Company from the South and HOOSIER!

It has really been a good year so far. Some of my favorite people came over for a visit.

A few of my favorite relatives: from the left - Dianne (cousin), Jeannette (aunt), Loretta (cousin) and Dorothy (aunt). I always have fun with my family, I just need to see them more often. We started the evening off with Pomegranate Martini's!

Dianne was my maid of honor in my first wedding and I love her. I love all these gals.

So much fun and lots of talk about.

Loretta, she always makes me laugh, so much fun!!

Look what Dianne brought me - all this thread and backing. We have the love of sewing and embroidering in common. Thank you so much.

Dianne commented that I had not put up any pictures from our visit with her on our way to the Va Tech Bowl Game last year...... I thought I had......so here some are of her lovely home and us:

I love the way Dianne decorates, I have gotten a lot of ideas from her and Loretta. I have never seen a prettier laundry room.

I really liked this idea - she can decorate anything and it looks great.

I probably didn't post these pics due to fear and/or embarrassment. Dianne hasn't gained a ounce over the years. She still wears a size 2!

OK, while I was having fun with family, even though I couldn't hang out with them on Saturday, my hubby went to Nitro, West Virginia to pick up my cabinet that we bought on the way back from St. Louis, bless him.

It didn't take Dave long to start checking and fixing the cabinet up. It does need a few repairs. This is the sifter off of the flour bin - after a good cleaning it will be workable.

One section is a roll top and it works well.

Everyone keeps asking me where in the world was I going to put it - I had a plan, but to be honest I was afraid it would not look right where I wanted it. But I think it will be just fine. Dave is going to work on it in his room but I wanted to get a feel for how it would fit first.

See that bottom drawer, it is a bread box. After a little cleaning, sanding, and painting ( it is a little yellowed) - I think it will look great against my kitchen cabinets. It will be my baking center. All of my baking tools will be kept here and it has a great metal work top for making lots of goodies. I am excited.

In Dave's room to start the re - finishing. It can be disassembled in 3 parts so moving it isn't so bad. The base has rollers.

Heading West for Christmas

We left home around 10 am on Sunday December 21. The car was pretty full with the usual stuff, Christmas presents and 2 dogs! Bandit sat in this position most of the trip. Overall the dogs did well.

. Our first stop was in Staunton Virginia. We want to come back and spend some time here. Very nice little college town. They also had a very nice flea market. I will share some of the goodies I found there later. There were even baseball cards for Dave.

We also stopped at Tamarack in West Virginia, not too far from Charleston. It is a huge building with a lot of crafts. They also have a restaurant and other nice facilities.

Sunday Night in West Virginia

We stayed at the Ramada in South Charleston Sunday night. It was so cold; very windy which made it really bad. I am glad I brought my heavy coat with a hood. The dogs weren't too thrilled either.

On Monday morning we stopped in Nitro, West Virginia and found 2 great antique malls. I sure am glad we stopped, I found a real treasure. The first shop was "Antiques on the Avenue". The owner, Clyde was 80 years old and just the nicest man. I spotted a white Hoosier Cabinet and it was a very good deal. I have always wanted one of these but they have been too expensive. Clyde said he would take off $40 if we paid cash. What a great deal - but how were we going to get it home.?? I told him we would look into possibly renting a trailer and picking it up on the way home. But after checking on this in St. Louis it just wasn't practical. Oh well.

Bandit did pretty well in the hotels, considering that he gets nervous in any new environments.

This was another mall across the street, "Somewhere In Time." It was really full of goodies. I got a few things (mostly ideas) which I will share later. The car was pretty packed with the gifts and luggage so we decided we would pick up the things on the way home.

This is the mall's pooch. This is the gentleman that sits at the front of the store = he was still there when we left. That fire sure felt good!

Lots of walking with the dogs.

Road Trip on Monday

Monday morning we got up and continued west:

We stopped in Milton, WV at a shop we discovered on our first drive to St. Louis.

I thought this tree was interesting. There were artificial Christmas flowers placed at the top of the tree - the bow is placed below the embellishment on top - a gorgeous bow.

Lots of primitive goodies.



Lots of bridges along the way.

Monday night we stayed in Dale, Indiana at the Baymont Inn. The town of Santa Claus is their big attraction. We rode to the town that night. The decorations were pretty, what we could see of them. There was a gated community where most of the decorations were or so we were told by the staff at the hotel we were staying. There is an amusement park there - maybe we will check it out on one of our warmer weather trips.

Dave checking out some baseball cards.

When we left the hotel Tuesday morning, it was cold and ice was falling, so the roads were a little treacherous. Lucky me, just down the road from the hotel where we were staying was a quilt shop. The shop was much more than a quilt shop. There was also knitting, YEAH!! "Shirley's Sewing Stuff."

This is Shirley and she is such a nice lady and very talented. Isn't this purse great that she made. I will definitely visit her again.

Trip West Continued

Some of Shirley's work - beautiful! Her shop was great. I wish I had more time to spend there. Dave was being very patient in the car. It was probably good that we delayed getting on the highway due to the weather.

Look at all this great merchandise. I really had to hold myself back. I went in looking for a certain size knitting needle. I got a lot of good information from Shirley, especially about felting - I now know some of the mistakes I have been making.

Shirley was a real joy! She gives lectures all over the country. Her free hand crochet was beautiful (I think that is what she called it) - sorry if I am wrong about that.

I enjoyed my visit with Shirley, sure wish I lived closer to her! How lucky was I that she was right down the road from the hotel we stayed at. I casted on for this bag during the trip - it is a felted project. After felting I plan on monogramming it.

This is a picture of the snowmen hat's I am making
from this book. I have made many of the hats from the book - love it!

I also made this cute little bag. It will be felted and a little button added. I also have pink yarn to make another one. They are very cute.

You can't tell from these pictures, but the interstate was a mess. We were driving 40 to 45 MPH. A lot of cars just flew by us - crazy. There were many cars that had ended up off the road. Many EMS and Police Vehicles were on the highway.

Into Missouri - still cloudy but no snow or ice! We are almost there!!!!!!