Much Needed on a Trying Day

First of all I have to thank each and everyone of you who left words of encouragement to me througout the moving process.  Each time I would read an emailed comment I felt better!  Thank you so much!  The best news is I SURVIVED.  The packers have come and finished.  They packed and filled 13 crates in two days.  The first they stayed until 9pm and the second until 11 pm.  The third day they stopped by to get the two boxes that were left over and all their materials.  Whew!  They were long days but I'm so glad it wasn't three or four like they thought.

My big exciting news was that I won the big prize from Carrie for my Doc Schnibble!!  I was so excited to win a fat quarter pack!  On Wednesday during the packout my husband brought me the package.  It was so big and when I opened it, this is what I found:

 The Cica 1934 charm pack

 Five yards of the solid coordinate!!!

 And these two brand new, not yet available charm packs!!!

It was pretty exciting, so say the least.  I finally got a chance to email Carrie to thank her.  She really enjoyed the email and said it made her day so I thought I would share it with you:

 Dear Carrie,

 Wednesday morning was not the best morning I have had lately. I was sitting at the kitchen table watching two strangers handling my things. They had already taken away my beloved quilting things the day before. The reek of cardboard filled the air. Samoan country music was playing on an ipod (the music really wasn't too bad). In case you can't tell; we are moving and the part of moving that I really hate is when the packers "invade" my happy home and dismantle it right in front of me. Even though I would much rather have them do it than myself, I find this really difficult to endure.

 So I was sitting there watching the process (okay, maybe I was reading my kindle) when my husband came in the house and put a large package down in front of me--with that air of "we are moving and you are still ordering stuff?" (although he would never say anything like that!) I was surprised and said I wonder what it could be? I knew I won the fat quarter pack but it wouldn't be so big and heavy as that box was. Then I looked at the label and got excited!

 When I opened the box and found the other things you put in there I couldn't believe it! That has to be about 5 yards of coordinating background fabric! And the charm packs--that aren't even available yet--are so cool! I love it all so much!

 I packed up my sewing room over a week ago. I haven't sewn, cut, stitched, measured or otherwise played with fabric for what seems like forever (but has probably been less than three weeks.) Suddenly here in my hands was fabric!! I opened the plastic on the fat quarters and felt them. (I did leave them in the bundle, though.) I flipped through the charm packs admiring each print. I unrolled the background fabric and ran my hands down it. (Shall I confess that I also smelled it?) I spent an indulgent half hour touching and photographing it (for a blog post) and then I reluctantly gathered it together and carried it to the guy who was singing along to a Samoan rendition of "Please Mister Please" and asked him if he had more room for fabric. By now, the quantity of my fabric and quilts has become a running joke with the movers. He laughed and took it and tucked it in a box along with my pottery.

 Thanks most of all for the "fabric moment" in my world of insanity! The timing couldn't have been better.

 Mahalo Nui Loa,
 JoAnne