Home again home again jiggedy jig

Miss Daisy and I left Sydney very early yesterday morning to head home with Depeche Mode's remixes blaring on the CD walkman. We hit torrential rain about half an hour down the freeway which at least means I could cross wash car off my list of things to do when I got home but made the trip just a bit more tiring.

Being a good girl I headed into Goulburn (about 2 hours from Sydney and an hour from Canberra) to stop, revive and survive. And just happened to check out a few op shops while I was there. As you do...Cool 50s/60s tin: 50 cents. No idea what I'll do with it but I couldn't just leave it there could I?Stovetop espresso maker: $2. Need to find instructions for it. Also two retro tiles which may end up on the kitchen wall: 50 cents each. And more knitting needles: $1 a pair.Jar of black and white buttons: $2. Good thing Use What You Have Month is over for me!Two lots of vintage fabric 50 cents and 30 cents and a book on writing fiction for $2. All are destined for other people. And finally I found a brand new with tag pair of black and white polka dot PJs for $7.50. Chinese, so the top's a bit odd so I might just wear the pants with a T or I might get creative and change to top around. But since they're summer weight I've got a while to sort that out. No picture - they're in the wash....

Much refreshed I finally made it back to the depths of wintery cold and damp Canberra. Where the contents of the car exploded all over the lounge floorand I found this towering pile of mail waiting for me (not bad for three weeks, huh?!)I was in a quandary on which to unpack first so did the most interesting looking bits of mail before tackling the luggage.

First interesting looking bit of mail
From Jen over at Red Instead, an envelope full of goodies including two of her pieces of art (I love how she has stitched the pieces onto their backing - an idea I'd not thought of) plus a hand printed card. Coupons for a month's free trial of a DVD service, a couple of Lincraft patterns including a stripy jumper (a gal can never have too many black and white stripy jumpers, right?) and lastly some white rick rack (yay! my favorite thing at the moment) and some super wide binding. Thanks Jen!

Second interesting looking bit of mail
A birthday box from Pink Rocket who knew I wanted some freezer paper to try out the whole stenciling craze and filled the rest of the package with other yummy things. The really funny part is I was eyeing up the black versions of these plates at Walmart two weeks ago and humming and harring over whether to get them or not. Finally decided no as I was running badly out of room with two more weeks of travelling and amassing souvenirs in front of me. Good thing I didn't buy them, hey?

She also found a matching kitchen towel which I hadn't seen and if that wasn't enough excitement in one box she also included some black pleather and a couple of pieces of black and white fabric for me to create things from.

For someone I've never met, she sure has me nailed taste wise - and I promise to get the house swarming package in the mail as soon as I get paid!

The rest of the mail pile contained eBay purchases, magazines miscellaneous bills and crap. Nothing worth photographing. And the rest of the day was spent unpacking. Urgh...