Stats, Holiday Planning, Unexpected Guests and More

Hello Friends!

I neglected to share October’s cross stitch progress during November, so I’ll include it here.

I stitched 6,540 stitches on three projects:

-        Give Thanks

-        Well Rounded Autumn Quilt

-        Started Witching Hour

Clicking the names above will take you to the October post regarding that project.

On the sewing front, I finished the blocks for the Scrappiness Is Happiness quilt. And I finished sewing the top together in November.

Also in November, I stitched 4,700 stitches on three projects:

-        Ann Harper 1839 (no picture yet)

-        Witching Hour – come back tomorrow, Dec. 4^th for an update on this project

-        Started stitching Cocoa Quilt (no picture yet)

Much of my crafting came to a halt the week before Thanksgiving because I started getting ready for Christmas.

Each year I put together a folder of checklists for the holiday season. They include November and December calendars, menus, ingredients for each dish and shopping list for items needed, gift list, gift receipts, etc.

With my folder organized, I then wrote my holiday cards and got them ready to be mailed during the first week of December. I do not send nearly as many cards as I used to. Do you write and mail holiday cards?

I may have enjoyed a nice slice of pound cake with caramel frosting while I worked on the cards.

I mentioned in a previous post we are expecting house guests every weekend in December, except for one. The plan was to spend Thanksgiving week doing a deep clean of the house, get the tree and have all Christmas decorating finished by the Saturday night after Thanksgiving.

As I was cleaning on Thanksgiving morning, my daughter called to say she received a notification that three packages were delivered to my house, and I need to check the front door. I wondered who would deliver on Thanksgiving Day. Well, I opened the door to find my daughter, her boyfriend and their dog standing there. They had driven all night from Orlando to surprise me. Apparently, they had been planning this with my husband and mom for quite some time. We spent the weekend celebrating my birthday as well as the Thanksgiving holiday.

The only task that was successfully completed was visiting the tree farm on Friday and getting the tree. Now, mind you, it is still standing naked in the living room…but, at least we got it.

This was my daughter’s first time visiting Boyd Mountain Christmas Tree Farm.

These were the cutest trees. Ours was a bit larger.

We paid for the tree inside of a large tent. The tent contained several tables with various items for purchase. I love that each table was covered in a quilt.

Mom, Myself and My Daughter

Since the real tree needed to sit a couple of days for the limbs to open, I managed to start decorating one small fake pencil tree in our bedroom.

We woke up to some frigid temperatures on Saturday morning.

It was also 17 degrees Fahrenheit when the kids young adults left to return to Florida Sunday morning.

We had the best weekend and I look forward to their return at Christmas.

You may remember I was supposed to run the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning. Well, as predicted, it was cold and still damp from an early morning rain. I decided to stay home!

Our next guest arrives this Friday. My best friend from Florida is coming for the weekend. I'm spending this week cleaning again and decorating. Not sure how far I'll get but I'll share photos when everything is done.

Please come back tomorrow for Witching Hour Wednesday. The stitchers have some fun progress to share.

I hope this wasn't too long. And, I hope those who celebrated had a great Thanksgiving holiday.