Finishes by Marge

Mom finished these up before the holiday.  Thought they looked pretty good. Pattern is called "Bird n Holly Chtistmas Bag" and retails for 8.00. Could easily be changed for use all Winter.

Small chair pad or table mat hooked by Marge. Drawn on linen and retails for $20.00. Quick project with lots of options. 

"I" is the letter

Last year at Christmas I didn't post any photos of our family Christmas and I heard about it. So this year I made sure that I took my camera so you could see a few of the "I" gifts and to see how Mom and Dad had the table set.

Ice house and Igloo were custom made by Dad.

The table was adorned with Iowa State table cloths (sorry Iowa fans), Icicles, Ice Breaker mints, and 

Ice Water

IBC root beer was the beverage choice of the "younger" crowd.

The story of Curious George and the Igloo was read as the "I" gifts were passed around.

"I" gifts ranged from Ice Chips, Ice Wagon cart, Ibuprofen, Italian dressing, Iowa State hat, Iowa Magazine etc.

A cheap puzzle that began with an "I" that was the hit of the evening.

Dad and Mom managed to wear "normal" apparel this year…….just an Icicle hanging from Mom's neck. :)

2 of the kids had to ask the question, "what letter is next year!"  :)

Merry Christmas to all!

It has been a VERY busy year

I know that it has been a loooong time since I last posted when my 18 year old son says, "Mom, it's been forever since you have put something on your blog."  The answer is yes it has been and I am sorry.  

I have felt like the dogs you see that constantly chase their tails and never get anywhere.  I have either been sitting on an airplane, bleachers or in a car.  It is all  "good stuff" but certain things got shoved aside and the blog was one of them.  

Let me see if I can bring you all up to speed since my last post.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to Pensacola to see our daughter, Jenny, play in her LAST home volleyball game.  

Jenny was named to the All-Tournament team and the team won their 6th consecutive Conference Title.  

I ended up staying in Pensacola as Thanksgiving was just a few days later and we were all meeting up there to celebrate the holiday.

I cooked for Jenny and her roommates as they are student athletes as well and enjoyed coming home to a "home-cooked" meal after practice.

Thanksgiving was spent with girls who couldn't go home for the holiday.  We called it our "international" Thanksgiving.

We represented  Utah, Poland, Brazil and Iowa.  It was fun to say the least!

We flew home on Saturday and repacked our bags as the girls made the Regional Tournament that was held in Tampa, Florida.

I left on December 4th, my birthday, at 2:30 a.m. to catch a flight out of Des Moines.  I met Dave in Charlotte, NC and we continued on to Tampa.

The tournament was single elimination so we had no idea how long we would be there.

The team made it to the final rounds so we were there through Sunday.

In the meantime, Sam was once again left home alone and in the process caught the flu.

  My friend has appropriately named him "Home Alone".  :)

Sam has been a trooper through all of our ins and outs!!

Dave and I arrived home on Sunday and I was to pick Jenny up at the airport for break on Wednesday morning.  (by any chance are you starting to see a glimpse into my world?)

We found out on Monday that Jenny was named to the All-American Team and that meant a banquet

on Wednesday evening.  I drove 2 hours north to get her at the airport in Minneapolis, stopped at home so we could quickly change clothes to drive 2 hours south for the All-American Banquet.  

We arrived home at midnight.

It's not a very good picture of Jenny. Some how I managed to delete most of the photos from a very special evening. UGH!

Natalie arrived home from school on Thursday from Buena Vista for her break, Dave and I were in charge of the concession stand and Sam had a ballgame.  

Speech Contest, Tuba Christmas and a Ballgame were all on the schedule for Saturday.  The girls were trying to understand why it was such a hectic schedule………think they have already forgotten. ;)

Friday, we got Drew from the airport in Minneapolis.  He hasn't been home since July.

In the middle of all this chaos I am trying to get the tree up, house decorated and some cooking done before everyone arrives home.  Oh, and make a couple of my Christmas gifts too.

I THOUGHT when the kids went off to college that things would slow down a bit……think I was wrong.

I wouldn't trade any of it!

Believe it or not but the last 9 months have been just like this.  

I promise to be better at my posts from now on. :)

Thursday Finish

It might look like I'm a drug dealer but what I was actually doing was stuffing the latest project our stitcher brought to us. I tried many things to pack the sawdust and my medicine bottle worked the best.

This is the finished project. I am in love with it! It is one of Stacy Nash'satterns called Tombstone Angel Pinkeep Drum and Strawberry.

Ours is stitched on hand-dyed 30 count linen (which I distressed). A great black velvet strawberry to top it off.

The kit retails for $21.95.  I could see this done in several colors. It is a great size pinkeep drum.

 

Christmas of Olde

Just in.........we literally opened the box and these are to die for!  Great book to look at on a winter's night. This book takes you on a fun filled journey as you travel back in time to celebrate Christmas.

We purchased 10 copies and 4 are spoken for. If you would like to purchase one let me know. I look for these to go out the door quickly.

Cost of the book is $38.00 and it is a hardcover.

Fall is here!

Good Morning!

  I feel like I have much to tell you about.

 Fall is definitely in the air.  Yesterday we started a fire in the fireplace as it was a tad chilly in the house. 

 We were lucky enough to miss the snow.  I was NOT ready to shovel yet!

 The days seem to roll right off of the calendar.  

Mom and I have had a very busy fall and we are on the down hill side of our committements.

Whew!

I will see if I can catch you all up on our activities.

We entertained the Bittersweet Sisters......what a wonderful group of ladies.  All very talented and complete MANY beautiful projects.

There is nothing they can't do!  

Can you believe they spent the "entire" day with us and we never took a picture?  This is the Bittersweet Sisters with a few added details. :)

They brought mom and I a basket filled with goodies from each of their states.  Oh my!  I am embarrassed to say I didn't take a before picture. 

 My family ate everything out of the basket within days!!  Such special treats!  YUM!

I am now using the basket as a "project" basket.  If you look close you can see my latest punch project waiting to be finished.

Patti from Chicago (Patti also has Winding Vine blogspot) made us a kleenex holder out of wool and velvet.  Mine went straight to my purse and has already been to Florida and back.

We had a great time and did lots of laughing and we are in awe of their beautiful work!!

Come back any time ladies!!

Yes, my youngest, a junior in high school.  Dress up day at school.  This banana suit along with 2 others has seen MANY activities at school........even the cross country meets.

I try to get to as many of the kid's activities as I can and this year I have missed some of Sam's as we have been traveling.  

His last race of the year...........ran his personal best........yes, I missed it!  :(

Off to Omaha we went for a new show for us.  We had a great time meeting new vendors and new customers as well.  We got out just in time as bad weather was right behind us on the way home.

I took a half a day on a Saturday to see Natalie cheer.  We haven't been able to see her cheer yet. She was close enough I could zip over and see her in action.  Always fun to see the kids in their element.

Back to Osage to teach the Heritage Club from the bank the blanket stitch.  We put together a couple coasters with fall colors for them to work on as a "quick" project.

Next, we were off to Florida to see our oldest. 

 We took mom and dad with us so they could see where Jenny went to school and to see her play.

Congrats to her as she made the All-Tournament Team.  

We said our good-byes and Jenny said, "See you in 3 weeks."

Yikes, is it Senior night already?

First time in Florida for the folks.  We did get to sneak to the beach for a walk while we were there.

We had a great time and saw lots of volleyball and the sights of Pensacola.

We also got to spend LOTS of "quality" time together. ;)

Now you know why I said the days are flying off the calendar.  

Mom and I head out for Booneville, Missouri Friday morning for our last show of the fall.

I am ready to stay put........well, at least for a few days anyway.

Neither mom or I have put a loop of wool in anything. 

We have received many bolts of wool in the last few days.  I think I unloaded 10 from my car this morning.  Will post pictures later.

My dye pots are calling so I need to close for now.  

Happy Hooking and have a blessed day!

Memorable Few Days

As many of you know about 9 weeks ago we sent our 18 year old son off to BMT (Basic Military Training) in San Antonio, Tx.

Last Wednesday we made the journey down to Texas with my parents and 2 of Drew's siblings.

The above picture shows us waiting patiently anxiously for the airman's run which took place at 8 a.m.  

I can't even describe the emotions as these young men and women jogged their 1.5 miles all wearing black P.O.W shirts (shirts were in honor of those who served as P.O.W.'s)

The small flag represents the squadron and flight

Yes, that is Drew.  Spotted his dad but TOTALLY missed the 2.5' x 4' banner the rest of us were holding!!  Guess sometimes it does pay to be tall! 

This was the Coin Ceremony that the Air Force holds.   490 young men and women stood on this pavement to receive their coin.

All Airmen received their coin and then recited the Air Force Creed. 

 Oh, my! Talk about emotional.  Hearing that creed said by 490 men and women and ending in the final words I WILL NOT FAIL!  I do believe we all needed a kleenex.

After 8.5 weeks we "tapped" Drew out of his stance and gave great big hugs!!

Day 2 was Graduation day.  Due to the weather (rain) the parade was cancelled.  We were all disappointed as it is quite the site to see and hear.  Instead, each squadron had their own ceremony underneath the dorms.

Drew is the 3rd guy in.

All but one of the family members and if she could have been there she would have. 

 Thank goodness for text messages and phones with cameras!!

Congratulations Airman Bellairs!  You made it through!

We are very proud of you and all you have accomplished!

We love you!

Lackland AFB holds these graduations EVERY weekend.  Just think about that.  Hundreds of young men and women willing to make a commitment and serve our country.

It has certainly put a new perspective on things for me.  I can not tell you how many people came up to Drew and shook his hand as we were walking around San Antonio.

The next time you see someone in a military uniform please be sure and tell them,  "thank you" for serving our country. 

 If it were not for them and those before them we wouldn't have the freedoms we do today.

Latest from Lori Brechlin

Autumn at Notforgotten Farm is the latest book from Lori Brechlin.

The books is filled with numerous projects including cross stitch, wool appliqué, rug hooking and punch needle.

A great book to add to your collection.

Book retails for $25.95 

New Crates

When we first started in business we looked for anything that was relatively inexpensive to help us out.

We purchased these beautiful, old crates that were longer than 36 inches and a tad on the heavy side.  The crates had the patina that we were looking for and "fit" the look of our shop.

We decided to change our vending style and we were getting tired of carrying the crates around. 

 I roped my husband into making us some new ones for the shop.

The new crates are very light and made specifically to our liking.

9 are made for the hand-dyed wools and when things settle down for us he is going to make some that are just a little bigger for the as-is wools.

Mom and I REALLY appreciate the hard work and time that it took to make these.

Thank you much Dave, you are truly the best!

Mom would say that you are the favorite son-in-law!  

Few people know that you are the "ONLY" son-in-law :)

THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR JOB EASIER!

New Items to the Shop

3 New patterns by Heart to Hand.  

The Jetsetter, 12x30 4 pocket zippered toiletry bag that folds to 12x13.  I'm thinking that this would be perfect for carrying your embroidery, hooking or quilting supplies?

Pattern retails for $8.50

A Rainbow Garden, 64x74 cotton quilt with wool appliqué.  This is a beautiful quilt.  I am going to take 1 block and make a pillow.

Pattern retails for $17.00

Burlap and Blossoms, wool applique on burlap. 

 Pillow sizes are 12x24 and 18x18

Burlap would be fun but I think I might try wool?

Pattern retails for $8.50

Eye Candy from Warsaw Hook-In

Enjoy the photos from the rug show.