Another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We had a full house this year with my youngest son Eric and his wife Kristin visiting along with their two doggies Molly and Bailey.  Also my son Paul and his growing family were here along with Grandma and Grandpa from Florida, Mark's brother Fred and cousin Stephanie.  Not a quiet place was to be had!!

Everytime I sat down at the table I had little Molly's head peeking up at me.  She just knew I was going to drop a morsel of food at some point.  And of course, we had been given strict instructions not to feed the dogs ANYTHING!!!  What fun is that??!!

Molly and Bailey loaded in the car for their long ride home.  Hopefully they will sleep most of the way.  We were a little worried about having both dogs in the house but everything worked out just fine and we got to know Bailey a little better.  Molly has been around for years but Bailey is a new doggie to us.  She turned out to be a real sweetheart.

We took to the girls to the Farmer's Market with us on Saturday to look at trees.  We put up an artificial tree every year but I'm really missing the fresh cut trees.  Just smelling them was so wonderful.  What a silly face Reagan is making.  Didn't even see it until I put this picture up.  Oh well...........

The day after Thanksgiving Kristin helped Mark and I get the Fall stuff back in the attic and get down Christmas decorations.  She helped dust all the surfaces and loved the workout she got from hauling all those heavy crates up and down the stairs.  Oh to be young again...................

I decided to go ahead and start decorating for Christmas and am proud to say that it is all done.  I worked most of the day on Friday, some on Saturday and some on Sunday. 

Inside and outside are both done and I am so happy about that!!!   On to other things now........

Like shopping........

Mark always takes off the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving and we do marathon shopping.  We normally hit all the local malls along with some other stops along the way.  We were out for about ten hours yesterday.  And today we've yet to leave the house.  As I get older the shopping gets harder.  We need to start working out to prepare for the shopping adventures.

Hope you're all having a great season of Thanksgiving..................

and speaking of Thanksgiving, thank you all for the wonderful sympathy cards and emails you've sent for my Mom's passing.  Your notes of encouragement have been a true blessing.  I am blessed to have such wonderful friends!!

Thanksgiving blessings..............

Things are slowly getting back to normal around my house.  There are still sad times but also lots of wonderful ladies showing up for classes and clubs that make me smile.  Tricia is one of them!!

Tricia has been so busy finishing up projects and making multiples as gifts.  She has been one busy lady.

A few of Tricia's finished projects...... 

We met in my dining room this week for Stitchery Club since the Quilt Club was meeting in my classroom.  We had a small group of five so it was nice and cozy.  The ladies all got right to work. 

Tricia working on her turkey towel.  She is going to have this completed in plenty of time for Thanksgiving. 

Bonnie is working on her Christmas stocking.  

Look how adorable Joan's stocking is......look at her little doggie Suzy she added to the stocking.  And I love Santa pulling the snowman on the sleigh....this was one of my older patterns that we shrunk way down.  Good job! 

This is Pat's second stocking.  Love it.  She and her husband will have beautiful new stockings hanging by the fireplace.

This is Joyce's first wool project EVER and look at what a great job she had done.  The Brrrrrrr was drawn by her five year old grandson.  Love, love it! 

Now this is very random but I ran across the next couple of pictures from when we were at my Mom's.  This full (or almost full) moon appeared above the trees at the cemetary while my husband and brother were inside making arrangements.  I thought it looked eerily cool. 

Another cemetary picture with the beautiful fall leaves.  I love visiting older cemetaries and reading the headstones........strange me! 

And definitely a full moon on the drive home. 

Raleigh and baby Joshua.........oh sis, leave me alone! 

Please Mina, stop taking my picture or I'm just going to cry!!! 

Raleigh said this was Joshua's Elvis smile.....how funny that a five year old knows who Elvis is! 

Joshua is turning into an adorable little baby boy.  We watched the girls and Joshua for quite a few hours Saturday while Mommy and Daddy went out to celebrate their anniversary.  What fun and how tired I was when we got home! 

Big eyes!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  Safe travels and lots of good food and friends............we'll have a house full which I am so thankful for. 

Moving on.......

Since I returned from my Mom's, things have been quite busy around here.  A good thing for me to help get through the sadness.  I have had at least one or two classes every day since we returned.  The ladies have been getting quite creative working on Christmas projects.  I finally remembered or thought to take out the camera to share a few photos with you.  We are also working on Thanksgiving recipe cards which are adorable.  Gobble Gobble Turkey Soup........yum!

The ladies got busy with watercolors for this recipe card.  They were quite creative! 

I thought the recipe on this card would come in handy since Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we all need ways to use up that leftover turkey.............. 

The class got so quiet while everyone painted their cards. 

Yesterday we got together to make wool crazy quilt stockings.  Bonnie has her pieces all laid out.  The colors look great together. 

Busy, busy, busy........each stocking was so different......and look at the brightly colored M&M's in the middle of the table.....how festive! 

Now that the stocking bases are put together, we're about to start working on the applique pieces.  That's where the fun really comes in.  I had a sheet of drawings that I shared with the ladies, but we also had fun getting into some of my patterns and reducing some of those designs so they could be used also.   

Betsy decided the best way to approach her stocking was to draw a roadmap!  She had the whole thing figured out on paper first.  Let's see if she sticks to her map. 

I have been invited to do a trunk show and teach a class at a quilt guild in Littleton, NC.  I think that's about two hours from where I live.  Road trip!!  I will be teaching the Christmas Pitcher to that group tomorrow.  It's a great project because it involves wool applique and embroidery, my two most favorite things to do!! 

Rosemary, the herb of remembrance........a sweet tribute to my Mother.  I have received lots of beautiful cards, some hand made, good wishes, prayers and plants.  I have decided to make a small "memory" garden to my Mom in the back where I can see it from my workroom.  We already have a small garden there that we had planned to enlarge with a couple of trees/bushes and bird feeders.  I love watching the birds and so did my Mom.  She was an avid bird watcher.  So this special little garden will be a special place for me and Mom.  Thank you all so much.

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes and prayers.  As many of you already know, my Mom passed away on Saturday.  We've just returned from the funeral and all those goings-on.  It was a sad time but we got to see many friends and relatives we haven't see in years.  I hate that it takes a funeral to get everyone together.  I was lucky to have such a loving mother and I will deeply miss her in my life.  If your Mom and Dad are still alive, call them now for tomorrow they may be gone.