Happy New Year!

And the stockings were hung.....................

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Field Trip!

My husband and I took a quick trip to Virginia last weekend to celebrate my baby brother's 50th birthday!!  Hard to believe he was turning 50 which means I'm much older!!!!  But nonetheless, we headed north into what might have been some icy weather.  Luckily the weather Gods shifted things a little north and west and they only got rain which meant we didn't have to drive like banshi's to get there to beat the storm.  Which meant we were able to take a little accidental detour to visit a quilt shop a friend had told me about. 

 

I thought I remembered her saying it wasn't far from the highway but after we got off the highway and ended up on some back country roads, it seemed like we were going pretty far.  Well, to my husband it seemed that way, to me it just seemed like we were on a scenic adventure.  Men and women do tend to look at things a little differently.  Especially when the men like to stick to the highways and the women like to venture off on the backroads for adventures.  Well, back to the story..........

 

We found this sweet little quilt shop along the side of the road that was just picture perfect.

First of all we get out of the car and there is this truly babbling brook or creek that sounded so beautiful.  I have always had a fondness for babbling brooks!!  It was just so relaxing but we didn't relax too long because it was about 32 degrees outside and raining a little. 

The shop looks very small from the outside but I swear it grows once you get inside!!  There are three floors of fabric in that little building! 

Love this sign!  I sent my hubby outside to take pictures while I looked inside.  I thought that would buy me a little time.  He did a good job and took pictures of everything I would have taken pictures of!!  But he wasn't out there very long before he was back in again.  I asked if he got pictures of everything and he assured me he had and that it was cold out there.  So, of course, I had to hurry a little faster because he was pacing up and down the stairs!

A nice picnic area to take a break from shopping.  And listen to the babbling brook while you eat! 

How can there be three floors in that building?  I think it's magical inside and grows while you're there!  And beautiful fabrics.  On every floor I had stacks of fabric to be cut.  Ideas were flowing!! 

Bye, bye babbling brook.  Off to the highway again!

 

Need I say more, ROAD TRIP!!

Merry.......

Christmas..........

I recently visited a friend and her husband, with camera in hand.  She asked why I had the camera and I said I was going to take pictures of her decorated house.  Nothing like putting a person on the spot, but she was a good sport and I walked around snapping photos.  I've shared my house so many times I thought it would be fun to look at someone else's house!!

Pat stitches beautiful redwork pieces. 

Pat and Jim and their beautiful home.....thanks for sharing! 

I was ready to "snitch" her choir boys to add to my collection.  These belonged to her mother. 

 

 

Love the cardinals on the mantel.  These were some that we made in a class last year.  I had great plans to make a whole tree full!!!  My tree now has two! 

Pat "won" this quilted piece when a group got together and played Dirty Santa recently.  She found the perfect spot for the mat. 

And I know this was a new purchase recently.  Love it! 

This piece was from a class a couple of years ago.  Love to see things finished and being used!  hint hint! 

Snowman cookie jar collection 

This old quilted guy has been around a long time.  Pat bought this from my old store back in the 90's.  

Love this on the center of her dining room table. 

Can you tell Pat has a snowman theme going on this year.  I loved visiting their home and seeing all of her beautiful decorations.  Thanks for being a gracious host and letting me take pictures (as if you had a choice!!  haha).

 

I hope you enjoyed Pat and Jim's home and stay tuned......you never know where my camera might turn up next!!! 

Gotta Love This Season!

My oldest granddaughter, Reagan, had a chorus performance last night.  Now, to me, going to any elementary performance is great fun.  The kids work so hard at preparing for their great debuts and you can tell there are some nervous butterflies going on, but in the end, it is always so much fun.  A great way to start the holiday season.  And tonight we have a music production at our church which, I am sure, will be beautiful.  Make sure to take a little time for the "fun" things during the holidays!

Standing room only crowd.......little Joshua had the best seat in the house.  Not sure about my son's shoulders though! 

Reagan is the "bear" in the upper right corner with the green and white apron.  I think she was the Mommy Bear. 

The three bears did a solo song together.  Reagan took front and center stage! 

Now where can you go find the three little pigs at Christmas time?  The middle pig was one of the teachers!! 

Ta-da!!  We're done, stick a fork in it, YAY!  Now off to grab a late dinner and celebrate with my fans!

 

Enjoy the season!!

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

Can you keep a secret?  It's almost time for Christmas, just as soon as we eat this veggie turkey! 

My son and his wife hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year and they did a bang up job.  I was most impressed with the turkey veggie platter my son prepared.  You almost hated to eat it!  Adorable!! 

Right after Thanksgiving dinner Charlie the elf made his first appearance of the year, dressed in a "Wolfpack" jersey.  The kids look forward to Charlie's return each year and can't wait to find where he is hidden each day and what mischief he might have caused.  Charlie is new to Joshua this year and I think he is getting into the fun of it all pretty quickly. 

My camera has been broken for several months and I recently got it fixed.  Thus one reason for no blog posting.  Also there is still the hacker problem which I can't seem to get straightened out.  So these pics are from my small camera or the iPad and hardly the best quality.  But at least there are some pictures.  The above picture is from the alcove in my dining room.  I haven't taken any other Christmas "house" pictures but will after this week is over with my "fixed" camera!!  Right now I'm trying to get through 10 classes in 9 days!!  Isn't that a song title or something??!! 

I did find time to make three loaves of banana bread (my husband's favorite treat).  One plain, one with nuts and one with chocolate chips (his very favorite).  It's beginning to look a little like Christmas....... 

Joshua comes to my house every Friday afternoon and last Friday just happened to be about 80 degrees outside.  So we played on the porch and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  He's reading to me about fishes and sharks I believe.  He loves this little board book with pullouts.  Can you believe 80 degrees in December?  We've had some up and down temperatures, but this is certainly not normal.  We'll take it!

Take my picture in the wheelbarrow Mina!!  Oh look at that great smile!  NOT!!  He's getting to be such a big boy.  And talks so much now.  Like non-stop talking!  So cute and sweet and innocent and all BOY!

We had a huge class today for recipe card and then we had a cookie exchange and played Dirty Santa and then a wonderful Potluck lunch.  Hard to tell from the above photo, but there were eleven wrapped gifts in the middle of the room and we each took turns picking presents or stealing presents.   

Joan had #1 so she got the pick of the litter.  And unfortunately, she didn't get to keep her original gift.   

And Tricia didn't get to keep her original gift. 

And Bonnie didn't get to keep any of the ten gifts she picked!!!  Poor Bonnie! 

And Elaine picked the heaviest package! 

And Donna definitely didn't get to keep the gift she chose.  She fought a hard battle, but I'm afraid she lost! 

And Sandra is stealing from Donna in a very nice way!

 

And then I stopped taking pictures.  Darn!  It all got too exciting and frenzied and there was stealing going on left and right and then it was over!  Everyone went home with a beautiful handmade gift and something to treasure for years to come.  I just have to get used to having my camera back and taking more pictures! 

 

I hope you've all found a little time for stitching during this busy holiday season.  I have been stitching on gifts and new class projects and need way more hours than there are in the day.  But in the end, it somehow all gets done (elves maybe!) and life is good. 

 

I want to say a special thank you to all the ladies who were here today (and a couple who weren't) who gave me a very wonderful gift.  You're all just the best and my life wouldn't be the same without each and every one of you!  So thank you from the bottom of my little heart!!

 

Now go stitch something!!  Christmas pictures next week hopefully.