31 Day Blog Writing Challenge-- 31 Days of Christmas and Holiday Quilting Fun!

(keep on reading - see those cute ornaments above - I found the pattern for ya'll!)

3 1/2 years. That's a long time - but it's been 3 1/2 years since I've written any words on this blog space.

The reasons are varied and I will you spare you the boredom of the long detailed saga of reasons I've compiled for not blogging. But just to jingle your curiosity a bit and get a few gossip tongues going (inside joke -life has taught me a quick lesson in the art of what a few gossips can do to create a flutter amongst their boredom! So please - if you must talk, be kind and make it good folks - I love a good story! Everything comes back around..... and I'll just stop right there.... ) Here's the short but quick list of my life in the past 3 1/2 years:

*Moved to Beautiful West Virginia 

*Divorce

*Car Accident - Almost Took My Life - Then Almost Took My Leg - But I Won That Battle (well - almost that is - this little pain in my rear saga is on-going and surgeries continue to correct the damage! The most recent having been this past Monday and it went very well!!)

*Moved to My Mountain Top Dream Cabin and Named Her - Quilters Ridge - a good 25-minute drive from civilization (and yes this decision was made by choice and has been a dream of mine for years - don't judge - it suits me perfectly!!!! --- Just imagine quilting all day and looking out your big picture windows at the gorgeous mountain scenery, breathing clean air, no neighbors in sight, wild animals coming and going and just peace and quiet!!!)

*Continued To Quilt Amongst All Detours in my Life

*Kept Close Ties With My Quilting Community Friends via Facebook, Instagram, Email and good old fashioned letter writing and card sending!

*Learned Hard Truths About Life and Love and I'm still learning

*Started Writing a Book (yep - more on that later!)

*Sent a Kid Off To College (Fairmont State University)

*Saw Another Kid Succeed and Struggle a Bit - But He's Doing Awesome Now
*Empty Nester / Hasn't Really Bothered Me / My Kids Were Raised to be Independent and Spread Their Wings and They've Done Just That / I Did My Job, It's My Time Now

*Gardening and Canning Goddess On My Mountain Top Home

*Continue To Have Furry Pets Adopt Me as Their Momma - They...Just...Keep..Finding..Me... and

Now that all this is out of the way and off my chest  - let's get on to the fun stuff.

I accept this 31-day blog challenge and if you blog, haven't blogged in a while or would like to start blogging - hop on over to this link (just below) and have a quick look!  It won't hurt a bit and it appears to be a fun challenge!

http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-2018-31-day-blog-writing-challenge/

For me - not only will this be a personal challenge to blog for 31 days about whatever I darn well feel like - I am extending this challenge on myself to also blog each day and link to or post a fun Christmas or Holiday themed project for you!  Now, won't this be fun!!!

I've also got a few other few things to share, and of course, if you've been following me on Facebook or Instagram, you've seen that I'm a Part of The Splendid Sampler II group.

See those cute blocks above? Those are four of this past weeks blocks we worked on in the Splendid Sampler group!  The book is out now and it's awesome!

Then, I've been working on the Moda BlockHeads 2 blocks....

I've been working on those beautiful fun blocks from the Moda gals diligently. I've just been lazy about posting my blocks every week as I get them done.  Maybe with this blogging challenge  ---- I'll share some of those here with you also!

Now, onto this self-imposed 31 Days of Christmas and Holiday Quilting Fun!

I cannot guarantee all these projects will be freebies, but I'm going to try my hardest to scout out the internet for some great ideas for us Quilters to use as inspiration for our holiday decorating, gift-giving or just personal projects to make for ourselves - because after all - YOU are worth it! Basically, I'm flying by the seat of my pants on this one folks. I decided on this personal challenge at the last minute, so this should be rather interesting!

And here is what I found for you today - from one of my favorite magazine publications - American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine!

Cute Pieced Ornament Pattern

Are these not the cutest!  I fell in love with them as soon as I found them on Pinterest (don't you just love Pinterest for ideas!!!) Just click on the link below the photo of the ornaments and it will send you over to AP&Q's website. There you can print out the page for the paper piecing patterns!  Just like that - you can be making these cute, adorable little ornaments for your tree!

Until tomorrow!

Have a great day!

And remember, be good to yourself, be fierce, be brave ---- because you are worth it my friend!