Mug rug swap, part 2, and the arrival of the BUP

 A couple of weeks ago I posted pictures of the summertime mug rugs I sent to my swap buddy, Antoinette in California.  Here's what she sent me in return.  Aren't they great?  (The Zion-Benton Township High School  mascot is the ZeeBee so bees show up a lot around here.)

Not only did Antoinette send the mug rugs -- she also sent an apron, a tote bag, and other delightful goodies.  What a treat!

I "rescued" this at the Salvation Army yesterday. I did a burn test and it's all cotton. I think the label says "polyester cotton" as a disclaimer. This was likely one of a load of flatfolds that dime/variety stories still stock. (At least those variety stores that have fabric departments.) I bet it was never used because it was as ugly then as it is now. ("Puce" is a purply-brown that is French for "flea color." This is puce.)  [It's 2-1/8 yds. I also got 1 yard of a current polka-dot print, a bright striped fitted twin sheet (made in Portugal, sold at Pottery Barn), and a screen-print table cloth, total $9.53.]

My winnings

Nice batiks among the assortment

The Baseball Swap BUP arrived today. That's "big ungainly package." Mine is not very big this year because the teams I back -- Cubs and Red Sox -- are having terrible seasons. [Participants swap 6.5" squares based on MLB baseball games -- your team wins, you get a square from everyone backing the losing team; your team loses,you owe a square to everyone who backs the winning team.]

Here is my BBS stash -- an accumulation from many seasons.  I have used a lot of the squares over the years. They are handy when I need a little of this, or a little of that, or some variety of something.  One year I made a jacket out of the baseball-themed squares. (Photo in this post .)

One year the BBSwappers exchanged signature blocks. I have not assembled them but I did remember where I put them. When I got them out today I found out that the exchange was way back in 2004. Not all of the people who made squares are still active swappers (two of them are deceased).  Some name changes, some location changes. Lots of memories!  And now the blocks can go back into storage.  

(The names: Lynne Cohen, Cleo Miller, Cindy Schmidt, Bethe Harrison, Vickie Young, Sarah Curry, Rusty Stubblefield, Diane Stucki, Sherry Marshall, Alice Cruz, Shona Lamoreaux, Nancy Voogd, Jen Clodius, Helen Smith, Theresa Govete, Sandy Ellison, Nancy Speicher, Connie Einarson, Janet Franco, Doris Weil, Julie Elswick (Suchomel), Debi Irwin, Mary Kay Mullen, Sheila G, Rachel Govette, Nancie Roach, Kathleen Snow, Donna Dean, Vivien Caughley, Dodie Morrison, Sandra Radcliffe, Sue Burton, Carolyn in NJ, Marilyn Goodwin, Royce Hettler, Cathy Lowney, Katie Wilson, Ellen Amstutz, Linda Campbell and the Gang, Cary Smith, Babs Schmidt, Alice Martin, Billie Bennington, and me.)