November 2023 Smalls Link Up

Hello, I hope all my American friends had a great Thanksgiving last week. We did. The kids and I made 3 pies (apple, pecan, pumpkin) and the rest of our feast was tip top as well. This is not Instagram worthy food photography but maybe you’d like to see it anyway…

I did not finish my small. I thought if I have myself a couple extra days I might, but I still didn’t, so here it is, Kitty Love from Mill Hill.

Maybe I’ll get it done tonight but I’m pretty tired. You’ll know why in a minute. This ornament is for my middle daughter who is most in love with our new kitties especially the orange one. By the way, they have names now, I forgot to tell you I think…

Look at them being all grown up and cat-like. Sophie is the gray one and Alani is orange (Alani is Hawaiian for orange and also precious if I remember correctly and we adopted the cats right around the time of the fires in Lahaina where we have visited several times so we are sadly in remembrance that event.) They are now best friends and snuggle buddies.

So…news. A couple weeks ago we had a pipe break in the wall upstairs. The water damage was not too bad because we were home and got things dried up right away.

But. In the process of cutting out carpet and tile and drywall to get it dry (and avoid mold growth), a lot of damage was done to the house and the short story is we have to move out for a while to let the workers come in and make repairs and lay new carpets and repaint…we will be almost completely packed out (kitchen not affected thank goodness)…we will miss having Christmas in our house. Wah! But the cloud has a silver lining…we will have a nice remodel of our home and an opportunity to really declutter and make long needed improvements for our big family’s comfort. And we have my in-laws vacation home locally to stay in so a great blessing there. All that to say blogging and stitching will really be taking even more a back seat the next several months. I will do the last Small link up of 2023 and Jo’s Advent blog hop but that’s probably the most you’ll hear from me.

I also say, with mixed feelings, I need to take a break from hosting the Smalls link up which I have hosted for 5 years. I personally have felt unpleasant pressure lately to complete a small, and while I love having that little completed bit of stitching regularly, it’s become a chore for me, and stitching shouldn’t be a chore! If someone else wants to take over do let me know, and if not that’s ok too! We’ve had a good run, friends, and I appreciate all your participation over the years!

So without further ado, here is your penultimate Smalls link up!