Blessings to you and yours...

May your Thanksgiving holiday be filled with love and joy and perhaps some yummy food as well.
Catherine

The preparations begin...

Cinamon, allspice, cranberries wafting through the house, yes the smell of Thanksgiving is in the air. Pate brise to make for tomorrow's fresh from the oven apple pie and Grandpa's most wonderful apple crisp as well.

Today is preparation day and that means lots of cooking and double checking to make sure all the fresh ingredients are all accounted for.



Gratitude

Today I am grateful for the fact that our first grandson is home with us now from school. And that today is the last day of school for the little ones as well. Family together for that I am truly thankful!

With a little luck Cristina, Corbin and I may be able to sneak out and go to the movies to see New Moon, second on the vampire trilogy. What could be nicer :)

My {View} includes a fresh turkey, apples, and cranberries...oh my

Catherine

Today my focus is on....

In just four days it will be Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays. It does not seem have all the stress of Christmas and focus of presents but rather a wonderful focus of "Gratitude" and "Thankfulness"
My plan is to keep a Gratitude List leading up to Thursday. Why don't you join in and let's do it together.

Tis a busy week but I am excited at the prospect of our family, some here, some in Romania sitting down at our respective family tables and enjoying our annual Thanksgiving feast.

Tomorrow thought I would share out traditional foods...

My {View} is full of autumal delights

Catherine

Aprons, aprons, aprons everywhere...

On Friday evening at Silver Bella it was the amazing Vendor Faire, oh la la such finery to purchase. In addition to the faire Teresa also had an apparel theme for the evening, "One Hundred Aprons" where we were asked to wear an apron. It could be handmade, vintage, tres chic, kitchsy or anything you wanted. Today I thought it would be fun to share the aprons my daughter and I wore.. First, on Saturday we had a fabulous luncheon with keynote speaker Jo Packham, Editor in Chief of "Where Women Create" and I lingered after lunch for an opportunity to talk with her and she kindly let me take a photo of us together. Such a beautiful and humble woman! Oh yes, I am wearing an aqua polka dot apron with white anklets with trim and boyfriend jeans, hair is in a ponytail as well. My friend, Debbie said I must also have a daytime apron to wear as well. And so I did!

Now on to Friday evening and my wonderful friend Debbie made this enchanting pink and silver ruffled apron for me to wear. I was attempting to channel "Audrey Hepburn"...LOL

And finally my sweet daughter wearing her own creation an altered apron. She found a vintage German linen nightgown from the 1800's and redesigned it to include wonderful vintage flowers, lace, etc. I know I am her Mama but I thought it was stunning :)

Even as I still bask in the glow of Silver Bella I find I must shift gears and move on to the holiday season. Today will include shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Can you believe Thanksgiving is next Thursday, oh my, pie to bake, fresh cranberry sauce to make....

My {View}

Catherine

Silver Bella, what a ride

This was my first Silver Bella and what an amazing experience it was! To be surrounded by amazing women artists who "get it" how wonderful is that? I plan to post photos over this week but wanted to do a quick Embroidery Swap follow up... This is my amazing swap partner, Marilee of Rose Brier Studio

Here we are just after we exchanged our embroidery samplers. The one Marilee created for me is simply stunning and reflects so many of the things I love best. This indeed is a treasure.

A fun little snap shot of me with my daughter, Cristina of Sweet Pea Ink

and the fabulous Teresa McFayden the founder of Silver Bella and artiste extraordinaire.

Just arrived home and have caught a silly head cold...too much fun me thinks, lol.

Glad to be home but oh what fun I had....

Catherine

Tis off I am...

Silver Bella here I come!! Woo hoo, it is finally time to go baby. Let the games begin...
Glitter and ribbon and glue oh my, it just makes a girl's head spin. I will take lots of photos and share upon my return :)

In the meantime please forgive my lack of posting as I will not have my laptop with me and will be in classes most of the time. Full report next week, promise!

Catherine

More Bella goodness....Spoiler alert Marilee (don't peek)

I joined an "Embroidery Sampler" swap for Silver Bella. We were assigned a partner, filled out an interest questionnaire, and then went to work creating a 9.5 x 12 sampler to give to our partner at Silver Bella on Friday evening. Oh the excitement... I designed and created a free form sampler with lots of vintage bobbles included.

Little bits of vintage lace, look at the pears, they are from the 1930's. Fun whimsical stitches, pieces of fabric and an old broach.

Beautiful vintage lace panel from the 1920's adorned with a button from the same era. This was such fun and since I have not done any embroidery in awhile I had to knock off a little rust and practice some of the stitches. Was wonderful to get back in the saddle.

I am filled with anticipation and can't wait to give this to my sweet partner, Marilee.

Silver Bella sneak peeks...

I have been working like crazy to get myself ready to head out to Silver Bella

Thought it would be fun to share some of the teacher gifts I have made. These are sweet little candy bar sliders. Each slider is decorated with vintage lovlies and when you pull the ribbon up comes a yummy Seattle chocolate truffle bar.

I need to finish wrapping one last swap and some hostess gifts before I can begin to pack up my tool kit/supplies.

Such wonderfulness awaits. Please come back to visit as I plan to share more of my swaps: fabric book pages and an embroidery sampler.

My {View} is Bella beautiful...

Catherine

Looky here, looky here...

Hey there Jessica Sprague fans, check this out. Miss J is offering a free digital class, woo hoo. Just go over and visit her
I have already signed up and can't wait to see what she is up to. I have taken several of her digi classes and truly enjoy them. xoxo
Catherine