How did the last month slip by so fast?  It was an extremely busy month with many changes and activities.  And now we are running into the Christmas season…..

The biggest change was a heartbreaker!  My baby girl and partner in crime, Becca, and my precious Bella moved off to Nevada.  While I am so happy for them and this amazing opportunity, my heart has had a harder time accepting and recovering.  But they are very happily settled into a nice home and Becca can now be a SAHM and wait for baby number two!  I have already figured out the flight schedules and times and with modern technologies I can see them everyday and chat.  Just miss those hugs….sigh….  Letting go…….

Here is a picture that Becca sent me of Bella in her new home helping with Thanksgiving dinner.  Miss that smile!

Before Becca took off for Nevada, I spent a week in Seattle on business.  Our Corporate headquarters are on the waterfront so I was staying downtown.  I took the early flight out on Sunday so I could spend the first day just playing around.  Spent a day at Pike's Market.  I especially loved all the street musicians:

This guy was playing Van Morrison and Beatles tunes.

This guy got me with the dog.  I loved that dog!

This guy made the sweetest music with an accordion.  Amazing.

The shopping wasn't bad either and I made a few too many purchases.  It was a beautiful day with perfect weather.  The entire week was magic.  I won a few awards for my community, met my corporate support team, and had the greatest time just hanging out with some awesome people.  I am so blessed to do work that is rewarding and to work for an amazing organization!

Back home back to busy, busy, busy.  A few months back I sent out a bundle of quilts I had completed to be quilted.  I had a closet full of panels and holiday prints and had finally decided to make them up and clear out some stash.  This is what my completed projects look like minus the binding:

These are panels that I just simply added borders.  I love Halloween and have a serious Halloween stash!

A fall quilt I made from years back….

Fun with Christmas prints….

Fun with a ME panel.  I really like her work and was delighted to find she also designed fabric.

From the minute Moda introduced this line, I loved it!  I have another quilt I made with this group, a Buggy Barn pattern.  I made this one to match with two granddaughters in mind. 

I still have a great deal of holiday fabrics and have two more Christmas quilts ready to go out to the quilters!  Yeah I have a real weakness for holiday prints…

I also got around to framing a few of the stitcheries I did in the past.  Well the way past.  I have been hanging on to them and just never got around to framing them.  Here is one of my favorites:

Here is one that Christina did for me some years ago….perhaps ten?!

I still have a huge stack and am always on the look out for frames. 

With Christmas approaching I have been trying to tackle my stack of knitting projects……

I am getting lots of sets of mittens made, but unfortunately not much else. 

And now for the biggest news of all.  I have been house hunting for a while now and have decided to build.  I am so excited about this!  I have found a builder, a plot, and am firming up the floor plan.  I am having a great time planning exactly what cabinets, floors, appliances, colors, ect that I want.  I seem to be most focused on the kitchen and am going for this look:

However, my kitchen will not be near this big…..  I love the white French Country cabinets and my floor plan calls for an island.  I have so many decisions and am really excited about this decision to build.  It just feels right! 

And that is my excuse for being absent for a month.  Lots of goings on and changes.  And now to indulge in my guilty pleasure for the remainder of the evening.  A cup of English Tea, Lindts chocolates, and reruns of Desperate Housewives. 

Pleasurably,

Patricia