THE PARTRIDGE on PEAR

I always struggle with blog titles - pardon me for being silly.  There is a partridge - I tried to think about finding a pear to take a photo of but I could not.  Thereby - my silly blog title.  There is a partridge and it is "on" pear - vintage pear linen that is .  har har

Too bad I am such a poor photographer - however here is a photo of my finish of the BBD partridge bonus chart. It was stitched with the called for Belle Soie silks - two strands so the color is vivid and rich.

I used a wonderful pre-made box I found on vacation at 3 Sisters Antiques and Needlework in Knoxville Tenn.  It has stenciled colonial type designs on all 4 sides and the top which is now covered.  I thought it was just perfect.

Looks like I had too much light on the subject but I could not get the designs on the box itself to show up.  It has ball feet and it was a gift for DF Carol for her October birthday.  I gave this to Carol when she came up for our EGA guilds workshop with Ellen Chester (more on that event in another post) and I just did not get a photo of Carol with the box.  I'm sorry that opportunity slipped by me.  Anyway I am "finishing" challenged so I was pretty proud of my accomplishment.  I ended up pinning the piece to the mat board instead of lacing like the BBD instructions said - I just could not get that to work - of course I have zero experience in that realm so I was quick to get exasperated with it.  Once I pinned it - then gluing the chenille to the box did not work for my project either - so I had to couch the chenille in place to cover the pin heads.  All in all - I was very pleased with the finish.

Here is the darling little Liberty Hill Scissor Box set.  It was SO wonderful and really came in handy with the partridge finishing and using all those nasty pins which needed to be corralled and contained but yet within reach.  It is always fun to add to my LH collection.

Two blog posts in one week - WOW - amazing.  I still can't figure out why my "followers" dont' show up on my blog any more - if anyone knows how to correct that problem - please enlighten me.  Next post I hope to show a few photos from the wonderful workshop we had with Ellen Chester.  Until then - happy stitching/knitting and hooking.

IT'S A WOOL THING

While in Auburn AL a couple of weeks ago - I went to a favorite quirky cafe.  This place takes up about 3 acres - it is a nursery, garden accessory and now fresh market with a cafe.  I think it is called the Crepe Myrtle Cafe.  Anyway - how fun to see all these beautiful fall flowers and pumpkins.  So festive!

Sure would have loved to take some of this stuff back home with me but I did bring back some great stuff this time.  Do you know about Wickles - they are based out of Alabama and they make the best condiments and pickles.  We can get some basic stuff here in NE FL like their Hellish relish - awesome!  your tuna salad will never be the same.  Anyway - they have a whole case of Wickles products at this market and I love their pickled okra as well.

The other awesome thing I did was visit this great new yarn shop in Auburns sister city of Opelika.

The Yarnhouse Studio is AWESOME!  It looks tiny from the outside but once inside - WOW - did I say WOW - the shop is gorgeous. 

Owner Cary said it was a jewelry store and they had beautiful built in shelves made of lovely wood. 

 

There was a knit night going on so I was able to visit after I got off work.  I was so pleasantly surprised at how welcoming Cary and her Mom were. 

Not only do they have gorgeous yarns but they also have some yummy fabrics.  You might say this was a one stop shop for anything creative you might have in mind.

they also teach weaving and spinning -  

Found some beautiful Malabrigo Rios there.  I had one skein on hand from Savannah but it did not match too well so I will definitely have to blend the two skeins.

The gorgeous Madeline Tosh Vintage which I had never tried before in Cove - A really dreamy colorway - the new Knitscene Winter issue has a shawl done in Vintage so i am NOT-SO-PATIENTLY waiting on that to arrive at the LYS - I was going to make something else with it so I already know the yarn is beyond wonderland to knit with.

Another absolutely gorgeous yarn I found at Yarnhouse was Fiberphile MCN - OMG - Too bad there was only one skein  in this colorway - which is Fortress and it is a fingering weight - will make a nice shawlette - do  you see a Trend here with yarn buying.  Yep Fall is here and I am in the wool fever.

This beautiful beginning is a baby afghan I am making for a friend who is having her first grandbaby in the spring.  This is Spud & Chloe Sweater in Ice Cream.  I had a lot of trouble choosing a pattern - I wanted something that would move along that I could finish in a few months but I also wanted something delicate and elegant.  I settled on Heirloom a pattern by Madeline Tosh.

Well - Happy Friday - I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and if you are like me - Loving and living the wool life - ENJOY!

CLOUD HOPPING AND A FALL FINISH !

Oh my goodness - time just flies on by - I can't believe it's been so long since I have made a blog post.

It is officially fall here - not according to the temperature - it was 85 just now when I made a Starbucks run.  EGADS - had to run the A/C on full blast and I got an iced pumpkin spice latte instead of a seasonal hot one.

I wanted to introduce you to Petunia the Pig -   She looks kinda like a pony - I tried getting a side shot but looked like a baby donkey so this is it.  This is by the same folk artisan that did my Harriet the hare and the bunny baby on the giant carrot.  The Jack is distressed wool and I love his face.  Actually this was a birthday gift from my mom and it has been put away until it was time to come out and play.

I have been busy with work and when I'm real busy with work that usually means lots of travel. Have been taking more trips on the company plane lately.   Here is a shot of the beautiful clouds on a recent trip home on the plane - it looks so surreal when you are up in the air.

 

and the finish - WHOOOOOOO - I finally finished - well finished the stitching part on the BBD Partridge from the Loose Feathers Part 1 booklet  - I can't wait to show you what I have planned for this piece.  I just need to get to the finishing part - yep - don't faint - I am going to do that myself and hopefully next post I will have the real finish to show you.  I used the called for Vintage Pear by LL and the called for Belle Soie silks - 2 strands made the coloring very vivid.  This was my first time using Dinky Dye silks and I must say I was very impressed.

For a long time I was stumped on what to do with those wheat sheaves/sheaths or whatever they are and I apologize to anyone who knows way more than I do about farms and so forth.  I put this close up so you could see how they were drawn on the far right and how the stitched ones looked on the far left.  I think this stitch is working out well.  The orangey ones are a mix of Vineyard silk and Planet Earth stranded silk and the golden ones are 2 colors of Planet Earth - I actually love that fiber too - my first time using it as well.  I'm not a big fan of the vineyard - it gets easily distressed and to me looks just like perle cotton.  I asked a fellow ega member about it and she said maybe I was using too long a strand - well not in my opinion and then she said I should pay careful attention to make sure I was stitching with the correct grain - EGADS - if I have to be so particular about all that - I would just avoid using it.  I'm not knocking their product - just sharing my observations - I don't want negative comments because I am ditzing someone's favorite silk.  We all have our preferred products to stitch with and I'm just sharing my opinions.

Here is the full shot - not much left to go now - I wish I had picked it up earlier this summer so it would be done for the fall season but alas I am always a day late and a dollar short.  I'll enjoy stitching it in the season and when it is done - it is done !  I am not sure what to do with the sky - I definitely want black but I might experiment with Gloriana Florimell in Antique Black - I adore this fiber - but then I adore Soie D'Alger the base for this thread.  I don't know what fiber to use for the stars - I do want them sparkly so I am thinking Krenik probably but I'll try several things until I find the perfect solution.

I never could understand what those black things below the fence were meant to be - rocks?  Buckets - oh well whatever they were - they are going to be dirt in my field and I will put in those grassy shoots last on top of all the stitching.  I have really enjoyed this piece.  Just a reminder it is Autumn House by Melissa Shirley Designs and I just went wild with stashed fibers using many different things.  I did buy a few new things but at least half or more of it was from my vast stash of threads.

Haven't shown my Spanish sampler in a long time.  This is only 1/2 of the sampler - the right side is stitched.  Sad to say this piece has not gotten much attention this summer - it is is fondly referred to by Jody as the "lap robe" (inside joke) and therefore if you get the hint - this is a 1/2 yard piece of linen and during the dreadfully hot summer months - it was just too hot to work on especially under my bright Daylight lamp.  I need to make a point of working on it at least one night a week so that some forward progress is being made.

This is a SAL with the Attic and I saw the first finished Spanish in Jean's recent newsletter.  I think the SAL leader has changed a few of the colors in the bands more to her liking - not sure I will make changes - I typically like to be in the ball park of what the original sampler looked like.

So - that concludes a brief tour of what's been going on around my house.  I have not been hooking much but hooking always ramps up in the fall and winter.  Hopefully I will have enough progress on my scarecrow to show a new photo next time.

Hope you are all enjoying lots of stitching, knitting, hooking, pumpkin pickin' apple eatin' and fall festivals in your neck of the woods.  Thanks for stopping by my blog and please leave a comment - I love to hear from ya'll !

A TASTE OF FALL

Well friends - I am just back from 10 days off work  - it was a great vacation.  We spent 8 days in the Smokie Mountains in Tenn.  We we first arrived Labor Day weekend it was sweltering there - I think it was 98 even hotter than when we left FL.  I have loads of family type photos so if you want to skip to the stitchy stuff - feel free to do so.

My folks went up a few days earlier than we did but we have shared a condo space for the past couple of years at this same complex and that worked out well. We both have our own vehicle in case too much togetherness begins to creep into our space. We all get along very well and we have our own bedroom and bath so it works for us.

Here is a shot from the balcony and down below is the cottage we stayed in last year.  they were nice but NO view at all so we preferred to be in the tower.

If you have been to Pigeon Forge Tenn - you are familar with the Christmas Store and maybe the Christmas Inn owned by the same folks.  Well now they have the Partrige and Pear restaurant.  We went there for dinner last year but Mom found they were open for lunch so that was our first stop on Saturday.  Here is a shot of their beautiful mantel.  The entire restaurant is decorated for Christmas year round.  there is a neat photo of my folks and Jody with Santa but it got out of order and I can't seem to fix it.

 This is a shot of the haul from the farm stand in the No Ga mountains on the way home.  This Longaberger gathering basket is running over with 3 kinds of beans and peas and bell peppers - Have you ever seen a purple bell pepper - I haven't - so there is one in there that is purple.  Fresh apples and see the huge heads of cabbage just cut from the field.  One variety of peas was so fresh - it still had the morning dew on it when the box was dumped into the bin - oh and the fresh corn too that did not get into the shot. 

I love pottery.  These 2 soup bowls and a little container for sweetner packets are from the Pigeon River Pottery.  They have so many gorgeous pieces both decorative and utilitarian.

Here is a shot of Jody on our favorite perch.  We did not get to enjoy the balcony as much as we had hoped to. The view of the Smokie mountain range is incredible. We had 3 days of rain and dreary weather when the effects of Lee headed up our way.  Thankfully we did not get any of the horrible flooding issues that folks up north got.  How sad they got both Irene and Lee - it has been a dramatic and odd storm season and not to minimize the pain and suffering and loss of property and disruption to their lives but I surely hope we don't get any storms in NE FL this year.

 We enjoy collecting BBQ sauce too - not just collecting - we use it - See that 1/2 gallon jug of Applewood Farm BBQ sauce YEEHAW - we were thrilled to see it put up in this quantity - we usually have to buy 16oz bottles and hope they last thru the year.  We got Tomlinson's mustard last year and it is unique.  The no name bottle came from a backwoods BBQ Shack (yes that's the name) in Toccoa GA - on the edge of the mountains - the food was great and their sauce was interesting.

This is just outside the Pigeon Forge Pottery - every where you look in the Old Mill complex the flowers and beds are gorgeous.

Here's the Santa shot outside the Partridge and Pear.

The highlight of the trip for me was visiting 3 Sisters Antiques and Needlework in Knoxville Tenn.  I was excited to finally be able to visit the shop - it definitely did not disappoint.  Deb the owner said they had a webpage but I have never been able to find it so I can't provide a link to it.  They have some awesome antique pieces and while the stitching stuff is contained to one room - it is nicely interspersed with the antiques and collectibles. 

I consider myself to be a pretty savvy sampler shopper but Deb had a few things on her walls I have never seen.  I did not get any photos of my mom perusing around but believe me she was busy collecting her own stash haul. Mom got the new Needlework Press chart called How does your Garden Grow and made her first foray into Belle Soie silks.

Here are the 3 charts and linen I got.  I knew I wanted the BBD Halloween Eve and was delighted it was in stock along with the called for confederate gray linen.  Apparently I missed Eve by La D Da when it came out in 2004 or maybe that was before the A&E craze hit.  Anyway she had a shop model and it is too cute and I found a great Silkweaver linen called Rock Quarry that seemed to go nicely with the silk colors.

Heartstring Samplery was new to me.  They had this model on the wall too and stitched on this gorgeous Silkweaver linen called cinnamon ? something I can't remember but it was just too beautiful not to get some and I love the sampler.

Mom and I were supposed to be stitching Halloween pieces on this trip and I did bring along All Hallows Eve by Chessie & Me but the over 1 alphabet got to me right away.  I did not have anything but my tabletop OTT light and no extra magnification other than my prescription glasses - so I just could not work the over one when not at home so fortunately I brought along my BBD Partridge.  I got tons done on him.

 The other project that captured my attention was this shawlette pattern which I downloaded off RAV - it is called Tanta and it is by Emily Ross - it has a very cool sawtooth border on each edge of the shawl.  For any knitters out there - it is done in Malabrigo Sock and the Arbol colorway.  That is my "taste of fall".  I figure I am about 1/2 way done.

Here is a close up shot that shows the beautiful fallish colors of this colorway and better detail of the sawtooth border.  I could see myself doing this same pattern again - it is an 8 row repeat and has just enough variety to be interesting but not enough to require your full attention.

That about concludes my "taste of fall" tour.  We were delighted that Lee did bring much cooler weather to our vacation spot.  All week last week it was in the 50's at night and in the 70's during the day - it was glorious to be cool again after such a long hot summer.  The minute we left the mountains on our way home on Saturday - it was roll up the windows - close the sun roof and turn on the A/C - oh well - at least we had a preview of what's coming to us within the next few weeks. 

BIRTHDAY GIRL

Yesterday was my DM birthday - I think she looks great for her age - she would kill me if I published her age in print.
Here she is surrounded by the gifts from her girl group and her family. Standing up next to her is a new OTT Light that we got for her so she can see really well when she is stitching at my house. 



 She and my dad invited Jody and I to join them for dinner at Morton's last night - it is our favorite "special occasion" restaurant and the meal certainly did not disappoint.  So that was a treat for all of us.

Here is a great photo of Mom sporting her beautiful "Just Enough Ruffles" scarf handknit by DF Henrietta.  It is a beautiful subtle shade of green and actually looked great with what she had on.  Look at the beautiful card Henri created for Mom's birthday greeting.  Henri is so creative with her paper crafting and she also is holding an awesome BBD chart "Gathering Basket" - she is already looking forward to stitching it and finding some cool pins to stick in the pin pillow.  It's so great to have thoughtful friends like Henrietta.

DF Kerrie gave my mom a neat sweetgrass basket.  I am sick I did not get a photo of it at rug guild on Sunday.  it was a very unusual shape and I think mom intends to use it for a snippet basket to put wool clippings in.  Kerrie picked up this neat basket while in Charleston recently.  The art of basketmaking is still alive in Charleston but the prices have gone up dramatically in the past few years and the basket maker told Kerrie they are having to go farther and farther away from Charleston to obtain their grasses for making the baskets - why they even come to NE FL to harvest the grasses.  Coastal building is really inhibiting the growth of sea grasses - how sad this tradition is slowly dying out .

I showed a beautiful Noro jacket in the last post I was knitting for my mom.  Since I had not gotten very far along - I decided not to give her a WIP but keep plugging along and maybe give her a finished jacket for Christmas. That gives me a few more months to get it done.

I have no great progress photos to show on my stitching.  I did get some good hooking time on my scarecrow at rug guild on Sunday.  I'm having lots of fun with him and dreaming of my first Pumpkin Spice Latte and cooler weather in September. 

Hope you are all having fall feelings of your own and enjoying time with your needles and hooks!

IT'S A BEACHY THING

Oh my goodness - what a week this has been at work - I have been trying all week long to make this post.  I did not want my friends and followers to think I had succumbed to the heat.  I know we are all oppressed this summer and I for one am ready to bid the summer of 2011 bye bye but here in NE FL - I know we have at least 1 more month of really hot weather and it can be in the 90's even into October.  I just hope and pray we don't have any bad hurricanes come our way.  With all the extreme heat - it always fires up the Atlantic and starts creating storms this time of the year. 

On to the fun stuff - the meat of the post - what everyone wants to see - the photos. 

Every year for the past umpteen years - we have spent at least one long weekend at St Augustine Beach.  I have spent a lot of time in St Aug in my life - I adore St Aug - my grandmothers sister raised her 4 boys in St Aug and their families were reared there so I had lots of cousins and many visits to that area in my life.  It is very familiar and I know my way around very well.  We have favorite restaurants we always eat at while in town and occasionally we try something different.  So come join me and enjoy a few shots of last weekend.

Here is the view of the pool area and beach from our condo balcony.  I must say this is as close to the beach as I got - it was so dang HOT - I just wasn't interested in going down there during the day.  It was much more fun to stay inside and look out the glass and stitch and knit LOL !

Here's my best friend ( my DH) JD - we did manage to sit out on the balcony for a couple of hours and had a breeze so we didn't expire.  While we were sitting out there someone down by the pool was grilling hamburgers and the power of suggestion and sense of smell was so great we decided that we simply must have a hamburger.  So we went a few blocks down the street to the Oasis. 

Oasis is a true beachy dive - however the food is very good.  They have 3 stories of seating including a roof top - this area is interesting - it has 4 walls and even has windows in the walls but no roof - it was amazing that a breeze picked up and just at dusk - it was nice enough to sit in this area that was open to the stars.  It was a really neat experience - it's not often that one can sit outside in our area especially in the summertime - what with the ravenous bugs and oppressive heat - it just doesn't happen often.

Very early Sunday morning - like 5am - I could not sleep - so finally at 6am - I got up - walked out on the balcony and snapped this shot of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean - A rare sight for Ms Mel indeed.  Anyone who knows me well knows that if I had my  choice I would stay up late and get up late but with work - I am obliged to get up at 7am - getting up before dark is reserved for early flights or vacation departures only !

 Sunday morning after we checked out - we had already decided that we wanted to try a restaurant down in the historic area called the Bunnery - We had to park and walk about 1.5 blocks thru the historic district.  It wasn't so bad going to the restaurant but coming back at almost 11am - YIKES it was just SOOO hot - I stopped for a quick shot of this beautiful courtyard - it is near the Columbia Restaurant and St George St for anyone who knows St Aug.

Here's my buddy again reluctantly standing for a photo opp next to some old well type thing.  He's sporting new sun glasses and we decided they look a lot like those Gargoyle glasses that Arnie wore in the Terminator movies.  I guess that was a popular expensive brand in the 80's - his are cheapy knock offs but they looked good on him.  Plus who doesn't love a sovenir from a get away.

Just so you know that I do still stitch - this is a shot of the new BBD Loose Feathers bonus piece - those beautiful silks that Alma used in this piece just got me - Plus I love LL Vintage Pear - This is the first time I've used Dinky Dyes silks and I was very impressed with them.  The only thing I hate is using 2 strands - AACCKK - but it really does make the colors pop and show up beautifully on the linen.

Closer view of the stitching I have accomplished - A lot of it was done at the beach - I always associate fond memories of stitching certain pieces in certain places.  Do you do that too?

For the last shot - here is a jacket that I started for my DM - for any knitting fans it is Noro Furisode - a silk/cotton/wool blend.  I hoped to finish it for her birthday but since that is just a couple weeks away - I am doubting i can but it is a short jacket and has elbow length sleeves so there is hope.

I have not been hooking at all - so no progress to report on any rugs.  However my next post will focus on the Olde Green Cupboard retreat which is coming up next weekend.  I will hopefully get tons of hooking done next weekend and hope to take a lot of photos.  this will primarily be a quilt retreat and I hear there will be about 150 people in attendance.  Better take my earplugs I guess !  No offense to the quilters out there but hooking is basically quiet compared to the machine noise and can you imagine the chatter from 150 excited crafters.  Should be a blast. 

I see that I have gained a few followers - welcome !  for some reason - I can't very easily see the followers any more - wonder if Blogger has messed that up too.  I love hearing from you so please do leave me a comment and please come back and visit again real soon.

SURELY FALL IS NEAR???

What a stupid title to this blog post - with record high temps all over the country and the heat index here at 100 + and rising thru the week - I must be delirious from the heat or maybe just day dreaming about fall when I was plundering thru my rug hooking projects on Saturday night looking for something new and different to work on at rug guild yesterday. Meet Mr Fancy Pants.  Here is a close up shot of him - Jody made me laugh - he said he looked like that Jeepers Creepers thing in the horror movie - like he was going to jump up and get you any minute.  He said he has a sick sadistic look on his face - AAAWWWW - now wasn't that mean of him - I think he is sooooo cute and doesn't look mean or creepy at all to me.

I love this canvas with the whole backround filled with pumpkins and pumpkin leaves.  I thought the bird looked like some silly tropical bird instead of a crow so I had someone redraw it for me - I think it was DF Henri or maybe DF Karen - honestly it has been so many years since this guy has seen day light I don't remember who helped me redraw the bird.

My goal is to do every single pumpkin in a different shade of orange and use a lot of textures.  It is a very busy canvas and really does require quite a bit of study to make sure you are seeing everything correctly that is going on in this canvas.  For any rug hookers out there - the canvas was designed by Bev Conway and is called Punkin Patch or maybe Pumpkin patch and I did this in a 2 day workshop with her some years ago.  I've only worked on it a time or two since that workshop about 5 years ago but he is such a cutey and I sure needed a blast of fall feelings yesterday.  I am doing this mainly in a 6 cut mostly with wools I bought from Bev at the workshop.  I have a lot of browns so I am hoping to find stash for the aged picket fence in the foreground.

 Next up is the Figurehead shawl FINISHED and on time for the Camp Loopy KAL with the Loopy Ewe shop.  For anyone interested in the knitting stats - it was a design out of the Summer Knitscene mag knitted with the called for Spud and Chloe Sweater which is a worsted weight 50 wool/50 cotton - lovely yarn.

This photo is more accurate of the true colors - one of the requirements for the Loopy project was the item had to be striped - anyway - here is the cool horn button  I found in Savannah last week.

Yes there has been stitching going on in my house but I just did not feel like trying to take another WIP photo of that huge Spanish sampler - I do enjoy working on it but Jody's nickname of "the lap blanket" does paint a picture for how big this sampler actually is and working with that all over my lap and under the OTT light - it is a hot project so I don't work on it as often as I should.  I have fallen far enough behind in the Attic SAL that I no longer feel obligated to work on it when I don't want to. In sampler world - I just don't have anything that is screaming my name - I have enjoyed working on the Plymouth Sampler a few days here and there but no dramatic progress on it either. I have been doing some fun needlepointing on the Autumn House and maybe next post I will show you a WIP photo on that one.  That is what I am really enjoying doing at the moment.  Oh and I have just started the 2nd Camp Loopy project with the Loopy Ewe - mittens of all things - well my logic was that I had a better chance of  finishing mittens than gloves and certainly more than socks. To participate - you had to knit one of those 3 items using cables. 

I'm going to leave you with a beautiful breathe of summer - This hibiscus on our patio has done really well.  It always reminds me of sultry summer days.  I hope you are enjoying your sultry summer day doing what you love to do most.  Clink ! and Cheers to you all ~ ~