Liberty Rose

2012-01-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

One Winter Wonderland workshop complete and one to go. Eight wonderful women showed up this morning for a winter workshop ready and willing to take on three new projects.

Here we are making the snowman head make-do. They turned out quite adorable, even if one of us had to re-do her head because the threads popped open. Wonder who that was?

Tricia wants to know how long she has to sit and hold her make-do while the glue dries.....or something else. She should be careful or her face might freeze that way and you never know when the teacher is going to snap your picture!!

Now the ladies are working on the adorable snowman that Evette created from someone's pattern that I don't have in front of me at the moment to give that credit but I will next time when she comes back with the patterns. Tired and rambling.....sorry. Right now these fellas look like big blobs or ghosts or giant white snowpuffs (whatever that is). But just wait....

Time for lunch. We decided to take a break from snowmen and enjoy a warm bowl of soup on a very warm day. I did the snow dance but it just didn't happen. Instead we started the day with heavy rain and very warm temperatures. I finally broke down and turned on the AC. That's one way to bring winter to the room!

Ooooh Elaine, I see a snowman forming.....

Well, Elaine lost a needle and Debby is trying to help her find it. I hope they do because my bare feet have found more than one lost pin or needle!!

Here it is!! It was stuck in Elaine's shoe and nicely bent. That's one way to get out of stitching but not to fear, I have drawers full of needles.

Now, look at those snowmen. They turned out adorable. And once we finished those, we moved on to the black and white silhouette snowman mat. I, however, didn't take any more pictures because I was just pooped and the ladies were trying to get finished and I just plain forgot. So shame on me for not having finished pieces to share with you. But trust me, they did a great job, had a great time, and went home with some new winter treasures.

If any one is interested in participating in the next workshop on February 4, let me know. I accidentally put one person on that list who was in today's class, so I have an opening. Sometimes my brain doesn't do or remember what it's supposed to. Anyway, would love to have you!

Have a super good weekend. Session two of beginning quilt class here tomorrow so I get the day off from teaching. Plan on watching the little girls play basketball.

Find some time to stitch!

2012-01-25T20:59:00.000-05:00

Brrrrrr.........it's starting to feel like winter in my wintery workroom!! One more day before we meet for Winter Wonderland............

Winter Wonderland

2012-01-24T14:41:00.000-05:00

Evette and I are busy preparing for our first Winter Wonderland Workshop to be held this Friday. It's starting to sparkle in my workroom..........somewhat like glistening snow.........or glitter!!

I hope the ladies that signed up for this workshop are getting excited as well. We'll make some fun projects, eat some good food and have a few treats in between.

Now wouldn't it be special if it snowed during the workshop!! Not likely, but just saying............

2012-01-21T19:27:00.000-05:00

Time for another beginning quilt class with Miss Lou. This was a full class with everyone listening intently as Debbie explains what they will accomplish during class. If anyone wants to learn how to piece a quilt from beginning to end, let me know and I'll add you to the list for the next set of classes.

Dolly just zips along on her blocks. Not so hard is it Dolly?!

Marty is a pro at this quilting business. Her blocks are turning out beautifully.

Stitchery Club met here on Friday. That is such a fun group of ladies and so much gets accomplished during their time together.

I taught everyone a new stitch this time......a woven rose. At first they were a little intimidated by the stitch but once they got started, they really enjoyed the process. We are doing all kinds of stitches and pieces that will eventually end up on a collage. Very random and a learning project along the way.

I am taking a Civil War mystery quilt class with Miss Lou and had never laid out all my blocks. I love them!!! They are 8" square and there will be 83 blocks in total when we are done. Can't wait to see them all put together. This club is challenging but fun and I'm learning lots about quilting and color.

Our weather is about to be topsy turvy the next couple of days. 60 degree one day, not in the 40's the next and 70 the next. Crazy winter weather in the south.

Sounds like great stitching weather to me.......................

Girls...............

2012-01-12T20:30:00.001-05:00

Guess I can't just say GIRLS anymore since there is a boy now! I was lucky enough to have a Saturday off from classes to see the girls play in their opening day basketball games. This is Reagan's third year to play and Raleigh's first year.

Doesn't Raleigh look cute in her uniform! Turns out she was the leading scorer (only scorer) on her team with four baskets. YAY Raleigh!

Reagan is the tallest on her team (second from right) but not by much. Last year she towered over everyone but looks like a few gals are right there with her this year. Most are a year or so older but that's ok. I know how hard it is to be a standout among your peers. I was always the tallest girl in my class and used to hate that. Reagan doesn't seem to mind right now. She scored three or four baskets, depending on who you ask, for her team. Good job Reagan!

Baby Joshua watched on as his sisteres played their games.

What big eyes you have Joshua!!

While we were in Florida visiting Mom and Dad right after Christmas, they took us to a small town called Christmas. There was a "village" with several buildings. I loved the schoolhouse building. How cool the classrooms used to be. I love the old desks.

And just look how neat the teacher's desk is. I recently purchased a couple of bells which I have teased some of my ladies with saying I was going to ring them in class. I think I need a larger bell like the one on this teacher's desk!! That should get their attention!

I haven't been able to have the girls over since Christmas. So today I had no classes but lots of errands to run. Dropped by and surprised the girls and asked if they wanted to go with me. Of course they did! We ran our errands, did a little dress shopping (they have a Daddy/Daughter dance soon), had lunch with Poppy and went to the movies to see Chipwrecked (Alvin and the Chipmunks) movie. And to top off the day, we came home and had a tea party served in fine china. Love my little girls.

Now to go find a few minutes for some stitching......................

2012-01-04T08:09:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!! Long time no post. I've been so busy trying to get the new class models prepared for upcoming classes. I think this is the latest I've ever sent out schedules but luckily with the aid of the computer, they can get to the recipient pretty quickly!! Here are pictures with a brief description of some of the classes. The rest of the classes will be posted on my web site.

This elf redwork will be a new Block of the Month. We'll be doing six different elf designs and hopefully be putting them into a quilt form later on. I'm envisioning red and white nine patches maybe. Or it could be something a little more adventurous!

Had to do something for Valentine's Day!! This wool heart mat is done in the crazy quilt method with strip piecing the heart and a couple of simple embroidery stitches for embellishing.

I'm offering a beginning embroidery class again and this is the project you will be taking home for practice if you sign up for this class.

Winter Wonderland Workshop!!!

First time I've offered a workshop and I think this will be a fun one. There will be three different projects, two of which will be completed in class, and lots of other fun surprises. My friend Evette is going to be teaching the jolly snowman and I'll be teaching the make-do and mat. And we're going to feed you lunch also!

Several ladies have asked me to repeat the crazy quilt stocking class. So I'll be offering that again for those of you that want to get a head start on your stockings!

And last but not least, this patriotic snowman will chase the winter blues away!

I'll be updating the web site later today with dates and times and specifics about each class. Hope you'll see something you want to come and create.

If you'd like to receive a full newsletter which tells about all the other clubs and classes, please drop me a note or leave a message on the blog with your email address.

Hope you all find a little time for some stitching on this cold winter day................

2011-12-24T17:31:00.000-05:00

Santa's on his way..........Christmas

blessings to you all!!

2011-12-22T17:37:00.000-05:00

Where does the time go? I seem to be asking this quesiton a lot lately. We had a busy time with classes in December, even though I said I wasn't teaching any!! I love the classes and all my ladies. We ended classes just in time to get ready for Christmas!!

This group, which was one of the last, was busy creating their December recipe cards. The cards turned out adorable with a sweet little vintage elf. Everyone was hurrying to get their cards done because they knew a potluck lunch awaited them!!

Betsy was so sweet and surprised everyone by bringing a bundle of wool for each person. What a kind and thoughtful soul she is. I have already used some of my wool. Thanks Betsy!

Lunchtime and YUM!!!!! Everything was delicious. I love a good old potluck meal. There are always recipes you have to have.

My friend Lynn and I went on a little antiquing extravaganza recently. We visited several local shops and some not so local. I fell in love with this sweet little display at a shop called Two Old Birds located at the antique village with Suzanna's. They have fun vintage things. I think I have already started collecting the little trees and glassware to go on top. Just what I needed......another colleciton. But I love, love the look!!

These quilts were displayed at a quilt shop in Mooresville, NC. Both sides of the building had rails with quilts draped. Of course, my camera died before I could take anymore pictures there. Beautiful and fairly priced.

This is the front of an old hardware store in downtown Mooresville. I just love old downtowns and all the shops......reminds me of growing up in a small town where everyone shopped downtown. We need to support these small businesses as they try to survive in a tough time.

Look at the old Santa and tree.......history there!

So here is a picture of some of the "glass" I collected on an outing the other day. Told you I was starting a collection!

And speaking of collections, here's my latest......I just love these vintage carolers. This is all I have so far but by this time next year I will probably have an entire choir!!!!! Let me know if you run across any of these guys in your travels. I've only found the one girl caroler. They said "Japan" on the bottom which means they are pretty old.

We took the girls to visit Santa at The Rusty Bucket. Reagan looks forward to that trip every year and has been going since she was four. Raleigh, however, is terrified of Santa (anywhere) and has never had a picture taken (except when she was a baby and didn't know any better). This year she said she thought she could do it and said she was even going to give him a kiss on the cheek. We'll see.................

She did it!!!!! Look how proud she is. And of course Reagan is most excited to visit her favorite Santa again. Look at all the doll babies......they each had their bitty babies and American Girl dolls. Santa had a full lap!

Awwwwww...............this is my most favorite picture.

Even the big boys have to visit Santa.......Markie wanted to make sure Santa knew he had been a good boy too!

Ride 'em cowgirls!

After a fun day in Apex, the girls came back to our house for a little craft time. We were making red and white mice ornaments. Raleigh made a couple and decided it was time to move on. Reagan made quite a few and wanted to make more.

Almost done................

Ta-da.......sweet little mouse ornaments.

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas.

Christmas Stockings

2011-12-13T07:51:00.000-05:00

One of the classes I've been teaching this fall/winter is a crazy quilt stocking. We built our bases and appliqued lots of fun designs to the stockings. I have one group of ladies that came to make stockings that had never done anything like this before. They had never been to any of my wool applique or embroidery classes and decided to take the plunge and start with a stocking. I was a little skeptical at first because the stocking isn't exactly a beginner project, but I was willing if they were willing. I have to say how proud I am of those ladies. They got all the applique done, all the decorative stitching and came back yesterday to finish their stockings. They did a great job. So this post is all about my little Fuquay group and their beautiful stockings!

The gang's all here. Everyone is sharing their stockings. Each one was beautiful and unique. Some added special yarns, beans, ribbons, bells, buttons, trims.......just so imaginative!

Joyce, who says she is not a sewer at all, gets busy working on her cuff.

Helen's stocking is the only one with a pocket. She got lucky when we were plundering through the wool and found an old wool shirt piece with a pocket. It looks great.

Pat and Donna share space and the sewing machine.

Jeannie chose the thickest wool in the bins for her cuff. We'll see how that works out Jeannie.

And look who's on the sewing machine......Joyce!! We had to take a picture to prove that she actually sewed her stocking. You did great Joyce and I can't wait to see what else you decide to work on.

Jeannie took this picture of me, head stitch aka teacher, trying to stitch on that super thick cuff for her. It was a determination thing and we got it done. I just prayed the needle didn't break!

Jeannie with her thick cuff. She had to hand sew the hanger on.....I knew it wouldn't even fit in the machine.

What a beautiful stocking Donna!!!! Donna said she couldn't believe she did it!

The stockings were so pretty just laying on the table. What follows is each stocking the ladies created. I wanted to share them with the gals that are still working on their stockings to motivate them to finish and also to possibly share an idea.........

I have to say the pictures don't do these stockings justice. You just have to see them in person!!! So many of the fine details just don't come through in the photos.

The Fuquay ladies and their beautiful stockings......good job and happy decorating!

I think sometime after the New Year I'm going to offer this class again. I know a couple of ladies who want to come back and make more stockings. So stay tuned if you want to get in on the fun.

Scrap Book Paper

2011-12-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

A quick note to let all you local gals know about a great sale going on at Scrap Magic in Fuquay-Varina. They are having a 50% off storewide sale!! Yes, that's right, storewide!!!! I've already made one trip and think I need to go back for more. This is a great time to stock up on all your scrapbook or card making supplies. The sale will run until December 17th.

Scrap Magic
305 S. Main Street
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
919-346-0414

I picked out paper for a couple new recipe cards while I was there.......stay tuned for that.........

2011-12-08T15:03:00.000-05:00

Doesn't everyone need a little red truck for Christmas? I had a class here today for the pillow, embroidered towel and ornaments. We at least got all the parts cut out and the towel pieces placed before the ladies had to leave. Happy stitching to them!! I worked on this design quite a few years ago but wasn't happy with it and before the Barn Sale found it in a crate and re-worked it. I LOVE old red pick-up trucks. My husband has a red 1998 F-150 which sort of qualifies but not quite the same.

Eight wonderful ladies showed up to work on the truck project this morning. They were super busy trying to get all the parts traced and cut out.

Doesn't Pat look festive with her red top and beautiful green and red scarf!! And looks like she just about has all her pieces pinned and ready for stitching.

I think I need a bigger table for these gals. They did all work well together.

I'm just thinking about this Sharon, why do I need another project?!! says Betsy to herself!! Sorry Betsy, but one can never have too many projects.

Hope you all find some time to do a little stitching during this hectic Christmas season.

2011-11-29T11:01:00.000-05:00

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had a full house this year with my youngest son Eric and his wife Kristin visiting along with their two doggies Molly and Bailey. Also my son Paul and his growing family were here along with Grandma and Grandpa from Florida, Mark's brother Fred and cousin Stephanie. Not a quiet place was to be had!!

Everytime I sat down at the table I had little Molly's head peeking up at me. She just knew I was going to drop a morsel of food at some point. And of course, we had been given strict instructions not to feed the dogs ANYTHING!!! What fun is that??!!

Molly and Bailey loaded in the car for their long ride home. Hopefully they will sleep most of the way. We were a little worried about having both dogs in the house but everything worked out just fine and we got to know Bailey a little better. Molly has been around for years but Bailey is a new doggie to us. She turned out to be a real sweetheart.

We took to the girls to the Farmer's Market with us on Saturday to look at trees. We put up an artificial tree every year but I'm really missing the fresh cut trees. Just smelling them was so wonderful. What a silly face Reagan is making. Didn't even see it until I put this picture up. Oh well...........

The day after Thanksgiving Kristin helped Mark and I get the Fall stuff back in the attic and get down Christmas decorations. She helped dust all the surfaces and loved the workout she got from hauling all those heavy crates up and down the stairs. Oh to be young again...................

I decided to go ahead and start decorating for Christmas and am proud to say that it is all done. I worked most of the day on Friday, some on Saturday and some on Sunday.

Inside and outside are both done and I am so happy about that!!! On to other things now........

Like shopping........

Mark always takes off the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving and we do marathon shopping. We normally hit all the local malls along with some other stops along the way. We were out for about ten hours yesterday. And today we've yet to leave the house. As I get older the shopping gets harder. We need to start working out to prepare for the shopping adventures.

Hope you're all having a great season of Thanksgiving..................

and speaking of Thanksgiving, thank you all for the wonderful sympathy cards and emails you've sent for my Mom's passing. Your notes of encouragement have been a true blessing. I am blessed to have such wonderful friends!!

2011-11-24T15:43:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving blessings..............

2011-11-20T11:14:00.000-05:00

Things are slowly getting back to normal around my house. There are still sad times but also lots of wonderful ladies showing up for classes and clubs that make me smile. Tricia is one of them!!

Tricia has been so busy finishing up projects and making multiples as gifts. She has been one busy lady.

A few of Tricia's finished projects......

We met in my dining room this week for Stitchery Club since the Quilt Club was meeting in my classroom. We had a small group of five so it was nice and cozy. The ladies all got right to work.

Tricia working on her turkey towel. She is going to have this completed in plenty of time for Thanksgiving.

Bonnie is working on her Christmas stocking.

Look how adorable Joan's stocking is......look at her little doggie Suzy she added to the stocking. And I love Santa pulling the snowman on the sleigh....this was one of my older patterns that we shrunk way down. Good job!

This is Pat's second stocking. Love it. She and her husband will have beautiful new stockings hanging by the fireplace.

This is Joyce's first wool project EVER and look at what a great job she had done. The Brrrrrrr was drawn by her five year old grandson. Love, love it!

Now this is very random but I ran across the next couple of pictures from when we were at my Mom's. This full (or almost full) moon appeared above the trees at the cemetary while my husband and brother were inside making arrangements. I thought it looked eerily cool.

Another cemetary picture with the beautiful fall leaves. I love visiting older cemetaries and reading the headstones........strange me!

And definitely a full moon on the drive home.

Raleigh and baby Joshua.........oh sis, leave me alone!

Please Mina, stop taking my picture or I'm just going to cry!!!

Raleigh said this was Joshua's Elvis smile.....how funny that a five year old knows who Elvis is!

Joshua is turning into an adorable little baby boy. We watched the girls and Joshua for quite a few hours Saturday while Mommy and Daddy went out to celebrate their anniversary. What fun and how tired I was when we got home!

Big eyes!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Safe travels and lots of good food and friends............we'll have a house full which I am so thankful for.

Moving on.......

2011-11-15T09:18:00.000-05:00

Since I returned from my Mom's, things have been quite busy around here. A good thing for me to help get through the sadness. I have had at least one or two classes every day since we returned. The ladies have been getting quite creative working on Christmas projects. I finally remembered or thought to take out the camera to share a few photos with you. We are also working on Thanksgiving recipe cards which are adorable. Gobble Gobble Turkey Soup........yum!

The ladies got busy with watercolors for this recipe card. They were quite creative!

I thought the recipe on this card would come in handy since Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we all need ways to use up that leftover turkey..............

The class got so quiet while everyone painted their cards.

Yesterday we got together to make wool crazy quilt stockings. Bonnie has her pieces all laid out. The colors look great together.

Busy, busy, busy........each stocking was so different......and look at the brightly colored M&M's in the middle of the table.....how festive!

Now that the stocking bases are put together, we're about to start working on the applique pieces. That's where the fun really comes in. I had a sheet of drawings that I shared with the ladies, but we also had fun getting into some of my patterns and reducing some of those designs so they could be used also.

Betsy decided the best way to approach her stocking was to draw a roadmap! She had the whole thing figured out on paper first. Let's see if she sticks to her map.

I have been invited to do a trunk show and teach a class at a quilt guild in Littleton, NC. I think that's about two hours from where I live. Road trip!! I will be teaching the Christmas Pitcher to that group tomorrow. It's a great project because it involves wool applique and embroidery, my two most favorite things to do!!

Rosemary, the herb of remembrance........a sweet tribute to my Mother. I have received lots of beautiful cards, some hand made, good wishes, prayers and plants. I have decided to make a small "memory" garden to my Mom in the back where I can see it from my workroom. We already have a small garden there that we had planned to enlarge with a couple of trees/bushes and bird feeders. I love watching the birds and so did my Mom. She was an avid bird watcher. So this special little garden will be a special place for me and Mom. Thank you all so much.

2011-11-09T19:50:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes and prayers. As many of you already know, my Mom passed away on Saturday. We've just returned from the funeral and all those goings-on. It was a sad time but we got to see many friends and relatives we haven't see in years. I hate that it takes a funeral to get everyone together. I was lucky to have such a loving mother and I will deeply miss her in my life. If your Mom and Dad are still alive, call them now for tomorrow they may be gone.

2011-10-29T12:12:00.000-04:00

Aren't these just the sweetest (literally) little acorns you've ever seen!! Debbie Powell had her quilt club here yesterday and came in with an acorn plate full of these yummy little acorn treats. How simple to make too!

All you need are mini Nutter Butter cookies, Hershey kiss (I prefer dark chocolate, of course), chocolate chip pieces and a little chocolate frosting for your glue. Put it all together and you too can have a plate of acorns to share over the holidays.

My oldest son Paul celebrated his 33rd birthday this month. Happy birthday to Paul!

The girls came over one afternoon to make a Halloween cake. They did some mixing (took turns!).......

and some tasting..........

and some more tasting (because their Daddy lets them do that they informed me after I told them it was dangerous because of the eggs and all that!)...............

and some decorating...................

and wa-lah.......a beautifully sprinkled Halloween cake! They took the cake home to share with their Mommy and Daddy!!!

I got my Calendar Girls quilt back from a quilt shop in Florida only in time to send it to another shop in Georgia. I haven't had this quilt in my possession for very long but did take a quick picture to share with those of you that are working on the Calendar Girl patterns. It's nice sometimes to see something all put together. Hope you're all moving along with your stitching.

The girls had a run at their school on Friday. It was a fundraiser for the school and depending on how many laps they ran, they got donations. Raleigh ran 15 laps in 25 minutes. Good job!

And little Joshua slept through the entire event!

Reagan ran 16 laps. Another good job!!

The leaves are finally turning here.....beautiful shades of red, orange, yellow......

I do believe Fall is my most favorite time of the year.

The winter Camelias are in full bloom........so delicate and unexpected this time of year.

We're having cold, rainy weather here in the south............perfect time for a cup of hot tea and a little stitching time.....................enjoy your weekend.

2011-10-24T07:55:00.001-04:00

I was reminded this weekend that I needed to update my blog to show that I had three grandchildren now. Here's the reason.........................

Little Joshua Paul is now seven weeks old. He looks so much like his Daddy did when he was a baby.

So I will update my blog today because I am so lucky to have three beautiful grandchildren!

A day at the farm..........

2011-10-20T20:19:00.000-04:00

This post is just about the girls and time with Mina and Poppy. Since I was so busy preparing for the barn sale, I felt I had neglected the girls. So Poppy took the day off work and we grabbed the girls first thing this morning and headed to one of their favorite destinations in the fall.........Hillridge Farms in Youngsville, NC.

The goats were waiting for a little food to be dropped their way. They are so comical to watch. A couple of them got into a fight over the food trough.

Raleigh was buried up to her neck in corn kernels literally.

Waiting on the train to take off.....two tired little girls.

I love this red building located on the property. I think I would like to have it in my backyard!!

Little Ms. photogenic Raleigh

These guys had a little attitude......they were just squawking away.

Finally, the pumpkins........

Regan was trying to find the largest pumpkin and Raleigh wanted the smallest pumpkin. On the way to the car Raleigh was crying and I didn't know why. She said Reagan told her the pumpkin she picked out was too small to carve. Reagan informed her that she needed to pick a larger pumpkin if she wanted to carve anything in it. I was trying to tell her that she could do stars and moons or something fun like that and she cried louder. I dropped the subject. Oh the woes of a five year old!!

Hope you all enjoy the wonderful fall weather and go pick your own pumpkins to decorate................

More Barn Sale........

2011-10-18T09:12:00.000-04:00

Just a few more pics to share........

This is the yummy candy we had in our booth that my friend Lynn made. I have to say it was the most talked about "thing" in the show. As promised, here's the recipe.

CRISPY PEANUT BUTTER CANDIES

16 ounces Vanilla Candy Coating (white chocolate bits)
1 / 2 cup smooth peanut butter
1-1 / 2 cups dry roasted peanuts
l cup cocoa flavored crispy rice cereal (Cocoa Krispies)
l cup mini marshmallows

In top of a double boiler, melt candy coating over hot
water (I microwave mine....just do it about 20 seconds
at a time and don't overmicrowave it) Stir peanut butter
into melted white chocolate. Stir in peanuts, cereal and
marshmallows....just long enough to coat everything. Drop
by rounded teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper and let
candy harden. Store in airtight container. Makes about
7 dozen.

Thanks for such a yummy treat Lynn!!!

Barn Sale Fun!

2011-10-16T08:37:00.000-04:00

OK, the barn sale is here. We had a line at the door and I was trying to hold them back as the vendors added the finishing touches on their booths!!! Hurry up guys, I can't hold them much longer....................

We had wonderful home made refreshments all weekend.....cookies, cupcakes, candies, breads, lots of yummy treates to keep our customers happy.

And everywhere you looked fall was in the air. And thankfully the temperatures dropped and the humidity went away. It was the perfect weather for a fall festival.

A little Halloween here and there......

Beautiful quilts..........

And more beautiful quilts. Look at the backdrop behind this booth.

And of course, candy corn!

Lisa and her daughter working the cash registers. We had some very long lines most of Saturday and apologize for that but also thank you for being patient. I know they were working as fast as they could and truly appreciate you hanging in there with us. We're working on maybe more cash registers for next year. Yes, there will be a next year!

Sue is so excited to get one of all the new recipe cards! She was so nervous they would all get gone before she could get them. Funny girl Sue!! Thanks so much for loving the cards.

The pictures don't do the barn justice. It was the perfect setting for the sale.

Lots of people milling around with lots of great things to see.

Ken Hardee had some great gourds.

Nancy (Lisa's Mom) worked on hand quilting a quilt all weekend and was willing to show anyone how to quilt. I do believe they got it finished by the end of Saturday. Debbie Powell (local quilt instructor) looks on as Nancy quilts. Debbie brought so many beautiful quilts to the barn.

More Halloween............

There was a huge variety of product throughout the barn. I was so busy helping customers that I didn't get to take pictures so a friend took over that job for me. We have lots more which I'll try and post later. This at least gives you an idea of what the barn was all about.

Time to get ready for Christmas..............

This sweet gal wins the prize for coming the farthest to the barn sale............all the way from California. Thanks for visiting Bridgid. It was so nice to meet you in person. Safe travels and maybe we'll see you next year!

To everyone that attended and participated in the Barn Sale, a big huge thank you from Lisa Treadaway and myself. We truly appreciate each and every one of you and your support. We took a vote after the sale yesterday and we're going to do it again next year. We have a few things to tweak but all in all, things went great and everyone had a great time, customers and vendors alike. So stay tuned for details on next years dates.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

BARN SALE!

2011-10-13T21:54:00.000-04:00

The barn doors are closed tonight but we can't wait to open them for you tomorrow!!!

It's here finally, our porch sale in the barn. We're all so excited and can't wait to see you on Friday or Saturday or both days!! Lots of wonderful handcrafted items, some antiques and vintage items, and yummy cookies and other goodies.

Come on out to the Little Herb House located at

5800 Holland Church Road

Raleigh, NC

and see what fun you can have in a barn!!

2011-10-07T12:35:00.000-04:00

The barn sale is fast approaching.....................

2011-10-06T12:45:00.000-04:00

Fall has arrived and Evette and I had a great time at Cameron. The weather was just gorgeous, lots of vendors to peruse and lots of great finds. I came home with a few treasures!

There are several churches in the small town of Cameron. There's just something about a little white church that makes me very nostalgic.

This was a cool booth in that this person was very focused on vintage tins and had a stunning display.

Lots of mums............

A view at the bottom of the hill with lines of cars trying to get into town. Glad we're almost done because it's getting very crowded now!

Out of order pictures, but the girls in front of a very giant spider and lots of pumpkins. Tis the season......

A beautiful 75 degree day here yesterday warranted a break from barn sale work and a trip to the playground!!!

Time to quit, goofy faces coming out!!!!

I thought this tin scarecrow was very cool. Never did check for a price.

Look at the big giant bed in the middle of this booth. It was huge and very cool. This is always one of our favorite booths to check out.

And look, we ran into Jim and Pat while we were shopping. Always nice to see them.

Oh look what showed up in my room. Santa's elves have been making little reindeer. They are so sweet. And there's more to go with the reindeer. There's your sneak peek Sue!!

Have a great day and enjoy the wonderful fall weather.

2011-09-30T18:50:00.000-04:00

Friday evening here and it's raining. A small thunderstorm just rolled through and with that storm comes some cooler temperatures and lower humidity. Guess I'll have to do my happy dance!! Tomorrow is Cameron Days which is always so much fun to attend but especially fun when the temperatures are cooler and a nip of fall is in the air. If you've never been and you live close enough to go, the town is crammed full of antiques galore, some crafts, lots of vintage items, and great food. It is just a good time for all!!

I've been busy with classes but either forget to take pictures or wait too long to put them on the computer. This was a fun class we had this week for embroidered and appliqued towels for the fall season. I took a couple of designs from the latest Need'l Love book and embellished some towels. The ladies had a great time.

I love taking close-ups of people's hands as they work. Pat is determined to get this towel completed and soon!

So what have I been busy working on you ask. Besides trying to get some things finished for the barn sale (Oct. 14-15), I was informed that the quilt club I belong to was meeting this Sunday and not next Sunday as I had thought. I somehow got the wrong dates on my calendar. So shame on me!! So I had some homework to get done before Sunday's class. How would it look for me to show up without my completed blocks, me being a teacher and all that!!! So these blocks aren't all exactly easy for the non-quilting me. This was actually my last block to be stitched waiting next to my sewing machine. Here are bunches of little pieces...................

Now sewn into rows..................

And ta-da, just like that....the finished block. I think this one was called mosaic. The quilt is a mystery quilt comprised of 84 blocks. So far we've met twice so I now have a total of 8 blocks. A long way to go...............

This one is called Beacon Lights. Not sure why. And I probably didn't do my colors correctly to show the beacon lights. Looks more like a baseball diamond to me. Oh well............

This one is called Indian Trails I suppose because of the bear paw design and you would probably run into a bear if you were an Indian on trails in the woods. That's my version anyway.

And this one is called Indian Plume. Wonder why? hmmmm........thinking on that one. Plumes of a feather.....doesn't look like a bird to me........hmmmmmm........I'll let you know if I figure that one out.

And last but not least, baby Joshua in his car seat with his eyes open wide. Love the warning sign next to his head.........WARNING, WARNING.......baby likely to cry........beware!!

Hope you all have a great week. And if you're reading this and you don't have your homework done, get busy!!! It only takes three days to get the blocks done so you're about out of time!!!

2011-09-27T14:15:00.000-04:00

So glad it's officially fall now. The temperatures still aren't very cool and it's still very humid but my brain is happier just because it's truly fall. And the cooler temps will be here by the weekend. Lots going on around here, classes, a short trip, more classes, barn sale prep, doctor visits, grandchildren visits, more barn sale work..........................you get the drift. Just busy busy busy!

We went to visit my son Eric and his wife Kristin in Martinsburg, WV for a few days. Of course I had plenty on the trip to work on in the car. Snowmen being assembled...........

And black cats and witches..............

A great group of ladies in Henderson at Miss Lou's Quilting Studio got together to learn how to do the color embroidery for the Thanksgiving quilt that I just recently finished. It turned out great and I can't wait to put it on my kitchen table!! The ladies all seemed to have fun and we got back to first grade with our tracing and coloring.

I had a quick meeting at The Little Herb House with Lisa this afternoon and on the way to the car I snapped a few pics before my camera battery went dead. If you haven't been there, you need to visit. And we just happen to have the barn sale right around the corner so that would be a perfect time to visit!!

These fun metal sunflowers, etc. are in front of the barn. Isn't it just great fun!!

Can't wait to see y'all at the barn.............

The latest picture of little Joshua, asleep as usual!! Still a sweetie and getting bigger. Up to 11 pounds now.

Hope you all have a great week and happy stitching!

2011-09-16T09:34:00.000-04:00

Well, happy fall y'all!!! Us southern folks are just tickled pink today because we woke up to temperatures in the 50's with the highs only being in the 60's. We haven't seen those kind of temperatures since Feburary!!! So I'm doing the happy fall dance today and in honor of the cooler temps I unpacked some fall decorations and had a grand old time cleaning and decorating the house. Needless to say, this is my season.

The girls dressed up as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz and a little black cat last year. I already owned the black cat figurine and found a Dorothy figurine to match Reagan.

These pictures are of my boys when they were smaller and I found the little figurines to match their costumes ages ago. This is always one of my favorite things to put out for Halloween.

I haven't put these pieces out in years but thought the girls might enjoy them. The haunted house lights flash on and off like it's a stormy night. Sort of makes you feel like you're at a rock concert!

Here's the most current pic I have of baby Joshua. He's doing great and steadily gaining back some of the weight he lost earlier on. He's just plain cuddly now!!!

Lots of classes going on around here. I have taken some pictures but just haven't taken the time to post them. Another day.................. Still time to sign up for any of the classes. There are spots available in most of them and I would love to have you come visit. The Loose Stitches Stitchery Club is meeting here this morning. That is so much fun and the ladies are getting things done during class and I'm here to help however I can. I have a special little "fall" stitchery I'm going to be giving them today.

Have a great weekend and enjoy today!

2011-09-08T19:59:00.000-04:00

Hey (or hay as in the picture), how's everyone doing?

Me and the girls are just hanging out here, working our feathers off, getting ready for the Barn Sale!!

We can't wait to strut our stuff and show you what we have for you!

As you can see, the girls are all busy as chicks can be trying to come up with fun and new things for you to see. So be sure you have October 14-15 marked on your calendars!!

Hope your day's just plucky!

2011-09-02T17:58:00.000-04:00

It's been a super busy week getting things worked on for the Barn Sale coming up in October. Hope everyone has marked the dates on their calendars for a great time. October 14-15, 8am-5pm both days.

Wonder what this machine is for??? It's being borrowed from my printer and used to help create something for the barn sale. What do you think girls?

And how cute are these guys?!! Evette came over for some crafting time and show and tell. I stole these guys away to sneak a picture. I think she needs to make many, many more of these handsome fellas!!

Hope everyone has a safe and restful Labor Day Weekend...............

2011-08-29T22:25:00.000-04:00

A quick note before heading off to dreamland.................

Debbie Powell finished her Thanksgiving quilt. Don't you love the way she framed the blocks!!!! My quilt is finally finished (the stitching part at least). Once I found some time to sit and stitch, it went quickly. Hope everyone is having fun working on their blocks!

This picture was taken right before Hurricane Irene hit our area. I wish I had a stronger lens in my camera, but this picture is still pretty cool. We were spared damage and truly bad weather here in the Piedmont area. We had some rain and winds but nothing worse than one of our thunderstorms, which we're having tonight. I actually think we're getting more rain with the storm tonight than we did with the hurricane. I know other people are suffering and have terrible damage from the storm and my heart goes out to them.

Joshua Paul with his eyes open!!! He just wants to sleep all the time so I had to torture him to get him to open his eyes for me. His Mama is getting ready to feed him so looks like he may be awake for that. Isn't he a cutie patootie!!!

Any family resemblance yet? I'll bet his Daddy would like to be asleep right now. I don't think Paul has had much sleep since J.P. was born!

Wishing you all a peaceful night and a wonderful tomorrow!

Big Sisters

2011-08-23T20:21:00.000-04:00

Reagan and Raleigh FINALLY got to hold their baby brother Joshua. They were in awe of him and couldn't stop kissing him.

Reagan loves baby Joshua already!! She will make a great big sister.

And Raleigh will also make a great big (medium) sister.

We all got a chance to hold little Joshua this evening and he was so adorable. His skin color looks great and his breathing was wonderful and he slept the entire time we were there, unlike yesterday where he cried the entire time. Amazing what a difference a day will make...............

WELCOME TO THE WORLD!!!

2011-08-22T22:17:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the world Joshua Paul Stewart

August 22, 2011 (two weeks early!)

9 pounds, 22 inches

along with his proud Daddy Paul

A tired, but doing well Meredith and new baby Joshua and Daddy makes three (until the girls get here!)

Ooops, speaking of the girls..........now the family is all together and all smiles. Everyone has been anxiously awaiting the baby boy who was just named Joshua Paul. We've been trying to come up with a name for quite awhile and of course, Paul and Meredith were trying to settle on an "R" name. But I think Joshua fits this little fella.

The two big sisters outside the hospital. Get ready little J.P., these girls are waiting on you!!!!

No one expected the baby today, but he came on his schedule. Meredith was going to be induced if he wasn't born before August 29 because he was a pretty big baby and the last couple of weeks would have really put on some size. So a blessing that he's here early, doing well, and ready to start his little life.

Loose Stitches Stitchery Club

2011-08-19T15:15:00.000-04:00

We had our first Loose Stitches Stitchery Club meeting this morning and I'm so excited. Everyone had a great time, we had show and tell and finally got to work on some unfinished projects. Some ladies brought wool projects to work on and others brought embroidery projects. And anywhere I could offer help and/or advice I did.

Before we got busy stitching I had the ladies bring something for show and tell. Sometimes it's inspirational for others to see what we're working on.

Pam brought her beautiful Projects book and her sunflower pincushion. Both turned out great.

Love the placement of her happy face pins!!

Betsy is our very talented and gifted rug hooker. Just a few of the projects she has worked on this year. She is over the top!!!! And also now a North Carolina resident. We're so happy to have her here full time.

Laura is into quilting and had a beautiful table runner to share that she's working on for the barn sale. She and Pam are make some beautiful things for the sale so stay tuned for that...............

And look, she has some matching accessories for her pincushion. My intent is to turn this into a pattern one day............................

Tricia and Pat are both trying to finish their America pillows. They're almost there........just in time for next year's patriotic decorating.

Well look at Pat, she finished her pillow! (or stole mine!!)

This is Pat's wool crazy that she started last year. She has a lot done and a little ways to go. Hopefully we'll be able to tackle some of this in the stitchery club. We may need to meet more than once a month!

And last but not least, Gerry brought in some table runners that she was working on and also a sweet little paper "suitcase" box. Wonderful!

We were missing two or three from this group today so maybe next month we'll have some new show and tell. Just wanted to share what the ladies shared.

Have a wonderful weekend.....

2011-08-18T17:18:00.000-04:00

It's school time again and time to start saving those Boxtops for Education. Reagan and I took some time this afternoon to glue down the labels we had saved so far. As you can see, she is very happy to have the boxtops to turn in to her teacher tonight at open house. Just email me if you want to save the boxtops and need my mailing address. I truly appreciate your help and Reagan definitely appreciates it. Last year she turned in the most boxtops in her classroom and won a pizza party for the entire class. In case you don't know, the school receives 10 cents for each boxtop turned in to be used for school supplies and other necessary items.

Is anyone in the mood for a little snow? I am for sure!!! I've been working on a few things for the Barn Sale coming up in October. A friend gave me the directions for this little guy many, many years ago and I finally decided to work on a few. You'll have to wait for the Barn Sale to see the finished product!!

Oh look, Lynn decided to come back and help me again. Thank goodness.....I need all the help I can get right now. She's trying to catch me up on all the past recipe card classes. If you're missing any cards ladies, be sure to check the boxes. Lynn is filling them quickly!!

I started working in my workroom (or studio as Evette calls it!) at 7am this morning. I was excited to get busy because I had a pattern idea I was anxious to get started. This was an idea from at least ten years ago that I never really did anything with other than pack away my initial wool piece. So now I think I have a game plan and am busy picking flosses and wools. Again, you'll have to wait for the Barn Sale to see the finished creation!! Think "farmhouse"........

Oh my, Lynn came back again!! Boy, she's a Saint. And look at all the stamp pads she is busy using. I am so happy to have her here and can't say how much I appreciate her time. And you ladies will be happy to get some of those past recipe cards too. Thanks Lynn!

I do believe she's working on the Santa recipe card from December. Anyone need that one?

I sent out a couple of emails today regarding the Barn Sale. Sorry for sending out two but somehow I messed up the first one. So hopefully you all have that email just full of Barn Sale information. Let me know if you didn't get one and I'll be sure to send it right away.

We have our first Loose Stitches Stitchery Club meeting here tomorrow. I'm excited to see the ladies and have some fun things planned for the group as time goes on. We have a second group that will meet later on in the month. Let me know if you need information on the Club or would like to join.

Happy almost Friday!!

2011-08-16T12:49:00.000-04:00

Mark and I made a quick trip to Farmer's Market in Raleigh Saturday afternoon. Our temperatures were in the low 80's and you could actually breathe outside. A perfect time to go visit the farmers.

OK, this display of peppers had me intrigued. I have to admit I had never seen purple or white peppers. I thought this bunch of peppers was just beautiful.

And who doesn't love fresh cut flowers from the garden.

I guess we must be in pepper season! I know there were lots of watermelons and tomatoes too. A happy eating season indeed!

OK, my workroom looks like a bomb went off. I'm busy working on new recipe cards for September/October classes, other recipe cards for the barn sale, and lots of other things thrown in for good measure. So I suppose in order to be creative things have to get a bit messy.

Lynn came over Monday afternoon to help out a little. I had piles and piles for her to work on!!

More mess............do you see the healthy tomatoes hidden in there? Nournishment.........

A sneak peek at an almost done recipe card for the barn sale. I may have five, six, seven or eight new cards ladies!!! Save your $$$ Sue!

Speaking of the barn sale, mark your calendars for October 14-15. It's fast approaching.

2011-08-10T16:42:00.000-04:00

Classes, classes and more classes. That's how it's been around here the past few days. I've taken pictures at some of the classes and forgot at others, but here are a few fun pictures to share.

A group of seven ladies got together Saturday morning to make project binder covers. They all got creative with the drawings I gave them and created their own, unique covers.

Pam decided to do her journal cover in her favorite color!

And we did sunflower pincushions in the afternoon. Looks beautiful Linda!

And Debby brought her Becky in to show how the pincushion matched.

We had our first Quarter Seamers Quilt Club here on Sunday afternoon. The gals started off with some beautiful show and tell. I couldn't put all the pictures on the blog, but here are a few.

And this is part of the project that we will be making in this club. There are 83 total different blocks that will be done using Civil War fabrics. This task is a little daunting for some of us, but others just jumped right in and got busy. We get four blocks a month to work on, so we should be able to accomplish that!

Debbie Powell (our teacher) explaining something important, I just can't remember what! Some student I am!!

Lisa and Elaine wrapped up in the Thanksgiving quilt. They'll soon be wrapped up in their own quilts!

Little Raleigh was here most of last week and on one of those days wanted to get the paints out and get a little artistic. She painted quite a few pictures.

Well, this week Raleigh started kindergarten. I miss her already!!!!!

I posted the new class schedule on the web site as well as pictures on the side bar of the blog. Maybe you'll find something you want to come and make. We always have a grand time!

2011-08-04T10:34:00.000-04:00

Reagan started the second grade on August 1. Here she is with her new book bag getting ready to go to her first day of second grade.

Bye-bye sweet sister. Raleigh will start kindergarten on Monday so her "free" time is almost over. How quickly they grew up!!

Here's Meredith and baby boy (still not named!). He's a big fella.

Hey, it is watermelon season. Poor Meredith is carrying around a huge watermelon in all this heat!

Raleigh and I went to the garden to pick some scallions this morning for the chicken salad I'm making for dinner. Look at those pretty tomatoes. Love, love summer for one reason.........TOMATOES!!!

Oops, I think there's someone hiding in the tomatoes......could it be a Raleigh?

My sweet husband has planted several pumpkin patches for me. We, of course, need pumpkins for the barn sale in October. What would a fall sale be without pumpkins? I hope these guys are ready for October. According to Mark's accurate calculations, we are right on schedule!!

New class schedule is on the web site if you want to take a look. I'll be sending out newsletters in the next day or so. If you're not on my mailing list and want to be added, just drop me a note.

Today is watermelon day at the Farmer's Market so go have some watermelon and celebrate the season!!

Classes and Projects

2011-07-31T12:36:00.000-04:00

Saturday a group of ladies got together to work on the Thanksgiving Disappearing Nine-Patch Quilt. They traced and colored during the class and went home with lots of homework. We will get back together in a few weeks with their stitched pieces to start putting together the quilt. Happy stitching ladies!

This was Judy's first class with me (she takes the recipe card classes) as far as a sewing class. She was a bit intimidated at first but got right to work tracing her designs. I think she'll survive!

Don't you love Sue's shirt? Guess where she just visited?

Dolly brought lots of treats to class plus a wonderful Strawberry Pretzel Cake dessert. We didn't lack for something to eat today!! Thanks Dolly!

Debbie is the quilt instructor that has a studio in Henderson and teaches at my house. She takes classes with me to get a break from her classes. I love that!!! And, of course, I take classes with her. Works out for both of us.

Kim is really concentrating on her piece of coloring. She loved her first block once she got it colored and ironed. The process is so much fun. Let's us have a little childhood fun in a grown-up world.

Here is a sneek peek at a few of the projects I'm working on for the upcoming fall class schedule. This is a piece I've admired for many years but never took the time to stitch. It's from an older Need'l Love book and was great fun to work on. There's embroidery as well as wool applique.

This project is from the new Need'l Love Pumpkin Patch Threads book. I'm trying to do a couple (at least) projects from that book to help offset the cost of the book. This piece isn't officially framed yet but I love the frame in the photo which came from Lisa at Lone Star. Hopefully we'll be able to have those frames for your finished pieces too.

Loved doing the towels and I don't think I've ever taught anything on towels before. The pumpkin towel would make a great hostess gift and the turkey is done in wonderful hand-dyed flosses. He was a punch needle piece in the book, but I did him as an embroidered piece. Love turkeys!

And who could resist another crazy quilt project? This is a very fun project and very do-able!! Not quite as overwhelming as the larger wool crazy pieces we did last year. I've almost finished my stocking.........almost!

I'll be posting a couple more things I'm trying to finish up in the next couple of days. And I will be trying to get the "official" class schedule done the first week of August.

Happy stitching. I'm doing my rain dance by the way!!!!!!

Miss Lou's Quilt Studio

2011-07-27T11:34:00.000-04:00

Some of you may remember from an earlier post a pincushion that I presented to Debbie Powell of Miss Lou's Quilt Studio. The real truth is I had my sister draw Debbie's shop but realized I couldn't get the entire piece stitched by the time I was teaching my class there so I decided to turn a small portion into a pincushion. Debbie loved her pincushion and carries it with her wherever she goes. She even told her husband if they had a fire in the house to save the pincushion. Too funny. Well, in the meantime I've been stitching like a fool trying to get the shop picture completed. And a week or so ago the time came to present Debbie with the finished piece.

Here I am telling Debbie I had something for her and she said "Are you going to make me cry again?" I sure hope not.

She was totally surprised and loved the finished shop. She said something like now I have the whole building.

Debbie is a special friend to me and has graciously shared her studio and students with me. I have enjoyed teaching there and truly appreciate her generosity. And, of course, I always have a good time when I'm there and have made some new friends along the way.

Ta-da!! The finished Miss Lou's Quilting Studio.............love the red, white & blue.

And as a result of this little adventure, several people have asked if we could draw their homes for stitching. I now have my sister working on that little project and hopefully we'll be able to do just that. So if you want your home, or someone else's home, or a shop drawn, let me know and I'll let you know what we've come up with.

Hopefully you're inspired to do a little stitching of your own today.............

Fabric Yard Sale!!

2011-07-21T09:57:00.000-04:00

Hey, anyone out there want a good deal on fabric? My friend Heather Chandler is cleaning out her closets and having a yard sale this coming weekend. Details are listed below from an email she sent me. So run on out and see what you might need!!

1821 White Dogwood Rd
Apex, NC 27502

I hope you are all having a good summer. I have been cleaning out my sewing room and am having a yard sale this Saturday, July 23rd, 8am - 12pm. I will be selling off a large part of my stash - there just isn't room for it all!

All of it is quilt shop quality fabric - 1yard cuts - for $5 a yard. I will also have some fat quarters for $1 each. The fabric is from all manufacturers - Robert Kaufman, Moda, Benartex, Free Spirit, Marcus Bros. etc. I have a wide range of styles - kids, contemporary, asian, civil war reproduction, holiday, etc. I also have some charm packs ($4 each), jelly rolls ($15) and layer cakes ($15) - most of them also have associated yardage. Come early for the best selection ;).

In addition, I have some good quality yarn (silk, wool) for $2 a skein, scrapbooking and other papercrafting supplies, along with other miscellaneous craft supplies. Books, toys, and other household items are thrown into the mix as well. Please feel free to tell your friends about it.

See you there!

Time Flies......

2011-07-20T12:41:00.000-04:00

Where does the time go? All I know is it goes by quicker than I can keep up with. Lots of classes, my girls have been here, working on new projects for the fall and winter, preparing for a trunk show and class in Henderson, lots of things to do.

Lots of ladies attended recipe card class. They were so busy I don't even think they noticed me taking their pictures.

Raleigh and Reagan posing with a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty after dinner at Red Robin on Sunday evening. The girls were spending the night and got to choose what restaurant they wanted to go to.

Well, I didn't say play in the wool, but oh well, have at it girls. Lots of scraps for the project binder.....and lots of creativity going on in that class.

Teresa decided she wanted to get in on the wool fun!

Button, button, who has the button? Oh, what to do, which one will look best?

Who, me?

Have you ever been up to your knees in wool? I needed to get to the cutting mat so I just plunged in the wool. Easier than trying to move it. And Lynn couldn't resist taking a picture of their teacher immersed in wool.

More garden fun for the girls. They each had a bag to fill up with goodies.

Reagan decided she shouldn't have picked this pepper yet and is trying to figure out if she can put it back on the plant. I don't think so.....

I was trying to catch the hummingbird in this picture but he was too fast for me. Still a pretty picture.

We had a meeting this past weekend with most of the vendors for the Porch Sale in the Barn. Everyone is excited about the upcoming sale and busy working and creating so we will have lots of fun things for you to choose from. I think we will have a huge variety of merchandise and can't wait to share it all with you. Remember to mark your calendars for October 14-15!! We'll be sending out more information in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, go find some time to stitch a little.................

Summer Gardens....

2011-07-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

Look, is that a little bunny in our garden?

Crouched, looking for something good to munch on.......

Oh no, it's just little Raleigh looking for some ripe tomatoes......

and I think she found a few........

Raleigh loved going to the garden, searching for ripe red tomatoes. She wanted to know if she could do that the next time she came over. I love that she gets to experience the garden first hand.

We have several pumpkin vines growing........trying to have some pumpkins for the porch sale in October. So far so good. We're battling the deer but I think we're winning this round. They've eaten our cucumbers and a few tomato plants but we have some new stinky things to ward them off which seem to be working. I know probably only for a short time, but we're trying.

How does your garden grow?

2011-07-05T09:05:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a trip to Florida where we celebrated my husband and his mother's birthdays together. He was born two days before her birthday. We celebrated the girls' birthdays earlier in June and now will end the month with two more.

The birthday duo.......

Make a wish!!

We left Mom & Dad's house and headed for Ft. Myer later in the week to visit a quilt shop that is carrying some of my patterns. Somehow I got excited in the shop looking at all the beautiful fabrics and forgot to take pictures. So if you're in the Ft. Myer area, look up Quilt Lover's Hangout. A super nice, friendly, well-stocked quilt shop. Wish it were closer. And after we left the quilt shop, we went to visit the winter home of Thomas Edison. Look at all those light bulbs. If you're near the Ft. Myers area, be sure to visit this place. It was so interesting and there was so much history and things we weren't aware that Thomas Edison was involved in. And beautiful homes and grounds to walk around.

This was a guest room in the house. Love the quilt on the bed which is the reason I took this picture, of course!

And two more red and white quilts.....really love the red and white!

There were these huge rubber trees all over the grounds. Seems Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were good friends and once worked together. They were trying to devise a better way to make tires for cars and were cultivating their own rubber trees for their experiments. The trees were absolutely huge and all over the property along with many other types of trees that I'm sure were useful to them in some way. I told my husband if our river birch tree had roots this cool, maybe we wouldn't have cut it down!

As we were driving up the highway we could see this rain shower ahead of us. Apparently Florida is in a rainy season now. It can rain every single day. Wish we had that here!!!!!

And at the end of the shower appears this beautiful rainbow. At one point there was a double rainbow but I don't think I got a good picture of that.

And of course we had to get off at one of our favorite little towns on I-95, Walterboro, SC. The town is full of quaint little shops and many antique shops. A good break from the long highway driving. I found a few treasures but it was so blamed hot, it wasn't much fun to walk around.

And after we got home we visited this general store in Durham that Pam from the Rusty Bucket told me about. We decided to take a drive Saturday afternoon and find this place. One of those stores that's full of stuff and you sort of have to search through or you miss something. We had a good time looking at all the things for sale as well as the many things that were on display.

I told the owner I would just point the camera and shoot and see what we came up with. There was just stuff everywhere and not one good place to isolate for a photo. So go visit if you get a chance.

These pictures are out of order, but this was an antique shop we stopped at somewhere in Florida I think. Didn't buy anything in the shop but loved the sign out front.

We made it to the ocean one day while at Mom & Dad's. I'm afraid I can't do the sun anymore so I had about reached my limit here. But the ocean was beautiful. And we were able to see the space shuttle launch pad which was the main reason for heading that direction. We just couldn't get as close as my husband wanted to get.

And look what we found when we got home. My bluebirds have hatched. I can't wait to watch them grow and turn into sweet little bluebirds. The Mama and Papa birds are hovering, feeding and watching over the babies. They have several places in the yard that they perch and watch over the nest. They have been great parents!!

Hope everyone had a safe and restful 4th of July and enjoyed some sparks along the way...........

2011-07-04T08:22:00.000-04:00

Merry 4th of July to everyone!

Be safe.

2011-06-21T21:01:00.000-04:00

Happy first day of summer! Feels like it's been summer around here for a long time already. And today we have a smokey hazy covering to our area because of some wildfires south of us. Not great breathing weather. I'm praying for a big old thunderstorm to come through tonight.

Took the girls to Chick-fil-a the other evening and ran into a couple of cows. The girls were most intrigued with the princess cow. They didn't know such a thing existed. Imagine!

A friend gave me this birdhouse a few weeks ago and I attached it to the fence post around my husband's garden. I have seen bluebirds hanging around the area and figured they were building in the house. Well, Raleigh and I went out the other day and there were five little bluebird eggs. Can't wait to see all those babies flying around.

For some reason I always thought their eggs were blue but I guess not. Another good friend gave me a bluebird house which I put out front but I keep getting sparrows in that one. I finally quit tearing out that poor birds nest so she could have some babies too. Maybe we'll get bluebirds out there next year.

I have been working on quilt blocks off and on today. I started a log cabin quilt a couple of weekends ago with Ms. Debbie's class and today realized I had 75 blocks I was trying to complete by Saturday. I have 20 completely done with a bunch to go. My friend Lynn is going to come over tomorrow to work on her homework for class also. I told her my sewing machine would be hummmmmmmmmmmming along in order to get the blocks finished. I don't even know if I needed 75. I may need more! UGH!!

I had two beginning embroidery classes and a trunk show and Miss Lou's Quilt Studio in Henderson on Saturday. I had two large displays of embroidered pieces to share along with some other stitching goodies.

A little one on one instruction always seems to help.

I had a surprise for Debbie as a thank you for inviting me to teach in her classroom. My sister and I came up with a pincushion design made just for Debbie and her shop. I would say by the look on her face she was surprised and happy......and ready to cry. Awwwww.................

Here's the pincushion I stitched up and my sister drew. Thanks for having me Debbie. And thanks to all the ladies who attended the embroidery classes. I'm looking forward to meeting the ladies at the July class.

Happy summer stitching days...........................

Quilting.....

2011-06-15T17:58:00.000-04:00

We started another beginning quilt class on Saturday but it wasn't actually a beginner class since we've all taken the class already. So everyone is doing something different which makes it really fun.

Debbie Powell brought some of her first quilts to share with us. Show and tell is always great fun!

And Saturday just happened to be Debbie's birthday so we couldn't let that go by without a cake. 29 and holding...........................

Love Janie's block. She replicating a very old quilt that I have. You can see a photo of one of the blocks from my quilt. Good job Janie!

I decided to do a log cabin quilt this time. Here's one of the blocks. Started without a real plan but now I think something fun might be in the works. Love when it accidentally all works out.

Birthday Debbie is also doing a log cabin quilt in patriotic colors. I know this is going to be beautiful.

We were missing a couple of people so hopefully we'll have more great quilt pictures to share.

I posted new classes for July and August on the web site in case any of you want to be creative over the summer months. Lots of fun things to do. Be sure to check out the photos on the web site under "class model photos".

A beautiful couple of days here in the south.....lower 80's and little humidity. Raleigh and I spent quite a bit of time outside today, watering plants, filling bird feeders, hula hooping (no, not me!), stitching, eating lunch, taking advantage of what we know won't last for long.

Hope you all find a little time to relax and stitch along the way.

Happy Birthday

2011-06-14T16:03:00.000-04:00

Today is Raleigh's 5th birthday.

She and her big sister and two years and one week apart in age. Lots of celebrating going on in that house!

Happy Birthday sweet Raleigh!

Happy Birthday Reagan

2011-06-07T08:49:00.000-04:00

Today is my granddaughter Reagan's 7th birthday. How on earth did she get to be 7 years old already? Her Mommy & Daddy had a small family (and boy neighbor friends) birthday party on Sunday afternoon for both girls (Raleigh's birthday is next week). So she started celebrating her big day a little early. I think next weekend is the party with all the girlfriends. I know they'll have a great time.

It's a Barbie world!!

I love that she can read her own cards now.

Wonder what could be in this big box? Aren't birthdays fun, especially when you're 7!

Make a wish and blow out the candles!

Happy Birthday Reagan. We love you a bushel and a peck!!

NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!

2011-06-03T19:03:00.000-04:00

Did you know it was National Donut Day? Me either! That is, until one of our local radio stations announced it this morning and then called Krispy Kreme to confirm that it could actually be National Donut Day. Krispy Kreme not only confirmed that it was National Donut day, but they said anyone that comes in will get a free donut. Well, think about sugar overload!!

Raleigh and I patiently waited for Reagan to get out of school, picked her up in carpool line and headed downtown to one of the older Krispy Kreme establishments. I didn't tell the girls where we were going until we got there. As we were sitting in the parking lot, in my most excited voice, I said "Girls, it's National Donut Day and we need to celebrate!!" They both just looked at me, I think trying to decided if their Mina had lost her mind or what might be going on. Then, together they said "Yay, do we get donuts?" Of course we get donuts. So we headed inside for our donuts when the phone rings and Ms. Evette says she's in the parking lot and can she join us. Well, the more the merrier when it comes to eating donuts!!

Ms. Evette showed the girls how to have donut eyeglasses. I think she's done this before!!!

There's still time for you to go out and grab that donut and help celebrate National Donut Day!! Enjoy........

Graduation Time!

2011-05-28T09:45:00.000-04:00

Thursday evening was a big event for little Raleigh, her preschool graduation.

She wanted to pose on the old garden goose before leaving for graduation. So young and innocent............

Paul, Meredith Reagan and Raleigh and baby makes three.........

Marching on stage to receive her diploma. Her teacher announced that Raleigh wanted to be a doctor when she grows up..............

Poppy got back from his week long trip just in time to see Raleigh graduate.

Here's the proof!!!! I did it!!!!!

Happy weekend............be safe, be thankful for our military, be restful!

2011-05-26T08:26:00.000-04:00

I finished the Thanksgiving disappearing nine-patch top yesterday. This will give you ladies who want to do this class an idea of what your quilt might look like. Start collecting those fall fabrics. The lighter squares are for the embroidered designs. Give me a shout if you need more information on fabric requirements.

Where does the time go.........

2011-05-25T10:19:00.000-04:00

I keep saying as I get older the time is moving faster. I can't seem to keep up anymore. There's never a dull moment, always something that needs to be done, worked on, created, girls, just fun stuff.

Raleigh finally had her dance recital Saturday. She was adorable, of course, as well as all the other little girls that participated. There were at least 30 dances in the recital and Raleigh's group was number 14 on the list. So she patiently watched and waited in the audience with her fans.

So here she is on stage. The little girl next to her wasn't quite sure of her moves. She sort of followed Raleigh's lead which was so sweet to watch. Her group made it through their dance number without a hitch and were all so adorable!

Mina and Raleigh posing after the show. Everyone took lots of pictures of the future STAR!!

OK ladies, I'm officially working on the Thanksgiving/embroidery quilt top. I whacked up lots of fabric yesterday, traced several Thanksgiving embroidery designs and started laying out the pieces. So I'll start putting them together today so you will have something to look at rather than pieces of paper with sketches on them!!

So get your needles ready and soon we'll be able to start this Thanksgiving journey together.

Hot, hot, hot weather here in the sunny south so I'm staying indoors for the most part. You either have to get out early or after the sun goes down to get anything done in the gardens. Had a wonderful class and lunch at The Little Herb House yesterday. Lisa is such a knowledgeable and giving teacher. Thanks for a good time Lisa!! If you haven't been, you need to visit The Little Herb House. Lots of beautiful plants and flowers and gardens and STUFF!!!!!

Have a great rest of the week. Raleigh's graduation from preschool is tomorrow evening, so I'm sure I'll be sharing a graduation photo or two!

Happy stitching.........................

Box Tops for Education

2011-05-16T09:45:00.000-04:00

Thank you to everyone that has sent the Box Tops for Education for Reagan's school. I wish you could be here to hear her squeal when I show her what you have shared. She is so excited and so appreciative and wants so badly to collect as many as she can for her school. So thank you very much and keep saving. I don't know if they have a deadline but no one has shared that with me so I'll keep saving until they tell me not to!! Actually, I always save them so guess I won't quit!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a couple of classes on Saturday. One was for the wool flags that my friend Debbie Busby created and the other was for the color embroidery. Both classes were great fun and everyone went home with homework (the fun kind, of course)! The ladies who participated in the color embroidery were especially happy. It's such an easy technique and can add so much to your embroidery designs. Especially shading on some of those "emptier" spaces.

Raleigh's dress rehearsal for her recital is later this week so a big time for her. The actual recital is on Saturday so I know she will be super excited and probably a bundle of nerves. Plus she can't wait until she can wear her costume to play in. We have to keep it hidden from her because she wants to wear it all the time!

Wishing you all a great week with lots of creative time!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T15:39:00.000-04:00

Hope all you mothers out there have a very special day!!

2011-05-04T20:38:00.000-04:00

It's definitely getting to be my decorating season.......red, white & blue! I put away the chicks last week and got out some patriotic pieces. I just love my dolls.........got those a few years ago at The Rusty Bucket and can't wait to put them out each year. They make me smile!

Forgot to share pictures of Uncle Sam rug, finally done and hanging. Love him.

Ms. Debbie explaining the fundamentals of binding a quilt. This was the last class for this group of ladies. What follows are pictures of their finished quilts. They all turned out great. All different and wonderful.

Went to another T-ball game last night. Of course Raleigh looked adorable in her batting helmet. These games are so much fun to watch. The parents are all tense and serious, yelling and coaching the kids.........and usually the kids could give a flip......having a good time, playing in the dirt, looking everywhere but where they need to look, just enjoying the company of others dressed just like them!

This little guy was on the opposing team but I couldn't resist taking pictures of him.........he was so daggone cute. And he was tiny. I don't know if he was 3' tall. Loved watching him. And so serious when he was on the field.

Loved this picture of Reagan too........getting ready to go play catcher but looking so angelic. Girls can play ball too!!

Happy spring days..............go find a T-ball game to watch!

Box Tops for Education

2011-04-28T08:58:00.000-04:00

I have a huge favor to ask of all of you in blog land. Could you please save your box tops for education and mail them to me for my granddaughter's school? That is if you're not saving them for another little one. Her school is trying to raise $2000 through this program and they have a ways to go yet. I would gladly reimburse you for your postage. Unfortunately, most people don't even notice these little pink logos on so many grocery products and just throw them away.

My mailing information is:

Sharon Stewart
5928 Hampton Ridge Road
Raleigh, NC 27603

Thank you so much for your help and support.

2011-04-24T12:05:00.000-04:00

A good friend sent me an Easter email that I thought was very sweet. So I'm sharing that with all of you and wish you all the happiest Easter.

All I need to know I learned from the Easter Bunny!

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.
There's no such thing as too much candy.
All work and no play can make you a basket case.
Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.
Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
Some body parts should be floppy.
Keep your paws off of other people's jelly beans.
Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.
The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.
To show your true colors, you have to come out of the shell.
The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

May the joy of the season fill your heart.
Happy Easter!

STRAWBERRIES.....

2011-04-21T12:49:00.000-04:00

IT'S STRAWBERRY SEASON!!!

Look how beautiful these strawberries are, freshly picked from the garden. I am in heaven!! My two most favorite things to eat are strawberries and tomatoes. So I will be a happy camper for a few months.

Happy strawberry days............

2011-04-20T14:11:00.000-04:00

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!

A week at a time......

2011-04-20T10:41:00.001-04:00

Looks life my blogging life is going to be a week at a time...........and all in photos! Reagan borrowed a book from her classroom and wanted to make a three bears puppet show. So last week we bought the supplies and worked on the puppets.

Making one of the three bears..............

Reagan decided to type the entire book onto the computer so she could print out pages for each person's part in the play (five characters).

And now she's highlighting each person's lines on the typed sheet so they will know their parts! I'm thinking at this point that she's a pretty smart and creative cookie!!

Next she wanted to make blankets for the three bears' beds. She decided to make a nine-patch quilt for one of the beds and used quilt pieces I already had for another bed and a soft fleecy fabric for baby bear's bed.

Ta-da......look what I did.

Here she is with her three bears, Goldilocks and the narrator. A very creative little girl.

I just love Raleigh in her T-ball uniform. She's just too cute!!

Look at me, I'm the catcher. You should have seen her trying to walk in all the garb.

These little eggs survived the heavy winds from the storms on Saturday. We went out after everything had passed and there they were. And in a couple bushes down from this one there is a nest with three baby birds that did fine during the storm also. Amazing to me.

After the worst of the storms had passed through, I looked out back and there was a bird bonanza going on. There were three gold finches and a bluebird just as if it were a sign from God that everything is OK now. They were so beautiful. And the first time I've seen the gold finches at my feeders (which are put away in this picture due to the high winds).

My husband and I drove to Raleigh yesterday to see some of the damage. I kept seeing it on the news and I felt like I wanted to see it in person, to make it more personal. It was so devastating to see what has happend in the city. These are just a couple quickly snapped pictures as we were sitting in traffic. It is mind boggling what that storm did to our area. Trees are toppled everywhere you look, on houses, on buildings, across roads, roofs are gone from businesses, buildings are leveled to the ground, cemetaries destroyed, no rhyme or reason as to where these things hit and destroy. We are thankful to have been spared but there are so many that are without homes now or have lost their businesses. Keep all those folks in your prayers.

And on a happier note, I just finished up another stitchery pattern. Fresh eggs.............thanks for the pretty brown eggs Lisa!!

My son and daughter-in-law are on their way to the baby doctor as I type this. They are hoping to find out the sex of the baby today. We've all picked what we think it is going to be...................go BOY!! But we love those little girls too.

Here's to hoping you all have a wonderful and safe weekend and a very joyous Easter.

Busy Spring Days.............

2011-04-11T10:40:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather.........at least here in the south it's been beautiful, warm spring days with some thunderstorms thrown in for good measure! I had my girls three days last week so I'm going to share a few photos of what we did during the week. I did teach a couple classes here and there but forgot to take pictures. So just girls..................

My husband caught me totally off guard working at my desk. Look at all the stuff around me, drawings on the lightbox, papers everywhere!!! Somebody needs to get busy in this room.

We called Poppy at work and asked if he would like to join us for a picnic at the park and some play time. The girls had a great time and were thrilled to see their Poppy.

Girls of a different breed.............Lisa at The Little Herb House got 25 new baby chicks. Aren't they adorable!!!! Eat your heart out Evette!!!!

After the park, we decided to have a tea party. I broke out some china teacups and served the girls hot tea and crumpets (M&M cookies). They loved it. Looks like I have them hooked on hot tea.

Raleigh decided the banana made a better smile. Daddy thinks so too!

On Friday we took a trip to the zoo in Asheboro. It was a beautiful sunny day and the girls had a great time. However, by the early afternoon the temps had climbed to 84 degrees and we got a little too warm. At that point, the whiney "my feet hurt" chants started. Time to go!

A little ice cream always helps cool things off.

OK, this is the great swamp creature at the zoo. Lots of signs and advertising for this creature. My girls think he was fake. I'm not sure. I thought I saw something move. Pretty weird looking though.

Reagan posing as the swamp creature. Oooohhhh, scary!

Fell asleep eating lunch they were so tired. I think they're trying to trick me, however! Funny girls.

Opening day for baseball on Saturday. Both of the girls are playing on the same team this year, my son and his wife are the coaches. So a fun family affair. Paul was asked to give a speech at the opening ceremonies......he did a great job and made us so proud.

And he threw out the first pitch.....how exciting for the girls to see their Daddy out there.

Raleigh looked so tiny in her uniform on the field. She pretty much didn't really know what to do and had to be reminded to pay attention a few times. I'm sure she'll catch on.

Reagan, however, is a seasoned veteran. This is her third year and she is quite the little player.

Look at that stance!

Game over, popcorn, life is good.

She cute even with the hat turned around and a dirty uniform!

Carry me Daddy, I've had a rough game!

And every game needs an umpire.............my husband. He didn't umpire the girls' game!! Afraid he might not be unbiased.........

So there you have it in a nutshell. A fun, busy week. Let's see what this week brings.

May/June Classes

2011-04-03T09:51:00.000-04:00

I am so proud of myself. I have all the models finsihed and the classes posted on the web site for the upcoming May/June classes. Pat, pat, pat on my back. I hope you will see something you just have to make and will join me for some fun classes. Please check the web site for all the dates and times of classes.

Mini Wool Flags......just in time for Memorial Day and 4th of July decorating! The vintage flower frog is a great way to display the flags. So start looking for your "frog" now!

BIRD pillow or giant pincushion

Red Wool Strawberries..........make a basket full!

Patriotic girl to practice your embroidery and learn coloring technique.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Just working........

2011-03-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

What a busy week I've had. And yesterday I actually got in my workroom and played around with some ideas for upcoming May/June classes. And in the middle of it all, Evette dropped by and she got involved in the creative process also. As you can see we mostly created a mess!

A few things done or almost done for upcoming classes. I finally figured out how to reproduce the flags that my sweet friend Debbie had made that I fell in love with when I was in Oregon last year. I think you'll have a lot of fun with these. And I love the BIRD pillow. Not a great picture but that's coming later.

And then in the middle of our messes, Lynn dropped by for some help with a quilt she was working on and shared this one that she just finished. Love the red, white & blue!!!! She's turning into quite the little quilter!

Spring has sprung here, the robins are out, we've had some 80+ degree days......

The butterflies are loving the lilac trees......

The birds are building their little nests, getting ready for new babies to be born......

The dafodils have been beautiful.................and this morning we wake up to a frost!!!! Can you believe it? The end of March in the south and we have a frost. Didn't see that one coming. Actually, we were warned that the temperatures were dropping since the weekend because of all the snowy cold weather in the midwest but it still catches you off guard after such warm temperatures. So the strawberry farmers were frantically trying to protect their crops last night, people were covering plants and bushes with sheets and plastic bags...............you just never know about the weather. So here's to hoping all those beautiful blooming trees and plants survive this frost.

Easter photo transfer class here tomorrow night. This is such a fun and easy class. And everyone goes home with finished goodies!

And I finally got out a few Easter decorations. Not too many but just enough to make me smile. Love this old Bunny girl. Don't know how old she is but she sure is sweet.

Hope you all have a hopping good day!

Make a Wish..............

2011-03-22T11:00:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how quickly time goes by. I keep saying to my friends the older I get, the faster the clock hands move. I just can't seem to keep up with the days, but they have certainly been busy days. I love when I go to bed with a feeling of accomplishment. I may not share all that with you, but believe me, there are never idle moments.

What a beautiful spring day! Reagan making her first wish of spring.

Raleigh is taking tap/ballet classes and has a recital in May. She was given her costume at the last class for the recital for a fitting and then told she couldn't wear it again until the recital. That burst her little bubble because the first thing she said to me was she was going to keep the outfit on all day. Once the recital is over, she can play dress up.

A fun class on Saturday morning. Quite a few ladies came to make the Easter egg and bunny table runner I designed just for this class. They were so busy they didn't even realize I was taking pictures.

Donna and Linda look too serious. They were having fun but being super productive at the same time!

Here's one of the eggs being color planned. Bits and pieces of wool eventually turn into beautiful projects.

Debby decided she needed more room and found a spot on the floor. She said that's where she does most of her work at home............on the floor.

And here are three of Debby's wool crazy blocks. The first two are done I think, but the last one is her work in progress at this time. She still plans on doing one more. These blocks all have something to do with her, her family and their farm. I love her creativity.

The cemetary now has names and dates on the headstones. How original is that!

Her grandparents used to drive a horse and buggy. Can't wait to see what else goes on this block and all her embellishments.

A group met for recipe card class on Sunday afternoon. They always have a great time.

Elaine and Debbie. I just noticed Elaine holding up her Kiss Me I'm Irish "Stew" sign. Funny!

Everyone was super busy with this project. I had them tearing bits of paper and then putting it all back together again. The cards turned out great.

This is the front of the card. Sorry, forgot to take a pic of the back side.

Worked on some cards last night. Wonder who gets these?

We also had a teacup pincushion class Saturday afternoon. Here's Sue working on her creation.

Linda, Marty & Sylvia looking for the perfect ribbon to finish off their teacups. They all turned out great and each one very different.

And just for you Sue, a sneak peek at the April recipe card. At least the back............wonder what the front looks like?

Just turned this sweet little redwork into a pattern. She's called "A Dress for Dolly".

We are having beautiful spring weather, in the lower 80's the past couple of days and just beautiful out. Wish it could stay this way all spring but we here in the south know that just around the corner is the heat and humidity of summer days. So we have to relish the days we have now. Find some time to do a little stitching today!

Happy St. Paddy's Day

2011-03-17T08:03:00.000-04:00

Here's to wishing everyone a bit of Irish luck today!

Good bye old friend

2011-03-14T15:55:00.000-04:00

Many years ago we planted this beautiful river birch tree. It was only about 3' tall when we planted it. And it grew and grew and grew into this huge tree that was taller than our house. The only problem with it is that it grew so huge it became too close to our house and had big giant roots that have already tore up our brick patio and were heading toward the porch and the septic tank. I told my husband that if we were going to cut it down, it had to be soon because once it got leaves and was beautiful again, I couldn't do it. So, with great agony, we decided it was time to cut it down and today was that day.

Just remember when you plant little trees that they grow up into huge trees and need lots of growing room.

Tommy starts sawing off the branches.

The whole tree is finally down and the guys are sawing it apart. The pictures don't show how big the tree truly was.

What beautiful pieces of wood.

Call this nice guy if you have any trees you need removed. He and his crew did a great job, efficient & tidy!

Good-bye old friend!

Time Flies.....

2011-03-04T09:38:00.000-05:00

What a busy week since my birthday. I've had the girls a couple of days which always means a busy, hectic time. And the rest of the week has been busy working on upcoming class preparation, drawing, kitting, writing pattern directions, getting patterns printed.................just busy! I even found a little time to whipstitch Uncle Sam rug....not finished, but working on it.

Working on kits for March recipe card classes......think St. Patrick's Day!

And somehow ended up pulling paper for a future fall class......what am I thinking??!!

Wool bits and pieces cut up for classes......look at the pretty spring colors

Writing pattern directions for some new patterns.......Daisy is the last wool girl for the BOM that some of you are working on.

Doing a little drawing for a fall class.....just had to do something a little different than spring for a bit.....had a brainstorm and had to work on it while it was in my head......pulled some drawings my sister did years ago to see if they could work in the project.......a new recipe book........hmmmmmm..............

And who doesn't love a chick for springtime......ran across some of this stuff while I was cleaning the garage and decided to create a little spring display of chicks & chickens.....in the mood........

Come on spring!!!

Put together another disappearing nine patch top......got this charm pack from Lisa and decided, in the middle of my many messes, to just whip up a little quilt top........love the red, white & blue, of course!!

Supposed to be a beautiful Saturday here and a rainy Sunday. I plan on enjoying both days to the fullest.....hope yours is a great weekend and you tackle some of your own "messes"!

Happy Birthday...........

2011-03-01T08:59:00.001-05:00

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday calls, emails, cards, good wishes, gifts, treats, singing (oh my!!) and thoughtfulness. I had a wonderful birthday and treasure each and every one of you. You really know how to make a gal feel special!!

2011-02-25T12:15:00.000-05:00

Just a note to let everyone know that Lisa's Mom passed away Thursday morning before Lisa got there. Keep Lisa in your thoughts and prayers.

Now, go out and enjoy the windy day we're having and pretend like you're Winnie the Pooh! It's a blustery sort of day.....................

2011-02-23T19:11:00.000-05:00

I promise this is the last post of the bathroom and bedroom. Several people has asked me to show pictures of it decorated. I have put some things back and everything is nice and clean and the dust is all gone (for now!). So here are a few pics of the bathroom which we are finally starting to use again. Feels weird I have to say.

I meant to put a runner on the commode but forgot. Still working on it!!! The Hollyhock Fairy is an old stitchery from Fannie Turgeon that I used to sell in my store and Lisa sold in her store. We both fell in love with this one and each got one. Well, mine has been in the garage on a shelf for years because it just didn't have a place in my house. Now it does. It looks much better in person than in the picture. A very cottage look in the bathroom.

Moved a table into the bedroom on Mark's side of the bed. Gives him a little more room for his stuff and fills in the space better. Hung the big red star over the bed that used to be in the living room where a quilt now hangs in its place

Mark's comfy recliner has been in the bedroom for years. Tried to give him a better seating area. As you can see I love RED!!!

This old oak cupboard has been in about every room in the house. It holds all my miniature teddy bears from various artists that I used to collect. They are so sweet and I can't bear to part with them. Anyway, we moved out a big old wardrobe and needed something smaller in it's place so this works.

So that's it in a nutshell. I'm done moving, painting and decorating for awhile now. Still have the holes in the living room ceiling but they'll be fixed soon. So y'all just ignore me now and don't be looking for anymore "house" projects!!!!!

On a sad note, Lisa from Lone Star is about to make her final trip home to her Mom's so everybody keep her and Mom in your prayers for a safe journey and a peaceful journey for her Mom. And she promises in April that she'll be ready to offer some rug hooking and punchneedle classes so get ready for that. Also, you gals that are waiting on the Memory piece, Lisa has that in the works for April also. She's going to be a busy gal.

Happy stitching.

Happy Dance Day!!

2011-02-21T11:12:00.000-05:00

As my friend Lisa says, "it's happy dance day!!" I finished Uncle Sam this morning. YAY!! He still has to be whipstitched and bound, but the hooking is done. I love him. Thanks Lisa, for getting me going again!

And happy dance number 2 is because we just finished the bathroom. FINALLY!!! Seems like it has taken forever and I just can't believe how much stuff and work goes into one tiny space. The only thing we're not happy with are the shower doors we hung last night. They'll probably be replaced in the not so distant future but for now, they're up and we're living with them. I love the way the bead board turned out and all the bronzy-black accents. This is the first room I've ever painted "white" so that's a switch for me. It seems so crisp and clean.

And look who finally made it back to the proper throne sitting area. Glad to see this thing out of the bedroom for sure. We have lots of cleaning up and putting back together in the bedroom and bathroom so I'll post more pictures once I get a few things in the bathroom. Right now I'm too busy dancing to worry about that!!!

I had a small brown paper bag class here Saturday. These ladies all wanted to make the little sewing book I created and this was the last date the class was offered so away we go. Everyone had fun cutting, pasting and creating and they all added their own special touches to their books.

I think Elaine was the most excited about this book. Her's is turning out great. Friend Kara looks on for moral support. I'm so glad you finally have your book Elaine.

TA-DA!! Good going ladies. As you can see we had our class in the living room under the holes in the ceiling because the quilt class was meeting upstairs in the classroom.

These ladies got together for their last quilt class to add the bindings to their quilts. Joan created her masterpiece for her son. I know he's going to love the beautiful job she did on her quilt.

And Debby did a Christmas quilt this time. I love the fabrics she chose. Notice the way the blocks were placed in the top left hand corner. Looks like a tree.

Love it Lynn. The colors look great together and your layout is beautiful!

There are four ladies that couldn't attend this class so I'll be posting pictures of their finished pieces later in the week. They're all beautiful.

I'm going back to my bathroom. Enjoy the day. Happy President's Day!!

2011-02-18T09:09:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how fast the days go by. Friday already. I need some more days added to the week to accomplish everything I want to get done. I think this post will be mostly about progress. First of all bathroom progress.

The trim is up, the walls have been painted and the floor is being laid.

The dark brown is the new flooring.

And the toilet is back in the bathroom. YAY!!!!

But look what happened. I sat down Wednesday morning to hook on my rug and there was water on the floor. I cleaned it up, trying to figure out where it came from. I sat back down to start hooking when a plop of water hit me right on the head. I looked up to find water dripping from the ceiling. OH NO!!! I called my husband to come home, moved furniture and my SAM rug out of the way, grabbed a bucket and watched as water dripped out of the ceiling. I just knew when my husband installed the toilet, something went wrong

We called the plumber and he finally discovered a leak in the wall behind the toilet. Apparently when the trim work was put on, a nail nicked one of the pipes so we had a fine mist spray for a few days. It ran down my living room walls and the ceiling. So now we have this hole in our new bathroom walls, four holes in the living room ceiling and we're letting everything dry out before it can all be patched. I'm beginning to think this bathroom isn't mean to be!!! The plumber said it was just bad luck to have hit the pipe. Oh well.........I'm used to holes in my living room ceiling!!!

And in the middle of all the bathroom work Raleigh hopped in the shower stall and asked me to take a picutre of "how cute she was"!! Apparently she was quite proud of her head band for that day.

Reagan, who has been sick all week, finally started feeling better last night. It seems she had been feeling so badly she hadn't paid attention to my rug hooking. And we all know she wants to do whatever I do so this was no exception. Now I have to teach her to rug hook. She asked if I would teach her maybe when she was ten. OK with me! She grabbed the camera and started taking pictures of me and the rug. Asked me to take it off the frame so she could take a picture. I love that a six year old is so interested in all the crafts that I do. It's very exciting to think about what she might one day do with all that knowledge she's stowing away.

So here's my progress for this week. Sam is coming along very nicely. I told Lisa she had created a monster. Every free second I have I run in and hook on Sam. I want him done. And there is most definitely an end in sight. I just have the blank white squares to fill in now and I can finish him up.

We're supposed to have warm, wonderful weather today so I plan on working outside in the garage, trying to go through some crates and create a place for my car to be again!!! Enjoy the day...........

New Classes

2011-02-13T17:05:00.001-05:00

Finally, some new class projects. I apologize for not so great pictures, but I ran in and snapped these in between coats of paint in the bathroom. We're making progress, but it seems never ending!

I'm going to do a quick post of the pictures and dates and times. I've had lots of calls and emails and right now I just can't get the schedule in the mail. Will try and get the classes posted on the web site tomorrow.

Bunny & Easter Egg table runner

March 4 - 10am-1pm; March 19 - 10am-1pm; April 4 - 10am-1pm

Cost: $40.00

Beginning Embroidery

April 12 - 10am-1pm

Cost: $25.00

Teacup Pincushion

March 16 - 6-8pm; March 19 - 2-4pm

Cost: $25.00 (includes teacup and vintage linen)

Easter Photo Transfer

March 30 - 6-9pm; April 2 - 10am-1pm

Cost: $25.00

There is also going to be a Wool Crazy Catch-Up class on March 5 - 10am-2pm. Cost: $20.00 This class would be for any of you ladies that have wool crazy projects that you need help with or more applique pieces.

OK, hope this helps a little and I'll do my best to get everything else caught up this week.

Back to the bathroom...............................