We had great fun at the Foothills party today.  Mary was happy to see me wearing the penguin scarf, and I was happy to (finally!) learn who to thank.  

The quilt book I brought for the white elephant exchange 

got scooped up early, 

and I'm quite happy with the bee cache pot I brought home.  

Once I find the right plant it'll go live on the front porch.   

Carolyn's right/left game (with our coordinated packets of 3 fat quarters) elicited lots of laughter, and I came home with pretty red fabrics (wrapped with a BRIGHT green ribbon); thank you. Judy.  And I have an entire year before next year's party, when we'll show what we made with our fabric.  

Kim found some cute penguin fabric she knew I'd appreciate - 

and then found the perfect penguin box to gift it in.

Certainly the highlight of the day was receiving the blocks that the ladies made for me.  I'd forgotten about our tradition of gifting the outgoing chapter chair with blocks made by the members... 

And when I opened the box and saw the wonderful penguins I was pretty much speechless.  (And how often does that happen?!)

The blocks are absolutely perfect for me!  Laura, also a penguin lover (and who as vice chair was in charge of the project) "hinted" (okay, she came right out and told me) that for next year, when she finishes up her term as chapter chair, she'd love the same blocks made for her.  

They'll make such an adorable quilt to snuggle under!  Some of the ladies haven't yet turned their blocks in, but here are the ones I have so far:

I want to get started turning the blocks into a quilt top right away (even though I do have a <mumble> number of projects in various stages of completion) so I stopped in at the quilt store and auditioned fabrics for the sashing.  Sheri is a fellow penguin lover, and together we chose fabrics that will work wonderfully.

Now if my e-mail on the iPad would just quit giving me aggravation
it would be a perfect day!