Sunday, December 26, 2010

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!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

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.......

LaChatelaine, The French Needle, Graceful Threads,
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.

Friday, December 10, 2010

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.

Monday, December 6, 2010

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.

Friday, November 26, 2010

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!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

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!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

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.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

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....

Saturday, October 2, 2010

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!!

Monday, September 27, 2010

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.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

First Day....

Well my baby has finally made it to first grade.


Where in the world does the time go??

Thursday, August 19, 2010

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.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

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.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

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/

Friday, August 6, 2010

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!!

Saturday, July 31, 2010

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.