Celebrate!

I hope everyone here in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!  And now (only after Thanksgiving for me!) we can start to decorate and celebrate Christmas.  I really need to find a tree - we had one that I really liked that had the lights already attached, but Callie played a little too hard in that tree as a kitten, and DH had to fight those lights every year.  Last year, after Christmas...he pitched it into the trash!  Now I can't find a tree that I like and I don't know what to do about it.  Right now the only trees we have are these...

For decorating, I want a 7 foot tree, but today, we will settle for these 1 1/2 and 1 1/4 INCH trees!  And because this post is about celebrating...today we are going to celebrate Small Business Saturday, by offering free shipping to anywhere in the U.S.!  It's a great day to spend in your jammies, shopping from home (isn't every day a great day for that?!).  So go take a peek at our website and do some Christmas shopping!

Another thing that I'm celebrating is my Gathering Scraps quilt.  After I finished it, my friend Lisa Bongean from Primitive Gatherings asked if she could borrow it for awhile to take to shows.  Here it is in their booth in Des Moines...

They have kits available for it in the shop and online.  I talked to Lisa the other day and she said that they sold out of patterns in Houston, so that is really something to Celebrate!

Now it's your turn...what are you celebrating today?  Whatever it is, take a little time out and help small businesses and at the same time, take care of some Christmas shopping - 2 birds with 1 stone!

Callie (see her waving through the chair?!) and Ozzie say "celebrate and shop with us!" (wow...now that is cheesy...I better stop here!)

Have a great weekend!

What a great time we had at the show in Ft. Dodge, IA.  Such a super guild - the ladies were all so nice and very helpful, and so smart - they put their husbands in charge of all of the food!  They had lunch for us each day and also made us supper on Saturday night.  And on top of all of that - we sold lots of jewelry and loads of socks!  So many socks, that I had to order more for the next show, and they will be here today.  Speaking of the next show...it is in Clear Lake, IA and here are the details...

North Iowa Quilters One-Stop Shopping Spree

Best Western Holiday Lodge

I-35/US 18 - Exit 194 West

Friday, November 14th from 10:00 to 5:00 

Saturday, November 15th from 10:00 to 4:00

There will be 13 vendors and lots of fun!  Hope some of you can make it there to see me!  My aunt has a home in Mason City, so Mom and I go and stay with her, and my aunt helps me at the show and Mom runs around and sees the sights :).  But...we have had a bit of a problem with that plan...Mom fell and broke her arm and had to have surgery last week.  Which, much to her chagrin, means NO DRIVING!  So...I may be working at the show by myself and Mom and Aunt Nancy may be off playing without me.  I'm sure it will all work out.

I've decided that the rest of this post is just going to be a hodge podge of random stuff that I haven't shared with you yet!  Mostly pictures, not a lot of words.

You know how I love a good mail day - well, one day, my friend Nancy sent me this book - it's a great book and I was lucky that she accidentally bought 2!

 And another day Nancy sent me this adorable Annie.  I love her!  Check out this website to find one for yourself!

 She made herself at home on top of the quilts...

 Another fun mail day, but this was from Aunt Nancy.  A few scraps and a super-cute note pad.  Nothing better than pumpkins and cats!

Do you plant zucchini in your garden?  If so, you know that one plant yields about a bazillion zucchini!  We do all kinds of creative things with them, but the yummiest is these brownies!  So good!

 This is an old picture, but this is one of the cute little kittens that Dottie had.  They are all so big now - as big as their Mommy already!  They have the shiniest, softest fur and are all adorable and hilarious to watch!

 I made a little visit to one of my favorite quilt shops...Inspirations...in Hills, IA.  Nancy always has lots of new samples (all gorgeous) and new fabrics.  Love that shop!!  I took just a couple of pictures...

 And here are a few things that jumped in my car...

And since I am obsessed with the new socks we are selling...I thought I would share one of my many pair. I really can't wait for the new ones to get here - I will probably have to have another pair for myself.  I have had a lot of people ask me if they will be on my website.  Probably not...but...if you are interested in them, send me a note and I will send you pictures of what I have.  They really do make great gifts.  One lady in Ft. Dodge bought NINE pair!  Some for her and some for her grandkids.

I should have posted this a long time ago.  This is the final block for Charming 2.  Teresa C is from Australia and she is the only person who sent me pictures of every single block.  She should win a prize!  And maybe she will....that should be an incentive for those of you in Charming 3 to get to working on your blocks!

 And speaking of Charming 3...this is just a few of the first charm. We were working on these up to the minute I sent them out and I didn't ever have them all in a big pile, like I usually do.  I didn't get any pictures of the bright ones.  I hope to do better next time (which is right around the corner!).

That's all for now...hope you have a great day!