Two New Patterns and a Merry Christmas!

I can't believe it's already December! This year has flown by way too fast!

I have been busy, but I've managed to design a couple of new quilts. 

The first is a Christmas Advent quilt banner.  The little banners are actually little pockets, just big enough for a small candy or a scripture.

The second is a large (57" x 68") springtime themed quilt. It will be released after the first of the year.

In personal news, I've been busy since I last posted (July? really that long ago?). My parents celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary and my brother and sister and I gave them a party. I made the cake, so that kept me hopping for several weeks, making sugar paste flowers. 

My parents original wedding cake topper was displayed between tiers of cake. 

I've also decorated for Christmas, although I kept it fairly simple this year with only one tree, wreaths, and a couple of centerpieces. 

(I did a little re-decorating this season, too. I moved the couch and loveseat from this sitting area to the living room and the chairs from the living room went in the sitting area. )

Merry Christmas!!

Magic Happens Here!

Yes, magic has been happening the last month! I finished a new banner pattern! It is designed to go on a classroom door, a studio wall, a workroom, or any place that magic happens! There are extra art images (an art palette, tube of paint, paint brushes) and the applique images can be repeated or omitted to fit the need. It will be released when the cover image has been photographed. As a former elementary teacher, I love bright pops of color to welcome children in and give them the feeling that their new classroom is a great place to spend their time!

My lavender has been blooming and the bumble bees as well as honey bees are really buzzing despite the 100+ temperatures!

We spent two weeks on the west coast visiting two of our sons and families. While in Oregon, we drove up to the Hoh rain forest in Washington state. It was a great experience. We also spent a day on the beach!

In California we spent time with family and then brought our granddaughter back to tour universities in Texas. 

We started out at Abilene Christian University. They have a beautiful campus that is green and shaded. It is a smaller private university where I got my degree. 

(Yes, the old lady is me and the young, beautiful one is my granddaughter! I have cut my hair really short. Speaking of short, I am quite a bit shorter than my granddaughter - about half a foot!)

In front of a beautiful art installation at ACU.

After Abilene, we drove to Waco. Before touring Baylor University, we made a stop at Magnolia Market. 

At checkout at Magnolia Market. It was certainly a fun place to visit!

(The famous Silos!)

Baylor gave a great tour and showed off their new stadium. The heat was a killer that day! I was afraid it would scare her away from Texas, but it was even hotter in parts of California that day, so she took it in stride.

The new McLane Stadium at Baylor University.

From Waco, we drove to Austin. (This is where my husband did his graduate work and he LOVES everything UT!) Our first son was born in Austin while he was in school there. 

We ate dinner at The Roaring Fork, a great restaurant right on the water!

After those stops, we visited my family in Pleasanton. My sister has a great studio called Artrageous on Goodwin Street. She gives paint parties, paint sessions, sewing lessons, pottery lessons, bisque glazing, and many more creative, fun things including a weekend Farmer's Market! She gave us a lesson in throwing clay on the wheel. 

My granddaughter caught on quickly.

Farmer's Market Day at Artrageous!

Today we're off again to see more universities! 

Until next time, 

Bee Blessed!

Yes, I'm Still Alive!

I'm not going to give excuses. Yes, I've been super busy, but not all of it was work! Here are a few highlights of the last year! (I'll show you quilt updates toward the end!)

We've been hosting lunches and dinners for friends. My sweet husband gave me a set of mid-century transfer ware  (English Staffordshire called "Welcome Home") that I can use in the fall and winter months for entertaining.  

We've been working slowly but surely on the next stages of this house. (We finished the stairway!!

We've bought a game camera and discovered that in addition to the deer, we've been visited a bobcat, a family of foxes, a family of raccoons, an occasional porcupine, an occasional possum, and a whole rafter of wild turkeys.  (Thank you, Google, I would never have called a bunch of turkeys a rafter!)

We've taken my Mama and Daddy to Boulder Dam so he could revisit his childhood home in Boulder City. My granddaddy worked at Boulder Dam while it was being built. He started out as a scaler and ended up as an electrician. We walked into the museum in Boulder City and the first picture we saw had my granddaddy right in the center!

my daddy talking to the historian

my granddaddy, third from left

We've gone on a 4,000 mile road trip to Yellowstone and back, (2,000 miles each way), stopping to climb into cliff dwellings, to examine petroglyphs, to see forest, mountain, and desert scenery. We've hiked, climbed, crawled, and walked. We've tasted regional foods. We've stood on mountaintops and waded through streams in the valley. 

We've seen bison, elk, moose, bears, and even a wolf. 

We've seen  geysers that shoot many feet into the air as well as colorful bubbling hot springs.

"We've" has modified my Jeep so that I have to climb up into it and jump down out of it, so "we've" bought me a new electric hybrid car that I love!

Now the things I have done alone:

I FINALLY finished the Spring in the Country quilt pattern that people have been asking me about for 2 years. 

Spring in the Country 

I have even made a few quilts just for my family and not to make a pattern from.

I revived an old love of decorating cakes and made some for a few wedding showers.

I built a papier mache tree in a classroom. (sorry, no after picture, just during the process)

I am healthy, happy, and just as sassy and silly as I ever was! (My sister jokes that I am a "princess".)

This has been a time for family and friends. I do not regret spending time for them or with them. My parents will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary later this summer and I will celebrate my 48th with the man I have loved for what seems like forever!! (And what a wonderful forever it has been!)

I will try to pop in every now and then to keep you updated and to share new patterns and tutorials.  I have updated my Patterns page. Thank you for hanging in there with me!!!