a few Christmas gifts

i got a few Christmas gifts that i wanted to share with you all.

if you have been reading my blog for awhile then you know that i have a group of friends & we call ourselves the Renegade Quilters. it all started a couple of years ago on a trip to Sister's & it has evolved from there. there are just 4 of us & we are always together at the various quilt camps, quilt shows & whatever else may strike our fancy.

this year for Christmas Lynette made us all these AWESOME notebook covers.

she personalized them with our initial of our 1st name. i totally love the embroidery on the A. below is some additional initials that have meaning to the 4 of us which she embroidered the full words on the back of the cover. next our year we were established & then on mine she put 'founder' because i named our group.
here is a shot of the inside of mine. Lynette personalized them for each of us based on our favorite colors as well as the additional initials that are specific to each of us.
we all acted like little girls on Christmas morning when we opened these.
thanks Lynette - great idea!
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the next gift i want to share with you came from my friend Debbie. Debbie told me that when she saw this she thought of me right away.

it is going to be hung in the quilting cave.
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last but not least comes the gift i got from Steph. i knew that she was making aprons this year for Christmas presents but i had no idea what mine would look like.
here it is....

sorry about the pic - hard to take one when you have no model.
i LOVE the fabric. all retro & fun.

my favorite is the girl reading in the chair which must have been Steph's as well because that is what she used for the pocket on the apron.

now for the funny part.
i called Steph to thank her for it & to tell her how much i LOVE the fabric & that i want to get some of it. Steph says to me, "you should love it because you picked it out." i was confused, no big surprise there. Steph explained that when we were in Sister's this year i found said fabric & Steph told me that she would make my apron out of it for me. i still don't remember that convo but i believe her & i am so happy because i really do LOVE this fabric & she even has some left over to share with me.
my apron arrived in this simple brown bag with the following tag on it.

its the same bag that i gave Steph her gift in last year. if you look close enough you can see where she whited out the 'to' & 'from' & swapped the names. so i guess we have a new tradition going on now. i will have to make sure that her gift next Christmas fits in this bag & get out my white out.

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check back tomorrow because i am FINALLY posting the giveaway - it involves 'jelly' and a 'roll'. & yes i know i am a total dork.