Halloween???

I know many stitchers are seasonal stitchers. I think I have my seasons mixed up! I started Jenny Bean Halloween last week while we were on vacation. I'm using the called for fabric and the limited edition thread pack for this project. The picture below isn't flattering at all as it was taken indoors after dark. I struggle with getting nice pictures of stitching - it's so difficult!

It's hard to believe that we'll celebrate Thanksgiving in the US on Thursday. Time has flown this year. Do you have special plans? My parents will be driving up and hopefully my sister will be coming with them. With my mother in law, we'll be a small gathering - just the 8 of us - but we'll enjoy spending the day together.

We're now in the holiday season where things get crazy. We don't have small children anymore but do like to have a traditional Christmas holiday with some surprises for all. We also have family in Austin and Phoenix with little ones and it's always exciting to get something special for them. There are generally two things that indicate how organized I am for the holidays. 1: Whether or not I get Christmas cards out and 2: Whether or not I make cookies from scratch. This year I hope to do both!

If I don't get a chance to post again this week, I wish you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

We're Back

We're back from a week long visit to the Smoky Mountains. Greg & I had a wonderful time and miss it already. We rented a cute little cabin. It was really cozy. Here's a view from the loft:

We had a great view from the back deck. We didn't get to spend much time here because it was either cold or dark when we were there. Not a lot of fall color compared to prior years but he view is still beautiful.

One of the best part of the trip was seeing snow! I wanted to be out in it while it was snowing but the major snowfall happened the night before we got there. The higher elevations within the park got 8.5" so we went looking for it 2 days after we arrived when the roads were opened in this area. There was loads of snow near Newfound Gap. Or at least this is a lot of snow to me. I know many of you don't get my excitement but I've lived in the south most of my life and in Florida for 3 decades. I can count the number of times I've seen snow on one hand and have fingers left over!

We cancelled the hike we had planned for this particular day. I'm not sure I could make it down the inclines safely nor do I know how I'd manage to climb back up. This trail is off the parking area for Clingmans Dome. It happened to also be very windy there.

We did find some other trails to hike later in the week and had a great time. Here is a picture of a favorite water crossing. The tree is really quite sturdy to walk on and the hand rail was worn smooth by the hands of the hikers before us. It was fun!

I should have taken pictures of all the stuff I took with me. I took books, stitching, knitting projects (3), my Jo's Little Women applique and my hand quilting project. Almost all of it was untouched. I read a couple of books and started a new stitching project. It was very comforting to have it all with me "just in case". Greg is always so accepting of all the stuff I like to take with me and never complains about the extra packing and unpacking. This time, I even took my stand up Verilux light which I used every day.

So we're home again and getting back into the groove of our normal life and routines. I have over 400 blog postings to read and hope to get through those soon. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've been up to while I was gone!

Quick Update

I've finished this block a bit quicker than I anticipated so I thought I'd post a quick update. I have a little bit of finish work to do in the green center but that shouldn't take long once I get to it. I have 2 blocks to complete this project. Unfortunately, they're the type of block that I enjoy less than this one. So it might be a while!

I'm thinking of starting a new knitting project. I'm not sure the yarn is going to work with the pattern. Going down a needle size might help. We'll see. This picture does not do the yarn justice. It's really a bit shiny in person and the color is more vibrant. Hopefully it will end up as a shawlette for my mom. It's not for Christmas unless it just happens to get done. I don't do deadlines generally. Nothing takes the fun out of a project faster - at least for me!

Happy Stitches!