This past weekend, our family was invited to dinner at my friend Lynn's new home.  What a wonderful time we had!  The food was delicious (as always) and we are still talking about the fellowship.  Praise the Lord for like-minded friends!  Lynn's new home is fabulous.  We loved her huge kitchen and felt right at home there.  Thanks so much, Lynn, Al and Tim. 

This will be a boring post for most people but I want to document all our family's winnings at the county fairs this summer.  My children entered many things in the St. Mary's County Fair and a few things in the Calvert County Fair.  (Why so few in the CCF?  Their process for entering items is long and drawn out.)  But now that the checks for CC have been cashed, everyone here is smiling!  The above wallet was made by Lizzie.

Table runner made by Anna.

Pillow sewn by Anna.

Landscape quilt by Anna.

Applique quilt by Anna.

Patchwork rug by Anna.

Shirt by Anna.

Lizzie pieced this pillow...which has two sides.  We like the other side better...but the picture was blurry.

Anna sewed the above three dresses.

Lizzie pieced and quilted this music quilt for me for Christmas.  I love it!

Anna sewed the three doll dresses.

Lizzie sewed this tote bag.  I can't find the picture of Allen's tote bag...but it also won first place.  (They entered them in two different categories so they wouldn't be competing against each other.)

Maggie was so pleased that her honey won second place in the SMCF and first place in the CCF. We were pleased too!

Anna was pleased to win first place for her quilt that she made for her Grandaddy.

Anna put together this display of sharks teeth from San Pedro Island, FL.  Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa L for taking us there!

Anna won first place for her wallhanging quilt she made for me.

Anna had a lot of fun piecing together this quilt.  Her only 3rd place ribbon.  This picture does not do the quilt justice.

Abigail loves this stuffed elephant that Anna made.

Anna made this little boy's shirt.  Adorable.

Every once in a while when Maggie is doing well, she'll make her way to the sewing machine.  She sewed this dress...and was happy to win 2nd place!

Lizzie's coaster set.

Anna had too much fun sewing this Othello game set with 2 matching bags.

The weeks of the fairs were extremely busy...so when it was all said and done, everything came home and got dumped onto the table. When we went to take photos, we found some of the clothes wadded up.  I assure you...they were neatly ironed when we took them to the fair!  Lizzie made the jumpsuit shown above.

Lizzie pieced this quilt together to earn Junior Grand Champion in quilting...for the second year in a row!  Hurray, Lizzie!  She also won two 3rd place ribbons for her muffins and sourdough dinner rolls.  Not bad considering we didn't know our oven's heating element was dying and never heated past 200 degrees!  Oh well.  (The judges commented that the food was undercooked.) 

Autumn is definitely flying by.  Tonight was the first practice for the Christmas Messiah.  Allen is trying out his new bass voice and joining the choir along with Mike, Maggie, Anna and Lizzie.  I love it!

Enjoy this wonderful time of the year.  Many blessings ~ Kathie