The first of the 2011 ornaments!

As promised, I am letting you see the first of the 2011 ornaments after Christmas.  We are still quite away from shipping it out in mid-January.  The supply list isn't available just yet but when it does show up it will be on a link of the LHN web site.

Cardinal Winter



Vonna (The Twisted Stitcher) is in charge of the stitching and finishing of all twelve designs.  She continually out-does herself with the finishes.  Isn't this twig frame perfect for the design????  Even the little corners are wrapped neatly making this one look very rustic. 

There are two more designs I'll show here in the days ahead leading up to our mid-month ship date.  Stay tuned!

Thank you for stopping by my blog all year long and supporting us with your stitching and comments.  2011 will be a wonderful year full of new styles in our regular line and also a few surprises. 

I love surprises, don't you?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Diane

Traditions

Our family has a food tradition that dates back to when I lived at home with my parents many years ago.  Every Christmas Eve we serve the same meal: meatballs, hash brown potato casserole, green beans, garlic bread and cranberry. 

Nikki's cookies are served as dessert.

The meatballs are made with a multitude of ingredients.  We use fresh parsley, onions, garlic, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, thyme, basil, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and a few other items besides the meat. 

The sauce is made first and then the meatballs.

Once the meatballs are formed they go into the oven to brown.  Afterwards they join the sauce and cook all day in the crock pot.  Our house will start smelling really good in just a few hours.  The family will walk in this evening and head to the kitchen, following the wonderful aromas this meal provides!

From our house to yours, we wish you a very happy holiday.

Ron and Diane

Baking Day - Part Two

Just a few more photos from baking day.  The finished cookies displayed beautifully have been delivered to our house today to share with all of our guests tomorrow night.  You do a great job of baking as always Nikki!



The bar cookie being made on the right is layered with graham crackers, coconut, raspberry filling and drizzled with white and milk chocolate.

These delicious little sweets are made with a peanut butter Ritz Bits dipped in melted white chocolate.  Before it cools, top with a Hershey semi-sweet morsel.  Is there anything better than chocolate and peanut butter all in one bite?

Someone just got caught with their hand in the sugar jar!

Happy baking everyone!

Diane

Baking Day - Part One

I went to Nikki's this morning to do a bit of baking with her.  It's an annual event right before Christmas.  She has everything we need out on the counter ready to go when I arrive.  This year we had a few unexpected visitors.  I was able to get a few photos.  :)

Ho-ho-ho!

The Nutcracker

What a wonderful afternoon we had yesterday! Our granddaughter, Juliet, performed in The Nutcracker for her third year. This time around she danced in the opening party scene (see below), the Arabian dance and as a Candy Cane. She found us all sitting in the audience early on and her smile got even bigger.

Derrick, Juliet and Nikki

Attending the performance was a wonderful way to start off the week of Christmas.

Happy Stitching,

Diane

Gracie and the Tree Pretties

We put our tree up last weekend.  It's fun to see the old and new ornaments come out of the box one by one.  It was a bit of a challenge the first night as Gracie had never seen a tree before.  Well not in the house any way!  She has been such a good girl and has left it alone since that night.  She thought sitting for this photo was torture.  Poor thing!  Ron is standing over my shoulder with treats but she kept trying to perform to get one!

Happy Stitching!

Diane

The decorating has begun!

I finally started some decorating today.  I purchased this wonderful cubby and the first thing I did after Ron hung it for me was put some of my favorite ornaments in it.  I also located a few of my wintry Boyd's Bears, candles, trees and pine cones.  This is the perfect spot for handmade ornaments!

I hope you are inspired to finish some of your ornaments to enjoy this holiday season!

Diane

A Busy December

Time is flying by and we're as busy as ever here!  But today I pulled out all of my wrapping paper and bows to inventory it so that I didn't overbuy when I went out this morning.

 I still have a lot of paper (I color coordinate!) from past years.  If you look at this paper, and then look at my designs, you can tell a lot about me and the colors I like!

And then I saw these old fashioned candy canes at Target.  They were .88 cents for twelve!  Not much is under a dollar any more.  Bob's candy canes were around when my kids were small.  I read they've been in business over eighty years!

This wreath and two garlands are as far as I've come with decorating though.  I hope that after I get the shopping finished I can focus a little more on making the house merry and bright!

Happy Stitching!

Diane