Winter Wonderland

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.  It comes and goes so quickly, we all need to slow down and enjoy the moment.  My son Eric, his wife Kristin and friend Chad came down for a few days to help us celebrate.  We were so happy to have all of them.  And of course, Paul, Meredith, Reagan and Raleigh were here too.  The girls had a great Christmas with lots of fun presents and things to keep them busy. 

We've all been keeping an ear on the weather predictions and it seems, as Christmas got nearer, the weathermen were saying the "S" word more frequently.  On Christmas morning it seemed like it was surely going to SNOW and Eric and his crew were in a predicament.  They planned on leaving Sunday morning and needed to get back home for work.  What to do.  Finally we all decided they should leave after Christmas dinner just in case it got bad here.  You never know about these storms that come from the south.  So they headed out after dinner and got safely back home by midnight.  They ran into snow all along the I-95 corridor but ran out of it as soon as they headed west toward home. 

Well, what to our wondering eyes should appear Sunday morning, but about six-eight inches of SNOW!!!  Everyone here in the south gets excited about snow, especially this sort of snow that is big and just right for making snowmen.  So the kids made the right decision to get home last night and we have our beautiful snow.  So here are some wonderful snow pictures taken mostly from my front porch while I was still in my jammies!

So from our snowy home to yours, Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..............

I sure hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit and enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas.  I've been playing Christmas music in my car since before Thanksgiving and love listening to some of the old classics.  I have a new van which has sirius radio in it and I've been listening to a 40's station.  Good old Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra songs......all Christmas.  Yesterday I heard the Lennon Sisters.  Now what other station in this day and age would play the Lennon Sisters!

Last week was a busy week finishing up some last minute shopping, lots of gift wrapping, even rearranging my workroom.  But most importantly, we found time for a trip to visit Santa and also see Raleigh's Christmas production at preschool.  We've had so much fun with the girls and look forward to seeing their faces on Christmas morning.

Reagan goes every year to visit Santa at The Rusty Bucket....she says it's tradition!  This year we had a hard time finding the right time to go since she's in school and Santa has a busy schedule.  I picked her up at school on Monday and we made a dash to visit Santa and luckily he was there.  She was so happy to see him and they had a nice visit.   

And Santa surprised Reagan with a Taylor Swift magazine full of posters.  He knows that's her favorite singer.  What a nice surprise!   

And look what's outside The Rusty Bucket store now.....an old fashioned coin-operated horse.  Reagan hopped right on.  Ride 'em cowgirl! 

On Thursday we had a little snow/ice store blow through.  I always think the trees are so beautiful when they're covered with ice.  Everything was cleared up by the next day. 

Raleigh was striking a few poses before she had to leave for her Christmas show.  Doesn't she look cute in her green velvet dress?!  Reagan wore that same dress when she was Raleigh's age. 

And once Raleigh left for her show, Reagan hopped in the spotlight! 

A room full of kings and angels, and a few wisemen! 

What sweet "little" angels..... 

The littlest angel...........look how angelic she looks! 

On stage looking over baby Jesus.  She said she was the most important angel that night.  At one point, as we're sitting in the audience watching the production, Raleigh started to lose her balance.  We were all just holding our breaths as she teetered back and forth.  Suddenly she reached out and touched the plant and got her balance back.  We all let out our breaths.  Just another exciting moment in the life of a four year old.

I hope everyone gets all their shopping, wrapping and baking done this week and enjoys each and every moment of the time.  Remember to take a breath........................and stitch a little!

New Classes

Two posts in one day!!  Can you believe it?!  I've had lots of people asking for the upcoming classes so I have updated my web site with the new schedule and photos.  Will also share photos here for those of you that follow more closely on the blog.

Snowman Wool Crazy - OK, here we go again.  I cannot get this picture to load properly, so please turn your head to the left for viewing.  Sorry.

Vintage Photo Transfer Journal Cover 

Valentine Photo Transfer 

Brown Paper Bag Sewing Book (total of 12 pages) 

Hope you see something inspiring!!  All the dates and times can be found on the Calendar section of my web site - http://www.libertyrosepatterns.com/  

Be sure to do a little stitching today!

Happy Monday to everyone.  Hope you all survived the busy weekend and had some time for relaxing and stitching and enjoying the beautiful Christmas lights.  Evette and I took a much needed day off on Friday and headed to visit our friend Jenny at Just Country in Raeford.  We love to go there and haven't been in quite awhile.  We both felt like we needed a little down time and what better way to spend it than together visiting Jenny!  We had a great time and of course, came home with some treasures.

Evette was seriously deliberating which tree to purchase.  I told her to buy several!  Then she wouldn't have to decide. 

Jenny's store looked great.  Lots of holiday decorations. 

Dee and Jenny 

Just a simple wooden wagon filled with greenery and a Merry Christmas sign.  Simple things can be so festive! 

Jenny walked out to the van with us.  We had loaded the car when I decided to show Jenny how the back seat worked in my new van.  It flips around to become a tailgating seat or stitching seat.................so we had to unload everything so I could show her how it worked. 

Then we both hopped in for a little break.  Silly girls! 

So one of us went back in the store and bought a table top desk and we had to unload the van again to get the desk in.  Herb (Jenny's sweet husband) was most patient with us. 

Now, I think for the third time, we've got the van loaded.  Time to hit the road.  Thanks for a fun time Jenny! 

As we're driving up US1, Evette saw this nursery all lit up so we had to make a U-turn and go check it out.  This guy greeted us as we pulled in the driveway. 

This is where we were.  Love the Santa perched up there. 

Took a few pictures inside.  Just for fun. 

I bought the candy cane flag hanging there.  Only one they had left and I love candy canes.  I also love this snowman but he was a little pricey for me. 

How would you like to have this giant fella in your yard.  He was huge. 

And I really loved this Santa!  He's saying "Shhhhhhhhh.......I'll be there soon!"

Hope everyone has a great week and braves the cold temperatures and for those of you up north, all that snow.  Save a few minutes for some stitching!

Well, here's the first and funniest holiday hat I've seen this year.  Sally showed up for recipe class toting this fine snowman hat.  Hmmm......not sure I would be brave enough to do that!

The ladies are busy creating the December recipe card featuring a wonderful Santa face and a very yummy breakfast casserole recipe. 

Gerry was the first to finish so she got the ta-da photo op..... 

When my first granddaughter was four years old, she wanted to learn to sew.  I taught her a couple basic embroidery stitches.  She learned to stitch on paper, her idea.  We then moved on to fabric and she made a pillow and has a couple of other projects she's working on.  I've asked Raleigh, who is now four, if she wanted to learn to sew and she always says "no, thank you."  Polite little thing.  Thursday morning she walked in the door and the first thing she asked was if I would teach her to sew.  So we had our first lesson.  I started her with a running stitch on paper just like her sister. 

Well, she tried and tried and I showed her over a couple of times and she would try again.  Notice she's left handed so that was a little more challenging for me to show her the right way.  After a few minutes Raleigh said "I don't think I want to learn to sew today."   

So we put down the paper and moved on to another project, the computer which she loves to play on.  I told her the next time she came over we would try again but this time on fabric.  She was excited about that so we'll see how that goes.

Hope you all find a little time to do some stitching today........................

What a mess!  I just looked up at my work table and started laughing.  I thought if only the ladies knew what I went through when creating a new project.  Stuff everywhere.  This doesn't show what I've delegated to the floor!!  I just laughed and decided to take a couple of quick pictures to share my creative messes. 

I'm working on a new project for January/February classes.  It's a brown paper bag sewing book.  I had sort of planned it in my head and gathered a few things to work with but have now ended up with way more than I can fit in one little book.  So I'm having to call it quits and go with what I have and who knows where the leftover things might end up one day. 

I think this is going to be a fun class with lots of vintage paper elements to play with. 

Have a fun Sunday.