Hello Friends,

I am currently on the road back from Arizona where we unloaded the second load of "things we don't want the mover to move".  :)  We arrived at the new house  on Monday this last week where the new carpet had been laid and the travertine tile had been stirpped and buffed to perfection.  The carpet is lovely...a bit darker than I remember, but then our interior designer had to make an executive decision about the color at the last minute.  We couldn't get the dye lot we wanted so he had to choose one that was a little darker than we originally chose.  I would have liked the lighter one a bit better, but "C'est la vie".  Of course the advantage of a little darker carpet is that we won't see the spills that we would with a lighter carpet.  We had a full week of reviewing and planning for some of the remodeling we will be doing, so we are tired and looking forward to being back in Keller.  We will be back tomorrow evening and will be working like mad to get everything packed for the move on October 14th. 

So...we are finally getting down to the wire.  It's a bit unnerving being between two homes.  We haven't sold our home yet, so we are beginning to get a bit concerned about that.  While we are able to carry two mortgages for awhile, we would like to get the house sold sooner rather than later.  With the economy looking as though it might tank again, we are hoping this will not set us back terribly on a sale of the house.  So, send us good thoughts for a buyer to come out of the woodwork and really love our home!

I have mixed feelings as we get closer to actually leaving our home of 12 years. I have made a lot of friends and enjoyed the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so I will miss Texas. However, I am looking forward to meeting new friends and living in an area where it doesn't get very cold in the winter. Texas surprised me with the cold winter wind and occasional snow storm. I thought the winters would be more warm. So now I will enjoy a warmer winter in Arizona. If I want snow I can go up to the Grand Canyon, which is my favorite natural wonder in the U.S. I am going to love living nearer to the Canyon. There is some excitement about moving to a new place and setting up housekeeping in a new area. I have already joined a book club and I have gone to stitch night at the Attic Needlework. I am looking forward to weekly jaunts to one of my favorite shops. 

I am currently in a hotel room waiting for my husband to drop off to sleep, so I thought I would post some pictures of gifts that I stitched this last year for friends.

Here we go...

This is a pin cushion that I made for my friend Debbie.  It was a kit from Homespun Elegance, but I changed the design.  The picture is a bit dark, but I think you get the idea.

  This pincushion was stitched for my friend Michelle (Cozy Egg).  I loved stitching this Blackbird Designs piece from a pattern entitled "Waiting for Harvest" and I believe she really liked the finished piece.








This pin cushions was stitched for my friend Ava.  The pattern is "Stitcher's Roll" from Shepherd's Bush. Do you begin to get that I really like pin cushions?










This piece was stitched for my great friend Kim.  She likes to knit so I replaced the word writing with knitting just for her.  The pattern is the Little House Needleworks "Schoolgirl Lessons".







I don't know about you, but I really enjoy creating hand made gifts for friends and family.  They will be the first to tell you that they enjoy receiving them when I finally get them finished.  There was a time that my family would receive stitched pieces on scroll rods some of which had only a few stitches on the linen.  What can I say...I get excited about stitching something and my estimate of the time it will take to stitch it is always way off.  :)

Well, that's all for this post.  My husband is fast asleep and I should be too.  Until another day...may your journey be full of unexpected surprises.

Gloria