Promised you pictures of the goodies stitched for me for my birthday.   There will be more on the next blog, but today's gifts are first, from Stasi Buhrman, the Pink Keeper and my "peep" pin cushion.  I love these pieces, not only because they were stitched but because it's a tribute to my "peeps" by one of the peeps.  If you look closely you will see that the pin cushion in the bottom right corner is actually placed in a "Peep" egg cup.  I've never even see one of these "Peep"cups before so I was especially thrilled. I have a couple of  regular egg cups to make  into pin cushions, but I couldn't figure out how to put it in the egg cup so that it wasn't a red hot mess in the bottom of the cup.  Stasi solved my problem because she filled her egg cup with red beads....such a great idea.  The effect from the beads in the bottom is fabulous.  The designs for both pieces are from Blackberry Lane Designs, "Tools of the Trade."  Thanks Stasi, I have the pieces displayed on my hutch in the dining room so I can look at it while I'm working, and love them.   The right picture shows Linda Wimbrow's gift to me,  a needlework tray and 3 accessory pieces for my scissors, orts and needles.  I loved the idea of this when I saw the chart, "Tray Necessaire" from Noteworthy Needle.  I have it in my stash, of course, and am thrilled that Linda did the work so it gives me one less project.    I normally don't use my stitched items, they are on display for me to admire, but I can't help myself  with this gift because this has all the elements I normally use in stitching, a scissor keeper, ort container and a pin cushion and the tray just keeps everything organized, so yes, I'm using this gift (in fact I've been using it since I received it.  The original showed different colors being used, but Linda knew I like Navy Blue and so she made this more to my taste,  color wise.  Thanks Linda, it is perfect for me!  So ladies you both did a fabulous job of stitching, but also in picking out what to gift me.  You made me feel very special on my birthday and everyday I look at my gifts I know what special friends I have.  Thanks for all you do for me.  I hope your birthdays are as great as mine.  Tomorrow there will be more gifts shown.  I am a lucky lady