Raleigh and I spent the day together on Thursday.  We did lots of things around the house and eventually ended up in my workroom, which can be an adventure all in itself.  I decided to organize some papers that had been piled on a shelf, trying to free up some space and ended up with a pile of "trash" in the middle of the floor.  While I was working on organizing that pile of papers, I ran across several pattern pieces and old patterns.  I decided that I needed to stop organizing and make a pincushion for a possible July class.  Talk about attention deficit.............

So now I have bits and pieces of wool laying around while I'm creating a new pincushion................which led me to, for some reason, kitting up the upcoming summer months of Calendar Girls...................

So I ended up with another pile on the floor in place of the trash pile which I had cleaned up............which somehow led me to sorting lots of buttons which I ran across while organizing the shelves which may be for some possible future sale......................

and then I ended up making a bed which I had washed the sheets for with Raleigh's help.  She was so sweet helping me put on the sheets and quilts and we each took a pillow to put a case on.  Somehow hers ended up on her head. 

And then on Saturday morning several ladies headed to Laura's house for our first quilt class.  We all had lots of beautiful fabric as Pam shares her stash.......

and we'll all end up with such beautiful, totally different quilts in the end.  I'm working with Christmas fabrics that I had picked up here and there a few years ago.  I'll be happy to use them up.

No, Laura, I'm going to be the teacher today.  Take your seat please!

The class was small, with five students, which enabled Debbie to give everyone the attention and instruction they needed.  She was such a delightful teacher, with so many funny sayings, that I started to write them down.  One bit of wisdom she shared with us was to "not fry bacon naked and if you are over 50, don't sew without your bra.  That way you won't have saggy seams".  Well, at this point we all cracked up.  And from there class was underway!!

Lunchtime.  Everyone brought goodies to share and it was so delicious.  We had broccoli and spinach quiches, strawberry spinach salad, fresh fruits with yogurt dip, fresh veggies with a wonderful dip, healthy rice chips and for dessert strawberry shortcake.  That was worth coming to class for!!!

We did lots of rotary cutting for our strips of fabric.  Laura had tables set up in the family room which worked out great for the cutting stations. 

Debby is proud of her flying geese block.  Now go home and make a few more of those Debby!!

We are at the end of our day here.  Everyone is ready for a break. 

I took a picture of Debbie Powell, our teacher, taking a picture of us.  You can tell we were getting punchy at this point.

Last, but not least, Debbie won the mouse pincushion drawing from the March/April classes.  So congratulations Debbie!

Hope everyone has a Happy Mother's Day and enjoy the beautiful Sunday we're about to be given!!

I had the honor of attending a cupcake party at Raleigh's school yesterday in honor of Mother's Day.  I absolutely could not miss such an event.  The children were adorable, the tables were set with mini muffins, milk and orange juice.  It was just precious and/or adorable!

Raleigh and her Mom, Meredith

Raleigh and her wonderful teacher, Ms. Missy

Nothing but the best for my Mom, egg carton flowers!!  Beautiful!!!

The children all lined up to sing several songs to their mothers.  They were so cute.  Raleigh played with and ate her hair most of the time but she somehow managed to sing while doing that.  Guess she was multi-tasking which we all know is important to learn at a young age if we are to succeed in this world as women!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers and grandmothers!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTIN!!!!!

We hope your day is a special one and that you spend it celebrating the day and being happy.  I know you can find reason to celebrate on Cinco De Mayo!!!  Funny you were born on that day!!!  We love you and wish you much happiness.

Kristin and her sister-in-law Meredith, who also has a May birthday coming up.  Two daughter-in-laws both born in May, coincidence??

Kristin does not like to have her picture taken, so she's probably telling me to not take her picture at this moment.  Oh well.............I own the camera!

IT'S YOUR DAY KRISTIN!!

Well, I drove back to Cameron yesterday late afternoon to pick-up my potting bench.  I couldn't figure out a way to get it before June and I sure didn't want to wait that long.  I called up Evette and asked if she was ready for a quick road trip and she happily agreed to go with me.  Thank goodness because I was driving my husband's old red pick-up truck and I don't like to drive it close to home, much less any distance.  So I was happy to have my sidekick with me!!!

Here we are, all loaded up.  This thing weighs a ton.  Doesn't look quite so attractive in the back of the truck.  Philip told me when I picked the bench up that he had gotten five orders from people who saw my bench and wanted one too.  So great for him. 

Now for the next part of the story, I don't have pictures.  You should have seen Mark and I trying to get this thing off the back of the truck and up onto the porch.  We finally got it on the porch where we were able to then load two of the legs onto a piano dolly.  I pulled the dolly and Mark pushed from the other end.  We were a sight.  But we managed to get it to the screened in porch right where I envisioned it and now, here's how it looks......................

As you can see, I've had a lot of fun decorating the potting bench.  Not sure why it's called a bench since there's no place to sit!

This sweet little bird house has been in the garage for a year.  I brought it back from Oregon last summer and something got broken on it so I never did anything with it.  Decided this morning it was time to get it fixed up and onto a new home.

Couldn't have a potting bench without tomatoes!!!!

And you never know when you might need some rain boots for working in the garden

I found this metal tray at the Old Hardware Store in Cameron.  It has four divided sections and some sort of French gardening words etched around the outside.  Just perfect for my new toy!

Lots of fun odds and ends.  The cool thing is I already had all this "stuff" tucked away in the garage or here and there. 

I just fell in love with this concrete statue.  Found her in the Old Hardware Store also.  She weighs a ton but I thought she would be great to go with the new bench.  I put her on the front porch for a bit and I really liked her out there too.  I'll have to come up with a sweet name for her.....maybe Emma or Sarah or Hannah or Emily........................

OK ladies, time for the May recipe card classes.  I do believe we're going to be coloring and it sure looks a little bright compared to what we normally do.  Think Cinco De Mayo!!

Merry gardening days and decorating dreams to everyone!

Cameron Days

For those of you that live locally, you probably know that this is the weekend for Cameron Days.  I look forward to going to Cameron at least twice a year, usually for the two Cameron Days events.  Cameron is such a sweet, quaint town and when all the antique vendors show up for Cameron Days, it takes on a whole new life.  This is the first year that the show was open on Friday so Evette and I decided to go to Cameron a day earlier than normal and see what we could find. 

I just love this little potting shed.  I keep telling my husband that I need one in the backyard so I took a couple pictures of this one to give him an idea of what I'm talking about.  Maybe a little bigger, but I love this look.  Happened to get Evette shopping in the picture too.

Back view of the shed.  Love the old window in the back!!

Look at all the beautiful potted plants just waiting to go home with someone.  They were so much prettier in person.

I thought a got a picture of the adorable child's desk that these books were sitting on, but it disappeared.  Oh well, still love this vingnette with the fabric covered books and old coin purses.  This was in Barb's booth from Cabin in the Woods. 

Speaking of Barb, here she is with her best friend.  They look like such good friends.  Barb has some super cool stuff in her booth so be sure to check it all out. 

Saw these keys on a board in the back of a truck.  I asked if I could take a picture.  This guy had every kind of old key you could imagine.  There were just as many on the back side of the display.  He said he had 6000 keys on this board.  Amazing and very cool.

Isn't this just the coolest potting bench you've ever seen.  I sure thought it was and Philip is the very talented and creative person that made the potting bench.  Guess what, it's coming to my house soon!!!

Just loved this little display in the Old Hardware Store.

Another fun display at the Old Hardware Store.  Could have taken a hundred pictures of all the cool stuff in their shop.  Always fun to visit.

Jenny from Just Country.  Even though her allergies were bothering her, she still had a smile on her face.  Always fun to visit with Jenny and hubby Herb.  Their booth looked great as always!

Herb sure looked cute holding that little spring time doll.  He's such a great guy!

Caught Evette offguard trying to decorate her new blue rack.  She thinks she wants to embroider, or find, fun vintage days of the week towels to hang on the new rack.  This would look great in her kitchen once she gets it figured out!

We walked, we looked, we visited, we bought, we thought, we saw lots of friends, got lots of hugs, got tired, hungry and hot, but had a wonderful day together in Cameron.  Happy weekend.

We had the last Christmas Tree Runner class last night.  Everyone had fun and went home with lots of homework stitching to do.  I know they'll get these runners done in plenty of time for Christmas.

 Linda got busy right away getting things cut out while Betsy was just as busy choosing wool to use for her trees and presents.

Laura had already taken the class so she was a little ahead of the other ladies.  I was glad to see Barbara again who came down from Pennsylvania to visit her sister Betsy.  Whenever Barbara is in town, she stops in for a class.  She's a very talented stitcher! 

Sandy was working diligently on picking out wools and getting all the pieces cut out.  It takes a bit of time for any project just to get the pieces all in order and laid out properly. 

Finally, time to sit and stitch.  Don't the ladies look so productive.

What a great setting.  So peaceful and calm.  The perfect way to end a busy day! 

It's time to do the drawing for the bunny giveaway.  I had lots of names in the box to choose from.  In order for the drawing to be fair and unbiased, we asked Laura's husband, Chris, to do the honors.  He was just so excited to be involved in our little drawing.  Drumroll.................. 

Oh the suspense is killing us...........I think Chris is milking his photo op!! 

Please, just pick a name already!! 

And the winner is....................... 

Who??? 

CONNIE DEETER, congratulations Connie.  The ladies wanted to throw your name back in the box and do it all again...........just kidding..........well, not really!  Anyway, your little Velveteen Rabbit awaits you. 

And just to keep things exciting, we had Chris draw another name for the baby bunny which I originally wasn't going to give away.  And the winner of the baby bunny is.................... 

PAT GALLO........congratulations Pat.  You can pick your bunny up anytime.  And they wanted to throw your name back in the box too, for what it's worth.  But then they knew I would feel badly and go home and make more bunnies or something like that.........so the group decided you could have the bunny since your name was drawn fair and square.  Nice ladies. 

And a special thanks to Chris for his help in drawing the names and keeping us on the edge of our seats. 

Also forgot to mention that Debbie Powell of Henderson won the drawing for the mouse pincushion.  She said she was so excited and couldn't believe she had won.  She hadn't won anything since the hamster that she won when she was 8 years old that her mother made her trade in for a goldfish.  So contratulations Debbie.  No trading in this mouse!!

The May and June classes are getting ready to start next week.  Hard to believe how quickly April went by.  I'm ready for some strawberries and tomatoes.  Come join us when you can.