A Grand Adventure

Hello friends! I have been a bit remiss about posting photos from our recent trip. Every time we take a vacation, I find it hard to catch-up with everything upon my return. This time it was made even more difficult from a bout of whooping cough...yep, remember when I mentioned I was feeling a bit under the weather? - well, sure enough, I somehow contracted whooping cough - go figure. I am starting to feel much better, but that dreaded cough lingers. Anyway, back to our trip. We went a few weeks later in the year than usual...and boy did that make a difference. We always drive to Denver and meet up with our friends...then drive to Ouray, CO, where we spend a few days in the mountains. We all have heavily modified Jeeps and explore the toughest off-road trails. This year, the mountain summits were covered with snow and ice, which made for some interesting off-roading - the boys definitely got to utilize their skills and specialty equipment. The day after we left Colorado, there was a big snow storm that closed all the trails we had been driving on for the season. After a few days in Colorado, we headed to Moab, Utah where we had sleet and snow on the trails the very first day. The rest of the week the weather cooperated, but it was crazy to be in a desert setting with snow-covered mountains in the near distance. We were able to complete all our favorite trails in Moab...and spent the last day rescuing a side-by-side that rolled over directly in front of us at the top of a scenic trail (we were able to get the passengers and their vehicle down the mountain safely - it took over five hours). I am going to post some of my favorite photos from the trip (side bar: the girl who was trying to clean up the photos on her iPhone, just downloaded almost 2,000 photos from this trip alone - sigh). I take a lot of photos/videos of the Jeeps in action for the boys, but I also like to take a lot of nature and scenery shots just for me...so here are a few. All in all, it was a grand adventure...

An Autumn Adventure

Greetings friends! I am dropping in quickly this evening to touch base. We had a lovely trip to Chicago for the wedding...but unfortunately, I have been under the weather since our return. Don't worry, I think I am finally on the mend, but I am definitely a bit behind! I managed to get a little finishing completed and some design work done, but that is about it. Now, I'm popping in to let you know I will be out of my office through October 17th, with very limited communication. During this time, my website shop is on vacation...and only digital patterns are available in my Etsy Shop. My correspondence will be very limited, so I will respond to all messages, comments, etc. on Monday, October 18th. We are headed to Colorado and Utah for our annual Jeep trip and since we are in the mountains and off the grid most of the time, I get to go radio silent for most of the trip (and that is fine by me)...a little time to reset and unplug...a little fresh mountain air...and I'm sure I'll feel good as new upon my return. I'll leave you today with a few resent client finishing photos - all of these were stitched by the same talented stitcher - just my finishing work (and two are my designs!)...

Bluebirds and Daisies by Blue Ribbon Designs

Rejoicing Reindeer - Blue Ribbon Designs

Blossom Home by All Through The Night

Give More Strawberry by Erica Michaels

I'll be back with an update when we return with news about all things Blue Ribbon Designs! Thanks for visiting with me today...

Thursday Thoughts

Happy Thursday friends! I thought I would stop by for a quick post this morning, before I head out of town for a few days. We are headed to a wedding in Chicago, so it will be a whirlwind weekend...a day of driving to get there and a day of driving to get home. Today is a day of last minute details before we head out on Friday. 

This week, I finished up a couple gifts and worked on charting for my fall cross stitch releases...I also worked on a couple new sewing/quilting patterns and started a needlework finishing order (Robin, your order is in progress). My never-ending to-do list still has sixteen major items on it and I find it hard to take time away...but it will be good to see friends in Chicago this weekend.

One of the gifts I finished up was a small travel toiletries bag. This was a new to me style of boxed bag and took a bit longer than I anticipated. I am happy with the end result, but if I was to make another one, I would definitely tweak the directions/pattern a bit. It is a great size and has a nice stability. I used three coordinating batik fabrics, to give it a more masculine look and have already shipped it off to the recipient.

In other news - I also finished setting up my Buy Me a Coffee page this week. In my latest FlossTube video, I mentioned that I have no plans of monetizing or adding ads to my blog or YouTube channel...I received several messages that suggested I should add a Buy Me a Coffee link, so fans of my content could support my work. For those who haven't heard of Buy Me A Coffee before - it is an easy way of supporting your favorite content creator(s) - by visiting a simple link, fans can "buy a coffee" and leave a message (they don’t even have to create an account). When I share a post, a video, a tutorial or a complementary chart/design that you find beneficial or helpful and you would like to help support my content and the time involved, you can visit my link. So, if you’re looking for a unique way to give me a little bit of extra support, feel free to Buy Me a Coffee - there’s absolutely NO obligation or pressure whatsoever, but the link is now available if you’re interested. Thank you to those who mentioned that I should set-up an account...I have always shared my ideas, posts, videos, helpful hints and tutorials completely advertisement/subscription-free because of the passion I have for all things needle and thread - and I will continue to do so!

I am off to get ready for our weekend trip. I have the wedding gift wrapped and I have started packing. I still have to finish up the laundry and do a little house cleaning (I like to return to a clean home). The dogs are packed and ready to go to the farm (boarder) this evening. I have plans to leave my website and Etsy Shop fully operational - any orders or correspondence received after 7:00 PM today will be taken care of on Monday evening...thank you for your patience.

For now, I will leave you with two photos I took of the kids yesterday - the first is on their bunkbeds (they have officially switched positions - now that Schatzi is getting older, it is easier for her to use the bottom bunk and our crazy boy Garin is excited to be on the top bunk!) - the second is outside my studio door last night, waiting for me to finish my work (Garin is extra fluffy - yes, he is super-shedding and I have to brush him and vacuum single every day!)…

Heart Happy

Happy Monday friends! I thought I would stop by for quick visit while I am at my desk this morning (now afternoon - where has my day gone?). I just finished up some correspondence, after spending several hours reporting almost two hundred copyright violations to Pinterest. Yes, I said two hundred. 😔 I could spend time writing about how much it hurts artists and designers when copyrighted charts, patterns, images, videos, etc. are photographed, scanned, shared, and posted illegally - how damaging it is on multiple levels - and how every few weeks when I have to do this I am a heartbroken mess...but instead, I will try to lighten my mood, be as upbeat as I can muster, and share some recent finishes. Like I mentioned in a previous post - I am trying to organize and remove the thousands upon thousands of photos from my iPhone. Today's post includes needlework finishing (not my stitching or designs...just my finishing work and finishing ideas), a couple gifts I created, recent project bag finishes, and some of my quilting. It is a hodgepodge of creative projects that I completed over the last month or so...some happy eye candy to start the week...

Posting these photos has already made my heart happier and I am ready to get started on my next project this afternoon. After a quick lunch, I have several design ideas to chart out and fabric to cut for my next project. 

Take a little time to work on something that makes your heart happy! 💗