A Couple of Really Neat Gifts

This is my new very cheery book bag.  It is hand made by a local quilter and I bought it at a craft shop with a birthday gift certificate.  I just love it.  It is a soft corduroy and the design on the front panel reminded me of the patchwork block, square in a square, a pattern I have every intention of working some day.
Besides which I am a bit of a bag nut.  A condition that started with my love for a Black Watch tartan book bag I had for school when I was in Grade 4.  Yes, I am a nerd too.

A while back I wrote a post called  5 Really Really Neat Gifts and one of the gifts was a Diamond Candle.  It was a candle with a ring hidden in it and you have to burn it down to find your ring which could be worth up to $5000.  I imagined at the time that the anticipation would be kind of exciting till you found out what kind of ring you had.
 Well, younger Daughter decided to surprise me for my birthday with one of these candles.  In fact she bought three, one for me, her sister and herself.  We all three are burning our candles to find out what kind of ring we have.  She has a paper with a code for each ring that will tell us how much our ring is worth when we eventually reveal it.  It's a little like buried treasure.

Here is mine and I just enjoyed the smell for the first few days...Sweet Pea.  I'll let you know the ring status later on but wish me luck.

 Here is my new seam ripper.  It is hand made and available at The Pickle Dish in Carleton Place.  In fact it is the owner's son who makes them and they come in all colours and are really a pretty item.
It is handy to be able to wear it around your neck especially for someone like me who does so much unsewing.   But I think any sewist would appreciate such a beautifully made ripper.

A few snaps of my Block 5

Block 6 is well underway so soon I have a few decisions to make.
 How to put these blocks together??
Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company may play a role in that.