The receiving has begun!!

Today, when I got home from work, I stopped at the mailboxes to get my mail. There was an envelope in my regular mail box and a key to the box where they put bigger packages. I was so excited because The envelope was made out to the sorority so I knew it was a donation! When I opened the bigger mail box, I saw a large USPS Priority box and I pulled that out and there was something smaller underneath it! I was ecstatic to have gotten 3 deliveries on the first day that something showed up.

I got back into the car and drove around to my condo and as soon as it came into sight, I about peed my pants! There were 3 large boxes on my front step! 6 deliveries on the first day! Woo hoo!!



I couldn't wait to start tearing them open to see what I received. I mean, what was received for the Retreat. :) But I wanted to be a lot more organized this year since I sent out 201 envelopes requesting donations. I now have another word document set up with the address labels so that I can enter in the addresses for sending thank you letters. And I have another Excel spreadsheet set up to show what was received and the company or person who made the donation.

Once I got that all set up, I began recording the addresses and items as I opened the packages.

This book was received from Nancy Halvorsen and Art to Heart. It's very pretty. I believe they are wall hangings for each of the seasons. I really like Nancy's designs and I think that I need to practice my applique stitches because I really enjoyed the process of copying the templates and cutting the pieces and arranging the pieces, but my blanket stitches just do not look great. I have a practice piece and should probably try doing a small zig zag stitch to see how that works. But I digress. This book and the patterns are awesome and it will probably end up on my wish list.



There was an envelope from Lynette Jensen of Thimbleberries fame. I sent a letter to RJR fabrics which produces the Thimbleberries fabric and a letter to Lynette Jensen who creates the patterns and deigns the fabric. These books are great!



These patterns are from Robin Ibarra's From the Nest Designs. These patterns use primarily charm packs and jelly rolls. Robin sent 7 patterns and they are so cute! I know that some of these will be added to my wish list, too!



On Tuesday night, an email popped up that a shipment was created and being shipped from Elisa Wilson. This was the large USPS Priority Mail box. The items are from Elisa's Back Porch. They sent all of the acrylic templates sets that Elisa makes and patterns and books that use those templates. All of these patterns are curved pieceing and that scares me since I haven't done it or taken a class on it. But the patterns and quilts are beautiful!





The smaller box was from Schmetz Needle company and it was a bit on the heavy side. It contained 3 flashlight key chains, 3 pens, and a tin full of really nice pamphlets with needle information. I am sure that there will be enough pamphlets for everyone at the retreat to have at least one pamphlet. And the flashlight emit a soft blue light. I had fun playing with them with the dogs!



The last big box was from The Warm Company. I think that last year they sent us a bunch of Steam-a-Seam products and I was all that thrilled at the time because I had no idea what Steam-a-Seam was. But almost everyone at the retreat last year received a package of Steam-a-seam, including me, and there have been times when I have been so happy to have this! This year, they sent 3 King size Soft and Bright battings. I knew that I wouldn't be able to pull them out of the box and then get them back in, so you will have to admire them from the top! :)



That is all of the deliveries that have been received so far. I am very pleased with the results and am very excited to see what else shows up.

I thought long and hard about whether to post all of these pictures and the information on what is being received and I also asked other quilters/bloggers what they thought. I came to the conclusion that if I am posting the raffle items and door prizes that it might entice quilters who are on the fence about the retreat to actually come to the retreat. And it is great publicity for the companies that are making the donations. If anyone ever asked me to remove the information for their company, I would do it in a heartbeat because I definitely do not want to offend or upset anyone.

Along these same lines, if you link to one of these companies and end up buying something, please let them know how you found them through this site and/or because of their donation. I think it would benefit everyone in the long run. And I encourage you to link and browse through their patterns and products. If you are like me, you may end up finding some new designers that you *have* to have!