Merry Christmas everyone! How quickly it came and went. I think Christmas should last over an entire week!! Celebrations each and every day. What fun that would be. We had a wonderful Christmas-- family, food and fun. My two granddaughters had a grand time and are still celebrating. They got so many Barbie and Princess dolls, including a Barbie town home, they need a room just for the dolls. But boy were they excited. I hope and wish that each and every one of you had a wonderful joyous holiday and pray for a safe and Happy New Year!

Paul, Meredith, Reagan & Raleigh all ready for Santa!

Mina and her girls -- nothing like a sandwich hug!

Lots of presents waiting to be opened. The girls have rearranged them several times trying to figure out what was inside the boxes.

Reagan found a Taylor Swift CD in her stocking. She said she is Taylor's biggest fan. What she didn't know at the time was if she kept digging in her stocking she was going to find tickets to the Taylor Swift concert to be held in Raleigh next May. Lots of screaming happened when her mother explained to her what the pieces of paper were that she pulled out.

My sweetie modeling his new Maryland hat that our son Eric and his wife Kristin sent.

Wow, looks like I've been a good girl with all these presents. Wonder what they could be??!!

One of my gifts from my husband was a new zoom lens for my camera. Look how close I got to this bear from my chair. Look out everyone!!

Just what every little princess girl needs, pink tights and pink glitter shoes. Raleigh loves glitter shoes!

Uncle Eric and Aunt Kristin got the girls a new princess phone for their new princess bedroom.

Another fun gift from Uncle Eric & Aunt Kristin. Lots of jumping for joy over this gift.

No better way to top off the day than with dessert. My recipe card gals might recognize the Pumpkin Trifle (I forgot to put on the topping!) which was so yummy. The other dessert was a Boston Cream Cake that was equally delicious. My brother-in-law said these were the two best desserts I ever made. What a compliment.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Eve!! The fun is starting early at my house. My best friend Evette came by with presents first thing this morning. She made the cutest holly pincushion in a cup and also a "Christmas Witch" mannequin. How adorable they both were.

And then there was the candy cane figurine that was too sweet. What a crafty (in more ways than one!) friend I have. Then it was time for Evette to open my gifts. I explained to her that my plans were thrown out the window when I saw the pumpkin head man. I knew I had to buy him for Evette since she is the Queen of Halloween. So there went my original plans. Who would think Halloween for Christmas! There were some other fun things too. Like the pillow that Evette really wanted from our friend Jennifer that I somehow ended up buying and turning into a pincushion for Evette. So she still ended up with what she wanted in a different format. We had so much fun so early in the morning.

I just finished wrapping up my little dinner gifts for everyone for Christmas dinner. Aren't they fun and festive in the beautiful red and white bowl that Evette gave me last year. She knows I love red!!

Took some pictures around the house. Not sure what I've photographed before but thought I would share a few just for fun.

The girls are on their way to my house to open their Christmas Eve gift. Every year when my boys were small they got to open one gift on Christmas Eve. That was always a new pair of PJ's to wear to bed on the big night. I have carried out that tradition as my boys grew into young men and then for their wives and now also for the grandchildren. So everyone gets a box to open on Christmas Eve. My pajama list has certainly grown over the years!

Merry Christmas Eve to everyone!!

Don't you just love the sights and sounds of Christmas!! I do. Especially when I'm spending time with my two beautiful granddaughters. We had them for quite a few hours on Sunday and did some fun things together. We made a quick trip first of all to visit Santa at The Rusty Bucket. Reagan loves to visit Santa and couldn't wait to share her wish list with him. She was so sweet with Santa and hugged him and even took him a special ornament gift. Raleigh, on the other hand, doesn't exactly like to visit Santa. We only have one picture of her with Santa and that was when she was a baby and didn't know any better. While her big sister visited with Santa, Raleigh hid in a faraway corner cowering in fear that Santa might actually try and find her. She was so funny and so afraid. Santa got out of his chair at one point to just peek around the corner at Raleigh and she started crying uncontrollably. At that point we decided it was best to have her leave the store and get her calmed down. We don't want the little thing to have Santa nightmares. She said later on that maybe when she was five she would visit Santa. Then she said maybe when she was six. We'll just see.
After we got home we made some fun "cookies". The girls love doing things with sprinkles so we rolled out some crescent roll dough and each girl decorated their half of the dough. I think they like the decorating part more than anything and I thought this "cookie" project would give them lots of creative fun with many different sprinkles. Once they finished decorating the dough, I rolled it up and we cut it into slices like pinwheels. Once done, I made a confectioner's sugar icing and gave each a little brushing. The girls loved their new cookies, with Reagan saying it was the best she had ever had. It doesn't take much to make little ones happy! Something as simple as sprinkles and dough and they've made something fun with their own hands.
After a quick dinner, we headed to Meadow to visit the light show. It was a new adventure for all of us. The lights were beautiful which we viewed from a train that took us all through the park. The girls had a great time and didn't even complain about being cold once even though my toes were frozen! After we finished the train ride, Reagan wanted to visit the Santa that was there. She was a little confused about how there could be so many Santas at so many different places. I explained that there was only one Santa but he needed many Santa helpers to keep up with all the requests children had all over the world. She seemed satisfied with that answer. One final stop for the girls, the carousel.
Finally, it was time to go home. I think the girls were thoroughly tired but sang Christmas songs all the way home. Reagan said she had the best day ever. How wonderful that we were able to do such simple things and make them both so happy. What a special day for us!

Oh my gosh, where has the time gone. I haven't posted since Dec. 6 and it seems like just a few days ago I was putting pictures of the new class models on here. We finished up the classes for the year with a fun muffin pincushion class and also the popcorn garland and candy canes. Lots of fun was had in the classes and much holiday spirit was shown!!

Bonnie came dressed in full holiday attire, including snowman bobble thingies on her head. What a cutie patootie she is!

Bonnie proudly holds her new muffin tin creation. A beautiful job Bonnie.

Great job Karen. Love the snowman you added and the buttons for your holly berries. Happy stitching to you!

Now that classes are over, time to spend with the girls. Raleigh loves posing for pictures and we had a great time with a quick round of photos before school. What a sweetie she is!

Raleigh and I decorated this ornament for her to take to school as a class project. Each child was supposed to be creative and imaginative with their ornaments. We had fun stamping and adding ribbon and trims.

Who's cuter? Raleigh or Santa?Time for a little cookie baking. We borrowed a cookie press from Ms. Sally and went to town creating Christmas trees. Everybody got a turn to create two pans of special yummy cookies.

Reagan is showing little sister exactly how the cookie press works. She's already made her two pans of cookies and they're in the oven baking. Boy do they smell good.

Oopsy daisy, a little heavy on the sugar. Raleigh said sorry about that.

Raleigh was definitely a little heavy on the sugar but hey, they're her cookies!

Reagan's cookies are out of the oven and ready for decorating. She got quite creative with the icing.

Raleigh's cookies are finally ready to go in the oven. She said she worked hard on her cookies. They look beautiful! Of course, everything to a Mina looks beautiful!!

Merry Christmas to all.

Here are some pictures of the models for the January/February classes for those of you that have received schedules. If you haven't received a class schedule and would like one, drop me an email at libertyrose2000@aol.com and I'll be happy to send you one.

Winter Snowman.....we all need a little Frosty for the winter months

Mr. Snowflake stitchery

Winter wool mat

Mr. Snowlfake pillow

There is also a beginning embroidery class which I have not yet decided on the sampler you will be taking home with you. It may be a surprise.

Also a block of the month called Calendar Girls which is comprised of 12 different designs, each one appropriate for a given month. Don't have a great picture of that one and the piece hasn't been quilted yet, but here's a "sample" picture.

Hope you see something you would love to create. I look forward to seeing all of you in the new year.