Lisa - Better in the ground than - where? When we bought our first live tree years ago we were told to dig the hole well ahead of time and store the soil where it wouldn't freeze. Is that what you did? I think that your tree will do fine. Better than if you had intended on keeping it in a garage or something. Make sure that you water it well now and again later if you get more thaws. Make sure that you treat it especially well in the spring and for the rest of the first year. Nice looking tree - your link worked. Deb (and her non-expert opinion)

Thanks, everyone! I love sharing this stuff with you. Have you designed a project for a larger hooked rug yet? With your new frame how large of a rug can you create? One of my first hooked projects 20+ years ago was a small rug I designed. Then later I bought a pattern that appealed to me and hooked that. I think both still need to be bound and finished (procrastinating about this step is a problem common to many rug hookers). Currently, the two projects I have lined up are a chair seat (I have five but need one more) and a new cover for my footstool. My new frame (which should arrive in less than two weeks) is the same size as my old one, but both can accommodate any size project, as you just lift the rug up and move it to work on different sections. Here's a story for you: Last night I was trying to come up with a design idea for the hooked chair seat. I looked through one of my books on rug hooking, and got nowhere with that. Then I reached for a book on folk art, thinking as I did so that it had been years since I'd opened it. Inside the front cover I found cut-out patterns my daughter Jill and I had drawn for a quilted table runner I made years ago. I didn't use the horse she drew at the time, but there it was, a perfect size for the chair seat. I feel that I was guided to open that book. Here's a picture of the pattern I drew on the linen burlap last night. I'll do some sort of design in the outer border. Now all I have to do is pick which wools I'm going to use. It's like coloring. :-)

Sharon, GW has a wonderful Christmas and Holiday forum. The people there are full of great ideas. Come on over and play! Here's the link. Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas and Holiday Forum

Looking good, Don. Both my Brother Stefan and Golden Meadows developed solid colored leaves. I removed the eyes just yesterday. Now have 2 new hostas...one rugose, green (Brother Stefan) and one blue (Golden Meadows). GM is now 6 years old. At first it used to turn green, now it turns blue later in the season. Hope they both take where I've planted them.