Wednesday (12/28) was a fabulous craft, golf and square dancing day!  I spent all day in my studio, while Michael spent it on the golf course.  He got home in time for dinner and then we headed up to the Lake House for a 2 hour square dance.

Thursday (12/29) we were up early for a walk in the 24 degree (br-r-r-r) morning air.  We came home and set off for breakfast and a bunch of errands.  We were home by 1 and I spent the rest of the day in the studio, finishing this: 

Jan wanted one of the smaller rope totes and I told her I would make it for her.  She bought the fabric and handles and I finally got it done.  I bought some extra fabric and hope to do up 1 to 2 more for sale next year.

On Friday (12/30) we started cleaning for the New Year’s Eve party, and I also got another tote started.

On Tuesday (12/27) my dear friend Nancy braved the elements (torrential rain) and came over to play in the morning!  We had a wonderful time (as always) and luckily, by the time she left, the sun was shining.  Joanne picked me up for knitting at 1 and although our group was teeny, tiny…we still had lots of fun knitting and talking.  I got in a little sewing before dinner, then Susan came over at 7 to show us a neat trick for cracking and de-shelling a big batch of free pecans.  At one point in the proceedings I was glad to have my camera to snap this shot of ‘sometimes there’s just not enough left to dirty a glass’:

 After the pecans were done and Susan left, Michael modeled one of his Christmas presents…I finished this vest back in February or March, but of course didn’t put it in the blog or her would have seen it:

Monday (12/26) was a lovely continuation of the weekend.  Michael and I took a long walk after breakfast and then it was ‘back to the salt mines’ and sewing on the charity quilt I began on Saturday.  With a lot of perseverance, the top is finally pieced:

Michael was in the studio with most of the time, watching TV and working on his computer.  I also did the finishing on 3 necklaces:

I am so glad that Ginny’s friend Cindy showed me how to make these when I was in Virginia….I’m really getting into the different color combinations….the necklace on the left in the picture (with new 'tiger' beads)is my current favorite!

It’s Christmas night and it was a perfect weekend.  Michael got to play golf  on Saturday (came home with an 87) and when he came home we started celebrating Christmas!  We watched movies and TV shows, worked on the computer, sewed and spent every minute together.  We had Belgium waffles for breakfast on Sunday (with mimosas of course) and continued with the movie watching and knitting and sewing, but also added gift opening.  It has been FABULOUS and lovely!

December 23^rd – it is amazing what one will do for a friend…I still can’t believe I agreed to go with Jan to Joanne’s on Christmas Eve Eve, but that’s exactly what we did.  She is giving her granddaughter a sewing machine for Christmas, and wanted to pick up a few other things….so I agreed to go with her.  We left home early and Joann’s was surprisingly not crowded (although 2 days before Christmas IS a little late to be buying things to make J).  We bopped over to Michael’s (in the same shopping center) but they didn’t have what we wanted, so we decided to go to another one about 25 minutes away.  Traffic, both in the store and on the streets, had certainly built up quite a bit when we finally got ready to come home, so we treated ourselves to a Chick Filet chocolate peppermint milk shake on the way home to calm our nerves (yum!)  I’m not really sure why, but once I was home I was exhausted and took a nap.  The rest of the day was wonderful…I read a bit…worked in the studio with Michael (home after an89 round on the golf course) and knit and watched a bit of TV.  Michael finished arranging another charity quilt:

and I worked on sewing it together as well as continuing to work on my paint can challenge.  I’m looking forward to a wonderful Christmas weekend.

Thursday (12/22) was a fairly good day…Michael and I visited the chiropractor in the morning, then I had a couple of hours to do 4 runs of my body cream for someone who wanted 20 more jars (after already buying 14 of them!!!  I asked her if she was EATING the stuff or what?)  We left at 12:30 to hit a consignment shop that Barrie (former student) told me about.  They loved all of my craft stuff and took it to display (and hopefully sell!!!) in their store.  Then it was on to the dentist for a crown….OUCH!  We were home by 5 and I was in a lot of pain…so I just kind of lounged around while Michael played pool.  Janice called after dinner and we had a wonderful chat…it seems like I haven’t talk to her in forever because she has been flat out with family commitments and getting ready for Christmas.  Jan stopped by to drop off a TON of books from a friend, and to pick up a necklace so that she could look for clasps for me.  I went upstairs after our chat and snuggled with my honey.

Wednesday (12/21) morning I went to yoga, then came home and had a quick breakfast before heading to the studio to work on my challenge.  The good news is: I got all of my 9 patch blocks done by lunchtime….the bad news is, I miscalculated how many I needed, and so. I have many additional strips cut  L.  I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do with them….still thinking about it.  I had a helper while I was sewing:

She seems to be saying “what…you don’t like my Christmas decorating?”  I continued to work on the other blocks in the challenge while Michael was at the movies seeing SHERLOCK HOLMES.  Barrie (former student) stopped by to pick up the shawl she made for her mom for Christmas.  She took my beginning knitting class…and took off like a ROCKET after that….this shawl:

was her FIRST project (and believe you me, it is NOT a beginner project in ANY way!!!  She is a phenomenal and FEARLESS knitter and has made lots and lots of knitted gifts for Christmas this year…and that’s after only taking the beginning class a few months ago.  Needless to say, she picks up things VERY quickly and is a joy to talk with about knitting…and everything else!

Tuesday (12/20) was an awesome day.  Nancy and Floy and I made a quick trip to Mary Jo’s.  I needed background fabric for my quilting challenge and Floy needed one piece of fabric…and Nancy went along to check out stuff!  We dropped Floy off on the way home and still had 1-1/2 hours to enjoy our regular Tuesday mornings together.  Of course….evil Nancy bought a new ruler that totally sucked me in!  I call her evil Nancy because she is the person who introduced me to you tube videos of quilting techniques.  Can you say THREE HOURS LATER…I am still on the internet watching videos of 100 new and shiny things I want to try!?!?!?!  Well, tomorrow (Wednesday) I am supposed to spend all day working on the challenge quilt for my Thursday morning quilt group.  Instead…I may have been sucked into a new quilt with this nifty ruler.  Will I stay the course?  Will I work on my challenge?  Will I succumb to the lure of the newest bright and shiny thing?  You’ll have to stay tuned J.

Before I left for knitting club, I finished a very small wall hanging for a friend:

and then stopped to get my hair done after knitting club, on the way home…..Michael was home, with a disappointing 91 from the golf course…but we had a nice dinner and then he left for the movies.  I spent the evening in my studio…working on my challenge  (so far….)

Sunday (12/18) was a wonderfully relaxing day.  Jan and I had a meeting in Pineville in the morning, and a terrific breakfast at IHOP afterwards.  We hit Michael’s on the way home to pick up several packages of beads for new necklaces!  I spent a lot of time in my studio, and the evening was spent snuggling on the couch.

Monday (12/19) was kind of a busy day.  I had a volunteer meeting in the morning and we got a update on how successful our Angel Tree project was.  In the afternoon, Michael had an appointment with a new ear place, in a town that was about 45 minutes away.  Well….they were running late and about 45 minutes after our appointment, they were finally almost ready to take us.  The problem was, the ear test was going to take about an hour, I wanted to hit one store on the way home…and it is 6 DAYS before Christmas…can you say rush hour traffic!?!??!?!  They are supposedly opening up a new office in a few weeks that will be right by our house, so we bagged that appointment, made a stop in Hobby Lobby and then hit the road, stopping for pizza at the Mellow Mushroom on the way home.  This is a new place and the food was AWESOME!!  I had a cheese calzone and Michael had a spinach/mushroom pizza, and 1/2 of both of our dinners made it home.  I knit a bit on a new necklace in the evening, while watching TV with my honey.

Friday (12/16) was once again a busy day.  I was up early to get some cookies baked and one of my knitting students came over for some help.  I needed cookies for the memorial service in the afternoon.  After courageously battling a reoccurrence of cancer for 11 months, the head of our HOA died last week.  I thought it was going to be a very emotional service; it was standing room only; but it was just perfect.  A group of us had organized cookies and coffee for after the service, and Michael and I drove the leftover cookies over to the local fire & EMS stations.  When we came home, Michael sat out on the deck, reading his book….on the 16^th of December…it was great!  We had a quick dinner, then I took off for band practice.  It was a wonderful night, but I have several songs to learn!

Saturday (12/17) was a very relaxing day…I spent much of it in the studio, while Michael got to get in 9 holes of golf.  In the evening we went out to dinner with Susan and Joe, and then on to the theatre to see CHAPS – A JINGLE JANGLE CRHRISTMAS.

Wednesday (12/14) I had yoga at 6:30 in the morning, then had just enough time to come home and take a quick shower and pack up all of my stuff to get over to the high school for my last bread demo….we made pizza!  The kids had made the dough the day before, and I took pesto (made from my garden basil) and parmesan and mozzarella….the teacher bought grape tomatoes.  I got there early to get the dough spread out and to give it time to rise…when the kids came in, they cut the tomatoes, spread the pesto(although there was a LOT of grumbling ‘cause they had never seen it and were expecting traditional red sauce), and shredded the parm and mozz cheese.  Once we put them in the oven I told that that they wouldn’t hurt my feeling one bit if they decided not to eat the pizza…that Mrs. Langley (the teacher) and I would eat of EVERY bite!!  The bad news was….they LOVED it and THEY ate up every bite  L.  Oh well….I’ll just have to make pizza over the weekend.  Anyway, it was a great class and I think all of the kids enjoyed it.  I hit a yarn shop on the way home…I went in to exchange one skein of yarn for another color…and walked out 80 bucks later!!  They had railroad yarn on sale and I got a bunch of good colors.  Then I bopped up to the Joann’s to pick up a gift certificate and a few other things..and finally got home around 2.  I managed to get a bag of dipped oreos done and plated up for our square dance at 4:30.    We had a wonderful time at the square dance…and there was lots of great food.

Thursday (12/15) morning I was up early to get roll dough made for the Christmas party at Scrap Happy Quilters.  We had a wonderful morning, lots of laughs, lots of gifts, and lots and lots of great food.  When I got home from quilting around 1, I was absolutely wiped out and took a short nap before Michael came home from his golfing ‘santa claus open’ and for the second year in a row….HE WON A HAM!!!!!!  Yumm-O, I can’t wait to get it.  Michael did a costume again this year (that was how he won the ham last year):

but he won this year by being closest to the pin.  We were both tired Thursday night and just lay about like dead things and watched TV  J.

This whole week seems very busy and Tuesday (12/13) was no exception.  I spent a wonderful morning at Nancy’s…and we actually worked on her loom.  She is excited to be starting weaving for next year and she was practicing on a scarf.  I got home from Nancy’s and had time to take a quick shower before heading off to knitting club for just an hour.  I had a good time talking with a lot of people there before I had to come home to be here for Becky to continue working on her rope tote.  She left around 4:30 and Jan and Walt showed up at 5 for dinner (Mexican Chicken soup and corn bread).  We left after dinner to go to Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens.  DSBG puts of thousands upon thousands of lights in their gardens…here’s just a small sample for BG in CT: 

We walked around there for several hours….took Jan and Walt’s picture by the all orchid Christmas tree:

then headed for home (with an ice cream stop along the way).  Michael and read for an hour or so once we got home and then collapsed into bed.

Although I am always excited to finish weaving and take something off of my loom, there are generally several (many?) more hours of work until the item is finished.  I spent a lot of the time on Monday (12/12) doing the finishing work on my 2 new scarves (you probably have to make the picture bigger by clicking on it to see the colors in the left-hand scarf): 

While I was working on them, Becky (quilter from Thursday quilt group) came over for help with a rope tote.  She was here for several hours and we made some good progress.  Michael and I had soup for dinner and watched TV and knit in the evening.

On Sunday (12/11), Jan and I hit Michael’s and Joann’s for a bit of shopping.  I got to work on weaving in the afternoon, and finally cut my 2 scarves  off the loom before we left for tryouts.  Fort Mill Community Theatre was having tryouts for BLYTHE SPIRIT,a Noel Coward comedy.  And the director of the play was the same one who did HARVEY.  She said there were about 18 people trying out…unfortunately, we didn’t make it.  She said the deciding factor was that we would be gone on a cruise during the first week of rehearsals (in January), when they would be doing all of the blocking  L.  In a way, Michael is glad because he is still exhausted from doing THE 39 STEPS.

Friday (12/9) morning I was up early for yoga (who would have thought that I’d still be getting up a 6 am once I retired???) and when I came home Michael was having breakfast before leaving for golfing.  I spent about 1-1/2 hours getting ham/bean/barley soup in the 6 quart crockpot (definitely my go to soup these days….so FEW ingredients and such a great result!)and also turkey/barley/veg soup in the 4 quart crockpot for Michael.  I got to visit a neighbor who has been asking me a lot of questions about weaving and just recently got a loom, and finally got to settle down to weaving in the afternoon.  Around 2 I wandered upstairs to put together scallion/cheese whole wheat rolls for dinner (BG and I have the same cookbook and she found these rolls and we are both making them this weekend).  Susan and Joe (neighbors) and Mary (fellow quilter) and Charles (her main squeeze) arrive at 6 for dinner.  We had the soup and rolls and then played TRIPOLI for a couple of hours before breaking for homemade Bailey’s and peanut butter cookies (the only cookie dough I’ve managed to put together so far this season!)

We spent all day Saturday on a bus, going to Flat Rock Theatre to see a PLAID CHRISTMAS.  I was a wonderful show and we are both very glad we went.

Thursday (12/8) was quilting…and sometimes I feel like I have corrupted those people!!!  Sometimes it is just a drag to drag my sewing machine there…so I take knitting.  Anyway, there were about 12 of us in total today…..about 10 of us were knitting!!!…luckily my friend Nancy and another woman Loree were keeping our group honest by working on quilting things!!  When I got home, Michael told me that his hearing appointment had been cancelled….which was really great news for me since I had yet to unpack from the craft fair….the basement looked like a rummage sale had exploded on the floor, and the kitchen table didn’t look much better.  I had several hours to try to get things into reasonable shape before getting to sit down and weave for the rest of the night.

On Wednesday (12/7) I had one simple goal…to finish one of my small purses for a sale I made in Virginia when I was visiting Ginny.  I finally got started working on it around NOON and by the time Michael and I left for dinner at Gale and Phil’s, it was all done!  Dinner was terrific…we had lasagna and stuffed shells, extra sauce and meatballs, garlic bread and a salad.  For dessert she served apple pie ala mode.  Needless to say, we were stuffed when we got home and just vegged on the couch until bedtime.

Tuesday (12/6) was a busy day from start to finish.  I got up early in the morning to start baking lemon bars and peanut butter cookies.  I had 2 lemons from the store, but also harvested an additional lemon from my Meyer lemon tree: 

I thought you’d like to see a comparison on sizes between my Meyer lemon on the left, and the store lemon (probably a Lisbon) on the right:

Quite a difference!  I was just finishing up baking the peanut butter cookies when Nancy arrived for our regular Tuesday get-together.  We retired to the studio (Michael was out golfing) and Nancy worked on square for a new quilt, while I finished sewing the ends in on a bunch of scarves.  We finished up around NOON and I took a quick shower and packed up a bunch of stuff and headed off to our Christmas luncheon for Stitch & Chat.  It was a wonderful party I got to meet some new people who had recently joined the club.  Jan and I knit for an hour after the party, and then attended an afternoon session of yoga.  When I finally got home, I got to relax for just a bit before Michael and I headed out to see TOWER HEIST.  It was a very cute movie and we both enjoyed it. 

My friend Jan used to go to yoga 3 times a week.  She took a cruise in July and hasn’t been back to yoga since.  In an effort to get her back into it (and also because I could certainly use it myself!) we both bought fitness passes for the month of December.  Yoga is at 6:30 in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays….so Sunday night I laid out all of my clothes and set the alarm for 6 AM.  I jumped out of bed Monday morning (12/5), washed my face, brushed my hair and teeth, got dressed and headed on up to the Lake House.  There were lots of people there that I knew…but no Jan….6:45….no Jan….7 am….no Jan.  I got through the whole class and it was very nice.  I finally called Jan around 9 and she said she didn’t know what had happened.  She too laid out her clothes, set the alarm for 6 and got to bed early, but when she opened her eyes this morning…the clock read 7 am!!!  Oh well…maybe we’ll both be there on Wednesday.  I came home and just had time for a bite of breakfast before leaving for my dentist appointment.  I have been dreading this appointment because I knew something was wrong with one of my teeth…and yes…I have to have a crown put on it.  That will be happening in a couple of weeks…so I”ll have a long time to dread THAT appointment as well  J.

I spent the afternoon knitting, while Michael worked on his computer, and in the evening we continued to relax in front of the TV and knit.

It’s now Monday 12/5) at 4 PM and I have to try to re-create what has happened???  We picked up Marc and Kate at the airport around 11:30 on Thursday:

 and came home to eat and talk.  Michael and I had square dancing in the afternoon and by the time we got home, it was time to go out to dinner.  The kids took us to an Asian restaurant and we all enjoyed our dinners.  We got home around 8 and everyone was kind of tired, so we all sat in the living room, in front of the fire, reading or sleeping or a little bit of both.

Friday morning (12/2) Marc and Michael had a big fry-up for breakfast and then headed to the golf links.  I continued to work on Christmas candy (and it is all finished...hooray!),

while Kate got in just a bit of work on her laptop (after we borrowed the password from our neighbors so that we could use their wireless connection).  Marc and Kate and I had ham and bean soup and rolls for dinner, while Michael finished up the leftover pizza.  We left around 7 to head towards Charlotte to see A TUNA CHRISTMAS…a hysterical play that everyone loved.  We stopped at Amelie’s (a French bakery) on the way out from the theatre and picked up a variety of treats for Saturday.

Saturday Michael and Marc left for horseshoes while Kate and I held down the fort at home….cooking for our ‘Thanksgiving’ dinner.  Michael made potatoes and carrots when he got home and Harry and Martha arrived at 6 for turkey, stuffing, potatoes/carrots, green beans, salad, homemade cranberry sauce and rolls.  We played PIT after dinner, and a new game called ‘telephone pictionary’.  It was a really fun evening with LOTS of laughs!  It truly was a wonderful visit with Marc and Kate....they are wonderful together and bring lots of fun along with them:

Sunday (12/4) everyone was up at 5 to get the kids to the airport by 6 am.  It was really sad to see them go…but you know what my dad would have said….”keep paying into that social security”!  We wanted to go out to breakfast on the way home, but nothing is open at 6:30 am on a Sunday in North OR South Carolina…so we came home and went to bed!  We certainly felt more like ourselves when we got up at 8.  I had a quick breakfast and tried to pull together stuff for the FINAL (YAY!!!!!) craft fair.  Michael loaded the car and drove me up to the Lake House and carried everything in around 10:30.  I was all set up by the time the fair started at NOON.  He came to pick me up at 4, and I came home and both of us lay around like dead things the rest of the night!

Michael left for golf on Wednesday (11/30) and I buckled down to making more Christmas food….rocky road and minty crisps candy and some new pretzel toffee stuff.  Michael got home in time to help with some of it and to bag up all of it!  I also put together enough manicotti for 10 people, to take to one of our HOA staff  members who is having chemo, but also having company for the weekend.  I went up to the Lake House at 6:30 to check in all of the square dancers, then came home to knit and snuggle on the couch with my honey.  Here’s a pic of our Xmas food now, we’ve already run out of room on the buffet and have had to take space on our counters also…my goal is to be done by Dec 10^th so that I can enjoy the rest of the month working on items I’ve been putting off:

Tuesday morning (11/29) Michael and I took Mary Jo to the airport  L.  We had a wonderful visit; it’s always like we’ve never been apart when we get back together…it was totally sad to see her go.  On the way home, Michael and I did a big grocery shopping trip and turned our eyes towards the next visitors….THE KIDS ARE COMING…THE KIDS ARE COMING!  Marc and Kate arrive on Thursday morning, so Michael and I came home and got busy.  We got all of the sheets and towels cleaned, and started to make gravy for our Thanksgiving meal (which we will have Saturday night!)  I put a ham bone in the crockpot to get stock to make ham and bean soup for one of our meals.  We also started to make our Christmas food gifts.  We got 4 runs of white trash done and 2 runs of cracker toffee before taking a break. 

I got a bunch of albums loaded on my IPOD so that we could listen to Christmas music for the rest of the year.  We had leftovers for dinner and I wove and knit and we watched TV for the rest of the night.

Michael got in 18 holes of golf on Sunday (11/27) while Mary Jo and I got in a bike ride and visiting with several friends.  Otherwise it was talking and crafting and in general, just being glad we had time to spend together.  In the evening I worked on finishing off some scarves…I got everything done on 2 chenille scarves (click on the picture to make bigger so that you can see the ribbon overlay!):

and one additional ruffled scarf:

Monday (11/28) we went to the Alphabet Museum in the morning, made a quick stop at a very small museum of Mexico, hit a great gallery in Waxhaw and had lunch out.  There was more crafting in the afternoon and evening…but also a bit of sadness because it was Mary Jo’s last night  L.

I did a little cleaning, a little cooking and a little sewing on Friday (11/25) really just marking time until Michael came home (with a SCORTCHING 81 from the golf course) and until I left to pick up MARY JO at the airport!!!!!!!!!!!  Of course it was a fabulous evening and we talked and talked and talked until 12:30 when I finally fell into bed.  The other exciting thing that happened on Friday was that Bob (a friend and woodworker) delivered the ‘scarf rack’ he has been working on for me.  It looks like a ladder for a bunch of Smurfs, the I think it will display many scarves beautifully, but in a small space. 

I will try to remember to take a picture of it (full of scarves) at the craft fair next Sunday afternoon.

Even thought I got to bed very late…I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep, so at 5:30 I got up and made this outrageous coffeecake for breakfast!  Mary Jo and I crafted all day, until Penny picked her up for church at 3:30.   Penny stayed for dinner once they got home (quiche, rolls, green beans) but left shortly afterwards.  We all left for the symphony and I think Mary Jo was enchanted with the ‘symphony de soleil’!  Incredible dancing and acrobatics, with a full orchestral background.  We got home around 11 and I was feeling pretty punk from the beginnings of a cold, so I spent an hour in the tub: hot water and a hot toddy were just what the doctor ordered…I slept for a solid 6 hours.

Michael went golfing on Wednesday (11/23) and I spent the day in the studio doing a variety of things, mostly working on a new rope basket for my friend Jan.  Judy called me in the afternoon and we went up to the pool for an hour….she swam laps and I walked up and down the length of the pool.  Michael and I decided to go out to Red Lobster for dinner and the food was terrific.  Once home, I got a bit of knitting done before heading to bed.

 

THANKSGIVING!  a fabulous, perfect day!  We got to sleep late, have a relaxing breakfast, then took a long bike ride and got say HAPPY BIRD DAY to many friends.  We both worked downstairs in the morning while watching MEET ME IN ST LOUIS with Judy Garland.  By then it was early afternoon and we headed upstairs where I took a nap and Michael watched MYTH BUSTERS.  Then it was back downstairs to watch BLYTHE SPIRIT on the computer.  Fort Mill Community Playhouse is doing BS as a play in February and Michael wants to try out.  He wants me to try out too…so we watched the movie version.  We finally broke out the puffy things for dinner and finished off the evening watching the original SUPERMAN with Chris Reeve…hard to believe he is gone…he was GORGEOUS…the perfect Superman.

Monday (11/21) was a fun day.  Michael left early for golf and I got dough made for killer pecan sticky buns.  I had a volunteer meeting at 10:30 and then at 11:30 I headed on over to the high school for another bread demo.  I took my roll dough just to demo forming standard rolls and the students had hand outs of all different ways to shape dough.  All 4 groups of students made dough on Friday and they each picked a different way to make the rolls; we had crescents, parker house, clover leaf and a few others.  The dough went back into the fridge to rise and they baked it on Tuesday (the downside of only having a 45 minutes class.) By the time I got home I was ready to hit the loom again and after 3 hours in the afternoon and 3 hours at night, I finally finished weaving the new scarves.

Tuesday morning I spent visiting with Nancy and starting to put ribbon through my scarves.  I came home for a quick sandwich and headed off to knitting.  I didn’t get very much accomplished at knitting….we were all too busy talking about Thanksgiving and what was going to be happening.  When I got home I finally finished putting ribbon through my second scarf and got them washed and dried.  Michael came home from going to the movies (I think it was the movie about J. Edgar Hoover) and after our leftover ham dinner, we just relaxed for the rest of the night.

Sunday (11/20) was another wonderful crafting day.  Michael and I had a relaxing breakfast in front of the fire, then he took off to buy a few things and go golf club shopping and I continued to weave and knit and sew.  We had leftovers for dinner, and moved my loom up to the living room so that I could continue to weave while we watched TV….by the time we went to bed, I had had a very productive day…4 more scarves completed:

 and a second rope tote (already sold!) and 3 more scarves:

And I’m over 1/2 way done on my woven scarves.

Saturday (11/19) was a pretty relaxing day.  Michael made a quick trip to the grocery store in the morning, then put together FOUR POUNDS (remember this….it will be significant later) of potatoes/carrots.  I got to craft for most of the day (sewing, knitting, weaving), stopping only to put together herb rolls and get the ham in the oven for dinner.  Phil and Gale and Jan and Walt came at 6 and we had a wonderful dinner.  I was glad that Michael made so many potatoes/carrots, because I knew we would have leftover ham and then we could just reheat everything for another dinner.  Well, as I was putting away the leftovers…the potatoes/carrots fit in a 6 ounce container…with room to spare!  People really LOVED them!  Anyway, it was a wonderful day and a great dinner with lots of conversation.  Everyone left around 8:30 and Michael and I read and knit the rest of the evening.

Thursday morning (11/16) Jan picked up Willa and me at 8:30 to head to the official grand opening of Joann’s!!!!!  It was totally cool, we had lots of good coupons and even got a $10 gift cert for being in the first 100 customers.  We were there for 2 hours and then headed off to quilting.  It was a small group (many of them were still at Joann’s) but I got a bit of knitting done before we headed home.  Michael and I headed up to square dancing at 4:30 and it was such an aerobic event for 2 hours that when we got home neither one of us felt like eating dinner.  So we just noshed a bit and then separated, me to continue weaving and Michael to continue watching TV.

I spent Friday morning getting ham and bean soup into the crockpot and doing a lot of paper/money work to get out ducks in a row to order name tags for square dancing.  I am treasurer of our club and have been getting checks and cash for several weeks and luckily it all balanced and I got my deposit ready before Barrie showed up.  Barrie is one of my clinic knitters and she is finishing up a beautiful entrelac shawl for her mom for Christmas.  She is one of my beginning knitting students and this is her first project.  I truly don’t know any other knitter who would have even attempted this as a beginner, but there was never any doubt in my mind that she could accomplish it….she took to knitting like a duck to water (what is it with the ducks on my mind today?)  Anyway, the shawl is almost finished and if I remember I am going to take a picture of her modeling it….because both the shawl and Barrie are beautiful!  We had a great visit talking and knitting and when she finally left, I got just a few things done around the house before Michael got home from a horrible round of golf.  I guess there was a group right behind them on the tees who just made their whole round a misery, so he consoled himself with watching golf on TV.  Bob picked me up at 6 for a practice session with the band…and when I got home close to 10 I was too tired to do anything else!

Wednesday was a fabulous day…I spent the day in my studio  J.  I sewed a bit, warped a bit, knit a bit and in general had a fabulous time while Michael was out scoring an 84 on the golf course!  We went up to square dancing at 4:30 and Linda was THRILLED with the rope tote.  She wrote me a check and put it with her things…and hour later she came over and said “I’m not sure I want to give it away, it is so pretty!”  I said “well, I’m making a second one…I’ll let you know when it is done!”  We were so exhausted when we came home from the dance that neither one of us wanted dinner….we just dropped on the couch for the rest of the night!

Tuesday morning (11/15) Nancy came for a visit and I continued to work on the rope tote.  I finished it at 1 PM…just in time for show and tell at Stitch & Chat:

I will take it to square dancing on Wednesday to see if Linda likes it…I told her to bring a blank check!!

I also did the finishing on the 2 newest woven scarves…they feel DREAMY!!!  If I don’t sell them at the craft fair on Dec 4^th, a woman at Stitch & Chat wants them!

I was home by 3:30 and Jackie came over for help on a sweater.  She wants to hire me to help her make her first sweater…so we checked out her gauge and talked over what she should be doing.  After she left, Michael and I got cleaned up and were ready when Joanne and Larry picked us up at 5:30 for dinner.  We had a wonderful time at Ruby Tuesday’s for a couple of hours, then came home and relaxed in front of the TV.

Monday morning (12/14) I made pancakes for breakfast and they were awesome!  Nice and thick and light, just the way I like them.  Michael cleaned up the kitchen after breakfast and I headed down to the studio to work on the rope tote.  I was down there all day (except for making up roll dough in the afternoon) and the tote was 1/2 way done by dinner.  We had soup and new rolls (they were supposed to be like that brown bread loaves they serve at Outback) and Michael said they were excellent!  He left shortly afterwards to go to a meeting at a community theatre, and I continued to work on the tote.  By bedtime it was almost done.

Friday morning (11/11) was the ‘soft opening’ of Joann’s Fabrics near where I live….FINALLY…after 5 years of waiting, there is a Joann’s store near me.  Jan and I were there at 9 and we met TONS of people from SCCL and Thursday quilting who were also there!  We mostly just walked around and checkout everything they had…it is a GREAT store and I’m sure I’ll be utilizing it a lot for notions and zippers and such.  I had a chance to do a bit of weaving when I got home, then a few people showed up for knitting clinic.  Del had called to say she had a problem with her afghan, so I told her to come…Barrie came with her entrelac shawl (and it looks beautiful, the knitted fringe is done as well and she will be sewing it own soon!) and Jackie came to get advice on making a sweater.  Jeri stopped by to pick up some yarn and a book, Lois came by to talk to Jackie about going to Joann’s and Jan stopped by to say hi!  It was a very lively afternoon.  Michael and I had a quick dinner and I knit while we watched TV in the evening.

Saturday morning (11/12) I headed off early to Hobby Lobby.  Friends had told me that they had some yarn I was looking for, and I also found fabric for a rope tote bag that someone ordered from me for a Christmas present.  I was home by 10:30 and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon weaving.  Michael played horseshoes in the morning, and watched golf in the afternoon.  Before dinner I had finally finished the 2 scarves on my loom and had cut them off.  I still have to do finishing on them, so no picture until they are totally done!  I’ve been trying to knit every minute that I’m in the car, or watching TV and got the ends sewn in on 4 additional scarves: 

These scarves are all the rage down here!

Sunday morning Jan and I had a meeting in Pineville and stopped for a quick breakfast at IHOP before heading home.  I spent the day in my studio (while Michael was out golfing and came home with an 85!!), cutting strips of fabric and wrapping clothesline for the newest tote.  We had pizza for dinner and settled in to watch TV in the evening.

I was up early Thursday (11/10) to get roll dough made, and raised and formed into rolls before Jan picked me up for quilting…and I took all of the magazines and patterns that I cleared out from my shelves.  Most of the stuff went in a flash!  I brought home very few items to donate to the library.  Jan and Loree and I made a quick stop at Hobby Lobby on the way home, so I didn’t get home until 2:30.  At 3, Michael and I headed up to square dancing for 2 hours and had a really good time!  We got home close to 6, had dinner and knit and watched TV the rest of the night.

Tuesday (11/8) was a FABULOUS day!  I wove most of the day, except to take a short break to clean out one of the shelves in my craft bookcase (I now have a ton of patterns to give away at quilting this week…here’s the before:

Michael ran a bunch of errands in the morning, then went to the movies in the afternoon.  We had dinner and watched TV and continued to weave in the evening.

Wednesday Michael left early for golf, and I continued weaving and cleaning out shelves, another before: 

and an after showing both cleaned shelves:

We went up to the square dance at 4:30 and were exhausted by the end at 6:30….we came home…had dinner…and snuggled on the couch.

Friday morning was spent cleaning to get ready for the 30 people arriving for a pot luck dinner at 5:30!!  Michael left for rehearsal before everyone came and I was in the bathroom at 5:15, taking the pins out of my hair when the doorbell rang!  I let the first (early!) guests in, got my hair finished and came out to greet everyone.  They all seemed to have a great time and we left for the theatre around 6:45, joining up with 14 other people!  The play was terrific….and Michael was terrific….after seeing the play I can TOTALLY understand why Michael is exhausted every night when he gets home.

We didn’t really sleep very late on Saturday…I was up by 8 to pull all of my stuff together for the open house, pottery and weaving fair from 10 – 3 on Saturday and 1 – 4 on Sunday.  I got there at 9 and finished setting up the rest of my items.  Here are 2 pics of some set-up:

We had a steady stream of people all day, so that was very good…and again I sold a bunch of stuff… about 8 scarves, one shawl and all but 2 necklaces.  I balanced our accounts at the end and had time to run home and change my clothes before Bob picked me up at 4:30.  I had my debut with REFLECTIONS, the 40’s band I told you about.  As one of my blog readers put it…I’m now a SHFS (smokin’ hot 40’s singer!!) I got to sing MISTY and WHERE OR WHEN.  It was a thrilling experience and one couple and another woman in the audience came up to me after our set and told me I had a beautiful voice and that they really enjoyed hearing me!!!  That was terrific….I got home at 10:15,,,,just 10 minutes before Michael called to say he was heading home from his next-to-the-last performance of the play.

Sunday morning we were moving very slowly…I got the ends sewn in on 2 other scarves that I took to the second day of the fair…and promptly sold!  Michael had his last performance, then came home to pick me up for the cast party.  I didn’t know what to make, and didn’t really have much time or energy, so I ended up taking rolls.  I thought it was kind of a funny thing to take to a cast party (and it was!) but everyone loved them, so that was good.  One of the cast members hosted the party, and they live in a mansion….literally!  the house was HUGE and beautifully decorated (but not fussy) with many amazing details.  I LOVED the house…but am awfully glad I’m not the one who has to clean it  J.  We got home around 10 and just collapsed into bed. 

Monday morning we were up early to drive into Charlotte with Howard and George for our segway tour of Charlotte.  We ended up having the same guide as last year!!  It was lots of fun (just like last year) and afterwards we had a smurfy lunch at the diner across the street.  When we got home around 2, Michael and I collapsed into bed and took a 2 hour nap.  We’ve both been running pretty hard lately and we really needed it.  We spent the evening relaxing and watching TV, although I did get warped up and began weaving on 2 new rayon chenille scarves in blue…I LOVE them!

Thursday (11/3) morning quilting got cancelled, so Nancy and I got to spend some time together.  I got to knit on a new scarf, while she sorted and matched up blocks for her new bed quilt.  After Nancy left, I spent several hours doing paperwork…it never seems to end and I never seen to get on top of it…my desk still looks awful, the pile is just a tiny bit smaller!  At 3:30 Michael and I headed up to square dancing.  We got people checked in and danced in one square, then another couple showed up so we headed for home.  Michael had a quick dinner and left for his pick-up rehearsal, while I packed up the golf cart with a bunch of craft stuff and headed over to Judy’s.  I set up more of my stuff in the display…we talked for awhile, then I headed home to a late dinner and knitting until Michael got home after 10.

Michael left early for golf on Wednesday (11/2) and I got Mexican Chicken soup in the crockpot before heading to the studio.  I know I’ve been blogging about a lot of knitting and weaving…with no pictures to show for it…but that’s because I usually put everything almost done in a pile and leave the ‘finishing details’ until I have a group of things to do…so here are pictures of 5 finished scarves (all already sold): 

 and 4 woven scarves:

I’ve already shown you the first scarf in browns, but wanted you to see the second side by side.  They were both warped the same, then the first was woven with the lightest brown and the second was woven with the medium brown.  Again the 2 pink scarves were warped the same, but one was woven with a solid pink and one was woven with the same thread as the warp thread.

I made 2 pans of cornbread in the afternoon and Jeannie arrived at 4:30 (just after Michael got home from golf with an 86 on a course he had never seen!!!) for my pressure canning lesson.  I ladled hot soup into 4 quart jars, poured in water, popped on the lid and away we went.  While we were waiting for it to start steaming and then to process for 75 minutes, we ate soup and cornbread for dinner and talked and talked and talked and talked!!!  We also set up a time for our next bread class at the high school…that will be the Monday of Thanksgiving week.  It is VERY hard to believe that we will be celebrating our FIFTH Thanksgiving in South Carolina.  It took me the rest of the night to label my scarves and table runners for the open house….a tedious fiddle-y job!

Tuesday morning (11/1)we went for our physicals with Dr. K.  Both of us have high cholesterol, so he wants to see us in 3-6 months to see if we have improved using diet and exercise  L.  After that we headed to BJ’s for a massive shopping trip…it took over an hour to put everything away once we got home.  Phil stopped by to put up a shelf in our laundry room…it looks FABULOUS!!!!!  By then it was close to 4 and I threw together some of my stuff for the craft open house this weekend and headed up to Judy’s to set up.  Once home, we had dinner, then I headed to the studio to get my 2 scarves off the loom.  I was back upstairs by 8 and knit while we watched TV.

HALLOWEEN!! - Monday morning after breakfast, Michael and I handed out flyers in the last pod for the open house craft fair and headed to Harris Teeter for HE washer detergent.  Our new washer was delivered yesterday while I was grocery shopping, and we need high efficiency detergent to run it.  We got a couple of loads done in the morning before Michael left for golf and I left for my bread demo at the high school.

I told you about it….right?  I quilt on Thursdays with a woman whose sister is the home ec teacher at the high school.  She asked if I would do a bread demo…today was the day!!!  I took in artisan bread and we baked up 3 loaves….the kids also mixed up 2 more batches to be baked later this week and next.  I promised the kids I would be back before Thanksgiving with my ‘golden pull apart butter buns’.  It was actually kind of fun and I am looking forward to the next time.  I was home by 2, got mac and cheese in the crockpot for dinner and got to weave for a bit.  Michael got home from golf and was really cold, so he decided to take a soak for a bit.  Dinner was scrumptious and we watched TV the rest of the night…when we were down in the studio I was weaving and when we were upstairs I was knitting…I am determined to catch up on all of my orders!