A present from Spain and a little sewing

I received a present from Aldi in Spain yesterday. Aldi had contacted me asking if I wanted to exchange thimbles with her. Well, thimbles in Japan aren't very attractive but they might be interesting for a collection so I found a set of three and mailed them off to her. And look at the cute things she sent in return! A lovely little house block that might serve as a coaster but I think I'll hang it on the wall, some embroidery thread that I think I will use with the Prayer and Square quilts. A couple of felt flowers and a little card with 1 John 4:16 printed in Spanish on it.

Aldi and I have exchanged e-mails a couple of times since she first contacted me and we have even computer chatted! That was a first for me! I didn't know that we could do that with blog friends! (Duh, I know there is that button up there on the left of the g-mail web page that says "chats" but I've never been curious enough to check it out.) I was doing something on the computer one night and I hear this "boing". At first I thought it was the TV in the next room.

"Boing." "Boing."

"This sound is coming from my computer! Is it breaking down on me?!"

"Boing, boing."

I start fiddling around and closing computer windows and low and behold there is this little window with Aldi on it! Of course trying to answer her back I managed to close the window completely and when I got back to g-mail she was still patiently waiting for me. Wow! Another new world to explore! Thank you Aldi for your lovely gifts.

I've done some more floppy cat sewing and made a kitty out of my mother-in-law's left-over kimono material. (I'd made myself a vest earlier this year and still had fabric.)

And last night I even spent an hour teaching my two 5th grade girls how to make a little mascot teddy bear. They said they wanted to sew instead of study (the boy in the class couldn't make it). Well, actually they never said they wanted to sew. They nodded at "sewing"when I gave them the option of sewing, studying, playing a game, writing e-mails on the computer etc. Sigh.

These are the girls who don't show much expression about anything and last night was no better. But when I asked if I could take their picture with their finished mascots they clearly said "No." so I guess they do have opinions. One girl allowed that I could take a picture of the mascot but not of her. The other girl said "No." to any picture. Well, I wanted communication and I guess I got it!