THREE GIFTS

I have been remiss in showing the lovely Rachel Hyde sampler that my dad stitched for me. It has been framed for at least 2 months. It is stitched on a 32ct Wichelt fabric that is dyed. I don't know the name of it - just something I pulled off the shelf at our LNS and he used the called for DMCs. Last post I showed his beautiful Lady of the Flag and explained that typically he stitches pieces with lots of glitz, beads and so forth. Mostly Mirabilias however he did an awesome job on Rachel Hyde. I love the frame I chose. I did a close of up how he signs his pieces with a little cypher of his own creation - a W (for Wiley) inside a heart(for Hart) and the year. I will treasure it forever.





The second lovely piece is a birthday gift from a dear friend Carol who I have taken many memorable sampler related trips with and who is also a member of our sampler guild. She stitched this beautiful Quaker swan pin keep and did all the finishing herself. She also found an awesome tiny little thread winder to keep tucked in the hidden pocket inside. She personalized it with a large M and the year. It is for the time being going to live in my Liberty Hill scissor box which sits on my antique sewing table. There I can see it every day and remember my special friend Carol every time I see it.









Last but not least is a lovely housewarming gift stitched by dear friend Henrietta fondly known as "Henri" - also a member of my sampler guild and rug hooking guild and cherished friend. She did Susannah Goose from the JCS Halloween issue for me - I remarked that I loved that piece but just could not start anything else on 40ct linen - since that is her favorite count to stitch on - she offered to stitch it for me. The last photo is a close up shot to see her tiny initials. Our good friend Jill at the Azalea House ordered the frame shown in the JCS issue for me and then our other dear friend Karen G (Spinning Monkey fame) did the pinning and framing for me. So it was a labor of love from three dear friends -

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!

come again another day - I thought I'd better check in and just say we are treading water here. Any of you that might have seen Mike Siedel from the Weather Channel broadcasting from Jacksonville Beach might have a clue that we've had more than our fair share of rain this week. It started raining Sunday afternoon before we left sampler guild and it has rained almost non stop thru this afternoon. At my house we've had 12+ inches of rain and we've had to drain off the excess water so the pool didn't overflow every afternoon - poor Jody - out there in the pouring rain tending to that stupid pool.

No I don't have any pretty photos to show this post. I have been having terrible headaches - sinus or what I don't know - but every morning this week I've had to get up and creep around struggling to get ready for work with an annoying headache. Low pressure/high pressure - I feel it is somehow related to the weather - not to mention feeling like a mushroom. I know I am just whinning here but I am just tired of this and ready to see some sunshine. I could even deal with no sun but NO MORE RAIN. Yes I know we were in a deficit condition but now we have plenty of rain on the books to carry us thru May. Sad thing is that there is a pretty large chance of rain for the next week.

Wish I had some photos to show you from our annual rug guild hook in - we had 37 women from all over north east florida and even one from GA. It was a great time - I did not get much hooking done but it was sure fun. Sunday was sampler guild and we took a roundabout route thru Gainesville to visit Hanks a great yarn shop - so I had plenty of stash to look thru this week. One saving grace about the rain - I could just sit and plunder thru stash not feeling too guilty as there was nothing else to do.

Oh - I do have one pretty photo I can show you all - some of you know that both my parents stitch - My dad does big pieces from Mirabilia, L&L and so forth - Here is his Lady of the Flag which hangs in my office. Yesterday was his 71st b-day and he is so much more productive a stitcher than I. Mom and I just put in our order and he gets it done - he is currently stitching the newest Mirabilia mermaid for moi' and Mom is in line with the 100th Mirabilia design - the Santa -



I am sorry to be in such a sour mood but I am starting to mildew I guess! Be back soon when I am dried out.

MERRIE HALLOWEEN

This is Merrie Halloween by Notforgotten Farm. She is one of my favorite WIP's - Again you will have to just bear with my sad photography - there must be a way to take better quality photos - I'll have to ask my camera savvy friend how to adjust the quality/closeness/sharpness or whatever I am missing.



The other is Hare Easter by Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers - she offered this freebie design for Easter and I asked her permission to have translated to a rug canvas. My dear friend Katie who is an awesome rug teacher/designer/dyer in her own right - copied it to canvas for me and added the darling carrot border and gave it to me for my b-day last month. Don't know if you can see the Happy Birthday Mel on the bottom.








I hope to have Merrie finished for use this October - lofty goal I'm sure LOL since I never work on her at home. She is small enough to be a good project to take to guild meetings and hook in's - She will get lots of attention at our local rug guilds annual hook in which is coming up in mid May. It's a wonderful day of visiting with friends from all around the state and even some from Georgia will come. We have wonderful food provided by the guild members and we take up a donation from all the participants to defray the cost of the meat and drinks. A small informal display of finished rugs will be put down.

In the stitching world I am doing pretty good on my rotation of Shores of HRH, SL "where the hart lives" and Primitive Needle's A&E however I have stash on the way one of which is a SAL on one of my favorite internet boards so that will have to be worked in somehow. I was going to show a photo of my A&E but the progress is so meager - I've worked and worked (or so it seems) and I only have the top border, part of each side border and the top line of wording done. I really am not that crazy about stitching wording so it is usually the kiss of death for me and a design when it starts off with a bunch of wording. AAACCKKKK - I will persist because I love the design.

My knitting accomplishments have almost slowed to nil - Of course that is not unusual for this time of the year. I don't care much for knitting with cottons or lighter weight yarns - hence the name "woolwoman" - I LOVE WOOL - so when it starts to swelter way down south - I usually only knit in silk and maybe some lightweight wools or wool blends. I have a lovely laceweight wool shawl that I work on when I am just too tired to stitch or if it gets late and my brain has turned to mush - I can still knit.

Better shove off for now - hope everyone is finally enjoying spring like conditions.