Joy of gifts

There is something really special about an unexpected or undeserved gift; I mean one that isn't for a birthday or anniversary and this week I had two surprises. Actually the first was a double surprise because it arrived by Royal Mail on Sunday and we haven't had mail deliveries on Sunday for many years. Having recovered from that shock, I opened the box to find a stunning collection of goodies from Madrekarin whose blog features many of the lovely things that she makes.
Karin made this fabulous quilt for me! It looks really good on my pine table and even better on the dark oak chest in the hall but I couldn't get good enough lighting to take a photo of it there.Thank you Karin. I am going to practise making those flying geese.

My second surprise gift came from my husband. He had never shown any interest in my quilting until he saw the many hours I put in to making this Christmas present for Tanith and Peter. He was so impressed that he found this book for me:
I haven't had time to do more than dip into it yet but I can see that he has understood the meditative nature of quilting as explained in the introduction to the book:

Making a quilt comes down to the here and now, the moment-to-moment handling of the cloth, the threading of the needle, and the rocking of it back and forth in and out of the cloth. This is at once an activity both absorbing and mind-freeing. This is what meditation is, essentially: quiet surroundings, sitting still, repetitive mental patterns.

My next project is a baby quilt for Grandchild#2 due in July. I've selected the fabrics, cut out many, many squares for pinwheels and now I'm ready to start sewing.