Thanks, Carrie. It's good to be back. Thanks for the link. That looks tempting. I better get busy and finish up those projects that have been languishing in the sewing room all these months. The guilt is starting to get to me.

it was good to read you are getting a bigger sewing area. I would love that. I jokingly refer to my rather small space as the studio.... It is anything but! :)

Waving at you, Janie--good to hear from you. I'm also jealous of Carrie's new space--mine is a cave, The Bat Cave LOL. Thanks for the link, Carrie. Anxious to see pics of blocks from this new book. And no, I'm not putting donkeys in this one like I did Pony quilt.

Gee, I learned NOT to go on line and order priority boxes from USPO. It goes back to the local PO, and our little one does not carry the volume a larger one would....I got a call early this morning about my order, why did I want them and what size was I looking for???? I explained I was a quilter, shipping fabric to various places, and she says "Oh" and dh came in afraid some family member was hurt because early calls usual demotes family problems. So no more using the USPO site to order boxes. I will pick them up at my hometown PO that has more variety and number of them. I will get the size I need to ship the scraps, etc., from them.

Sun is shinning bright. Have a good day everyone....enjoy the moments we have.

QNS - I just saw on the Bonnie Hunter Yahoo Quiltville Chat and thought it might be helpful to you!

A swap that comes in a manila or tyvek envelope will cost $3.80 while the same swap in a flat rate cardboard envelope costs $5.75. Unless you are mailing something that weighs more than 12 oz, ship by first class mail. It really will get there within a day or two of priority (if not the same). And Many post offices will not allow "fat" flat rate cardboard mailers to go at flat rate. they are supposed to be flat!
Even the free PO Priority tyvek envelopes will be cheaper than the flat rate. I have mailed a quilt top and back in the Priority envelope (not the cardboard one) for under $7 while a flat rate box is $12.65.

Thanks JeanieG; that is food for thought indeed. I have now received a dozen medium flat boxes and a dozen medium fold down boxes that are flat rate and trackable. Mail carrier was quite concerned and said to leave a note in the mail box and he would come to the door and pick up what I was not using. I like the medium fold down boxes the best I think. No way could I get a queen sized quilt in either box. I usually carry my plastic bags of scraps into the PO and Use their 'best" fit to ship in.

If I ship a quilt, I use UPS or Fed EX and insure it. Always afraid that it will get 'lost' in the USPO as a package did that my DGM sent to our address in Alaska...never showed up anywhere, and she was sure it never left the local PO.

Reading the Swap section, they talked about ordering from the USPO on line and how handy it was, so I wanted to try that and I did....this time. My hometown PO is very nice about telling me the cheapest way to go....priority or regular mail, etc., which I do appreciate. I can mail a letter or legal sized envelope to DD in Lincoln, NE from local PO and it takes about 8 days for it to get to her....if I mail from my hometown, the same thing, same size, etc., It gets there in two days...so go figure. POs are 25 miles apart...quickest one is in Iowa, the slow one is in Missouri. Priority boxes must go by priority mail. I know Carrie shipped her BB and MB for about $3.00 or so, but my PO in hometown wanted at least $7.95 for all that I shipped out in an envelope 9 by 12 inches.

So I pick up a 6 inch by 6 inch Box for .77 each at our local Wal Mart and package many things in it and it can go either way. But their next size up is 12 by 12 inches....too big. Last year, they had 9 by 12 inches, which was not too large....not this year...the clerks will say, "We get what the home office sends us, we cannot special order" so that is their story. The six by six cost an average of $7.00 for the "goodies" I shipped out last year for a total of $69.00. Mysteries of PO service cannot be explained, I guess.

Now I am feeling younger. I listened to TV 13 and they interviewed a lady in MN who is celebrating her 114th birthday this Sunday...she got on to facebook and they would not believe her age, so she had to lie and say 99. Seven in the USA are over 100, on in AK is 117 years old The lady in MN has an 85 yr. old son..

Welcome back Janie! :) We've missed ya!
Oh, Sue. Thanks so much for the retirement tip. Knowin' that it can be done is encouragin'.
Taday was another busy one. Dh didn't wake me for walkin' again. He hasn't all this week. I guess he thinks that it is his last week o' work & he isn't gittin' up that early. LOL I had ta git up early enough ta take my DM ta Odessa ta git somethin' done ta her car. Odessa is about 20 miles away. So I followed her there. After she left it we headed ta Odessa's LQS. Sigh it was 20 min's till it opened. So we went loookin' for a place that used ta be located on another hwy between the 2 towns that sold steal storage sheds. Well we didn't find the one we were lookin' for but found one that sold sheds made outta treated lumber. She fell in love w/one & bought it. :) It'll be delivered next week. We were almost back ta Midland so she asked me ta take her by her house so she can take her Rx 'casue she had forgotten it earlier. We then picked up drinks & headed back ta the car Dealership in Odessa 'casue she had left her phone in the car & they couldn't call her ta tell her when it was done. LOL Once we got there it was ready so we split up & both o' us headed home. Yes that was 2 trips ta Odessa & back. Dh & I got home about the same time & ate lunch tagether. After he went back ta work I headed ta my#1DSis's & taught her how ta run the sewin' machine that I gave her early this summer. She has a project that she wants ta make. She is so excited! Then I had ta go & pick up DGnephew. I now pick him up everyday from school. Right now I'm waitin' for DH's supper ta finish cookin'. :)

JeanieG, change all your passwords related to the internet. It's no fun getting hacked. Hope you recover all your email addresses. Seems like there is always someone trying to 'take' and not give in this world. Like the fly, snakes and rats, I think I can do without them...but we sure do not have a choice when they invade our private space. Good luck, JeanieG., on your problem. It ranks rioght up there with the loss of a credit card number stolen...or three of them like I hit couple years ago.

I had fun packing up the scraps into boxes this morning and afternoon. Gained back one small "A" sized tote bought at Wal Mart. Looking at all the sales in my newsletters from various Quilt Shops and quickly deleting them...IF we had a trillion $$$$$$$$$, it would sure be fun. And if wishes were fishes the ocean would be full. An old saying I grew up with...remembering the many times DGM ;said that.