Sunny December Sundays

Who can resist this girl when she wants to go out on a long Sunday morning hike?

Bundle up!  The sun may be streaming but jackets, hats and gloves are required attire.

But that morning air, it smells so good!

Let’s go mama!  There are smells to discover and squirrels to chase and I’m ready to go, so hurry! Hurry!  Hurry!

Okay.  Let’s go!


Sadie loves it up here so much.  I watch her go about life with such joy, sniffer to the ground, tail high and wagging…feet galloping along the dirt roads ready to walk what has become our accustomed “BIG HIKE” of the morning.  She just isn’t happy with a short walk to get business done, no…..she wants the WHOLE thing, and she will lead the way.

Pretty cool!  Just a bit over 2 miles.

The green is our starting point.  Go right from the blue dot….up to the end of our road where a trail cuts through the woods..a bit of a walk through the wilderness, and then down a lane to the main road, up the mountain to our friend Steve’s drive way, where he is usually sitting out on his front porch enjoying his morning with a cup of coffee.  Yes, it’s chilly, and you will find him in sweats, jacket, hat, warm slippers regardless of the temperature.  The peace and beauty of nature in the Blue Ridge Mountains is not to be missed in the mornings.  Especially the mornings!

Sunlight through the trees in my side yard.

Can you see the mountain range behind the trees?  There are birds still chirping in these woods.

Further up our road, this is the vista from a neighbor’s drive.

You guys are too slow!  Come on!

It was a lovely hike, one of my favorite things to do up here,  And of course, now Sadie is passed out on the floor!  Ahhhh, a dog’s life.

Since last evening’s post I’ve done some of this:

Binding while watching Criminal Minds.

Little more than one side done..but making progress!

The binding is all attached to the Big Blue Monstrosity and I will spend the next several evenings hand stitching the binding down on that one after I finish binding the baby quilt today.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how the new tax laws are changing  for anyone in the EU on January 1st.  As a small business owner I am very concerned over what impact this will have on all small businesses out there.  Have you read about it?  Check out Ebony Love’s post HERE.

She is not the first designer I’ve come across who will be refusing to sell digital items to those in the 28 nations of the European Union.  It’s SAD.  But the paperwork and legal hoopla one is required to jump through is just too much to deal with as a small business.  

The liability for any small business is astronomical, the time it takes to deal with the paperwork for submitting VAT to 28 individual countries, all at different rates makes it not worth it as a small business to continue.

It isn’t the customers we are rejecting, but the policy itself.  Ultimately though, it is going to come down on the heads of those who we most want not to disappoint…quilters in the EU.

At this time I do not offer digital items in my store.  The new VAT does not apply to hard-copy items bought from my store.  I will still be selling these items to those outside of the USA just as I always have, and there will be no problem mailing these to you.  The new VAT has to do with DIGITIZED ITEMS.  I think they are going after the big name businesses like Apple Itunes and Amazon, etc –but small business just can’t handle the work that it will take to make sure every t is crossed and I is dotted.

I have one book that offers a digital version on Amazon.  More Adventures with Leaders & Enders was a test run for me, and I really don’t know if I will continue with offering future books in digital format.  For one thing, if any pattern requires a template, it will not be downloadable from your digital copy.  You have to go to the publisher’s website for that.  I think if I were to order the digital format of a book that I would probably ALSO buy the hard copy just to have on hand for ease of use.

At one point I was thinking of offering individual quilt patterns as digital downloads.  To my friends in the EU, I am sorry ---truly sorry if this leaves you out cold.  I’m just not sure what to do, so I am putting the whole idea of individual downloadable patterns on the back burner for now and just concentrating on my next book release.  ((Which everyone will be able to obtain a hard copy of, avoiding all of this VAT nightmare))

Okay, this is a weighty topic for such a festive season, so let’s go sew something!

Remember tomorrow is our Mystery Monday Link-Up for Part 4!  Get those units sewn, get some photos taken and let’s link them up!

Much love to you ---

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