sign up. So this is perfect. :)

And as extra goodies, she sent some pretty pastel, springy embroidery floss...

And this cute little rubber duck. :)

And here's a peek at what some of the packaging looked like. But it looked prettier than this- I was so excited that I tore into everything without taking pictures, so I tried to slide the yarn back on the box afterwards to get a photo. :)

Thank you, Sara, for the wonderful, thoughtful package. :) I absolutely love it! I had so much fun participating in this swap and hope I get to do another one soon.

I finished my first Crepe dress from Colette patterns yesterday, all except the hem. I'm starting on round #2 tomorrow. Because the first one didn't turn out as well as I had hoped! First of all, the fabric was a little...wrong. It's beautiful fabric, but probably not best suited for the dress. This was one of those projects that's better in planning than in execution. :) Up close you can see the pretty texture and subtle colors, but from a distance, it reminds me of the unfortunate color of a hospital gown or medical scrubs or something like that.

Also, the fit wasn't quite as good as it seemed to be with my muslin. The bodice is a little gapey around the armholes and a bit too loose. Very frustrating, but I think that taking in the side seams a little will help. Things rarely fix that easily with sewing, but I can hope, right? :)

Anyway, I'll have pictures of the dress sometime soon {it fits well enough to wear, but probably not for Easter or the other occasion I was going to wear it for}. Today I bought some printed cotton to use for attempt number two.

Looking back, it was probably a bad choice to get such a light, pastel-ish color for a dress. I never wear colors like that. Most of my favorite clothes are jewel tones or in the same family as the colors in this cotton, so hopefully this one will work out better. :)

Until next time,