Another Grand Adventure!

And boy will it be grand for sure. We are official passport holders and to break them in our first foreign stamp will be the beautiful country of the Netherlands. What a great Christmas present one could wish for. It's really going to happen, I'm going, I'm going. And sooner than later! I tried to keep it a surprise from my Bee friends but could not wait any longer. So much to plan with the girl's! I talked to Yvonne and Alex last week and they are thrilled to have us visit and to enjoy their country just as much as they have enjoyed America. I will be able to reunite with the ladies I met last March in PA, plus meet many other sewing friends. I can't wait to get there. Oh, by the way we leave the 26th of January. Holy smokes that is in just 27 more days! Let the countdown begin! Oh how I'm excited, the adrenalin is rushing through me as I type. (Squeal, squeal)

How our lives have changed since meeting these two wonderful people and the friends they have introduced to us. How in the world did this little girl from Utah become so blessed to have such golden opportunities. It just goes to show that most people of the world are the same. We love life, adventures, friendships and sewing! And how it has affected our lives for the good and better.

These are the lovely ladies of the Bee that meet every Thursday night with me as an absentee member. Not for long, we will all be together for photo's on the 28th at the Blogger Bee in Katwijk. Yvonne is hosting the Bee for these ladies and about 15 others. Who knows maybe we will have the regular Thursday night Bee while I'm there. One can only hope, huh? See you soon ladies. I'm coming, I'm coming!
In less than a month I will be traveling this same road and stopping at this friendly inviting home. The home of Yvonne and Alex, just watch the video below and you can travel part of the journey with me in advance. More to come of the adventures in the Netherlands at the end of January.

Christmas Greetings!

Holiday wishes to all of you that may be reading this. Thanks for being a part of my blogging world this year. It's been another great one getting to know more and more of you, rather it be through blogging, meeting you in the shop(Corn Wagon), quilt market, etc. So have a Merry Christmas and keep on sewing and blogging and I'll do the same.
And to all of my far away Bee friends in the Netherlands I wish you the very same. Every Thursday night I think of you and all the fun you are having without me! Maybe someday, maybe someday I keep telling myself. Thank you for the very nice Christmas card.

Christmas with BFF's!

Liz and I hosted our annual girl's Christmas club. We have so much fun getting together laughing and talking about kids and grand kids and life in general. We met at my place and car pooled over to Goodwood Barbeque for a delecious dinner. We then stopped and did a little shopping on the way home. Everyone can always find something to buy in TJ Maxx's and why do they always blame me? Maybe because it happens to be one of my favorite places to shop!
After our shopping excursion we came back to the house for more laughing and refreshments. Me and Liz had given each of them a poem likening girlfriends to panties and a little purse pouch. And by Kaye's reaction they all thought it was a hoot.

I had made Perppermint Brownies and Cherry Chip Cake bars for treats. Every time I make mint brownies I think of my mom. This is her famous recipe and one she made at Christmas time. And of course there was Diet Coke to finish off the night.
Here's wishing all of my life long girl friends a very Merry Christmas and may we have many more together. This one will for sure be one we can laugh back on. Love ya, Shannon

A new hobby, maybe!

When I was in PA last March I picked up this cute wool pincushion kit and the hardware it goes on. I am just barely getting around to making it. I don't do much with wool but this was actually very relaxing to do. If you know me I don't do a lot of applique, the girl's at the shop keep making fun of me because I won't try the A word.

They were pleasantly surprised when it showed up as my Christmas gift for the shop party. Everyone was fighting for it when we played our exchange game, I guess I met their standards! Now I just need to make me one. Maybe!

New Quilt!

A new Christmas quilt is hanging in the basement this year. I put this one together the week of Thanksgiving and Ramona quilted it for me so I could get it hung while I was decorating. This is a pattern from Kati Cupcake. It was a free download off of the Henry Glass website, they had used Amy's fabric but I thought it would be really fun out of Christmas fabrics. It would be cute out of just about anything and it goes together really fast. I opted out on doing the applique like she had done. It just didn't fit with the fabric I was using, but afterwards I thought it might be kind of fun to applique wool stars in the big setting squares. That is something I can add later if I decide to take on that challenge. I used several different lines in it. A good part of it is Lynette Anderson's Scandanavian Christmas. There's a little of FaLaLaLa from Moda, some Hometown from Moda and bits and pieces of one of Red Rooster's Christmas lines. Everything coordinated really well. The backing is a plaid from the RR line.

I chose a varigated thread and had it quilted with an all over holly and berry pattern. I love the results of it. I'm sure this one will be hanging around the White house for many years to come.

Getting closer!

This package has been under our tree since the first week of December. It came all the way from the Netherlands, from our dear friends Yvonne and Alex. I love presents so it's been driving me a bit crazy not knowing what's inside. But the wait is over, we are going to open it tonight when the kids are all here, it is addressed to the White Family. Can't wait to share what's inside with you, I'll report later.

For Sure!

I am one of these! And it sounds so official too! How about you, do you fit in this category?

Here A Santa, There A Santa!

And everywhere there are Santa's. And there are many more of them too, standing and sitting around at the White house, these are a few that are in the downstairs family room. We have a few cowboy Santa's, maybe just one or two!

And chubby Santa's!

And a collection of hand carved Santa's.

Do you think I have a Santa addiction, or what?

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

The trees at the White house are nothing extravagant, but fit our style I think. The tree in the family room downstairs is a cowboy Christmas theme. Cowboy Santa's, snowmen, hats, boots, glittered bandana ornaments and stars adorn it. The lasso rope garland was very inexpensive to do, just visit your local hardware store. And the tree skirt, why that's just denim yardage bought at JoAnn's.
Our second tree is one with collected ornaments through the years, but just recent years. When the kids were little it was a tradition to go get a new ornament for the tree. Well, now that the kids have all grown up and left us and have taken all their childhood memory ornaments we decided we would keep this tree the same but only with our own ornaments. We have started going with the kids and grandkids now. What a fun evening for all of us.
Our box of goodies for the tree. We are getting up there in numbers, not quite enough to fill the tree but that will come with time.
Looking at the above picture I think it needs a little bit of color. Maybe some shiny red balls or bows. What would you add to this tree to make it pop?

Somethin' Special!

What a nice surprise I got last week when Emily and Paris walked into the Corn Wagon. I had just read on Emily's blog that she was collecting red and green fabrics to make a Christmas quilt and was thinking to myself how I would love some of those fabrics she had all stacked up. But to tell you the truth I think I have most of these little pieces in my stash. Well guess what? I am that somebody special she was making it for. Now I won't have to put one together, jk Emily! Oh and I don't want to forget the chocolate that was also with it! I am one lucky lady to have such a good friend as Emily. We have a lot of fun together and I love visiting with her in the quilt shop and when we get together for lunch which we try to do once a month. And not to mention all the fun I have had with her on trips to Minnesota, Houston and Salt Lake for quilt market. I am always happy for the invite to help her out with her market prep to working in her booth. I love, love, love this little quilt. It's the perfect table topper for the holidays.

What a great way to start off the Christmas season, with the love of friendship, quilting and chocolate! Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness Emily, I really love my little quilt.

Never to many!

A home at Christmas time can never have to many nativities. Don't you agree? And this is the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. This Precious Moments nativity was my first. Almost 30 years old and all the pieces accounted for. This little set stays out all year long in my curio cabinet.

Years ago I made this one of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. I don't know how many of these I made, but it was several. I made them to sell at craft boutiques. I have never seen anything like them since. Consider yourself lucky if you have one, I've searched high and low in the sewing room for the pattern with no luck. One day I will stumble upon it and who knows, just maybe I'll make some again. The Fisher Price nativity is one we have had since Hatch was a baby, so that's been coming out of the box for almost 10 years. This is the one the kids are able to play with when they come to the White house during the holidays. I know they still sell these in the Fisher Price catalog or online. And when we were in Target today I noticed they were selling them.This is the Willow Tree nativity that I started collecting when I worked at Heritage Woodworks. I have some of their very first pieces, like the trees. Those are discontinued pieces now. This is one of my favorites. The creche was given to me right before Christmas in 2003 when my dad passed away on December 16th. This piece holds a special place in my heart as it brings back such fond memories of him.This nativity was a gift several years ago from Stuart's sister in-law, Pam and her husband Doc. I remember them bringing it the first of the month so we could enjoy it all month and we sure have been enjoying it every year since.This nativity is made from olive trees from Jerusleum. It was also a gift. A gift from my parents many years ago. I haven't had this one out for a few years but this year I ran across the box in the very back of my Christmas storage room. Time to display it again, I thought. Once again, this one also brings back many fun and everlasting memories of my mom and dad. I miss them every day but it seems that I miss them more this time of year. Christmas is a time of giving and that's what my mom and dad were, always giving. Merry Christmas to both of you.

How about you? Do you have a favorite nativity at your house?

Let the countdown begin!

Mrs. Claus has been very busy in her sewing room the last couple of weeks getting these Countdown to Christmas quilts ready for the first of December. In total I made four of them. One for the White house, and one for each of the families. This quilt is a spin off from my Spooky Treats pattern that I put out a couple of years ago. I knew I wanted to make a Christmas advent one but have been waiting for the perfect fabric and this year just happend to be it. I used a couple of Moda lines to make it happen. The first, Countdown to Christmas from Sweetwater and the second, Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket, which is the pockets and the backing. The binding fabric is Deck the Halls by Anka's Treasures for Henry Glass.
On the back I put a label with a poem explaining how the count down begins with the 24 pockets and ends when you can jingle the two bells on Christmas day. We gave them to the kids during the Thanksgiving weekend. Here's Kaitlyn reading the poem to McKinley and Teegan.

The Mitchell family and their new quilt and the bag of candy to fill the pockets.

The Carter clan with Grandpa and Grandma with their new quilt.

And Jacob and Angie with theirs. Something to start their first Christmas off as a married couple and a tradition to carry on with their kids.

This is the finished quilt hanging at the White house. Yes, the President and First Lady are in on the count down to. Your never to old for Santa Claus, right!

Let the count down begin! Oh yeah, that was yesterday wasn't it? Oh, and by the way this will be a pattern for next Christmas. Speak now if you want some of this great fabric for your quilt. I have a little bit left if any of you are interested in a kit. I know it's a little early to be thinking about next year but it's to late for this one. Sorry, I just couldn't think about Christmas in June when all this fabric came out!

Happy 80th!

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with a very special lady. My Aunt Dale (my dad's sister) celebrated her 80th birthday. Her family hosted a luncheon and program for her. We have lived just around the corner from my Aunt Dale for almost 24 years. She's always so pleasant and fun to be around. She is a great example to me and has been to my kids over the years. We wish her many more happy ones.

We shared a table with Tamara, Richard and Karissa. They served us the most delicious soup and salad bar. And oh yeah, don't forget the cake too.

It was fun visiting with cousins and getting to know all of their little families. They had a really good turn out. And why wouldn't they when you are honoring someone special like Aunt Dale.

Thanksgiving, 2011

Mmm, Thanksgiving this year was so good. Our count was a little down this year due to sharing with the in-laws. I managed to get a picture of the table and with the hustle and bustle of getting everything served up, I forgot to take a family picture. Oops! After dinner it's fun to look at the Black Friday shopping deals. Here Kaitlyn and my sister Jan scour over the ads for the perfect things to buy. If your shopping that is!

The Mr. and the Mrs. enjoy visiting while these two crazy girls shop the ads.

And Teegan can do stairs, kind of. Grandpa was right there behind him the whole way up. Way to go Teeg! And McKinley is trying to give all sorts of money away. Any takers?

Mike and Channing(brother in-law) comfied themselves in front of the football games. What a nice afternoon giving our thanks for another great year. Hope your day was just as pleasant as ours.