Two classes taught today with seven left to teach before this time next week and that will be it for the year. I always have such a great time teaching the classes, enjoying the time with each set of ladies that participate. They are all different in many ways but share a common bond of loving to create something with their hands. Many take a class and decide right away they are making more to give as gifts. Others just want the companionship of women who share the same passions as they do. Whatever the reason, I'm blessed to have so many wonderful women taking the classes and sharing so much of themselves with me and others.

And today was no exception. I taught the Holly Days mat class in the morning and later in the day the muffin tin pincushion. Due to holiday activities and other things, the holly class got whittled down to just two people, Debby and Heather, Mom and Daughter. They worked diligently at pulling together the wools they needed to get the project started and had a great time just spending time with one another.

Pam and Carol joined Debby and Heather later in the afternoon for the muffin tin class. Again, several cancellations left us with a smaller group so the ladies had plenty of room to spread out to work on their muffin tins.

Carol looks so relaxed while she does her stitching. She decided not to make a Christmas tin but to recreate one from the summer with strawberries and flowers.

Pam was concentrating so hard on her stitching she didn't even realize I had a camera pointing at her.

Oh no, Heather's pincushion exploded. This is not what a pincushion is supposed to look like!! Poor Heather hides her face in shame!!

After being in class for many hours, Heather and Debby started to get a little punchy. Things just weren't always going their way and they would get tickled and laughing uncontrollably at each other which made everyone else laugh. They were so funny. They had problems threading needles, doing some of the stitches, unthreading needles, exploding pincushions, you name it. And of course, I couldn't resist grabbing the camera everytime they were having issues. So here are the embarrassing pictures of Debby and Heather, Mom and Daughter, enjoying a class together. Sorry girls!!! You know I had to do it!!!!

But in the end, Heather and Debby stayed until their pincushions were completed. So they went home with something fun that they did together. Way to hang in there gals!!
Can't wait to see what adventures this week's classes will bring.

What a great day. I had a class with a quilt group who meets each Friday for stitching and projects and classes and whatever else they decide to do. They were a wonderful group to work with and were such a fun class to teach.

They chose to do the Santa project I taught last year. It was a challenge for me because I had already put all the pieces away but once I started gathering things, it was exciting to think about all the possibilities they could come up with. Even though they start out with the same pattern, each and every Santa will turn out differently. Thanks for a fun class ladies.

I was so lucky to begin the Thanksgiving holiday with a visit to my youngest granddaughter Raleigh's Thanksgiving presentation. She was an adorable little Indian girl and performed just beautifully.

Raleigh, the Indian Princess

From there things got quite busy. We made a trip to Fairfax, Virginia to visit my brother and his family. Our youngest son Eric and his wife Kristin came on Thanksgiving. They also brought a friend Chad with them. We always say, the more the merrier! It was good to see everyone and just have some down time from our active, busy, sometimes stressful lives. There was lots of good eating, too much football and more good eating.

Eric and Kristin brought the veggies for a vegetable tray, one of our family traditions. Looks like we're ready to serve the gang. YUM!

My brother told us he was making a deep fried turkey for Thanksgiving. We've never had one and Mark was especially looking forward to trying a turkey cooked that way. It was quite an adventure to get the deep fryer heated to the right temperature and getting the turkey dropped in. My brother had this adventure a couple of years ago with no experience or good direction and the oil boiled over and burned his arms. So this year he devised his own contraption to make sure it was safer. It worked out great and the turkey was delicious. I still prefer the old fashioned way though. In the oven and stressing about how I will find room to put everything else in the oven because I'm waiting on the turkey to get done. Old habits never die.

Looks like the gang is all here. Hard to get a picture of everyone at a big table.Amy, our hostess. Somehow she managed not to be in either of the pictures above. I think that was on purpose. Thanks for a great Thanksgiving Amy.

Eric and his Molly. He found Molly as a stray puppy when he was in college and took her home. He called me and said he found this little puppy and he couldn't leave her in the parking lot to be killed. I told him a college student couldn't afford a puppy but I sure am glad he didn't listen to me that time and kept the sweet girl. We all love Molly Moo!

I was able to visit one of my favorite places while we were there, Occoquan. It's a small seaport type town filled with every kind of shop you can think of and some very wonderful restaurants. I did a little Christmas shopping while I was there and a little shopping for me too. I dont' get out and shop normally during the year unless it's for something specific, so that was a fun trip for me. Also, I found something for my friend Evette that I know she will love. Everyone in the town loved it when they saw the head sticking out of my bag! Wonder what it could be?? We left my brother's house and headed to Beckley, West Virginia where my mother and two sisters live. We were going to make a quick overnight stop there to drop some things off and pay a quick visit. We had a great time on the way there because we took a route we hadn't traveled in over 20 years. So we got off the road several times and visiting small towns and shops. Mark just loved the quilt shop I found!!

The clouds were sure looking ominous as we got into the mountains.

We had a surprise when we got closer to Beckley. They had snow. So we have already seen snow for the winter season. They had a good 3 inches on the ground and the closer we got to Beckley the more snow there was. I tried to take some pictures from the car but not sure how great those are. Once we left Beckley, we headed home and didn't stop until we got to Winston-Salem, NC. There we visited another favorite shop, Salem Creek. Boy were they brimming with Christmas decorations and pretty much anything to do with Christmas. That shop was overflowing. From there, we started our journey home and didn't stop again until we got to Cary where we stopped for a quick bite to eat and then finally made it home. It's always good to get home. We love to visit and see everyone but it's always good to sleep in your own bed. Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and wish you many blessings for the holiday season.

So what a fun weekend I've had at The Rusty Bucket. Pam and Mack (owners of the shop) were involved in a film festival held in downtown Apex so I got to work in the store so they could be available for all the events. There were lots of movie producers in town for the festival and many dressed up folks. There was even a red carpet to greet the stars of The Rusty Bucket Kids Club show (hopefully to be a regular TV show). I took lots of pictures of Pam and Mack and some of the goings on in between helping customers in the shop. Many of you may remember Charlie Gaddy from WRAL news from years ago. He and his wife Nancy stopped by the store for a few minutes. And on Saturday afternoon Jerry Mathers stopped by for a visit and signed some autographs. That was great fun meeting him since we all loved the Beaver!! Pam and Mack rode in the Model A in the Christmas parade Saturday morning and then stopped by just in time to meet The Beaver. Just a great time in old downtown Apex.

Pam and Mack all gussied up for the big event.

Charlie Gaddy and his wife Nancy

The stars of the show were dropped in front of the Cultural Arts Center to walk the red carpet.

And Jerry Mathers as THE BEAVER

You never know what might happen in the small town of Apex! Happy weekend to everyone.

What a busy week. Lots of classes, watching my little girls, decorating the house for Christmas. So much fun. November 18 was my son Paul and his wife Meredith's 9th anniversary. So we watched the girls so they could go out for a celebratory dinner. We had lots of fun together but the funniest thing was when I handed over the bowl and spoons to the girls after I had finished making up the dough for chocolate covered peanut butter balls. They had a ball cleaning off those spoons. My friend Debbie Busby from Wooden Spool Designs who lives in Portland, Oregon had a very exciting day yesterday, November 19. Her daughter, whose birthday is November 19, gave birth to triplet girls, Hailey, Olivia and Emma. What an exciting day for them and for Amy to share her birthday with her new little girls. They are going to have so much fun in the coming years celebrating that special day. Congratulations to all of them. You can visit Debbie's blog to see pictures of the babies, Amy and proud grandparents.

Some very dear friends visited Massachusetts last week and brought home some "special glasses" for my girls. Reagan often borrows her Poppy's reading glasses when she's sewing so she doesn't get stuck with the needle. Thanks Connie for thinking of the girls!

And last but not least, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around my house!!!! Mark and I are going to be away for Thanksgiving this year and won't be back until December 2, so we decided to go ahead and pack away the fall decorations and get started on Christmas so we wouldn't feel so far behind when we get home. Well, I've just about got the inside done and have really started getting in the Christmas spirit as a result. We'll wait and decorate the outside after we return home. So my porches still look like fall and the inside Christmas. Pretty funny. Here are a few pics I snapped this morning just for fun.

Seems like I am in a red and white mood this year. And maybe candy canes. My favorite color is red so guess that makes sense. I never start out with a plan when I decorate for Christmas. It just sort of happens. I don't think anything is where it was last year which makes it even more fun. Still need some fresh greenery and berries but too soon for that. Here's to warm winter wishes..............................

What a week we've had!! Remnants of a hurricane blew through and brought us some much needed rain but we didn't need the wind that went along with it. I taught several classes this week, some of which I forgot to take my camera to, so there are pictures of some of the gals with their projects. Taught two fun classes on Saturday. I have a busy, busy week ahead of me with classes on most days. It's hard when the holidays are approaching and trying to get as many classes in a shorter amount of time. So thanks for bearing with me ladies.
Marcy came all the way from Michigan just to do a snowman pillow!! Well, actually she came to visit her friend Barbara who just happened to be planning to bring her to the class. Hope you had a fun time Marcy!! It was nice meeting you.

Barbara brought her friend Marcy and also decided to do a blue background for the snowman rather than the red everyone else was doing. He turned out adorable. I always knew Barbara was a rebel in disguise!

Don't tell Darlene's cousin Sharon, but this may be a Christmas present. One thing accomplished Darlene!!

Linda and Debby are working hard on their Christmas Pitcher appliques. This piece is a little more challenging since there is a lot of embroidery embellishing. It will be worth it in the end. I said this was my long distance group. Debby S. came from Fayetteville, Linda came from Pittsboro and also brought her niece who was visiting from New Jersey and Debby H. came from Greenville. So thanks for traveling to the class gals.

Debby H. has been to quite a few classes and comes all the way from Greenville. Her sweet husband has brought her the last couple of times so she wouldn't have to drive alone. Thanks Mike.

Doreen gets the distance award today. She came all the way from New Jersey!!! It was super nice meeting you Doreen and can't wait to hear all about your wool adventures after you get home. Keep stitching!

My granddaughters spent the night last night for the first time in ages it seems. We took them out to dinner and then off to buy a $10 toy for being such good little girls. It was agony for them in the toy aisle to choose something for JUST $10. There were too many temptations so we started adding their wants to the Christmas list. That seemed to help a bit. This morning Reagan reminded me that she wanted to do the turkey mat (like the other ladies got to do she said) and that I needed to help her get started on that. She's asked me for more than a week to do that project and I thought it was a little daunting for her but I guess I'll get busy and put it together and see how she does. I promised her after she got home from church I would have it ready for her to start stitching on. She wants to get it done before Thanksgiving! Well, of course!! Hope everyone has a wonderful fall week.

Well, another quick weekend with lots of activities. The Rusty Bucket open house was a great success with lots of familiar faces. It's always a lot of work to get ready for an open house and a great relief when it's over with hopefully some fun mixed in there. My friend Evette and I went to the Just Country open house on Saturday. Neither of us had ever been to one of Jenny's open houses and we planned the day trip a couple of months ago. I, unfortunately, got sick Friday evening and wasn't sure I was going to be able to make the journey. I did go, almost didn't go, didn't feel great, felt better by the afternoon and was glad I got to spend some girl time with my friend. Jenny's open house was also a lot of fun with lots to see. I left with a couple of red electrified lanterns, a wooden box with a hinged lid that used to be used for painting supplies, a nutmeg grater, an old wooden cutting board (great for displays), an old shaving mug and a rusty pan for a candle holder. I go for all Jenny's antique things. After that Evette and I headed over to Fayetteville to one of our new favorite quilt shops -- Quilt 'n tiques. Gail and Naomi are so much fun to visit with and are always very helpful. We both left with some fabric for upcoming projects. We decided we should get home since it was getting late and accidentally passed another quilt shop we had never been to. So a U-turn took us back there with an hour remaining before they closed. Lovely shop, lots of fabric, huge classrooms. But by the time we got there we were so tired we walked out empty handed. Maybe another time. On the way home Reagan (five year old granddaughter) called to say she wanted to come to my house. Well, since we made the last unexpected stop, we were later getting home and she was getting frustrated with me. I asked Evette if we could pick-up the girls and take them to her house for a quick kittie visit since Reagan had not yet met the kittens. So we grabbed the girls and headed to kitty-land. Reagan was very timid and shy and afraid of the kitties at first. She is very, very afraid of dogs and I'm afraid it might carry over to all furry creatures. Raleigh, however, just dove in and grabbed her favorite orange kitten. By the end of the night Reagan finally got to hold a couple of the kittens and was so excited that she had made that achievement. Good for her. Taught my first December 25 pillow class yesterday afternoon. That was great fun and the ladies love the pillow. They, unfortunately, went home with home
work. Can't wait to see the finished pillows. So a very busy weekend with a very busy week ahead.