I had a fun day with Raleigh on Thursday.  We started our morning by going to JoAnn Fabrics to buy some paper I needed for an upcoming class.  Well, we spent quite a bit of time in the Halloween aisles.  She loved looking at all the decorations and especially the dancing and singing creatures.  At one point we had a choir going on with all the singing.  I was afraid the manager might come back to see what was happening.  I finally got her away from Halloween, found the paper, only to end up looking at all the "beautiful" fabrics with her.  She just loved all the Halloween sparkly fabrics.  Quite a time we had.  Before we left the house Raleigh asked if she could play with my "little people" when we got home.  The "little people" are my Byers Carolers.  She loves to get them out, line them up for a visit to Santa, pose them. 

Raleigh hiding among the "little people".  She had the best time arranging them between the two bedrooms.  I walked in the room one time and she had them all on top of the ironing board with the head guy on the bed post conducting the choir.  Another time they were lined up to visit Santa.

Raleigh asked if I would take her picture.  I think she just wanted to do her cute little pose!

Big Sister Reagan just got home from school.  Couldn't leave her out of the pictures!  She strikes the pose also!!

Here's the conductor leading the choir on the ironing board!!  Too funny!

I remembered my camera for a recipe card class on Thursday night.  I never take pictures at those classes it seems.  So I forgot it the night before with the gingerbread man class (sorry ladies) but remembered it for card class.  Everyone was concentrating on their cards.

And here's the front of the card.  This recipe was for Picnic Banana Pudding.  A super yummy treat that you layer in a mason jar for serving.  A very vintage looking card this month.

Raleigh went to class with me for the first time ever.  I thought it would be fine since the card classes are normally over within a couple of hours.  And she especially wanted to go because she found out that three cats live at the house where I teach.  Raleigh loves cats and wants to be a veterinarian some day.  There is, however, also a doggy at the house that has a very loud bark.  That absolutely terrified Raleigh and she wrapped herself around my leg crying.  I was trying to figure out how to teach a class with a four year old wrapped around my leg.  I finally had a little talk with her, put a blanket on the floor with her coloring book and markers, and she was fine.  I felt so sorry for her.  She was so excited about visiting the cats and terrified of the dog.  But we got through it and she colored pictures for each of the ladies in class.  The funny thing to me was on the way home she told me she had the best time in the class and from now on she was going to all my classes with me.  OH MY!!!!

What can I say, no post for a week to two posts in one day!!  I'm excited and had to share.  I just put the back on my fall wool crazy block and wanted to share.  All I did was pillow the front to some brushed flannel.  The edges are so thick that I didn't think binding would work and I think I made the right decision.  Anyway, I love that it's finished now.

I can just see this on my kitchen table this fall.

Wonder what these are going to be??

Aren't they pretty!!

This has been another one of those super busy weeks.  Classes, girls, mini-trip, kits, porch sale, lots of things in the works.  Somedays I just stand in my workroom in a dazed state of confusion trying to figure out what to do first.  And usually that is grab a piece of dark chocolate and take a deep breath!!  I remembered to take a few pictures of classes this week and forgot some.  Sorry.

Leslie and Kim stopped by to make Red Cross pincushions. 

Kim added a pin to her pincushion that belonged to her grandmother.  I love that it now has a special place to be displayed.

And we discovered, while Leslie was stuffing her pincushion, that there was a small hole in the army blanket wool.  So we covered that with a heart and now her pincushion is even sweeter!

This is Ms. Debbie Lou's block.  She has started the applique part which I think is the most fun.  She got quite a bit laid out on her block.  I especially love the hand in the corner which is a tracing of her own hand.  She's going to add the words "Made by my hand" on the hand.  Love that idea!!

Three heads are better than one!!!!

Pat decided to make her block narrower and longer to fit a specific space.  Love the colors.  She's going to do a winter block.

Love the boldness of Kim's block.  She's going to turn this into a Christmas block.  I know she's going to have a great time with all those wonderful background wools to play with.  Good job Kim!

Poor Teresa started out wanting to do a fall block but I think a couple of us were coercing her into doing a Halloween block.  It could go either way or a combination of the two but it sure does look great.

For those of you that know Evette or have been praying for her son, he's out of the hospital and home recovering.  The hospital decided since both parents were going to be available for caregiving, they would release him a little sooner which was fine with him.  He's doing well, on a liquid or "blended" diet for eight weeks, will have therapy to deal with and is still have some struggles with pain and discomfort.  So please keep Cameron and the family in your prayers as they go through this life-changing event together.

I have been working on quite a few things for the porch sale as well as the other gals that are going to be involved.  I hope everyone is getting as excited as we are.  I showed a few things to Evette Sunday that I had finished and she squealed.  I think that was a good sign!!  Mark October 23 on your calendars!!!

We're having wonderful rain today.  Lots of wonderful rain.  Downpours of wonderful rain.  Some areas are flooding with the wonderful rain.  But it's still wonderful!!! 

Happy days to everyone.....................

Whew, where has this month gone???  I want it to go by quickly so we can get into some fall weather hopefully, but I still need days to get things done. 

First of all, a quick update on Cameron.  He's doing better each day, off the ventilator now which means he can talk and he wants to go home.  So I think that's progress.  They are trying to move him out of ICU today so hopefully that will happen.  Evette thanks each and every one of you for your prayers and good wishes. 

Now, I'm going to post some pictures of upcoming September and October classes.  These can also be found along with descriptions, dates and times, on the Calendar section of my web site - http://www.libertyrosepatterns.com/

Snowman Wool Crazy - A little more planned out than the other wool crazy blocks.  Mine isn't finished yet but this gives you a good idea of what you'll be working on!

Sunfllower Needlekeep - front and back

Everybody needs a hoot owl pincushion!!

Halloween Recipe Book - This class is fun and filling up quickly.  I may have to add more dates!

Inside cover

A couple of the recipes - I think there are twelve altogether

THE END!

And for no reason other than I love my red, white and blue, a fun patriotic grouping from my dining room.  They'll be leaving in a couple of weeks to be replaced by fall so one last look.

Things are busy here which is when you usually don't hear from me on the blog.  Oh, almost forgot, I have another wool crazy block to share that Heather is working on.  Things will get more interesting now that I have several groups getting into the applique.

Heather is making her block an all season block, so it will be very interesting when it's done.  Can't wait to see her flag stitched down!

Almost forgot my gingerbread ladies....a group got together on Monday to make gingerbread men and a gingerbread recipe card.  I forgot to bring the Christmas music to get us in the mood!

All in all, I think everyone was happy with their "men" and had a good time.  Well, now that's all I have to share.  Working on lots of goodies for the porch sale that will be in October.  So stay tuned for that.  Stay cool, keep stitching!!

Cameron Clement

Just a quick update on my friend Evette's son.  He had a pretty lengthy surgery this morning and the doctor is pleased with the results.  He may have to have other surgeries down the road, too soon to tell, but for now he's as good as he can be.  Evette and her family appreciate all your good wishes and prayers and are thankful for all that you're doing for them.  Cameron will be in the hospital at least another week at this point, so they'll cherish your continued support and prayers.

Happy weekend to everyone.  Mark and I took a trip to Ashboro, NC on Saturday, partly because I needed some supplies I knew I could get there and partly for fun.  We did my errands and also some antique shopping.  I found a few treasures but my most favorite thing was an embroidered quilt top which I will probably take apart and do other things with.  Lots of great embroidery designs.  On the way home we saw a sign for an orchard and decided to stop.  About a mile from the main road was this pretty big building with apple and peach orchards all around.  A beautiful setting.  The place was called Millstone Creek Orchards and looked like it would be a great place to visit in the fall.  We purchased some peaches but I couldn't resist taking a couple pictures of the apple orchards.

Real live on the tree apples!!!!  I think we get so used to seeing all the store bought produce, it's wonderful to see it in it's natural setting.

A picture postcard!!

My husband watches a show called Dives, Diners & Drive-Ins or some such name.  He loves the show and always talks about the burgers they are sampling.  Well, I found out about a drive-in in Siler City which was on the way to Ashboro and decided to surprise him with his own Drive-In burger experience.  This place was recently written up in "Our State" magazine and supposedly had super good hamburgers.  We passed it on the way to Ashboro but it was too early to stop for lunch.  So we did my errands and antiqued and headed back toward Siler City for a late lunch.  We pulled in the drive-way and they had it roped off.  So I backed up and went around back to park and just as we passed the front of the building we saw the big "CLOSED" sign in the window.  I couldn't believe it.  The whole reason for dragging my husband on this trip, because he sure doesn't love antique shops, was to feed him a wonderful burger.  I hopped out of the car and went to the front of the restaurant and they are only open from 10am-2pm.  We had missed it by forty minutes!!!  I was so disappointed and he was too.  So now we have to figure out where to eat lunch........

and we ended up at Sonic!!  Wow, what a let down.  Sorry Sonic but that wasn't what we planned on.  I told Mark he jinxed us because as we drove past the diner he said if it was too crowded we could always eat across the street at Sonic!!  JINX!  Sometimes the best laid plans just don't work out.  But now we'll have to make another trip back just to check the place out.

Time for another wool crazy class.  This is the first group to get to the applique part.  I hope they were having fun.  Everyone came in with pieces drawn off on freezer paper and with a sort of game plan in mind.  I think in the end we're going to have some very interesting blocks.

Pam is doing a woodsy, log cabin, fallish block.  It's looking super good.

Laura is doing fall.  Love her layout so far.

And Debby just cracks me up.  She has four blocks planned out in her head, all to do with their farm and land.  So this is the beginning of block 1, with several more to come.

The other gals got out before I remembered to snap pictures, so we'll have to see their progress next month.

Debby was on vacation in the mountains this week and brought back some beautiful peaches to share with the class.  They were absolutely picture perfect and delicious!

My friend Evette's son was in a very serious car accident yesterday evening.  His name is Cameron and he's in intensive care and could sure use all your prayers.  Please keep him, Evette and the family in your prayers that he'll recover from this accident and be whole again.

Wishing you all a wonderful, safe week.................

It's Christmas in August!

My boxes came late yesterday and I finally got everything unpacked from our trip to Oregon.  Of course I couldn't fit everything in our suitcases and had to ship a few things home!!  Along with some clothes, my husband's golf shoes and leftover class wool, I had a few treasures that had to get back to the East coast!  I bought quite a bit thinking about future classes and/or projects for things I wanted to make.  Here's some of my loot.

I ended up with lots of glassware.  Teacups, jars, bowls, cups, small pans, a sweet glass pitcher.......some of these things I had projects in mind and some were just to be useful to hold things.  I think I only lost two things in shipping so not too bad.

Found quite a few muffin tins in Oregon.  Either I'm stocked up to do another class or I'd better get busy making pincushions to sell!!!!

Isn't that the coolest jar full of old clothespins?  I just loved that they stuck the old collar and button on the jar.  I bought a few other bags of clothespins and think I had a brainstorm while I was there on how to use them.  Problem is now I can't remember my brainstorm!!

Of course I found some buttons and thread.  One of my button jars got broken in transit so I ended up with some buttons in a plastic bag.  Not as cute as the jar was I'm afraid.

And of course I found some tomato pincushions.  I just didn't realize, until I unpacked the boxes, that I had found five of them!  And Debbie found the sweet old Tomato seedpack in one of the shops which went perfectly with my tomatoes.

Some odds and ends, old and new books, turkey and witch cookie cutters, lots of old thimbles (another idea that I can't remember now!), old linens, flower frogs for another project, just some fun stuff.

And of course, a little fabric from Holly Hill!!  That place is such eye candy.  Good thing I don't use fabric much anymore!!!!  I bought some fat quarters and a little bit of yardage with no particular plan in mind.  It's just fun to look at!

Wasn't that a fun shopping adventure!  As I was unpacking the boxes it brought back all the fun memories of sharing those shopping trips with Debbie and the good times we had.  Thanks Debbie!!