Hello everyone out there in quilt blog land. No I didn't fall off the face of the earth and Yes everyone and everything here is just fine.  I actually received an email yesterday from a quilty friend who was worried because I hadn't posted in two weeks. That certainly isn't the norm for me but to say that I've been overly busy is an understatement. And thanks so much to Katie for being worried about me.

So what has been going on here in the Crayon Box household?  Lots of holiday prep of course.....decorating the house and the trees, gift shopping, their class holiday parties, you get the idea.  Plus to top it off, both of them have birthdays this month.

 Sunshine turned 6 last week and Jammer's birthday is next week.  Unless their birthdays fall on the weekend, we always take them to dinner on their actual birthday to a place of their choosing, Sunshine picked Friendlys and it was during a snow storm no less, and then we have their birthday party with a few friends on Saturday or Sunday.
 Sunshine's party was at a paint-your-own ceramics place and they had a blast.  I'll pick up the pieces this Sunday and it should be interesting to see how they turned out. Plus they take in a treat to celebrate with their class. So there's always a lot of partying going on here during December.

I've been trying to stay caught up on blog reading here and there but I'm still way behind.  Oh well, I'll get to them eventually. I've missed out on a lot of fun going on including Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day but I've come to accept that around here, whatever isn't done by Thanksgiving just isn't going to get done at all until after the holidays are over.

Our Elf on the Shelf Twinkle has  been up to his usual daily antics.  A couple of days ago, the Olaf that Sunshine made at her Polar Express party on Saturday was trying to cook up some Elf Stew to eat. That wasn't nice Olaf.
 And then last night Twinkle was a very helpful elf and he fixed Sunshine's Lego Friends creation that accidentally got broken yesterday. It looks like he had some leftover pieces.
Last but not least, there is a completely new project that has taken up all of my otherwise free sewing time lately and it involves this.
Sunshine has recently joined a Daisy Girl Scout troop but in addition to that, I am the troop leader.  I had been trying to get her into a troop since school started and it didn't happen. There just weren't enough troops with spots available and last month I found out that there were a lot of girls like Sunshine on the waiting list.  So along with another mom, we started our own troop.  The girls are having a blast but recent weeks have been filled with leader training, meeting planning, craft supply gathering, paperwork and more required paperwork and field trip planning.  It will all smooth out soon as soon as we have the rest of the year's agenda decided on but the past 5 weeks has been nothing but a whirl wind of Girl Scout activities.

I haven't been near my studio in weeks and I don't know when I'll get near it until after Christmas is over.  I did want to get a quilt finished for this month, a table runner or two made and a trio of new small tree skirts sewn up but that just isn't going to happen. I'm disappointed but I'm certainly not going to get too upset over it either.  Hopefully there will be plenty of available sewing time after the new year arrives.

I wasn't going to post these Stunning Stitchin Sunday photos since some it has been a few days since they were posted on their owners' blogs but then I thought "why not".  Some of you many not have seen the original posts yet and it is definitely some pretty eye candy to appreciate. There's nothing wrong with a Stunning Stitchin Sunday the Friday version when it comes to sharing quilty goodness. So grab a cuppa and enjoy.

1. Night Owl Quilting & Dye Works, 2. Christa Quilts, 3. Happy Quilting, 4. Pumpkin Patch Quilter,
5. Ivory Spring, 6. Tamarack Shack, 7. Night Owl Quilting & Dye Works, 8. Val's Quilting Studio,
9. Flourishing Palms, 10. Quilting is more fun than Housework, 11. Pumpkin Patch Quilter,
12. Green Fairy Quilts, 13. Tamarack Shack, 14. Tamarack Shack, 15. Piece N Quilt,
 16. I Dew Quilting, 17. Quilting is more fun than Housework, 18. Quilting is My Bliss,
19. That Girl Who Quilts, 20. Alycia Quilts

And with that I'm off the computer folks.  I have Daisy scout meeting prep to finish and I have lots of gift wrapping to get done while the kids are in school today as it is my last chance.  There will still be more extended family wrapping to do but the kidlets love to help with that.  Enjoy your Friday and enjoy your weekend.