GIVEAWAY WINNER

My Veterans Day Giveaway winner was chosen yesterday - it was Terri Boog - Terri had requested the BBD Tis Halloween book if she were to be chosen.

Yeah Terri - I'm happy to be mailing this book to you. I know you will enjoy it very much.

I don't have much progress to show this week although I have been stitching and knitting and not hooking this month - yet. That is about to change - our Fall hooking retreat is coming up next weekend at the Olde Green Cupboard. WHEEEEEE - that is time to sit and hook, hook oh and eat and hook and laugh with friends, oh and did I say HOOK. We did this in July and I got a ton of hooking done on Merrie Halloween. Not sure what my focus piece will be this time but I do want to spend some time on my pomegranate runner. If I don't get busy with something - I won't have a rug finish to display at the annual Ocean rug hooking workshop in January. I am so pleased that so many of you commented on the recent Halloween rug hooking retreat and seem to be interested in learning to hook - rug hooking is very big right now and I bet there is a teacher or class in your area. Please let me know if you need any help or guidance in locating a rug hooking source. I'm always happy to get you "hooked up".

Deb can be contributed for starting the frog craze to display your scissor collection. She has so many wonderful ones. She had several I was really coveting so I put my mom on the search for frogs. She was in the mountains last month and found this one in an antique shop.

It is really clear glass but apparently picked up the colors of the fabric in this photo. I have tons more scissors but this is a smallish frog so I'm not sure how many will fit and look nice and not over crowded in this small frog. the darling M scissor fob attached to my favorite pewter Dovo scissors was given to me by DF Henri - I think she stitched this on 40ct over 1 - so darling and such a treasure - just as she is such a treasure to me.

Here is a photo of a beautiful WIP I have in Blue Sky Alpaca hand dyed worsted in the exact color they used in the magazine. This from Knit Scene Fall 09 and is just the perfect garment for Florida and in a spectacular yarn. I was attracted to it immediately because they pictured it on a mature woman and not a size 2 6ft model that was 15 years old. LOL - not to mention I knew I had the yarn stashed.

I got this yarn several years ago at one of my fave yarn shops in Savannah - Wild Fibre - I had started another garment but just didn't gel with it - so my new favorite thing is to "repurpose" the yarn into something I want to do now. So instead of languishing in the UFO yarn wasteland - it is now looking so happy by my chair and getting worked on regularly in my vast knitting rotation. The back is just plain stockinette but I love and need some mindless knitting projects in my life. The front has pretty open cablework which is not too visible from the photo.

Jody's birthday is Saturday - we are going to dinner tonight with my folks - they are off on another trip tomorrow and will not be in town for his birthday on Saturday. I keep pushing a day trip to Gainesville for a b-day activity. There is an awesome bread and cheese shop there we used to love to visit when Jody was in g-ville for work all the time. However he has already realized that my main motive is not to feed him bread and cheese for his birthday but to visit Hanks which is just across the street from the Upper Crust. I guess after almost 30 years - this guy does know my every trick! So you'll soon find out if we take that day trip to Gainesville on Saturday. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of fall festivals, football, all the needlework you love and some delicious soups and stews to warm the bones. Wish me luck with the bread and cheese!

HALLOWEEN RUG HOOKING WORKSHOP

WHEEEEEEEE - what a great time we had at the Azalea House for the Halloween rug hooking workshop. Jill brought in national teacher Dianne Kelly of the Woolen Cottage in Hiram OH. I have had 3 week long classes with Dianne at different camps and she is a great teacher who really excels in wide cuts. She hooked a little Jack-O-Lantern in a 12 cut in just a few hours time - it was darling - dang it - I should have gotten a photo. I have tons of photos to show you so get a cup of tea and I'll talk a little about each one. The Azalea House was built in 1878 - it is 3 stories and has 6 guest rooms. It is typical Queen Anne architecture with a wrap around porch downstairs and what was probably a sleeping porch on the 2nd floor. It is built entirely of wood and most likely is cypress and heart pine with some native oak. It is located on the banks of the St Johns River in sleepy Palatka Florida. Palatka used to be a prominent stop on the river when northerners would come south for the winter by riverboat. There were stops all along the St Johns from Cowford (Jacksonville in the 1800's) to Sanford (near Orlando) and spend winter months in grand hotels or family cottages. In a recent post - I showed the wonderful historic home I work in which is also located on the St Johns River in the historic Riverside area near downtown Jacksonville.

We have had many retreats there and it is always fun to be there surrounded by all Jill's wonderful collections PLUS she has a small stitching shop inside which specializes in samplers. Let's go inside and have a look around.

This is the main stairway just off the foyer. See all those stair risers - they were hooked by members of our No Fl Rug Hooking guild several years ago and gifted to Jill. I won't go into naming which ones each member hooked but mine is the mummy and since I hooked most of mom's - I'll mention her's is the witches broom on the bottom stair. Wish I had gotten a better photo of all the samplers on the wall on this stairway. Jill's parents have a lovely B&B in Eufaula AL and JoAnn also has hundreds of stitched pieces - mostly samplers adorning her walls so if you are ever in Southeastern AL - you must visit the Candlelight Inn. Back in the 80's Jill had a darling cross stitch shop in Romeo Mich. so she has been involved with stitching for many years and has a vast collection of stitched items.

Proceeding down the long hallway past the stair case - Look at this fantastic quilt that Jill's friends and co-workers at the Olde Green Cupboard made for her. Too cool huh and what about that quaker wall - just wonderful - Sarah Tatum and Sarah Moon are the big ones.

Let's round the corner and you'll see the mantle in the dining room all decked out. Wish my photo would have shown all the glimmer and glitz but - trust me it is soooo cool.

Also in the dining room is the Halloween tree with the awesome tree skirt that our friend and mentor Katie Puckett designed and Jill hooked. I'll include a close up of the tree skirt - too bad I could not get the whole thing but there was not much clearance for another photo of the rest of the sections of the tree skirt. There are many stitched and hand crafted ornaments on this tree and one can stand and look for hours and marvel at the wonderful treasures to be seen.

Oh look - isn't this an eerie photo of Dianne giving a lesson to the 4 students who were hooking in the dining room on Halloween afternoon. WHOOOOOO - Spooky isn't it !

Come thru the huge doorway into the formal parlor and see some of my bestest friends hooking so industriously on their rugs. Katie Puckett, designer and dyer extraordinaire is on the phone on the far left, Nancy BFF and current Prez of the needlepoint guild I belong to that I refer to often in ramblings, in front of her is madame de Leeuw (Jill) and in the foreground is BFF Henrietta who stitched my wonderful Susannah Goose that I showed in my Halloween post a couple of weeks ago. Aren't these bay windows wonderful - they just don't build houses like this any more. If you are wondering what sampler that is on the wall behind Jill - Yep it's And They Sinned - beautifully framed in a Primitive Traditions frame - Jill must have been obsessed or maybe she was possessed when she stitched this one in 3 months !!!!!!!!!!

On the opposite wall above the mantle - is my favorite haunt of the house - Isn't this just the most debonair portrait of Mr Putnam - the county was named for this gentleman back in the 1800's or was it his father - oh well - I wouldn't mind a visit from him to my room LOL - Another beautifully decorated mantle - a great hooked witch on the left Jill won in the ATHA auction in New Orleans in 2007 and a neat witch on the other end made by another OGC associate. With her head down trying to look busy is BFF Karen of The Spinning Monkey design company. I met Karen a number of years ago on some of my first camps down in Sebring Fl - we used to go several times a year before prices got so outrageous - now I'm lucky to get to go once a year.

Another wonderful Halloween tree in the formal parlor.

To wrap things up - here is a photo of my new rug - Peace and Plenty by Not Forgotten Farms - I am hooking with lots of textures (plaids and checks) in this rug - Dianne came up with a nifty and interesting option for the backround of using 3 different textures in shades of a taupey-gray. I love it and it was exactly what I was looking for. The close up shot is of my turkey - OK OK - I was informed by my two buddies who know a lot about PA-German symbolism that this is a distelfink (sp?) - a mythical bird used in hex symbols and frakturs. I thought that was much cooler and more interesting than my bizarre turkey bird. I love my color plan and while it is rather hard to see in this lighting - I think once I get more hooking in place - you will be able to see why I love this color plan so much.

If you made it thru to the end of my tour of the Azalea House - I have a give away opportunity for you. If you are a stitcher and would like a chance to win a brand new copy of the BBD 13 halloween stocking book - please request that option and if you are a hooker, quilter, or penny rug enthusiast - I am going to put together a little package of wool fabric. I'll draw a winner next week on Veterans Day - Nov 11th - If you want a 2nd chance - please mention my blog contest on your blog and create a link to my blog and let me know in a 2nd post and you'll be entered twice for this drawing. Please post your comment and request in this blog entry so I don't miss it.

Hope you enjoyed the tour - I have some great friends to share these events with and I am so blessed to have them in my life. Wish my mom would have been there long enough to appear in the photos but she is a hard one to nail to the seat. ENJOY!

Souvenir de France

Here's my lovely little BBD freebie. I stitched this piece for a dear friends daughter who was married earlier this summer and honeymooned in France. Nancy did the gorgeous finishing for me and the beautiful paisley fabric and the lovely pearl trim was all her idea. She did an extraordinary job on this wonderful little pin pillow. She even put in a hint of lavender in case the bride wants to use it in her lingerie drawer. She also added a delicate little heart on the back of the pillow.

It was stitched on 36ct LL Chantilly Creme with Belle Soie Peacock.

I'm going to make this post short since I am working on a report of the Halloween Rug Hooking workshop I attended this past weekend. Just could not contain my excitement and wanted to share this lovely little pin pillow with all of you.

LADY JANE

I'm quite sure my mom would be horrified that I am associating her name with this victorian lady on the Scarlet Letter "where the Hart Lives" sampler I am working on for their "big" anniversary in 2010. I promised to show a stitching WIP and here it is:

Their last name is hart so I just fell in love with the idea of stitching this for their anniversary in 2010. It is not hard - but just time consuming because there is so much fill in and I mean A LOT of fill in. The whole 4 sides of the border is completely filled and the whole lower half of the sampler is fill in. Here is a shot of the whole WIP as it stands now.

I know I'm the world's slowest stitcher so believe me - I am proud of this progress - it is on 32ct belfast in antique white with the called for Soie D'Alger - one strand over 2 threads. I am thinking of maybe sub-ing a Belle Soie color for the green grassy area in the lower half of the sampler just so it is not so boring to stitch huge amounts of that color. I am trying to leave the border fill for sampler guild but so often my mom is there too and I can't let her see it. Another guild friend is also doing this sampler and she has been kind enough to make sure she doesn't bring her's along when my mom is going to attend. She is doing the DMC version and has made a few color changes so it is interesting to compare how they look. I think she is ahead of me even though she made a big boo boo and had to pull out half of her victorian lady. She also has the reclining stag in place - that will be my next big motif to start. He is to the left of the lady - then when he's in I can start filling the green backround. I guess I am going to put their initials inside the heart - but I may put their first names if I can figure out a way that it doesn't look too hokey. Any suggestions for personalization from you experts? it will be a long time before I have to worry about that anyway.

I'm trying really hard to stay on track with this sampler and not get caught up starting new things from market. I won't resist too long though - I am interested in starting Jenny Bean and except for the fact that Paradise Lost is so huge - I am really interested in that one too, however I'm sure I'll be seeing frequent updates from our dear Siobhan in the very near future and there are some great photos of Paradise Lost on Nicoles blog - Some of these gals really can crank out the finishes. Other new releases that have really caught my attention are L Haworth - an Ackworth quaker by the Marking Samplar and Sarah Woodham by Shakespeares Peddler. What a gorgeous repro that is - I have not even allowed myself full perusal of these charts for fear of falling under their spell.

Speaking of spells - it's that time again - Can you believe it is almost Halloween??????? I am very excited to be attending a very intimate rug hooking retreat next weekend at my favorite queen of Halloween B&B - The Azalea House Inn in Palatka Fl - we have had so many fun times at Jill's - stitching classes, guild meetings, girls weekends, rug retreats, needlepoint retreats. It is the ultimate in retreat locations and Jill is a perfect host. She works at the Olde Green Cupboard and some of you quilters who attend these huge quilt shows like Houston, Pacaduh, Dallas, Valley Forge - etc etc - might have met her in the booth. She puts up 2 Halloween trees - has tons of stitched items on display and all kinds of memorabilia. Our teacher for the weekend is Dianne Kelly of the Woolen Cottage in Hiram OH - she is a wonderful teacher and I have taken her week long class 2 times at Off the Ocean rug camp and also she was my first "away" camp teacher many years ago at Castle in the Clouds on Lookout Mt in Tenn. - I am doing a wonderful Notforgotten Farm pattern called Peace and Plenty and I will be sure to show you a WIP and some photos from our fun weekend.

Here's one last WIP photo to show - I hear that I am inspiring the masses (ha ha just kiddin') to knit (that means YOU Deb - YGG) - but I know I have at least made a few people wish they could knit with my devilishly delicious yarn photos. Here is a photo of a great little shawl - a freebie pattern called Multnomah named for a county in Oregon. I am doing mine in Dream in Color Classy which is a worsted weight hand dyed yarn - I think the color was Chinatown Autumn.

This is a totally mindless knit and great for the last few minutes before I go to bed at night. I have two local friends who fell in love with it and have already gotten a copy of the pattern and have their been perusing their stash for suitable yarns. It can be done in any yarn from fingering weight to bulky.

Hope you are totally loving fall in your neck of the woods. I know I have been LOVING our cooler weather this week. We have been in the 40's at night and 60's during the day but our temps are creeping back up. At least maybe that stinky humidity is gone for this year. Thank you all for your comments - I look forward to hearing from you all.

IS IT FALL YET????

Well you would answer NO if you lived in northeast florida. We've had record high temps for over a week however today - the weather seems cooler - it's dreary and cloudy and some much needed rain is predicted.I could not wait for falling temperatures so I went ahead and put out a few things for Halloween that I wanted to share with you.

Here is a photo of my first rug - it is by no means perfect but I love to drag it out every Halloween and remember where I started with rug hooking 10 years ago. It was not my first attempt but was the first thing I finished.

Here is a another shot of how I have it displayed in my living room on a retro glass and chrome table (how 70's) along with a Longaberger basket filled with decorative gourds and minature pumpkins. The little scarecrow gourd ( wish I could remember the name of this awesome family owned company who puts out these gourds) has a light inside but I don't hook it up unless I have company.

I know I've already shown a photo of my wonderful Susannah Goose that DF Henrietta stitched for me as a housewarming gift. It is from the JCS Halloween issue last fall and is stitched on 40ct vintage pear linen with the called for NPS in the frame that was shown in the mag. It is another beautiful design by Kathy Barrick of CHS. I LOVE it and moved it to a more prominent spot for fall enjoyment. The Mirabilia Trick or Treat Fairy was stitched by my dad - I don't think I've shown you that before - it was from the Cross Stitch and Needlecraft mag from last fall and he stitched it on the called for linen with the called for threads. He does lots of Mirabilia pieces and when I asked him about stitching this one for me - he said "piece of cake" and cranked it out in about 5 weeks. Lois at Elegant Stitch did the finishing - I wanted something different besides framing and I did not think the shape of the design was condusive for a cushion or pillow so I suggested the cube - Lois thought it was awfully big for a cube but I think it turned out awesome and I gave her creative freedom with the colors and I think she did an great job with it and I love it every time I look at it. Of course the little box is a Liberty Hill piece - I have SO many - I'm not quite sure which one it is - I was hoping the newest piece would be out by this time so it could be displayed in this spot but I don't think anyone has them yet and I have it pre-ordered but nothing yet.

I am busy stitching - I finished the BBD Souvenir de France - I sent it for finishing and will hopefully show a photo next post. I will (I WILL) also have a WIP photo to show you of the Scarlet Sampler I have been working on. Wanted to get this big motif finished before I take a photo.

I have been knitting a lot but jumping from this to that - whatever catches my fancy - I started an awesome new shawl and I should be able to show a WIP of that one too in my next post. It is simple but very pretty. I am participating in a shawl challenge on the Loopy Ewe - I would encourage any of you who don't have a LYS and don't already know about Sheri and her gang at the Loopy Ewe to check it out - What a fun shop with great customer service and she keeps you so connected with her blog. You can also take a look from the blogs I read section on the sidebar. She suggested this Multnomah shawl in one of her posts and I LOVE it - I am doing a worsted weight hand dyed yarn so mine will be a little bigger than the one pictured. However I also ordered some fabulous fingering weight yarn from Loopy to do another shawl. Shawls are great for Florida - we can actually use them - you put them on in the morning when you leave the house and it's chilly and by 3pm when it is 85 again - you can throw them off and carry them home.

Thanks for all your kind posts and emails about Jody - he is not a fictional character but a real person. He still looks so young even with the touches of gray and I think I am doing all the aging. Hard to believe we've been together almost 30 years. Several of my friends were so inspired by the Savannah post we are already planning another trip in November. WHEEEEE - Thanks again for your comments and for reading my ramblings - I do so enjoy hearing from each of you and reading your blogs keeps us all connected. Hope fall has come to your area and you are able to get out this weekend and enjoy a fall festival or a walk thru the park.

AHHHHH SAVANNAH

Wanted to tell ya'll about the whirlwind trip to Savannah I had over the weekend. I had an opportunity to go to Savannah on business on Friday. Decided to take Jody with me so I could drive back a new car for my mom. They had what she wanted at my company's sister store up there. Jody needed a chiropractic adjustment so we got up early and went to Waycross to see our friend Dr Ronnie - after the adjustment - we headed northeast for Savannah traveling secondary roads thru little Georgia towns - I had done mapquest to get us there sucessfully. I knew we were going thru a little town called Jesup - oddly enough there was a top notch cafe in the little downtown area and we stopped there and enjoyed a delicious lunch at Stories. I took a photo but it just looked like a parking lot shot - bad angle.

Finally got to Savannah around 2pm and I dropped Jody off at the Marriott and went to work. Jody had never been to Savannah so I wanted him to see the historic district - I decided he would enjoy dinner at the Olde Pink House which is a historic home on one of the squares downtown. I wish I could have taken a photo but my IPhone camera would not get enough light on the subject. Anyway we ate in what was the ballroom of this grand house and had an excellent meal. I am a southern girl born and bred and I have been eating collard greens all my life but honestly - these were the BEST collard greens I have ever had in my life I do believe. I ordered pork tenderloin and it was served with these outstanding collards and a delicious sweet potato with a burbon molasses glaze. Jody had a house specialty - grouper stuffed with crab meat. We rode by Lady and Sons and waved to Paula Deen and her sons - no way to get into that place for a meal without going thru a lot of trouble. I have been there once and while it is good southern cooking - I just can't stand the hassle of trying to get on her book for dinner. So the Pink House was perfect for us - more elegant than Lady & Sons and we love historic homes complete with ghosts.

Saturday morning I got up earlier than I wanted to and headed off to a class at a new yarn shop called Unwind. I had been itching to go there ever since I found out they opened last month. Here is a photo of what I have done so far on the fingerless mitt class using Kollage 1/2 N 1/2 - a fingering weight yarn which is 1/2 wool and 1/2 milk - yep - milk - Not sure I would choose this yarn again but I do like to try new things.

I wish I had taken some photos of the new shop - it was stunning - - beautifully stocked with marvelous brands most of which I was familiar with. Here is my purchase - some beautiful Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Aran in a dark plum color - I am planning to do a simple jacket out of the new DB fall/winter magazine - I also bought a wonderful new DB book The Big Easy that uses mostly the Donegal Tweed Aran and Chunky weight yarns. I have some chunky weight from last season that needs to be "repurposed" (my new favorite word for recycling stagnant projects) to something more do-able than what I purchased it for. So I barely escaped Unwind alive - I could have dropped a thousand bucks so easily in that place.

So I had to rush back to the Marriott to pick up Jody and check out. I wanted him to see the historic district in the day light so we headed back down town to visit Firefly Cafe. Here are a couple of views taken from the sidewalk seats we snagged at Firefly.

I should have gotten up and taken a photo of the square just down this street but I was too busy eating to be bothered. LOL - It was a lovely day for lunch on the historic streets of Savannah, nice breeze and not too hot. I think Jody enjoyed seeing it but he is not as into historic things as I am so he was pretty much ready to leave the crowded historic area after lunch.I had a hidden agenda for choosing Firefly - I knew it was right around the corner from another favorite yarn shop in Savannah - Wild Fibre - I LOVE this shop - I have been a customer for a number of years now. It is rather ecclectic and at times it's hard to find anything to buy (if you believe that you don't know me very well LOL) however this time Jennifer was well stocked with all the newest fall magazines and some lovely new yarn from Rowan that I just had to have. Pure Wool DK is used in the new fall/winter Rowan mag for a darling moss stitch jacket which is trimmed in kid silk haze - now you friends who don't know knitting won't be too excited about this but Rowan is not all that easy to come by in the deep south. There are more and more shops in Ga carrying Rowan but it's slim pickings in Florida. I have already cast on this jacket and here is my progress in just a few hours. My color is more aqua than what is pictured in the magazine. The KSH is a dreamy accompaniment and I think blends well with the aqua wool.

I'm sure you won't believe me but I have been stitching. I have the BBD freebie Souvenir de France almost finished. I am going to be giving that to a good friends daughter who had a fabulous honeymoon in France earlier this summer. I'll show the completed project before it gets shipped off. I also put in a lot of time on Where the Hart Lives by Scarlet Letter - I will show a WIP photo of that when I finish the motif I am currently working on - hopefully next post. So - I am living up to my mantra these last few posts - I AM living and loving the wool life !

ROOM WITH A VIEW

I've had a very busy and sometimes difficult couple of work weeks that at times have spilled over into my "me" time. When I have times like that - I have to stop - take a deep breath and look out of the beautiful hand hewn mahogany french doors in my office and remember how lucky I am to first be employed and equally important - get to come to work every day with a family owned company in a lovely historic home. Here is the view from the veranda outside my office.

I work in a lovely historic district near downtown Jacksonville. The home I work in was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and this is the only house he designed in Jacksonville before moving on to a very sucessful career I'm sure. It will be 100 years old in 2 years and it is just awesome. Prairie style in every way. A wide veranda is evident on 2 sides of the house - the side I'm in - yes Betsy and I have the whole downstairs of the house to ourselves - opens onto the wide veranda you see above. My office was originally a library and smoking parlor for Mr Bensel who was a lumber baron in the early 1900's here in Jacksonville, I have a huge pocket door that closes my office off from the conference room. 99 % of the time it stays open and this is the view from my desk. Pretty cool huh? I feel so guilty when I complain about being so busy - that is such a blessing in the car business right now - to be busy. So my post today is all about being grateful - I think we can all find something to be grateful about today - even the small things - not to mention - time to stitch - stash to plunder thru if we so choose - friends who understand us and love the things we love - family who is tolerant - I'm sure you have your own list.

One last photo - here is the view of the mighty St Johns River - one of the only rivers in the US that flows north towards the Atlantic Ocean. This is taken from the front veranda. Jacksonville is a beautiful city and I am proud to be a native and 5th generation Bryan from this area.

This post is also about my being soooo busy these last 2 weeks that I have not gotten anything done. I missed rug guild last weekend because we had server problems - so not a loop pulled for many weeks - I have been too tired to stitch so I have just been doing some fill in work on my Plymouth sampler. I have been knitting a little - I started a KAL last weekend with The Local Needle - a not so LYS - here's Joan's blog where she introduces the Shawl of Cables project - Maybe some of you out there would like to join in - there is no charge for this virtual KAL on the internet. There is also a Ravelry group set up for this project if any of you are members of that great internet community.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments on my blog even though I've not had anything exciting to show you for a while. I hope you will enjoy the photos of "my hometown" and the beautiful views I am blessed with every day. Fall - I scoff - it is 91 degrees here and I think I will just get in the pool and float away all my cares. Remember - enjoy every day - your way - Mel