Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas

and received everything you ever wanted.

Ours was good. I spent most of my time

baking and then hosted my family at our

house on Christmas Day.

When Santa dropped off Lance's dog

early he left a letter for Lance.

Here is proof Santa did visit our

house Christmas Eve. He asked

Lance to leave out cookies which we

did and apparently Santa only takes one bite.

Must be because of all the houses he has

to stop at and probably wants to avoid cookie overload.

Today has been spent taking the kids to

pick up items with the Christmas money

they received and the rest of my day once

I am finished here will be spent stitching.

Tomorrow morning as long as the snow we are

beginning to receive isn't too bad - I along

with one of my stitching pals will be making

the trek to In Stitches for the early opening and

they encourage pajama wearing...which for the

first time I will be doing.

Hope you are enjoying your holiday and

staying warm and safe!

Guild Holiday Party

This past Saturday was our guild holiday party.

In addition to seeing members during the holidays.

We have a luncheon, ornament exchange and stitching gift exchange.

We also invite vendors in and this year we had a record number.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to grab my camera,

so I don't have photos of all the vendors or the luncheon.

I am not even sure where to begin in listing all our wonderful vendors.

Here goes - web links are included if I could find a website for them.

We Had.......

Stitchers Stash, Queenstown Sampler Designs, Samplers Revisited,

Blackberry Lane Designs, Sylvan Treasures, The Sampler Girl,

LaChatelaine, The French Needle, Graceful Threads,

Guild House Samplers, Carriage House Samplings,

Kathy Barrick and her Jewelry.

I also set up a booth with my Longaberger

baskets and just have to share the

design-a-basket I had made for our guild.

The colored splints are maroon and black,

with house tacks and a personalized lid.

In addition to the 7" Round Keeping set,

it is available in the following sizes

Medium Market, TV Time and

Small Berry. If your interested let me know

or if you are interested in a basket designed

for your own guild or group let me know.

A little early present...

Well most people will think I we have

completely lost our minds and you know

what I think I would have to agree with them.

Our youngest has asked for his own dog for a year.

It even made it on his Christmas list.

We currently have three dogs.

My husband and I decided well each kid

does deserve to have their own dog.

So Santa made an early pit stop at our house.

Apparently according to the note it is too cold

for little doggies to stay in the

North Pole so they went ahead and dropped off the little one.

So Lance had a little bit of a surprise when he got home

and so did our three dogs...

Shuey our current Shih- Tzu might be liking the fact

we now have a girl Shih-Tzu....

The other two didn't quite know what to make of

this fourth one showing up.

With a little help from me we now have a Lola.

My mom may be a little surprised by

the name since it was her mother's name....

Hope my Mamaw doesn't mind.

Holiday Tea

I am fortunate to live near

Oatlands Plantation which is a beautiful

historic home located in the foothills

of Virginia's horse country.

During this time of year they

offer holiday teas for the season.

Lance and I took my mom

he wasn't too sure about it since

it was mainly girls and women

I think he enjoyed being

with his mom and Nina

but maybe it was the fact they gave

him his own hot chocolate pot

to keep at our table.

Each child that attended received

an ornament which is the silver

Christmas tree sitting next to his plate.

I had to take advantage of him

being all dressed up.

The three of us after our tea.

Lance and I before we left our house.

I have learned to cherish all the little

boy things he does because they grow up

way too fast and are no longer little boys

but grown men.

A gentleman my husband works

with gave him this coin and he

thinks it is the coolest thing ever.

Not quite sure what this really means.

This is what happens when your son spends

an evening with your very hip brother and

he feels the need to teach him something.

I'm Back.....

Hope everyone had a wonderful

Thanksgiving with their family!

I finally feel like I am recovered.

I still have my boot on but hopefully,

I can shed it when I go to the

doctor for my follow-up next Friday.

On top of recovering from

surgery I also got sick earlier

this week and I don't know but

between the two I felt like my bum

was kicked! I started feeling

better on Wednesday fortunately,

just in time to start the holiday cooking.

This year I stayed home considering I

can't drive I thought it was a wise move.

We had a very nice quiet Thanksgiving

with just us. Still a lot of cooking

though, Turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes,

sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (only

way my boys will eat green beans), rolls,

pumpkin pie and for the first time ever

I made a pecan pie.

not too shabby and tasted pretty

good as well - you just never know

when you try a recipe for the first time

Here is part of the spread one of

the great things about my guys

is they don't over indulge just

because it is Thanksgiving and they

like what they like so it keeps the

number of items fairly easy.

The turkey turned out pretty good

stayed moist which is sometimes a challenge.

My husband likes to carve the turkey and

put the carved meat only on the platter.

Hence the photo is the roasting pan.

I also was able to get a lot of stitching

done yesterday. I woke up at 5:00 yes

in the morning and stitched for about

3 hours before anyone else got up.

Then I continued throughout the

day since I had to be near the

kitchen to check on the turkey

and make the rest of the food.

The boys seemed to enjoy!

I tried to take a photo of all of them

looking at the camera at the same

time - finally gave up before

icicles formed on their food.

My little guy though shows no

inhibitions at all. He loves the

turkey leg and if you notice he has a

small band-aid on his thumb from

helping dad peel the potatoes.

Looks like I have my own

little Henry VIII in the

making!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Recovering takes time....

You don't realize how tough it is to get around

until you really can't. I have been spending most

of my time on the upper level given that I have

to go down the steps on my bum.

My little guy finds it quite amusing to say the least.

I go to the doctor on Monday to have my

stitches removed - YEAH!!!!

Then hopefully the pin will come out the

following week which will allow me to

become a little more mobile and less

dependent on everyone.

Having to depend on others to get

things done is not a lot of fun.

Next Saturday is my guild meeting

so I am looking forward to getting

out and hopefully I can leave the

walker at home and use a cane.

I have been able to get quite a bit

of stitching done since I have time in

the evenings after doing what I

need to get done for work.

This weekend looks like a great movie

and stitching weekend.

For now I will leave you with a photo

I took while we were at the beach watching

the sunrise.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Recovering...

Alot has happened since my last post.

The weekend of the 23rd we had my

little guy's birthday party.

Here is my dining room decorated for

his pirate party

These are obviously pre-party photos

it didn't look like this after the party.

Everything went well the

weather was perfect and the two

hours went by fairly quickly.

So it is safe to say we made it

thru all the little pirates.

Here is Lance opening his gifts.

I didn't include photos of the children

because I am not sure how their parents

would feel about them being on my blog.

On the 27th I had foot surgery and

have been recovering.

Fortunately I can work at home and

go in one or two days a week.

I can't drive since it is my right foot.

I was able to get quite a bit of

stitching done over the weekend.

Had to rip some out because my

count was off - guess pain meds will

do that to you.

Cooler weather is here...

Welcome to our home.
I love the cool fall weather which has
finally arrived in our area.
The leaves have started to change and
I believe Autumn is officially here.
I have broken out all of my fall
decorations to usher the season in.

Here is Mr. Scarecrow on my antique trunks
in the entry way to greet you.

Along with his buddy

There has not been much on the
stitching front though.
I have been spending time getting
ready for Lance's B-day party and
ten of his friends at our
house for a pirate party.

What was I thinking???

Hopefully the weather cooperates
since we will need to be outside for
the treasure hunt and pinata.
He is pretty excited though.
This is his first "real party"

Wish me luck....

Lock In Tonight

Tonight is In Stitches lock in!

I am looking forward to seeing all the

new designs fresh from market

The weather is finally starting to

cool off as well. This morning I had

errands to run and stopped at the

Farmer's market in town.

Then I headed over to Party City

our youngest turns 7 this month

and he has discovered by going to

his friends birthday party the

joys of partying as the birthday boy!

So off I went to make sure we have

all the necessities for a Pirate Party

Aye Aye Matey!!

Beach Wedding....

My husband's cousin got married this past weekend.

As his brother said h*** must be freezing over.

We all thought he was a confirmed bachelor

and would not get married.

However, he surprised us all and married

at 52 years old for the first time.

The whole family traveled to Wilmington, NC

for the nuptials on Saturday.

It was a very casual wedding they wore jeans

and we had Carolina BBQ and fried chicken.

I am not sure how they would feel about

their photo posted on line so I thought

this was a safe one.

We stayed on the beach and this was

the first time Lance was actually old enough

to know what the beach was all about.

He has been to the beach before but

he was little and was afraid of the water.

I took Lance to NC Aquarium Saturday

afternoon before the wedding.

He enjoyed it and William took a lot

of pictures which I will have to bug him

to share with me.

He likes to keep his photos to himself.

Not sure why....

The best part was seeing my husbands parents

and brother who made the trip along with

his extended family that unfortunately

we don't get to see often enough.

There is also stitching going on too.

I took Thursday off and spent most

of the day working on projects

I need to finish. For those of you

who don't know I hate finishing.

I know hate is a strong word and

I don't use it very often, but I believe

it sums up sentiment beautifully

when it comes to finishing.

I promise I will post photos once

all of the finishing work has been completed.

First Day....

Well my baby has finally made it to first grade.

Where in the world does the time go??

Retreat....

Oh boy where in the world do I begin???

We had our retreat this past weekend for our

Sampler Guild so I will warn you this

is a picture heavy blog update

How about if I start here?

This is the view I had from the window

of the room I stayed in for the weekend.

It is absolutely gorgeous - and so peaceful.

No phones, No TV, No distractions.

Allowed for a wonderful weekend spent

with my stitching friends.

I arrived early and helped set up when the

participants arrived they were welcomed

to tables loaded with bottles of

water, flowers and bookmark with

the design from last years project.

and then the ladies began to arrive

and before you knew it 30 women

with all of the required stitching paraphernalia

were set up and ready to go.

as you can see we are very serious when it comes to

stitching, chatting, eating and buying.

Friday night included time to shop!

what retreat isn't complete

without the ability to buy stitching supplies?

Show and Tell

We have some very talented ladies in our group!

Saturday was project day

The wonderful ladies who put the retreat

together continually amaze us with

the creativity of the projects they come

up with for us to work on while there.

I am happy to report I was able to complete both!!!

Project Number 1

The boxes were already painted with photos of

last years project decoupaged to the lid.

We had to cover the inside with the fabric and

then we made the tomato and attached the bead

and ribbon to our scissors to make a fob.

The ladies had completed all the prep work

we had to finish the items off.

Project Number 2

Sorry this photo is so blurry.

I tried several times but my

camera would not cooperate.

We had our choice of two designs.

I selected the pumpkin because fall is

right around the corner and I thought

this would be cute to have for Halloween.

As I said this was a photo heavy post

but I hope you enjoyed it.

It arrived today...

I received the beautiful blog giveaway today

from Faye. She packaged it up very

sweetly with a ribbon and card.

I love it - thank you so much Faye!

Here is a photo of the package.

I took this in front of an antique trunk

I have which seemed to set the

package off perfectly.

Here is a photo of the back, from this angle

you can see the linen and floss colors - gorgeous!

I love the two year planner included as well.

It includes quotes to remind us what

life is all about.

Once again Faye thank you so much!

It is so great to get to know other

stitchers through their blogs.

Just had to share this....

I usually do not post giveaways on my blog,

but I had to share this one.

For some reason the story of Marie Antoinette

has always enthralled me and the

creativity of this giveaway blew me

away just as much as the history

behind Marie Antoinette does.

Here is a link to her website with more

details on how she created the various

components of this giveaway and how

to enter if you are interested in entering.

http://www.happinessiscrossstitching.blogspot.com/

I won....

Imagine my surprise when I read that

I won a blog giveaway from Faye.

I never win anything so this is a real treat.

If you have a chance take a peek

http://carolinastitcher.blogspot.com/

I love this design - how exciting!!

Time is flying by....

I am stitching I just haven't had an opportunity

to take a recent photo. This summer seems to be

flying by and has been pretty busy.

I just had to share this picture though.

In the morning when I get up we have a visitor on the patio.

This is not our cat. I am allergic to cats. I can walk into

someone's house that I have never been in before, not know they

have a cat or even see a cat. Within 5 minutes I know there

is a cat somewhere in the house. The watery eyes, difficulty

breathing are usually my clues.

I personally would love to have a cat. We actually tried to adopt

a cat when we first got married and unfortunately it did not

work out and we had to give the cat up. I have no idea who this cat

belongs to but it appears every once and a while and it does not

like people. This picture was taken thru the glass of the back door.

I tried the previous morning to take a photo by opening the door.

I don't think I have ever seen a cat move so fast.