back from vacation & back to quilting

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Hi everybody! I'm back from a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

It was time for my semi-annual visit to the Land of Enchantment. This was perhaps my 20th visit to Santa Fe in the past 10 years. My first visit was completely on a whim, and I immediately fell in love with the pure blue skies, the historic architecture, the delicious New Mexican cuisine, and the unique cultural blend of Mexico, Spain, American Indian and cowboy. It feels like home to me. 

No trip would be complete without a cooking class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. This time I specifically wanted to learn how to make biscochitos, the official state cookie. This will be a fun recipe for my new pink Kitchenaid mixer!

biscochitos.jpg

I visited the many historic churches, such as the San Miguel Mission, built in 1610 and believed to be the oldest church in the US.

And then on the full day of snow and HAIL I visited Santa Fe Quilting. Yes, hail in the desert! The shop stocks a large assortment of Southwestern fabrics and patterns. I bought some Paris Flea Market fat eighths and Scrumptious yardage. I was even invited to sit in with the Thursday night hand stitching group! I declined because there were green chile cheeseburgers and parmesan sweet potato fries waiting to be eaten.

I finished most nights with a climb up the mountain to Fort Marcy Park to watch the amazing sunset over the city. I think that it's the most peaceful place I've ever been. I always see "my" rabbits at sunset. Ok, that's probably not so interesting to most of you, but we don't have too many rabbits hopping around Times Square! And on this visit I was, um, stalked by 20 big, black ravens at the top of the mountain, watching me from a telephone line. I could feel the air moving when they flapped their wings, and then there's the loud caaaaawwwww sound. Maybe they were really hungry? I got out of there FAST. I wasn't gonna be their green chile cheeseburger!

I even managed to applique 12 dresdens in my hotel room at night!

And have you seen all those photos of quilt market in Pittsburgh? It looks like there will be some great fabric and patterns coming soon. Carrie Nelson has lots of fun new patterns, and I'm dying over the new Pam Kitty Garden fabric. But right now I need to squeeze in some quality time with my sewing machine. The Great Granny Squared quilt along needs me to catch up!