Shakespeare the marmoset

Here is my big finish for 2007!

This rug is about 24" X 30" - it is done in a mix of cuts 3,4,5 and 6. I have to give credit to 3 teachers who helped with the color plan and dyeing of the wool for this rug. Vivily Powers did the copper compote and the fruit, Diane Stoffel was the creative genius on the monkey and provided the border and Katie Puckett was the designer of the rug and also provided the backround and the awesome addition of the carpet mat which was not in the original design.

This rug was awarded 3rd place at the Ocean rug exhibit in Jan 08 in the fine cut division. I was very pleased with this recognition.

I don't know why I even have a blog - I promised myself I would learn to use my digital camera and make WIP photos and keep my blog updated more often. Ha - if anything I am worse than I was before not better!

I like to read my friends blogs and see their projects in progress - It is a way to keep up with them when you are not able to see or talk to them that frequently. It is also a good way to show your finishes to friends and acquaintances that may not live in your area of the country or world for that matter. I hope to do better.

2008 has been very busy for me - I'll recap the highlights so far

January was "off the Ocean" rug camp - I took Diane Stoffel again and started a very unique canvas that I purchased at the ATHA national in New Orleans in the fall from a well known Texas designer Bea Brock. It is her Angel Sampler and is full of 6 angels and all sorts of motifs - it is a very busy canvas with very little backround. Diane did a spectacular job on the color plan altho' initially I thought there was too much blue/purple in there for me - My goal was to get all the angel faces done in camp and I accomplished that goal and more. I have worked on it a time or 2 and have 1 large angel complete and a 2nd large angel almost complete.

Also in January was our ANG chapter workshop with David McCaskill - I was smart on this one - I worked on an existing WIP - a design called "Bottles" - several others in our group took this class and others worked on his halloween house and his patrotic candle. He was a very good teacher with a relaxed attitude and fun to be around. I understand he had some health issues just after our class so I hope he is doing well.

February was the long awaited ANG chapter retreat that I chaired for the group. The retreat was attended by 9 members including myself and it was held at the Azalea House B&B in Palatka Fl - owned by a good friend Jill de Leeuw. Jill has a small needlework shop in the inn and specializes in repro samplers. She stocks wonderful linens, threads, kits and charts but she also has needlepoint canvases from Melissa Shirley Designs. Jill was kind enough to arrange for several trunk shows for our shopping pleasure. MSD sent in a great show along with Drawn Thread and Holly Hill which are primarily sampler makers who have released their designs to canvas. She also had a wonderful trunk show from Gloriana Threads showcasing her new line of hand dyed wool Lorikeet. A wonderful time was had by all - we spent hours stitching on the porch - staying up late, laughing , eating and oh - SHOPPING - SHOPPING AND MORE SHOPPING!

March was another rug camp - this time Scrub Hooking in Sebring - this is a camp that I have attended every spring for about 7 years. My mom started rug hooking a few years ago and now the March rug hooking camp is something we enjoy doing together and look forward to. Our good friend and certified teacher Katie Puckett was invited to teach this year in March and we really enjoyed being in her class. Mother continued on her fish rug that she started with Diane Stoffel in January but I started an Adam & Eve cube stool that Katie and I had been collaborating on - it is loosely based on an antique sampler that I have a chart for. The designer was Kim Nixon but we pretty much threw out everything in her design except Eve - the tree and the snake. So . . . . . that project is really coming together very well - I used some wool I had on hand and got some lovely additions to the color plan from Katie. She is doing a round of classes in her studio and I will continue to work on that this spring.

Easter weekend Mom and I always go and visit our ancestral home in Eastman Ga - we clean and put fresh spring flowers out on my grand and great grand parents and g aunt/uncles graves. It is a bittersweet journey - as I have traveled those highways all my life - now it is just mom and I to make the journey and one day there will be just one and then none. That seems so sad to me that one day no one will care about my dear loved ones graves. Oh well - I guess that's life. Wonder why one always starts thinking of these things when a birthday rolls around - another year older and what have we done - I think that was a song!

Signing out now and hoping I come back sooner to show more photos and updates on what is going on in my life.