…my Thanksgiving wish. . .

Although I may not look as cute. . . this will be pretty much my role this weekend!

Usually Thanksgivings have been pretty quite around here, with it being just Dad, Bailey, & me. . . but this year we will have the pleasure of my niece & her family (husband & 3 littles - 4 years & younger!) are traveling from San Diego & blessing us with joining us as we count our blessings!

Dad is so excited they are coming. . . & I'm sure that Bailey will love having a lot more activity going on (. . . backyard buddies!) My niece has a couple of craft activities planned for them to do - so you know that I'm over the moon about that!. . . (in fact - I know that I have a bunch of boxes of crayons & color books I need to go find!) They will only get to be here for 2½ days. . . so we will make the most of it while we can. (After all - there's all of next week to recuperate!) :o)

So, while I'm thinking about all the blessings God has blessed me with,

please know that I count you as one of those blessings. The fact that you check in to my little blog from time to time means so much. . . I'm so very honored & thankful for you!

As the 'holiday' season gets started - whether you are celebrating the American Thanksgiving Day or not - I pray that you will be filled with the wonder of all the blessings, big & small, that grace our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

♥ Bren

… finishing & starting. . .

Thought I'd give you a look at my progress on the snow-people table runner. . . as it's getting close to the finished stage. I'm almost done with stitching the border down & then it will just be adding a few final touches & I will have this ready for decorating the house! I usually wait to start with decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but since Thanksgiving is so late this year, I've decided that I'm going to start decorating this weekend. Also, since being on Instagram (& following others). . . I've realized that most of the folks in other parts of the world have started decorating for the holidays! So, since I haven't added much to my autumn decorations for quite a while (need to work on that!),  I'm thinking that the white pumpkins that I have out can be incorporated nicely with some Christmas touches. . .

So with all the stitching that's been going on. . . I've discovered a new favorite. . . Dove Dark Chocolate Mint Swirl pieces.  Oh. My. Yummy-ness. I'm hoping that these are not seasonal as I'd love to keep them around all year 'round. (…& don't they look right at home in my aqua Ball jar?!?)

The other think that I've been busy with, has been cleaning out my office. I have 'straightened-up' in there over the years (I can be a 'pile-r'. . .), I have never done a big clean-out in there since I moved my office into the back bedroom almost six years ago. So, it was due overdue. 

My thought was that it had to be thorough. . . & it was …every drawer, every file, every cubby kind-of-thorough. It took me 3 days, & to be completely honest - I still want to spend another morning to finish up a few more things. I took a photo of it when I was midway. . . but I'll save it for when I take the 'finished' photo.

With going through all the items in the office - I found a couple of boxes of items that I had pulled for my website, but they got buried . . . so now that I've done the photography & listings. . . I wanted to let you know that I've also just added pages (several of them!) of items (fabrics, kits, notions, tag-sale items) to the website! Also, we've added another colorway to the 'Remember 'Whooo' Loves You' special order quilt options. We're having so much fun with making these & if you've been thinking about having one made - to be able to give for Christmas. . . it's looking like the cut-off date for that will be mid-week next week. (Unless we get more that we expect & then it will be sooner.)

. . . & then there's my little guy. . . doing the thing he does best - wondering when I'm going to go to bed - um, supervising.

Hope you have a great week.

♥ Bren

… I'm so pleased. . .

Some of you know the history behind this little quilt design. . .

(for those of you who don't . . . you can read about it here.)

It has become one of my all-time best selling patterns, and time & time again, I have been asked if I was ever going to sell the sample quilts (nope. . . they're all spoken for). So, what we have decided to do. . . (just in time for the holidays. . . or for any other reason as well) is to make as many of the 'Remember 'Whooo' Loves You' quilts as we possibly can. (I'm getting nervous putting this out there!)

We will be creating the quilts & are taking special order deposits on the website for the quilts we have in process. There you can see the fabrics we are using & can claim one for your own to keep or give to that special little one! I have set up a 'Special Order quilt' page on the website - where you can see what  colors/fabrics are being offered at this time (& get in on the introductory price!).

If you go exploring around the website - you'll find there are a few new items on the 'Gifts & Treasures',  'Kits',  & 'Tag Sale' pages as well!

Okay. . . that's it for today. . . I've got some stitching to do!

I'll be back with some more fun items soon!

♥ Bren

… welcome November!

Happy November!

One post in October... pretty sad. Funny though, I thought about posting this & that. . . just never when I had the internet handy. So, I'll play 'catch-up' with this post.

Had a wonderful trip to Minneapolis for 11 days. Got to see such pretty colors & there were even a couple of snow flurries. . . just enough to make me grateful that I was returning to temps in the high 70's! But, with the colder temps & rainy days in MN, I had plenty of opportunities to snuggle up next to the fire in the fireplace with my brothers pups & I got lots of stitching done on my next cross-stitch design. It was a great visit. I met my brother for lunch one day & got a tour of his new office (he has just been named President & CEO), & I got to put my interior designer hat on, & with my sister-in-law, we gave the freshly painted office a little makeover. It was nice, just a little bare... & we just warmed it up a bit with some lamps, artwork, & a basket or two. It was great fun shopping for it, & we had quite a few giggles on what we could have put in there! But we were good... Kept to a small budget, & it turned out wonderfully.

Since coming home, Bailey has been extra snuggle-y. . . Which is a relief, because it can also go the other way where he ignores me for s few days. Thankfully when I walked through the door, he gave out a little cry from his 'post' on the back of the living room chair & came running with lots of kisses & snuggles. (whew!)

I've been making some updates to the website (finally got the 'fabric lines' page updated), & will be continuing to add some things in the next few days. There are some fun things that we will be making & making available... just in time for the holidays... (or for anytime really!) I will really try to get all the info posted on Monday.

I've been baking cookies for Dad (molasses, his favorite & sugar cookies too) & since Dad finished off the sugar cookies last evening (!), I'm making some shortbread as I post this. It's just beginning to smell so good! The only issue I have with baking shortbread is that is has to cook at a lower temp for so long! But it's worth it. So, I'm having a cup of coffee & decided to enjoy the smells for now. (But, I must admit... I may be having shortbread for dinner!) ;o) 

I love this month... for so many reasons. The weather getting a crisp feel to it, the autumn light as the sun sits lower in the sky, & the reminder to think on the things we are thankful for. I have been working on doing that all year, & it's amazing on how my perspectives have been changing. I've been doing quite a bit of reflection & looking for the things that really matter & to focus on those things. It's not been the easiest thing, as I have had to realize that I need to let go of some things (I can be a control 'freak' if I'm not careful), but it's also opened a lot of doors that I never really would consider. Good for me to be stretched, & I'm looking forward to what's ahead.

Hoping you have a wonderful start to this special month.

♥ Bren