Have you seen this flamingo?

• Last seen: on October 18th, 2010, in a box amongst tissue paper on her way to the U.K. She has yet to reach her destination.

• General Description: She's a flamingo with dark brown eyes. She's approximately a foot tall. She's very light. She is made from an old pink T-shirt. She wears a yellow and pink felt hat that looks like a flower. She is adorned in small felt flowers, and has a yellow ring around her beak. She's very well behaved and never says boo.

• Distinguishing Features: Both her eyes are on the same side of her head. The tops of her feet are green with little salmon-coloured hearts. The undersides of her wings are orange. She has cork-screw legs. She will answer to exactly no name because she hasn't got one. Sniff.

I never named the flamingo because ultimately she isn't mine. I am only her creator. I made her for the Softie Swap held by The Clip Café earlier this year. She actually belongs to Amy @ The Happy Daisy and I felt it was more appropriate that Amy name her. I now regret that decision. Now there's a little pink floral flamingo bobbing amongst the bitterly cold waves of the North Atlantic with nothing. Not even a name. Sniff again.

If anyone sees this flamingo or has any information regarding its whereabouts please contact me or Amy @ The Happy Daisy anytime, day or night.

Now please have yourself a safe and happy day!

The Mailman Cometh!

Shhhhh... That little fellow below flew in from the UK a few days ago. You can see he's still recuperating from the long trip, suffering from jet-lag and no doubt feeling a little shocked culturally. I've dubbed him Chicken.

Yes he's a him, and no, I don't care if he's wearing pink... Yes, he's an owl. And yes, I know the difference between owls and chickens... Isn't he the sweetest? He's a handmade gift from Amy, author of The Happy Daisy. Amy was my swap partner for the Softie Swap organized by The Clip Café. Thank you Amy! Chicken is so lovely. He snoozes happily on the shelf above my sewing machine. I love him.

And the little bundle of fabric below was sent to me by Melissa of Mel's Own Place. She is my partner for the Stash Manicure's Brown Bag Quilt Contest. The challenge of this contest is to create a quilt from someone else's ugly fabric rejects. Sound like fun?

The contest works like this. You receive 2 yards of ugly fabric from your swap partner. You must then construct a quilt using 90% of this fabric as well as any amount of fabric from your stash. You may only purchase one new fabric to include in the quilt. It's a stash busting exercise! Once you've made your quilt, you can upload photos of it to the corresponding Flickr group and be entered to win prizes! And you get to keep your quilt. So in my case, that bundle above is the UGLY fabric that Melissa sent. Thanks Melissa! Not ugly AT ALL. It's great! In fact, I've already designed the quilt. I just have to make it!

And finally the mailman brought this little gem of a book...

"Denim Revolution" written by Nancy Minsky. I am honoured to say that Ms. Minsky the author, designer (21st Century Dressmakers) and blogger behind Jean Repair, sent me the book as a gift! So I've decided that in return for her generosity, I will be doing my version of one of the books many projects here on Michele Made Me, and also doing a book review. Note that I've never done a book review before but I figure there's no time like the present, right?

I love getting mail... Thank you Mr. Mailman for filling my mailbox with goodies! And thank you Amy, Melissa, and Nancy for your sweet gifts!

And YOU! You have yourself a lovely day!