Getting in the Christmas spirit...

Today found Ashley (DD) and I at the NC Farmers Market off I-40 & Sandy Ridge Road.

 Every year for the past 5 years

(usually the 1st weekend after Thanksgiving)

we go to the Hummingbird Hill Farm booth to get our Christmas wreaths.

They had just pulled up with a trailer

 load of freshly made wreaths. 

After 45 minutes (or more) we finally made our minds up and purchased our wreaths.

This is the one picked out.

If you have not gotten your wreath I highly recommend the drive to Greensboro to get yours. 

They have never disappointed us.

Thursday evening I met my brother & his wife in Old Salem for the Christmas Candle Tea in the Single Brothers House.  This is something the three of us have done for many years.    Brother always looks forward to the Moravian sugar cake & coffee.

 My favorite part of the evening is the last stop of the tour. The Christmas Putz.

Being of German descent, I have always enjoyed the viewing of the Old Salem scene and the Nativity.

When I was a small child my parents would take us "UP home"  to Grandma & Grandpas  in Shrewsbury, PA during the holiday vacation.

I always looked forward to into their living room.

Because, there in the far corner of their living room would be this huge cedar Christmas tree all decorated and under it would be a scene.   Grandpa would make miniature houses, barns, farm animals, sledges and people during the year and at christmas he would  make this beautiful "putz" .   Each year there would something new that had not been there the year before.  Friends and family from near and far would visit their home to see Grandpas handy work.

This has always been one of my favorite memories.  What is one of yours?

Last tailgating of the year.......

This is proof I finally made it to a Wake Forest football game this year!

The kids were with us also.

Looking for...

Does anyone out there in blog land have the January/February 2011 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine?

I am interested in getting the directions for Susan Guzman "Architectural Gem" quilt.

I think Kaffe fabric would look great in this pattern.

Cough, Cough, Cough!

Hack, hack, hack!

Please make me better?!?!?

I usually don't get on a soap box......

I usually don't get on a soap box......

BUT today will be an exception!

This morning I went to our LQS to conduct the finally Serger Mastery Machine class

of the series of three that I teach.

(They say at SO, that I am the Serger Queen... but by the end of the classes my hope is that there are more Serger Queens in the area)

I walked in, checked the sign up book to see I had 2 students. :)

(Which I feel is the perfect number! Too many things can go wrong with a serger (student). You know 9 times out of 10 any thing that goes wrong with a serger is user error.)

I set up my classroom for two, get supplies out for two, etc., etc., etc.

(Remember two is the magic number.)

The students arrive early. I ask them to thread their serger for a 4-thread overlock.

(Which they do beautifully... they practiced :) )

We are on time starting.

I begin giving them directions for the first sample they will be doing....

Now mine you class starts at 10 am.

We open our doors at SO 30 minutes early to allow students into the building to set up,

so class will start on time.

It is now 15 minutes after we begin and we are on a roll....

In comes a student complaining that she got behind a

Haz-mat truck and that is what made her late.

My response was, oh I didn't know you were even coming ..... you didn't sign up before hand.

Her reply...." I thought I could just show up.

I said..... "What if the class was canceled due to no one signing up, you would have gotten here and there would not have been a class."

So I stop, set up another table, get her a chair, find a pillow for her to sit on and

wait for her to thread her machine.

After 30 minutes of her not getting the machine threaded (she did not practice)

remember I have 2 students, who were on time and waiting to continue.....

I make her stand up so I can thread it for her.

It is now 11 am. One hour behind schedule!

So-o- the point of this post is...

1. Please sign up ahead of time for the classes you want to take.

Lots of times teachers will cancel a class if there is only one student.

Teachers need to know how many to plan for.

2. Be early and ready to go on time!

There I said it all. I feel so much better.

Have a good night.

And thanks for listening.

2011 Fall Retreat

This past weekend found me

(and 17 friends from all over North Carolina)

in Montreat, NC.

Salem Stitcher does all the leg work getting and setting up our little cabin in the woods. It is suppose to be a quilting retreat.....but it turns into a period of catching up with old (and new) friends who have not had time to sit and be girls. Our everyday lives and responsibilities prevent us from doing this.

Here Quiltkemosabe, Ms. Goodneedle & Pat are focusing on their catching up. (with a glass of wine of course)

Of course there was fabric flying right and left between our catching up, also runs to the local quilt shops, lunch in Biltmore Village, Starbucks, hikes up a mountain and the list goes on.

Here is one of three projects I worked on. There is still 64 flying geese to be made for the border.

The Fancy Feather birds are now together in one place. It too lacks the final border. This will be the first UFO from the weekend that will be finished.

Sorry there is not a picture of the project I did get finished. The battery in my camera died. But the battery is in its charger so in the next day or two there may be a picture of it.

Again I want to thank Salem Stitcher for all her hard work setting up this wonderful time away with the gals!