A tea party for Valentine's day

I can post this now since I'm pretty sure it's been received. I took part in a Valentine's day tea basket swap at Amitymama. This is the basket I sent off. Hidden in the back are a couple Mary Englebreit craft books (the recipient likes Mary Englebreit).

I sewed the basket's liner-my very first attempt at such a thing. It looks like something is missing to me. More gathers maybe. I never could quite figure out what looks off to me. But not too bad for a first attempt, I thought.

I should have taken a picture of the swap package I received yesterday. But the box's contents all went their separate ways pretty quickly. It was full of things I've never tried...always fun! Chocolate covered blueberries, a big raspberry-chocolate bar, some vanilla-macadamia Luna tea cakes (very yummy!), tea, of course, (rooibos and chai), a bit of heart covered fabric, and some marvelous magazines (dollmaking and some on Early American living/decorating!).

Speaking of magazines... In the past week I have received three magazines (with my name and a year long subscription on the label) that I did not order. One is for Better Homes and Gardens. I had subscribed to it but I didn't love it so I didn't renew my subscription. Another is for Family Fun. I had once signed up for a free subscription online. It ran out long ago. At least I know where those two magazines got my name and address. The third is for a magazine called Wonder Time. I had never even heard of this one. It's a parenting magazine that seems geared toward parents of babies and toddlers. It's a neat magazine but I don't appear to be part of their target audience since my youngest is six. It just seems weird that I keep getting all the magazines in the mail that I didn't pay for. And it's difficult to get my husband to believe as I do get quite a few magazines that I have paid for. I can't blame him. It does sound like a big lie when I say, "oh no, I didn't buy all those magazines. Those three just showed up at the house. I didn't ask for them. I didn't pay for them. Heck, I never even heard of that one."

I have some more swaps coming up soon. One is a redwork swap. I was at the store today and stocked up on red floss. The other is a space-theme quilt square swap. I have my fabrics already. I just need to wash them and cut them into squares. I already have the other fabrics that will be used with the squares I receive to make a quilt. Mason and I have big plans for those squares!

Also, I have a little question that you might know the answer to. Should I prewash linen that I'll be using for cross-stitch? I've always been an aida girl but want to try moving into linen. But it seems so stiff. And it's much harder to know where to stitch (could have something to do with my need for new glasses though...going to the eye Dr on Tuesday).