CLOSING IN ON CHRISTMAS

I LOVE looking at all the pretty snow photos on Facebook and blogs, watching Hallmark movies and dreaming of spending Christmas in the snow, riding in a horse drawn sleigh.  Oh my - sitting by a fire and having a hot beverage - all stuff of dreams. Considering it's 80+ degrees here in the deep south  - that is simply all it is "a dream" !  I don't want to sound bitter but I really do wish it was at least cold or cool enough to wear one of my hand knit shawls.  Oh well - one thing is for sure - I can't change the weather so on to a few finishes of late.

This is part of a club series with The Needlepointer in Wa. - it is Hats , Bats and Boots by Pippin Studios.  They are quick and fun to stitch but the finishing OIY!!!!!!  It took me about 8 hrs to finish up this little beast.  It is nothing fancy for sure but I am proud of the way it came out.  It has a pre-made silver beaded border that was ticky to apply.  anyway -it's a FFO !

Here is the back !

 Next is another Pippin club piece with The Needlepointer.  Fanciful Forest was from a couple of years ago - at this rate one tree a year I'll be done in 2025 LOL !  I have really enjoyed all the clubs I have done with the Needlepointer.  They have used some new to me threads and the stitch guides are simple but interesting enough.  I've already started another one - much taller than this one!

 This is DF Ruth C who picked my exchange gift in our duClay EGA Chapter exchange.  I'm pretty proud of the BBD Sewing Bird.  It was expertly finished by The Twisted Stitcher Finishing Service.
Vonna did an excellent job finishing this exactly like I wanted it done.  I hope Ruth will enjoy it for many years to come.

 This is my mom's exchange gift to Carol P.  It is a With Thy Needle piece called Tulip Fantasy.  Again another fine finish by Vonna.  She did a flat fold stand up on this one - just perfect and I know Carol will enjoy using it - she does gorgeous work and truly has a "stitchers home".  Funny thing - I drew Carol's piece for my exchange - shoot !  I should have taken a photo of it.  If you are on Facebook - you can search for the duClay FB page and look up all our beautiful work that was displayed at our Christmas luncheon.

.Just so my hooking friends don't think I have given it up or forgotten how to hook - here is a WIP shot of a dear UFO I have neglected to finish year after year.  I really love working on seasonal projects in the season.  Once Christmas is over - well ............  this rug gets rolled up and put in the old red cupboard.  It is an adaptation of two WithThyNeedle charts in case you want to know. The color plan was done by my DF Dianne Kelly of the Woolen Cottage in Ohio.  It is mostly in a 6 cut.

Maybe next Christmas I can show  you a finish !

I always get excited about hooking this time of the year.  One reason is our local rug hooking camp opportunity is in early January.  Of course I'm going !  It will be my 19th consecutive year of attending this camp.  Of course I am starting a new rug - you'll just have to wait and see next month what I've chosen.

 My last finishes of the year are two shawls - the limited edition Christmas colorway was started two years ago on a trip to Gatlinburg.  After the holiday season was over - I put the project away.  I enjoy working on seasonal things - in the season.  I found it when I was plundering for something else and thought - WOW - this thing could be finished and worn this year if I put those turbo needles to work.  Which I did !  We had one stinkin day last week that I was attending a work Christmas function and it was cool enough to wear it.  ONE DAY !  it's really pretty - for the interested knitters - it's Blue Moon - a special colorway called Peppermint Stick Forest.  The pattern is Fractal Danger by Martina Behm a German designer.

 This lovely shawl belongs to my mom.  She saw it in a shop a couple of years ago and asked me if I could make it for her.  I said of course I can.  She picked out her own yarn with a little guidance from me.  Baah La Jolla is the brand and type.  Pattern Valley Breeze.  I hope it gets cool enough this year to wear it - it's quite large but I think turned out really well.

Well my friends - I hope each and every one of you has the brightest of holiday seasons and no matter what holidays you celebrate - I hope they are the loveliest ever.  I will wish you all a Merry Christmas because that's what we celebrate, the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior.  I enjoy hearing your comments - If I don't get to come back before New Years - hope you have a happy one.  Are you starting a new project on NYE?  that's a tradition with many stitchers.  Of course I am - I'd love to hear what you are doing.  Cheers Mel

TURKEY TIME !!!!

Thanksgiving seems early this year.  I don't know if that is really the case but this whole year is just slipping away at the speed of light.  One month it will be Christmas - WOW !

Speaking of - I showed this ornament in my last blog post but I finally got around to putting on the hanger.

 It was very plain on the back I thought so I figured out how to make ribbon rosettes from Wiki How on the internet.  It would have been easier I think if the ribbon wasn't so wide and stiff but I am very pleased with my first attempt and it does perk up the back of the ornament.  As I said before it is a LHN Sampler Tree series and we learned to do the beaded edge from our duClay EGA chapter "taste of " program.  I know it's a finish I will use again!

 my dear mom participated in the same "taste of" - she pooped out after doing the one side of beading in class and conned my dear dad into doing two sides and he ran out of beads so it came bouncing back to me to finish LOL !  It is also LHN Sampler Tree series - Deer Inn

 I found a cute little gingerbread man to cover up my messy tacking of the ribbon. 

Next is a gorgeous pillow that DF and finisher extraordinaire Faye - the Carolina Stitcher finished for me.  This is Mirabilia Mermaid initials spelling out M E L.  My dear dad stitched these for me, didn't he do a super job.  The trick was getting them to play nicely together as the colors are different from each other and the L is a larger size (sigh) Faye really handled those issues well and I picked out some pretty batik that pulled the colors all together I feel.  In my delusional wooley thoughts  -  I was going to do all of them and put in a wall hanging- NOT !  these things are as much work or more than the Prairie Schooler alphabet of which I have the A stitched, framed and hanging on my wall.  They are indeed beautiful and I would not deter anyone from stitching them or at least one!

Next up is another challenge piece for our EGA chapter I finished this past weekend.  Shepherds Bush Moonlight Garden.  It is mounted in a cute tray with ravens carved into the ends.  It was only a couple of weeks of missing Halloween but I have it out on a  table thru the weekend.  It will go into hibernation when I bring out the Christmas stuff hopefully this weekend.

Here is the raven carving.  Really cute little tray by Retromantics I think is the company SB uses.

Well my friends - I wanted to pop out and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you all have family and friends to celebrate with and much to be thankful for this year.  I am thankful for many things, my blessings which are many, my dear family, many friends, a great job, health and happiness and many other things too numerous to list.  Best wishes to you all - please comment - I love hearing from you what you are most thankful for this year.

OCTOBER WANING

YES it's been quite a while friends since I showed up on the blog.  I did redecorate for Halloween with my sweet Merrie Halloween on my blog face.  For those who might want to know this is a Lori Brechlin/Not Forgotten Farm design by Spruce Ridge Rugs.  The color plan was by Diane Stoffel.

There is a mate called Pumpkin Thyme that I've often thought of hooking but there is only so much time and SOOOO many rugs.  Yes friends it's wool season in the Deep South and I've been busy stashing wool yarn and planning a new rug for Off the Ocean rug camp in January.  What to do - what to do - only time will tell.

For those who checked on us and inquired about damages from Irma - We came thru better than most.  We had a whole section of privacy fence down that had to be replaced on our coin because of the hurricane deductible and the new section of fence that was replaced in the last disaster (the tornado in Feb) got broken to pieces by a neighbors falling tree on the property line.  Oh well at least it missed our house and new repairs by about 2 ft.  God is good.

I've had some fun since I posted last.  Most recently I did an amazing needlepoint canvas embellishment class with Robin King at the Bristly Thistle in lovely Fernandina Beach which is only about an hour north of me.  I had a great weekend with DF's Teresa B and Linda K.

I love Michele's new shop location.  Bristly Thistle is housed in an adorable cottage.  Lighting is great, lots of wall space for canvas display and loads of threads.

it was a rainy day but so pleasant being tucked into this cottage with happy needlepointers.

Wish I had a more complimentary photo of Robin King but I was busy concentrating on getting my project off the ground.

Some yummy trunk show pieces and a view of Michele's thread room.

Here is my adorable Steampunk Pumpkin by Brenda Stofft.  My new needleminder there on the right.

 Every canvas should have it's own needleminder.  There isn't much on the canvas yet but I'm loving what Robin King came up with for the key elements of the piece.  I will fill in the rest myself.

Here is DF Teresa B's Steampunk Owl - she is going to have a blast too !

Here is the whole class - DF Linda K on my left - I didn't get a photo of her in class.

I'll leave you with a LHN Christmas ornament I did the finishing on myself.  It has a beaded edge that you can't see in the photo that is pretty cool.

 

Happy Halloween to all my friends in blogland - thank you for your readership, friendship and your comments.

AWAITING IRMA

The Wicked Witch of the East Atlantic is coming our way.  I've lived in NE FL all my life - the older I get - the more afraid of these storms I get.  Even though you have plenty of notice of their coming - they zig and zag and they change directions, change intensity.  Many things factor into their path.  The news media starts hammering us days in advance - rightly so - after seeing the devastation of Harvey on Houston and surrounding areas - it's enough to scare anyone to death.  My thoughts and prayers and all the money I could afford have gone to donations for Harvey victims.  I hope you will see it in your heart to donate too.  We like CBN Operation Blessing, they are already on site in FL even though Irma has not even made landfall.  They were on site in Texas - set up before the Red Cross or National Guard.  Oh I gave to the Red Cross too but I still like the Christian organization CBN.

I let another whole month go by before I have done a blog post.  I usually change up my blog face to Autumn themes along with  the vignettes and collections in my house.  However I was too depressed on Labor day about our unwanted guest to even bother to take down patriotic.  I may do a little of that tomorrow once I finish storm prepping outside.

I spent the whole summer knitting on the Camp Loopy challenge with The Loopy Ewe.  This is my 5th year.  This is Camp Loopy 2 for July - finished easily at least a week before the end of July.  For my knitting friends and fans - this yarn is Blue Moon Socks that Rock Med. weight is the Sea Spots colorway and I don't remember the name of the pretty blue green teal semi solid.  It turned out quite heavy.

This is Camp Loopy 3 in it's present state of incompletion.  YEP !  for the 2nd time in my CL history - I didn't finish the final August challenge.  It's a big jacket 1100 yards which is over the required 800yrds - the Janeville Jacket by Blue Sky Fibers out of two colors of their Woolstok - hand dyed and sourced in Peru.  it's very very dark blue called Midnight Sun with a stripe of very dark maroon.  In seed/moss stitch - I love it and I will finish it eventually but it is SOOO stinkin' hot or was when I was working on it in August. 

Something fun we did in August at our duClay EGA chapter was to try punch needle.  I have always been drawn to punch needle but I have resisted trying it.  I didn't need another addiction or distraction after all I do traditional wool rug hooking so why do I need to do punch needle???  well here is my first attempt - this patriotic tin topper which was a design from the Punch Needle and Prim stitching magazine.  We had permission from the designer to teach it in our chapter.  Thank you Erin and thanks to Suzy S for teaching us.  So what did I do - when I went on vacation in Tenn. I went to the Pattern Hutch in Pigeon Forge Tenn.  They have relocated several times and are now in a wonderful old cabin up in the hills above PF near our condo actually.  So I went all in and bought a Morgan hoop frame/stand thingy, a new pattern for Halloween and a new Ultra punch needle. So we'll see where this leads.

Meet Cappuchino - he came to live with me in late July.  He was made by Heather , Mohair Bears and Friends on Etsy.  I think he's just darling.  I put him in his little wooden pedestal and gave him some pretty fabric to play with.  He was ready to sew with his spool and needle.  I just couldn't resist him.  Heather's creations are so awesome, she is as talented and creative as her mom Gloria Parsons and her twin sister Vickie of Olde Green Cupboard fame.  They owned the most awesome quilt, prim, antique shop in Jacksonville for a number of years.  Now they do designing, teaching, retreats etc.

August also brought the usual adventures while in Tenn.   Alien spotting by my DH,  running from raptors, never a dull moment !

We never tire of the magnificent views in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  It was sad to see what burned in Gatlinburg and surrounding areas but all in all they were in good shape.

 DH and I were relaxing on this second floor balcony in the late afternoon sun, I with my stitching in hand.  All the sudden - a HUGE bear came meandering right thru the parking lot where our vehicle was parked right under us.  By the time I ran inside and got my phone - he had walked around the back side of the pool fencing.

 You can still see the big black shape between those two pool chairs - that was poppa bear !  Sure glad I wasn't downstairs fumbling around in the Murano when he walked by.  This was just up the hill from downtown Gatlinburg but we are just about 1/2 a mile from the park entrance.

Maybe next time I'll have some stitching progress to show. Summer is always a slow time for stitching progress since I devote so much time to knitting.  Well I better shove off and close this up and batten down the hatches.  For all my Florida/Georgia friends and all who might be in Irma's path - be safe and my prayers are with us all.

JUMPING THRU JULY

Jumping thru puddles should be a more likely title for this blog post.  We've had a LOT of rain but then it's been so hot - it makes sense we've had the rain too and OH the humidity.  All the usual signs summer is here in the deep south.  It's shocking once again that there is only 1 week left in this month however I spent a lot of time knitting this past weekend and I am feeling caught up on my Camp Loopy 2 project.  This photo is actually upside down but you start knitting at the back top of the neck. It is SOOOOO heavy and hot now.  I'm using a sport weight yarn instead of fingering.  I'm finished with the striping section and on to the border - I'm in the home stretch.  The pattern is Crescendo by Woolberry (Janina Kallio) -  I love the colors but I can't say how much wear I would get out of item.  They are not winter type colors to me but "beachy" colors. The yarn is Blue Moon Socks that Rock medium weight for any interested knitters out there. Anyway - I always find a use for my Camp projects - some become gifts and some are just waiting their turn for a cool day.

 Camp Loopy 1 in June is this lovely shawl - it is Fractal Danger by Martina.  The yarn is something new to me Knerd String - it was nice quality and I loved the "creature" colorway - a nice "mel" green !

 It probably needs to be blocked out to get a little more size out of it but ...........  for now I'm done and moving on.  I have already ordered yarn for Camp Loopy 3 in August - that will be the toughest challenge - with a vacation in there and other busy-ness - and 200 more yards in the challenge requirement - August is always a big challenge.  I'm doing the Janesville jacket - a blocky jacket out of Blue Sky yarn - Woolstok - a nice wool yarn from Peru - they say it's a worsted but it's a light worsted IMO.

 Here's Uncle Sam making his summer appearance lounging on a cute little basket I made in an EGA workshop a few months ago.  The sheep is hooked  by my friend  Katie.  Uncle Sam was purchased from a folk artist on Early Work Mercantile last summer.  I need to add to my patriotic display.

I can brag on these next two things because the Holly Fairy was stitched by my dad.  Expertly and creatively finished by Vonna !  I just love the whimsy of the piece she captured in the cube finishing.  My mom is very pleased.

 Next is the adorable April Word Play by With Thy Needle stitched by my mom on pale green aida. Again Vonna did a super job on the finishing making this little pillow/door hanger just perfect for spring displays.  I hope it was OK that I snagged these lovely photos off Vonna's FB finishing page.  If you don't know her - check out Twisted Stitcher.  She has a floss tube channel, finishing tutorials, a blog, posts on FB has 4 kids and a husband and a cottage business to care for.  WOW - she is one busy chick and funny too.  I don't really have time for all the floss tube watching but I am going thru Vonna's starting in January and I think I'm up to April now.  she is just so amusing and fun to watch.

Our EGA chapter just had Kathy Rees do a 2 day class on her newest teaching piece Highland Circle.  It was an awesome class - 2 days spent with great stitchers in our chapter and Kathy is a delight - (no pun intended - her design business is Needle Delights).  I tried to get a photo of my canvas but it just didn't show up well.  if you google it  - you will see images of the piece on line.

 

Not much else going on in my world.  Looking forward to Camp Blanding retreat with Olde Green Cupboard and friends this weekend.  A full 3 days of hooking which is much needed around my house.  It's so fun to be in that National guard facility with 100 quilters, crafters and probably 1 rug hooker !  I appreciate all your comments and read them all.  Hope your summer is going your way and you are getting lots of things accomplished - I would love to hear what you are doing. 

IN THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

WELL !  I did it , I let the whole month of May slip by without making a blog post, for shame for shame.  I have no excuse except things were a bit busy. 

I guess the big event was a trip to Hiawassee Ga for a rug hooking workshop at the fabulous studio of Linda Bell, certified rug hooking teacher and owner of The Hookery.  She is on the banks of Lake Chatuge - the most picturesque and tranquil place I know of.  We had been there once before about 8 years ago and my folks wanted to go again.  It was my dear dads birthday weekend so off we went.

First stop Swainsboro Ga - The painted lady - the Coleman House which is over 100 years old and on the national Queen Ann registry of historic homes.  Years and years ago - a bunch of my stitching and rug hooking friends went up to this B&B for a retreat and it was a wonderful time.  They have a great  lunch buffet with the best fried chicken and fresh veggies 6 days a week if you are ever in the area.

Here is my dad and my DH standing in the side garden.  You can see the paint and gingerbread trim pretty good on the house.  That brick structure on the right is the old smokehouse.

Here is my dear mom taking one last look back at the expansive wrap around porch.

 So the workshop at Linda Bell's was taught by Karen Poetzinger from the Raleigh NC area.  I'm so sorry but all the photos I took of Linda, Karen and the other students were accidentally taken in "live" mode and can not be captured to the blog - RATS!  Check out her website, she had wonderful wool and some designs of her own.  Many of the class were working on her Rabbit in a hole stool - awesome !

Our goal was to have a stool cover ready to finish so you could get help with the finishing from Karen.  This was Becky's stool, she sat right next to me and worked so hard on sewing up the sides of her stool and pulling the seams like crazy to allow no canvas to show thru.  Hard work !  Isn't her stool beautiful !

Here is our view from Linda's studio every day.  BIG SIGH - I wish I was there now. This was after an evening of rain.  See the  rain clouds hanging low in the mountains which surround this heavenly place.

 For 3 days - I worked on my A&E stool cover - For my long term blog friends I'm sure you must think this project will outlive me.  I sure hope not.  I did make progress but with a 4 cut - it is pretty slow going.  It was also slow going because once I saw the process DUH - I realized how important it was going to be that all of the subject matter lined up correctly when you meet the seams.  So I had to do some pulling out because I had the ecru background starting too high on some of the panels.  The other thing that was important was constantly turning the canvas to make sure the blue sky was extending evenly down the 4 sides.

I did get some important hints from Karen on my rug - first of all - it was enlightening to realize once I saw the actual construction of the cube footstool that it was going to be hard if not impossible to make that zig zag border match up correctly on all 4 sides - not only in the hooking process but also in the sewing process.  SHOOT!  so that is going to have to all come out and will be replaced hopefully by a lovely green spot dye which will mimic a grassy knoll under the tree.  As I've said several times - the motifs and inspiration for his cube stool came from the antique sampler Jane Atkinson -yes I do have Jane in my chart collection - I even have 2 of them because I thought I lost her and bought another.  This design is actually by the wonderful designer Kim Nixon who passed away about 8 years ago.  The only thing left of her stool design is the lovely Eve, everything else was adapted to canvas for me by the very creative Katie Puckett of KISS rug studio.  Much of the wool was dyed by Katie and some came from my stash.  After seeing those stools being finished - I do so want my stool to be done.  Better pick up that hook and get to pulling loops.

Well my friends - the first week of June is already gone and I'm still living in May.  June 1st - you know what that means - Another summer of Camp Loopy !  Yes - my "bee eye" friends and I will be knitting the summer away - as hard and fast as our fingers can fly.  Next post I'll have my first camp project to show you.  Until we meet again - may summer be sweet and your needles busy.

SHORT POST B I G BIRTHDAY!

April is 1/2 over today - 1 day past a milestone birthday.  Many of my friends sent FB wishes and I thank you all ! I wanted to show you a couple of pretty photos of a lovely luncheon my mom and our dear friend Brenda hosted for my birthday.

The table is set for 12 using my mom's collection of pink depression glass.  She had 4 boxes full and it took her 2 weeks to wash and pack it up for safe transport.  Our DF Brenda also brought serving pieces in pink depression glass that were inherited from great aunts and grandmothers.  It was a special day and will be treasured always.

 It was so wonderful to have 9 special friends attend my birthday luncheon.  I should have taken a photo of the lovely tea fare and all my friends having such a great time.  We had finger sandwiches, chilled asparagus soup served in the cream soup bowls, cheese tarts, strawberry , chocolate and lemon cake balls, coconut macaroons, meringue cookies, mimosas, curried fruit in my nanny's bowl, chocolate Dove eggs, Gallons of hot tea - stitching, laughing oh my what a day !

Here is a photo of my mom and I yesterday in the garden at Club Continental.  it's always a treat to go there for a special occasion.  Right near my home on the banks of the St Johns River - this grand old estate home turned into a private club is mostly used for weddings and functions.  Just one more for the memory books - my birthday is gone but the celebrating and gifts will live on.  Thanks to everyone who made it so special.

Another fun blast from the past concert - Little River Band.  They rocked the house at the historic Florida Theatre last Friday night.

 I wanted to put this on FB and my DH wouldn't let me soooooo - here it is immortalized on my blog which he doesn't read LOL !

Hope all my dear blog friends are having a blessed Holy Week and enjoy Easter with family and friends tomorrow.  Hope to be back again before May to report on our trip to the Sun Region EGA retreat next week.  Hoppy Easter to you all !

MARCH MADNESS

I'm quite sure March Madness means basketball playoffs to most people but to me it means an incredibly insanely busy month which is now almost gone !

I just can't believe Saturday is April 1st .  however put on your seatbelt - summer is coming, blink your eyes and it will be Christmas again!

Many people have asked about our home repairs - NOTHING has been even started yet.  I see tons of tarps in our area so I guess we aren't alone.  We are dry and safe and we are OK.  I think maybe they will be starting in April, soon it will be 2 mos.

On to the fun stuff !

This is the 1st Snow Place like Home piece stitched on PTP Crystal linen in Pink Sorbet.  It was suggested by Cathy - owner of Inspired Needle.  She has awesome taste and helps me change out suggested linens and I always love what she picks.  Her model stitcher has already finished this series by Country Cottage Needleworks on the same linen - we shared the piece.  I'm SO jealous!
It was a fun stitch but I have to move on.  There are many things to stitch on my EGA chapter's challenge this year.

 Very little rug hooking going on at my house but I am determined to finish the A&E cube stool cover this year!  Here is a good shot of Adam AKA Bon Jovi under the tree of life that took my whole life to hook.  Each leaf is outlined in a 3 cut and filled with a 4.  I'm about to skip up to a 5 cut on that background.  that is all I have left - the background and zig zag border at the bottom.

 Here is lovely Eve, grabbing for that apple.  This rug was adapted for me by Katie Puckett of KISS rug hooking studio.  She adapted it from an antique sampler and of course updated A&E and the whole feel of the rug.  She did some of the dyeing for me but a lot of the wool is from my stash.

 Had lots of fun in an embellishment class down at Needle Orts with Julia Snyder.  There was also a really wonderful and fun beading workshop.  I chose two small Whimsey and Grace ornaments for the class from her newly released William Morris collection.  I'm sure you can recognize the Strawberry Thief.  Too bad you can't really see my wonderful beaded strawberries and stacked lazy daisies.  I needed a closer shot but you'll be seeing more of this guy.  Debbie at Needle Orts has walls of threads - tons!  so it was easy for Julia to find neat things to use.  She pulled a lot of her new fiber called Fine Kid which is YEP - you guessed it a 100% kid mohair.  I'm using it on both the birds - the other canvas is similar but has a different color bird.  Being the "woolwoman" - the more "wooley" goodness , the better for me.  I will also get to use more of my new found beading knowledge on this canvas.  What a great weekend in Altamonte Springs.

 And there was basketmaking with duClay Chapter EGA.  DF Suzy led this basket making experience.  Let's just say Suzy did a lot of hand holding thru this project.  She was awesome.  I love my little basket but I think this will be my one and only foray into basketmaking.  I have too many irons in the fire anyway to branch out into something else.  I will always treasure it and the great times we have with our friends in EGA.  Our chapter does a lot of things just to experience them in "taste of " workshops.  Some things you love and want more and some things UMMMM - not so much!  it's a good way to try things out like Crewel and not have to take an expensive class.

Speaking of EGA - we are having a class with a great teacher in April.  Janeann Sleeman is teaching this darling Blue Bunny canvas by Melissa Prince Designs.  Janeann designed the stitch guide just for us.  Gotta love that ! We feel very special. However the stitch guide will be available from MPD thru your LNS.  The kit supplies were carefully collected by our friend Cathy at Inspired Needle.  We can't wait to see what the Easter Bunny is bringing us.

Not much knitting going on at my house.  Can't say why - guess I'm saving myself for Camp Loopy 2017 which will begin on June 1st.  This is Winter Solace - I showed the lovely Blue Sky yarn in my previous post.  It is two colors but so faint a difference it looks like a shadow but there is a silver gray and an ecru.  Wish now I'd have gotten more distinct colors but oh well - it really is pretty in person.

I could have shown market purchases like so many other bloggers did.  I really didn't buy a lot and not many "specials" or limited items.  I kept my promise and didn't buy any large samplers not that there weren't plenty of lovely ones out there.  There is just not enough time or dedication in my world for me to get them done.  I really think I am lucky to get the small stuff accomplished these days.

 

I knew I better hurry and put together a post or March would be hopping away.  I've done a whole post and not complained about the weather but here goes,  IT"S HOT !  upper 80's all week this week - WAY too hot for spring.  Easter is late this year and by the time mid April comes along I guess it will be cracking 90 in the deep south. 

 

I hope you are all enjoying Spring in your own sweet way.  I love hearing your comments, thanks for

popping in and saying Hi !