PARSON BROWN.......

.................is waiting patiently for the snow to fly. Here in NE PA an inch or 2 is expected for tommorrow. That'll put a smile on his handsome face.

The baking is done for Christmas.

 Now if only I could muster up the courage to do some shopping for gifts.

I am not a shopper unless it is for the shop.

I have been working at my day job for like 9 straight days and finally have a day off today.

And I have made the most of it, I put together several foodie gift baskets for a few customers,

made pumpkin dip mixes and turkey soup packs,

three different gourmet cocoa blends and

puttered around besides.

I'd like to go home and put my feet up and relax but that's not going to happen.

Next to my chair is a beautiful frasier fir with not a single light or ornament on it, so that's what I will be doing in 15 minutes.

Now just in case I don't have time to post (back to work tommorrow) in the next few days.......

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE .......Susan

SANTA..........

............and his Snowbuddy hiding in the cupboard.

This is a sitichery pattern that I did with a combination of stitchery and applique in wool. See the potpourri? I call it "Gift of the Magi". It is a mixture of real frankinscense and myrrh with rosemary and other Mediterranean herbs. For the "gold" I put mini gold paper stars and gold tinsel glitter in. Almost sold out of this one.

This is another soap made by my friend Robin Weber. I call it "Gift of the Magi" also because it is very lightly scented with frankinscense and myrrh. And of course, a gold bow to top it off.

I have the shop all decked out for Christmas with 7 small trees and lots of lights and garland and primitive ornies and dolls, but when I go home at the end of the day......NOTHING.....we haven't even gotten our tree yet. There's that old saying about the shoemakers kids with no shoes. Well, that's our house.....me....the quiltmaker/crafter with not a one in sight.  How sad!

I have a hundred things to do before the quilt guild meeting Monday and will have to fit it in aound my work schedule (I work everyday til then). So...must get busy sewing and pattern designing. Will take pics and post later.......

HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone!

THE HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE........

.......pictures. 

Just one of several cookie trays.

Candy jar display

The angel tree

A little snow guy

A big snow guy

Christmas spice soap with star anise decoration

Plain Jane soap in a plain brown wrapper-too cute!

HO HO HO !

Wassail Spice packets---always a best seller with the wine sampling---WOOHOO!

A very big thank you to everyone who came to the Open House.

FALL QUILTED TABLERUNNER

I made this tablerunner for fall. It took just a couple hours to put together and then an hour or so to quilt. I will have patterns and kits available this weekend in Christmas colors. I will post a pic when its done. The pictures do not do it justice, the colors are more crisp and contrasting in person.

OoooooooH NooooooooO!!!!!

The time has come to put away all the halloween crafty stuff.....I do like to leave out some fall decor until Thanksgiving. Then the serious Christmas decorating starts in the store. I usually put up 4 or 5 trees (small ones) because I like to display all the ornaments. I had one of the kids go into the garage attic and bring down some boxes that I didn't know the contents of and........... lo and behold.....I spotted some Santas and Snowmen that I had made and frogotten about.  Am anxious to unpack those boxes that have been in that attic since our move 4 yrs. ago. I'm heading outside to do some last minute cleaning up and putting some herbs to bed for the winter. Calling for freezing temps the next few nights.

BUBBLE....BUBBLE....TOIL and TROUBLE

Today, Fri. Oct. 2nd, I surprised Judy at The Cinnamon Stick

for Witch"s Nite Out. I didn't tell her I was coming and she was surprised. I dressed in a hastily put together witch's outfit and drove the 91 miles. OMG----her shop is so awesome........all decked out in fall and halloween goodies. I picked out some neat ornaments and old fashioned orange tinsel. There were so many witches roaming around and a lot of cackling going on. What fun!!!! Judy....you are so clever and creative....I enjoyed myself immensely! Definitely a destination shop....and the shop next door, Homespun, lovely wools and all my favorite pattern designers. It was hard to pick just a few. Can't wait for the Christmas Open House.

POST HERITAGE FESTIVAL PICS

Here are a few pics of my stand when I participated in the Heritage Festival of our little town of Benton, PA.














I used my collection of traditional quilts that I have made over the years and covered all the tables. These are baskets of fat quarters all in small calico-like prints. I only brought things that looked like they were from that time period. I also had some enamelware buckets filled with rolled up wool, but I didn't get a picture of those.



The top shelf here is redwork patterns and supplies and the lower shelves are enamelware pans filled with an assortment of tea.




























I travelled the back roads around our farm and gathered about 24 fresh herb bunches and displayed them in old blue mason jars lined up on the tables. This seemed a fitting sign.
























Here are the herbs that were used during the Civil War in our area. I used wooden clothespins and attached tags with the herb name and what they were used for. Everybody thought it was pretty neat.



























I also clipped lavender, chamomile, bee balm and mints from
my garden. My stand was very colorful and smelled heavenly.

COMPUTER CRASH

Well........not really a crash but the next thing to it. I downloaded an ezine in April and really enjoyed the magazine and wanted to get the next issue. So I clicked on the website and when it came up something about hackers was on the screen. So.......dummy me thinks the computer forgot where it was going and I went for a second try on the website and same thing.....hackers. Needless to say........I got a virus....well, not 1 but 9 viruses. I was trying to get on Blogger and it (Blogger) would not let me in because the viruses were sending messages trying to infect more computers. Blogger sent me a note that said there was some unauthorized action going on and to protect the other users of the site I would not be allowed in. WOW! That is how I found out about the viruses because my computer was still working but everything was loading very slowly and getting slower everyday. So.......I installed an antivirus program (90 day free trial) and everything is good again. You can be sure after the 90 days I will subscribe.

HERITAGE FESTIVAL

On Sat. July 25 from 9am-10pm and Sun. July 26 from 9am-4pm the Fishing Creek Confederacy Heritage Festival will be going on in the town of Benton. There will be civil war reenactments, a theatrical production, 1860's activities, professional musicians playing civil war music and period crafts and demonstrations. I will be there to showcase herbs used during the civil war. I will gather fresh herb bouquets and display them with a card with the then and now of herbal lore. I am also bringing some books on civil war quilts with fat quarters to sell and traditional rughooking and wool for pennyrugs. Everyone will be in period costumes and I am making a working day dress for one of the leaders of the group and my costume will be a little more fancy (because I am a merchant whose husband has died in the war and I took over his business as the village druggist) with a hoop skirt and zoave jacket with undersleeves and a reticule (which is a small purse hung from the waistband) and bonnets, of course. So........my shop will be closed on Sat. the 25 of July. Come visit at the festival.

UNCLE SAM & LADY LIB

My friends and I would like to wish everyone a very happy and safe 4th of July. In our small town we have a bluegrass festival going on July 2-5 and it is very busy at all the restaurants and shops. I will have my shop open and won't be going to town until the evening. There is also a big fireworks show at midnight Sat. night (I think). I never find things out until the last minute. Anyways..........Happy July 4th........Long may she wave!