I Actually Won Something! I Won Third on Ruth's Give-Away Drawing!

I could hardly believe it when Ruth, our Country Log Cabin Quilter, notified me that my name was the third one drawn in her recent Give-Away!  Never before in my life had I ever won anything!  I am the winner of the pattern, "Over The River and Through the Woods."  I have admired her quilt that she made from the pattern, and now that I received the pattern from her yesterday, I hope to get started on the embroidery before too long.  I doubt I'll get it finished for Christmas 2015, but I just might surprise even myself!  Anyway, thanks to you, Ruth!  I love it!

Since she was mailing the pattern, I was very surprised when the Postman left a box rather than a large flat envelope with the pattern.  Of course, some of you know that Ruth and I have been APQ friends for several years, and have gotten together several times, along with Jennifer of Purpleheart Ori"Jenn"als,  for some shopping and a sew-in a time or two in my home.  So Ruth and I have shared quite a lot of our lives over the years, and she has a memory like an elephant!

I said all that to tell you that she went to a garage sale and saw something that reminded her of a little quilt I made back in 2009 that is dear to my heart.  I named it "My Two Cents' Worth," made from fabric that looks like a sheet of 100 postage stamps.  My daddy was a Rural Letter Carrier for 44 years, from 1921 to 1965, starting out with a horse and little cart.  I made the quilt in honor of Daddy.  I'm not sure, but Ruth and I may have been together when I bought the stamp fabric.  It's story disappeared from my blogs when APQ deleted all our old blogs; that's when most of us moved to Blogger.  I'm glad I printed all of mine before they were deleted!

Back to Ruth's garage sale find, which required a box for shipment to me rather than the large envelope I had expected.  She found a First Issue numbered china plate from Harrison House for wall hanging that says "United States Postage - General Issue."  In small print on the sides, it says, "The Mail Must Go Through" and "Neither Rain Nor Hail, or Sleet, or Snow" --- words my daddy lived by!  In the note Ruth sent with the package, she said she knew when she saw the plate that I "needed" it!  Is that not sweet???!!  I love it!  I had never seen one like it anywhere, ever before.  I'm guessing Daddy was smiling from Heaven when he saw me open that package!  (Note that it was NOT included as part of her drawing; it was simply a "friendship" thing.)

I immediately hung the plate over my postage stamp quilt and took a picture, but decided maybe the plate could be read better on the table for this blog post --- not.  It looks like the plate and the fabric were made for each other, doesn't it?

Ruth, thank you so very much for the quilt pattern.  I hope I can do justice to it, and I hope I can get started on it before too long.  A special Thank You to you also for the very special plate treasure. You were right; I did "need" it!  (Just so the rest of you know as Ruth knows, I never saw a piece of glass or china that I didn't want --- or NEED! *giggle*)

I know; this has been long, but I just had to share it all!

And one more thing, I'm working on this now.  It will be a baby quilt for a friend's new GD.  More on it later.

Have a great day!

---"Love"