I just love spending Thanksgiving with family!  We've moved to New Mexico and spent our first Thanksgiving here among family.  We had snow to welcome the special day, but it melted by mid-morning.  It was great to spend the afternoon talking with Mom, Dad, my sister and her husband.  What a great way to catch up and spend time thanking and thinking of family events over the past year.

Our children were nestled in their homes celebrating with friends and family, too.  With Friday as a working day, our kids could not make the trek here.  We miss them and love them dearly.

Another year and it's time to open the website to this year's quilt mystery hosted and written by Bonnie Hunter.  This year's theme is lots of blues and fuchsias all to commemorate the Texas wildflowers!  I have yet to gather my fabric (I am still unpacking my quilting stuff), but I have downloaded and saved Bonnie's instructions.  I will be going through my boxes this afternoon to look and locate the various suggested colors.  I love her mysteries; I have participated every year since a quilt friend suggested her website during one of our quilt meetings way back way...2011.  I am an avid fan quilter and have purchased her books.  I am so excited since she will be teaching several quilt classes in Arizona (this is so close to me)!  I need to coordinate my work to the days she will be in Arizona.  I hope I do not have any conflicts.

This year is a first for me...Bonnie would like us to upload our photos of our progress through Instagram.  I just signed up for my account and have started learning how to use this venue.  My account is https://www.instagram.com/badezbah630/  I do not have any photos yet for this mystery.

Follow me and Bonnie....https://quiltville.blogspot.com/  This is her website and blog...you can download your own copies of this year's quilt mystery.

Wow!  I have been busy this past year.  I haven't been sewing and quilting, rather I've been working at school. 
Things began to change....
In March, we set up a weekend to visit New Mexico to see about a possible land purchase.  We walked the property and looked over the house.  We asked about the price and we could not believe our good fortune.  We placed an offer and it happened so quick.  The whole lending process and selling of our current home was done in a flash.  We are the proud owners of a small ranch in New Mexico!

Our first thought was to pay on this new mortgage and plan to move once we retired.  That changed since my husband did not want to leave the ranch vacant for the years before we retire.  We prayed and talked with family and decided to change our plans and move out and enjoy this beautiful, quiet home.  So, we packed and made several trips throughout the summer storing our treasures.  We sold our Nevada home quickly.  So with the help of our grandboys, we slowly unloaded our personal stuff and slowly filled the new home.

It's now official, we've moved!  Whew!  I have a lot of fabric all related to quilting!  My room is packed and I've haven't opened all of my fabric boxes.  It's not a smaller place, just a bit different lay out and it'll take me time to get everything in order.

I haven't been piecing or quilting as of late.  I have been writing and teaching students in my new school.  Oh, things have changed since I was last here.  New and longer forms to fill out as a teacher, soon to be evaluated.  I have been spending a bit of time ironing out the teacher license process; it has taken me close to six months to finally obtain this credential piece!  Such fun sending and re-sending documents, not!  It is finished, I'm waiting on my hard copy as it travels through the mail system.

I sat down last weekend and spent a whole day cutting, piecing and pressing blocks.  I can now say that I have a quilt top.  Indy, my newest grandson, has been patiently waiting for his quilt.
I designed it using my "Electric Quilt" software.  I forget how fun and easy it is to select and color various block combinations.

The previous weekend, I finally pieced together last year's quilt mystery...Good Fortune.  I love the colors and how the blocks finally meshed together.  I love the border, too!  I don't think I'll quilt this one; I'll have to find someone to quilt it for me.

As the days move from fall and temperatures begin to drop, I've used my weekends crocheting afghan blocks and crocheting a vest.  I put aside the afghan to work on the vest.  I thought I was doing fine and realized that my counting was off.  I read the pattern over, but still didn't see how the vest progressed from the back to the front.  I completed the back as instructed and began working on the front.  What?!  After reading again, I figured out how the vest fabric was being constructed.  My numbers would not work, so I ripped and pulled and started over.  It now looks better and will fit as it was designed.  It is one of those times, I thought to alter before actually following as the designer intended.  Silly me!  Follow the pattern, it will work if you read it thoroughly!   

I put aside the mystery pieces and concentrated on completing this quilt top.  It is sewn on point.  I signed up for this monthly program last year and have been steadily sewing the various blocks together.  I had received another package back in November and when I opened it, I had  another 2 yards of the background fabric with written instructions to fix the problem of some parts not matching.  I cut the fabric down as directed and continued with completing the outer corners.  I pin matched the corners with the medallion and didn't have to use the extra strips.  What?  I should have waited on cutting the extra; I would have had full yardage for another project!  My piecing came out fine and I didn't have to add to accommodate the possible mismatching of the large corners blocks with the middle medallion.  Oh well, I have strips ready for another.

the medallion

the added corner blocks thus completing the quilt top!

I am finished with my bits and pieces...now tomorrow, I'll work on clue 7 to begin sewing them together.  I can hardly wait for the reveal!  I hope we don't work until the Chinese New Year; that would befit Bonnie's calendar.  Hahaha.

It is almost time...just reflecting upon this past year with the many changes and losses of close family.  Yep, getting a bit older and maybe wiser?  I miss talking with my brothers...we spent our holidays catching up on family news.  I miss them so much.  The good to come of this, is that they are no longer suffering from cancer.  Cancer is such a debilitating disease.

About my teaching, I've changed things up a bit in the classroom and hopefully have made an impact with my students.  One does not know until they locate you or you bump into them.  I enjoy being in the classroom, but the records and teacher accountability paperwork we need to use and keep seems to grow.  Oh well, the life of a teacher...

I didn't start working on clue 6 until this afternoon.  We spent time with our daughter and her family and made it back before the New Year highway traffic.  Living in Vegas does have its perks, but holidays can be testy.  We plan to watch the festivities from our TV; the lure of walking and experiencing the "strip" is great, but the crowds are enormous!  I can't say that it rivals Time Square in New York, but it is colorful and eventful.

I sewed strips of background and found an old phone book and used its pages.  This is so much easier than using recycled magazine pages.  I have more to finish with the smaller sizes, but it does sew fairly quickly.  You do not realize how big your stash is until you start cutting and sewing.  It is fun to shop in my studio store.  Now for the revealing party...that remains to be seen.  I can hardly contain my excitement!  I love Bonnie's quilt designs.

I need to remove the paper backing and I have crumbs....I guess I could make an animal bed pad.  Some of the ladies in the quilt group use their bits and pieces.  They save the trimmings, too!  I've got a small 13 gallon size about 1/4th full.

I've been reading and viewing the many colorways of what others are creating.  It is just amazing!
If you would like to get started on your own quilt, here's the link to Bonnie Hunter's 2018 Good Fortune mystery quilt...Good Fortune mystery, clue 6

Have a happy and prosperous New Year everyone!  

Whew!  Another semester finished...grades are completed, lesson plans in the works, and it's me time.  A whole two weeks of me time!  We finally decorated the tree and are just about ready for our Christmas dinner with family.  We hadn't hosted any family get-together dinners for several years since our return back to Nevada, so this will be fun to share our home.

Friday evening, I opened Quiltville's Quips and Snips blog to download and print my copy for this week's set of clues.  The colors are amazing and now to find the colors I need to cut and sew.  I finished a set to ready for picture time.  Hmmm, my blues are showing as black, interesting....

Here's how to get your copy of this quilt mystery....Good fortune quilt mystery

I've spent time perusing other blogs and viewing pictures of others' progress.  The various colorways and block interpretations are mind boggling.  A few twists and turns and block match ups results in beautiful possibilities.  With Bonnie's patterns, the variations are amazing!

While sewing my pieces together, I spent time reflecting and remembering the happy and joyful Christmas' times of past with family.  I lost two brothers this year and it has been rough accepting the loss, but it makes it easier to share with close family all the little tidbits and joyous times of the impact they both had.  Its our faith that keeps us going and spending precious time with family an even more special time.

Merry Christmas to all and heartwarming love as we celebrate His birthday!!!!

More finished projects for Christmas....
Grocery bags...I have one pictured.  This is the large size and boy, they are quite handy and hold a lot of groceries.  I have several sets in my car and more in my husband's.  We use them all the time.

A sweater for Dad.  I made this using my "incredible sweater machine".  My Bond machine is in storage and so I bought the ISM on ebay about a month ago and reacquainted myself with machine knitting.  I like it, but I think I'll hand knit my ribbing.

I also used the rest of the left over yarn to make a knitted infinity scarf for my sister.  So quick and easy using the machine.  No designs or extra colors, just gray, but warm, so warm.  I need to make one for myself.  After Christmas, I say, after Christmas.

Microwave bowl cozies for family...I sewed this set yesterday using the directions found on the internet under https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/microwaveable-bowl-potholders-2977955
They are quick to make; I do need to go down and purchase more batting...you have to use 100% cotton batting since this will go inside a microwave oven. 

My sewing studio looks so organized from this perspective, but behind me is my creative hovel.  I have bits and pieces strewn about and believe or not, I have my quilting frame on the left of the ironing board.  I am still trying to find a way to extend the quilting poles on the Grace wooden quilt frame...since moving, I have lost the connecting aluminum pieces and I cannot quilt just yet.  I need 2 more connecting pieces.  I have been thinking about buying pipe and using them...hmmm.

Behind me, I have my Sweet Sixteen long arm and she is waiting for another to quilt.  Last week,  I purchased Patsy Thompson's suspension system #1 (https://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/) to use on my Sweet Sixteen to help as I quilt.  No more dragging quilt tops...it can be tiring to shift and lift heavy quilt parts.  I think I will move it to the other side of the table.  It's rather close to the thread tree...I could also raise it a bit.  I'm excited to use it.