Bartering at it's best ..........

........ is how my bloggy friend Paulette describes what we've been up to. She has recently made me the most gorgeous penny rug, and in return I am going to quilt her latest quilt top for her.  So, this morning, there I was, up to my elbows in potato peelings when the doorbell rang, and there was postie, clutching this.

I forgot all about potatoes as I was so excited to open the box, and when I did, just look at what I found inside.

I have always loved Paulette's wool work and am totally in awe of the penny rug she had made for me.  It's even got a sunflower on, which is probably my favourite flower in the world.  On their journey, the chickens had even laid some eggs, well, OK they hadn't, they were cute little egg-shaped pebbles from the beach near her and they brought me some Canadian chocolate and as if that wasn't enough, there was a lovely little scissor fob of turquoise with my initial on, so no-one can pinch my scissors again.

Also in the box was the quilt top I am going to let Bertha play with.  I think it is gorgeous, and just hope we can do it justice.  It looks good on my sofa though, so perhaps I'll keep it and tell her it got lost in the post when I sent it back.  She'll believe that, won't she?

So now you see why the title of this post is "Bartering at it's Best"