Rainy Day Surprise

It's been gray and gloomy for several days and when rain isn't coming down hard, there's a mist hanging in the air. I've been sneezing and coughing from my allergies all weekend. Yesterday I didn't want to get out of bed, but with ten dogs one seldom has the luxury of staying in bed all day. At one point mid day we had to run some errands and when we got home again I found a big, heavy box on the porch. It was for me!!


The first thing I saw when I opened it was this little cross stitch and it made me smile. This box was from my dear friend, Gaylen.


Under the cross stitch I found this picture of Monty looking up at me. What was this? I'll show you in a minute.


On digging deeper I found this delightful little book of pictures and drawings of Disney dogs from Goofy to Lady and The Tramp.


G sent me all her cross stitch supplies. She's decided to concentrate on sewing and knitting and that she's not doing cross stitch anymore. I was pleased to find lots of floss and fabric and even project holders.


She sent some patterns. I absolutely love doing buildings and have done a number of them. These Victorian houses look like a good winter challenge.


She also sent some knitting magazines. These have some cute little knit toys that I look forward to making.


Look, she knit a pair of socks for me. She says this is Chan's pattern. I tried them on immediately as you can see. They were perfect for a cold rainy evening when I planned nothing more strenuous than curling up on the sofa with my knitting.


As you can see these attracted the attention of my fashion consultants. They'd been watching me unpack this box waiting for something to sniff.


These socks made quite a favorable impression.


The picture of Monty was a pocket on an apron. This is the most amazing apron. It's reversible with a different doggy print on each side.


The ties are actually long enough to wrap around.


And the very best part is that Gaylen put pictures of my fur kids on the pockets.



Monty and Bentley are on one side . These brought tears as you can imagine.


Samba and her puppies are on the other side.


Is this the greatest apron ever? When I started blogging I never imagined that anyone would read it besides Rob. When people actually did read it and left comments I was surprised and pleased. Then I started email and blog conversations with some of the readers. In a short time we knew each others pet's and kid's and husband's names. Then we started phoning each other and learning birthdays and other important events in each other's lives. And now only a year and a half after starting to blog I have several dear friends. This is a part of blogging I didn't expect and am so very pleased about.