MARCH-ING ONWARD

Well March is marching onward.  I can't say I have a lot of progress on anything to show you but I did make my annual trek to Sebring with my mom for the Scrub Rug Hooking workshop.  This is about the 10th year I have attended and it is always a great retreat and get away.  Everything is so tropical in that area of the state.  I can't believe I didn't take a single photo of the beautiful landscaping and flowers.  If you are interested in seeing what it looks like - just check my blog post from March last year.  One reason I didn't take any photos this year is because there was thousands of these creepy little bugs that covered everything outside, plants, cars, buildings, people.  Someone called them blind mosquitos and someone else called them mayflies.  I wasn't familiar with them nor did I relish running into clouds of them so I spent very little time on the lovely patio and pool side this year.

We started off our trip to Sebring by stopping off in Mt Dora to visit with friends who stitch every Thursday in this charming farmhouse owned by the city of Mt Dora.  How cool is that !  lunch at the fabulous Garden Gate tearoom, it was a delightful way to spend a day.

 

We motored on from there to Sebring and settled in with a nice meal at the hotel restaurant.

 

Mom and I were both in Katie Puckett's class.  Katie is a dear friend and lives in our area , she is also an awesome dyer, designer and certified McGown teacher.  I had chosen a HUGE rug canvas months ago after being enchanted with Basque Fairy Tale by Michele Micarelli in the ATHA rug magazine.  Katie was kind enough (seriously was that kindness??) to bring the canvas back for me after meeting Michele at a camp in Michigan where she was vending this past summer. 

I had wanted to try hooking with dip dyes and this rug seemed like the perfect opportunity.  You can't see much of the intensity of the colors in these less than stellar photos but she used 3 different dip dyes for that corner motif that extends to the bottom of the rug.

I wanted the two birds in the middle to be more of a focal point than they were in Michele's rug.  Again more dips were used. These birds have a rather Aztec type look to me - The reason there is a hole in the wing is because I am waiting for more wool to be dyed to place there.  It will be a brilliant spot dye and will be used in the outer border and a few other places in the rug.

It's hard to tell scope but this is 1/2 of the rug - it is 25" X 86" - hope I live long enough to finish it LOL - It will certainly be an ongoing project for years but I adore what has been done so far and I will enjoy working on this project with my DF Katie.

This is my mom's rug from class.  She had a ball working on those chickens.  Katie showed her a new way to do stars and she did a great job on them.  This is a Polly Minick canvas but Katie drew it off for mom and also did the color plan.  The blocks in the border will be scrappy blocks, good way to use up worms and small pieces of wool.  She did finish up #2 chicken so she doesn't have a hole in her wing like I do.

 

well friends - just wanted to show you what we had been up to lately.  I have more photos to show of my classmates projects as well as some of the rugs from the exhibit.  I will try to make another post of those photos soon. 

 

Until we meet again my friends, thank you for visiting my blog, for commenting and for following along.  I hope spring has sprung in your area and that you have fun with your needles and hooks this weekend.

FINALLY TA DA !!!!!!!!!!!

I had not wanted to show you my wedding sampler until it was finished and framed. 

Today is the day of the big reveal - well it's a big day to me anyway - It takes me forever to finish anything to the point of framing. 

Here are a few shots

 

Sorry about the glare !  I was trying to get enough light on it.

The sampler is I Thee Wed by Blackbird Designs and it stitched on 36ct R&R kona with the called for overdyed cottons.

I think the frame moulding is beautiful and the choice of mats and the way the framer used a continuous mat to "join together" the wedding photo and the sampler was really pleasing - to me anyway !

 

Here is a shot of my favorite wedding photo from the whole group.

 

A closer look at the moulding - it has an antique finish and really pulled out the colors in the sampler and the photo.

 

Hope you enjoyed seeing my big reveal, it was special to me to see it finally come together.

 

Thanks as always for visiting my blog and leaving your comments - I always enjoy hearing from you.  I see I have a few new followers - thanks for coming by and hearing my wooley-thoughts.

IT'S MARCH BUT IT'S NOT SPING !

Mr. Snowman is still standing strong .  He is there in honor of all my blog friends who are still in the throes of winter weather.  Even way down here in the deep south - we have liquid snow and chilly conditions.  I did get to dust off my sandals last weekend but it was more of a statement than a necessity - It's March 1st dang it - I'm ready for a change in my wardrobe !!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe that the entire month of February went by and I didn't make a post.  Well dear blog friends - I always feel like I need to show some finishes, some photos or at least some progress.  I did do some knitting in January and February - finished a beautiful 4 color cowl during these months.

For any interested knitters out there - it was printed in the winter Knit Simple mag and I used a new to me yarn Universal Deluxe Worsted.  Gray was my main color with the cream, rosy red and avocado green.  It is quite long and can be doubled to be worn up around the neck and yes I have had a chance to wear it.

 

The Loopy Ewe has issued their Spring challenge and I have accepted the challenge.  It was such an easy one - knit anything you want at least 250 yards and finish by the end of March to get your bonus points. My chosen project is WAY more than 250 yards - it is about 740 yards of beautiful Three Irish Girls Glenhaven Fingering.  The turquoise and the unwound skein is going to be Different Lines .  A lovely pattern by Veera.  Here is a Ravelry link if you want to see it :  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/different-lines

My DF Henri is also knitting in the Spring challenge and her yarn is the lovely tan with colored specs.  She is making Knit Night and we enjoyed our time together at Starbucks getting the challenge going.

 

I always hook a lot in the winter - or try to hook a lot.  Recently I had 4 days of hooking bliss.  Starting off attending a hook-in at the Ocala Rug Guild in Wildwood FL - it was great !  The ladies in the area provided lunch for everyone - what a great spread of food.  I do have photos of their awesome rug display but I will have to try and post them later.  I am still fumbling thru loading my photos into Picassa - they seem to land in Google + and then I struggle and struggle to get them into Picassa - sheesh  - it shouldn't be this hard.  However I do have photos of my Angel Runner after 4 days of progress on it.  This poor rug has not been touched since last January.  I was running out of backround and I waited for 10 mos to get more backround.  I am glad to be in the home stretch on this rug.  I would say I probably only have 1/4 of the backround left and then it's all but the binding left to do.

I love these 6 crazy angels.  Not much left to go.  For anyone interested - this is a Bea Brock pattern. It is hooked with a 3, 4 and 5 cut, all hand dyed wool.

This is my mom's beautiful art deco flower canvas.  She hooked for two days of that 4 day marathon and she made great progress.  Almost finishing her outer border and filling in lots of backround.  I think this canvas is going to be a big throw pillow.

Nothing to show on the stitching scene.  Sadly - I am just not getting that much stitching done lately.  I am still working on the FB SAL Snooty Parrots but am way behind.  I did take in something for framing that I have never shown on my blog so that will be fun to have a big reveal in the very near future.   I also started a new fun piece of needlepoint and am enjoying working on that.  All the different fibers you can use in np just excite me and I have a great stash of stuff to pull from as well.

Well blog friends - I've rambled on long enough - I promise to be back again soon.  Until then - stay safe and warm and keep those needles and hooks moving.  With warm and wooly-thoughts  . . .