IT'S ALL ABOUT THE KNITTING

Fall and winter is when I really immerse myself into all things wool.  Wool rug hooking and knitting take up most of my free time.  I adore them both and typically I knit almost every night especially in the winter.  During the very hot summer months in NE FL - I sometimes have to forfeit my knitting in lieu of less sweltering activities like stitching.

I am excited to say I have a finish.  I have been working on a lovely baby afghan for DF Betsy's first grandchild from her only child.  Daughter Camille (fondly known as Bunny) is due in early March.  I am ecstatic that I finished the afghan ahead of the birth.

For any knitters out there - this is a Madeline Tosh pattern called Heirloom and it is an easy 8 row repeat.

Here's little Harriet my bunny looking in at Baby Bunny afghan

I used Spud and Chloe Sweater in color Ice Cream - the Sweater is a worsted weight 55% wool/45%organic cotton yarn and a dream to work with.

Next on the focus list is the First Quarter Challenge project with the Loopy Ewe.  This is Elinor by ShibuiKnits - the pattern is for a cable rib scarf by Shibui and the yarn is Shibui Silk Cloud one strand with one strand of the gorgeous Shibui Baby Alpaca which is a worsted weight.  This yarn combo is absolutely heavenly to knit with and the color is greener than it looks in the photo.

The next project I am almost done with is also a Shibui pattern called Eustrucia or something like that out of the Shibui Luxury book.  It is a huge long cowl that is crossed over after finishing and then connected to form a big loop. 

Another exquisite Shibui yarn combo - this was my first taste of Shibui luxury and I don't think I can go back.  This is 2 stands of Silk Cloud with one strand of Shibui Staccato which is their luxury fingering weight made of wool and silk.  What better combo and soft is putting it mildly - it is a luxurious fabric.  The colorway is called Poodle Skirt so on Ravelry - it is called Pink Poodle Skirt Cowl.

Well friends - I hope I didn't bore all my stitching friends to death with my knitting projects and progress.  I hope to have another post soon to show what little progress I have made on the Ann Dale SAL with my local sampler guild.   Hopefully I can spend a little more time with Ann now that the pressure to get that baby afghan is crossed off my project list.

Thanks for visiting my blog - I love reading your comments and hearing from you

I hope everyone has a marvelous weekend with plenty of time to do your favorite needling.

OFF THE OCEAN RUG EXHIBIT

Can't believe 2 plus weeks have flown by since OTO 2012 ended. I promised to show you photos from the rug exhibit. PLEASE do not be offended if I did not show a photo of your rug or if I don't remember who hooked certain rugs. I don't make notes - I am not a professional photographer - these were taken in a big hurry with my IPhone in between people who are all trying to see and photo the rugs. If I don't comment about the rug - it is just because I don't remember who hooked it - they are beautiful one and all and have many hours hooked with love.

Here is a shot of my DM hard at work on her new Poinsettia christmas rug.  She does not typically do a fine cut but she was doing an awesome job and enjoying the color plan our teacher Dianne Kelly did for her.  Way to go Mom !

In the front right of the photo is my pile of wool - hard to believe my beautiful santa and ewe came out of that pile of wool.  Some hookers are neat freaks - apparently I am not LOL !

On to the exhibit - here is a stunning rug by one of the teachers Sybil Osika.  Her animals are so realistic.

This rug is called Ling and was hooked in a 3cut by fellow guild member Jackie Mesnick

This was the Best in Show winner for wide cuts - it is called 4 Seasons and was by Sara Beth Black from NC.  I believe Diane Stoffel assisted with the color plan and possibly supplied some of the wool for this stunning rug.

This was hooked by DF Susan Morin and started at last years OTO with Bev Conway.  I believe most of these wools were from the creative mind of Susan.  She does awesome prims.

Here is my Hare family all framed up.  It was gifted to my DF Anne Marie and she wanted to have it framed. The design was adapted (with permission) from Hare Easter a cross stitch freebie by Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers. Next door is a lovely iris but I don't know the hooker on that one.

This was a story rug of sorts - don't know the details of it but I overheard that being said.

Loved this mermaid !

The bathtub girl was hooked by DF Sharon Carter who is also a fellow guild member.  She started this at a previous camp with Joan Reckwerdt.  Love the wallpaper - so many cute things about this rug !

This beauty is called Amanda - it was 2nd place in wide cuts to the 4 Seasons rug.  I'm sorry but I don't remember the hookers name.  This rug was quite large - about 5' across I think.  Lovely!

Another rug by guild member Jackie Mesnick and the 2nd place winner in fine cuts.  It is quite large - about 5' x 5' and was hooked in a 3 cut.  I'm pretty sure the wool and color plan was by DF Katie Puckett as was the previous rug by Jackie - Ling.

Here is my pomegranate runner by Searsport Rugs.  The color plan was by Linda Bell of the Hookery.  I started this in a workshop with her.

This is one of Michelle March stunning rugs in a 3 cut with a white backround.  She has another entry which was very similar and about twice as long which ended up being the Best in Show winner for fine cuts.  I tried several times to get a phot but there was always a crowd around it.  The canvas I think was designed by Connie Charleson.  Stunning to say the least.  Michelle has been a winner at this exhibit a number of times before and one can see why - her work is such pure perfection it looks machine made.

Seated is co-director of OTO and DF Katie Puckett chatting with fellow guild member Sheila.  Katie is working on a Bea Brock rug she started at the Yellow Rose of TX rug camp last year in Bea's class.

This rug was hooked by a woman name Lady who lives on St Simons Island.  She was in our class several years ago when she started the rug.  Nice to see it finished.

So my friends - that concludes the 2012 Off the Ocean tour of rugs.  There were many more great rugs and it's too bad I did not get photos of all of them.  Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my Santa and Ewe - I was thrilled to hear from each and every one of you.

THE RUG CAMP THAT WAS

I had hoped to do a long post about Off the Ocean rug camp which ended yesterday.  However I have been extremely busy and feel I better break this up in two posts.

First I am going to show you my rug which I absolutely adore.

I selected Dianne Kelly from Ohio for my teacher again.  I have had Dianne as a teacher 3 or 4 times before and I love her wool - I have always liked every rug she has planned for me and this one is no exception.

My canvas was adapted by combining two lovely cross stitch patterns by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle fame.  Yes I did contact Brenda months ago and ask her permission to create her design on rug hooking canvas.  Most designers have no problem with this as long as you purchase the chart (s) and do not mass produce their work which I would never ever consider anyway.  Just common sense stuff.  My friend and our local certified rug hooking teacher Katie Puckett took the charts and did the tracing for me to linen.  To say I am pleased is an absolute understatement - I AM IN LOVE with my project.  It is evidenced by the amount of hooking I did in 4 days.  Last year my camp experience was disasterious - I was very sick - missed one whole day of class in the bed and tried to breathe life into a former project.  To say I was miserable last year was also an understatement.

Anyway - without further ado - here is my precious Santa and Ewe.

EGADS !  I have no idea why these came thru sideways - I don't know how to fix it either because when I saved the photos on my desktop they were correctly positioned.  Oh well - rug hooking is so large - I think you can all see the photos so I'm going to press on here.

TOO CUTE !  I just love how they came out.

No those stringy gold things on the feather tree are not going to stay that way - it is just a technique used to make a small dot like an eye - once the hooking is filling the backround - those long strands will be cut even with the loops.

My sheepy is just precious - I used the same wool in the swirls to do Santa's wooly trim on his hat.  Of course Santa shares the wooly warmth of his friend.

the holly border and the reindeer, tree and house on the other side that I did not focus in on are elements that came from the Sampler of the Season chart also by With Thy Needle.  It is a perfect way to frame out the Santa and Ewe.  Just love the folky look of this design.  You can't see much of the backround but it is a snowy whitish grayish bluish color.  Can't wait to see more of the backround go in.

Stay tuned for the exhibit photos from this rug camp along with some impromptu shots from the hooking room.

THE SMELL OF PINE

AWWWW Christmastime - How I love it - the music - the lights - the decorations - the festive occasions - seasonal stitching.

Here is something I have been working on for the past couple of weeks and am really loving how it is coming out. It is Poinsettias and Pines by Blue Ribbon Designs. I changed my fabric to the lovely Sugar and Spice linen from Australia - I ordered it several years ago and I think it is called Marble Crunch. I love how Naomi does her sparkly linen. The threads are Belle Soie as charted except I had to change the white to a pale silvery gray on the snowflakes so they would show up better on this linen.  In the new year I hope to get a real camera so I can take better photos - I am using my IPhone and think they should be better but alas they still look fuzzy and crummy.  My nice Canon digital got stolen when our house got broken into a couple of years ago and I did not ever replace it.  Anyway you get the idea - I am missing one tree there but I will finish it up today.

The other piece I worked on earlier in December was Merry Christmas by BBD from the Joyeaux Noel book.  I am shortening it up a bit from what was charted but I know the wording will fit.  It is on a leftover piece of R&R fabric with the called for Crescent Colors cotton.  It will be a cute pin pillow one day.

I am starting a new project tomorrow on Christmas Day - It will be a fun one instead of a serious repro sampler.  I am starting 6 Fat Men by Lizzie Kate.  I loved the bright colors she used - all overdyes and I am using some long stashed 28ct Antique Cotton linen by R&R - I thought using a larger count linen might make it more whimsical - of course for those who do beautiful over one stitching or on a very fine count - that also has the same wonderful effect to make some things very whimsical.

I'd love to hear what from you if you are starting a new project for Christmas Day or New Years.  Our sampler guild (Azalea) is starting Ann Dale as an SAL for 2012 (and maybe the rest of our lives LOL).  I hope my supplies will be here for a NYE/NYD start but most of our group has been wait listed along with the rest of the country for the vintage pear linen.  I managed to find a piece from Traditional Stitches - Janice is great to deal with - I had ordered the Mystery Sampler and several other things from her in 2011 and was extremely pleased with her customer care.

Well - I thank each and every one of you for visiting my blog this year.  I have new followers but it still vexes me as to why those followers don't show up on my side bar any more.  I see this same thing on others blogs so I know it's not just mine.  Anyway if you are new to my blog - welcome!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends and that you find time in the hustle and bustle of the holiday weekend to spend time with your needle.

Merry Christmas ~ ~ ~ 

MAGICAL SANTA

Having a new Santa come to live at my house can be a magical thing.  Especially this Santa.

My dad is a very prolific stitcher - I have shown his beautiful work many times before.  Sadly he does not really care for stitching samplers but he did do the lovely Rachel Hyde for me and I'm hoping he may be interested in stitching the Solomons Temple sampler on the cover of the new SANQ.

This is the Winter White Santa - design number 100 for Mirabilia.  He prefers Mirabilia designs and has stitched many of them over the years.

This was our first experience using Michaels and while they were not inexpensive like I was hoping - they did do a wonderful job.  My mom picked out the gorgeous moulding all by herself and I must say it is absolutely perfect for this piece  - she also picked the silver gray velour mat used on the top.  When I arrived at Michaels that day - she was struggling for an inner mat and I picked the midnight blue.  So this beautiful Santa is already hanging on my wall - I went out in wind and ugly weather to pick him up today.

With no further ado - here he is

apparently I can't take straight photo to save my life - sorry about the crack on my couch cushions.

Between the horrible lighting and my crummy IPhone photo - you really can't see any of the beauty and details in all the beading.

A close up shot of the frame moulding and a bit of the beading around the tree.  Take my word for it - it is just a lovely piece - I can brag because it is my dad's work and my mom's framing choices - so I'm allowed to gush over this piece.  EXQUISITE !  So magical - that is all I can say.

THE SURPRISE IS REVEALED

Last week I showed a few sneak peek shots of a needlepoint ornament I completed in a finishing class I took in Savannah at the French Knot.

Since the ornament is christmas related - I wanted to make sure the recipient was able to enjoy it during the holiday season.

With no further delay here is Kris' Kats

I am SOOOOO proud of the finishing on this ornament.  I wish I was a better photographer and if I used a real camera instead of my handy IPhone I would probably get better results.  Anyway - you can see the previous post if you missed it for details close up on the details of the ornament.

Two of these sweet kitties appear in Kris' current avatar - the little tortie Maize placing the star on top of the tree and the silver striped all male Curtis Willis.  The black one on the bottom and the Siamese have gone on to the rainbow bridge but I knew them both.  This ornament just jumped into my hands last year when I attended the finishing class at French Knot.  I knew DF Kris would love it and I was not disappointed in her reaction.  I do think she loves seeing the kids in this whimsical colorful ornament.

Thanks for all your kind comments in the previous post - I'm glad I could do the reveal sooner rather than later.

Hope you are all enjoying sights and sounds of the season.  Cheers !

GIVEAWAY AND A SURPRISE

I am terribly remiss in doing a blog post to show photos and thank Lauren from the awesome Rugs and Pugs  blog for the wonderful giveaway gifts she sent to me.  I think everyone knows I LOVE WOOL - hence the name Woolwoman and Wooley thoughts - I knit with wool (well mostly) and I hook with wool and sometimes I stitch with wool too.

When I signed up for Lauren's giveaway - I never dreamed I would win.  NEVER - however I did WIN and WOWWEEEEE did I win.

Lauren send a lovely box of textured wool already washed and dried and ready to hook. Lots of lovely wools - I was in shock - first that I even won and then how lovely the gift was.

Then buried inside the box was this darling scrabble stand and blocks spelling wool - now I just need to find the woman blocks and I'll be happy as a clam.  This is right up on the shelf with my favorite wooden trinkets.

Buried in the box was this awesome silver pendant - I had seen these on Lauren's blog but had no idea that was part of the giveaway - It looks great on one of my favorite silver chains and Lauren did not know this about me but I wear a lot of silver jewelry and am never without a silver pendant around  my neck.  The first rug guild meeting I wore this to - our local teacher and director of Off the Ocean rug camp just had a fit over it.  A crummy photo but you can see the w o o l engraved into the silverware handle.

Many thanks Lauren - you rock !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was in Savannah again recently and took another awesome ornament finishing class from the French Knot

I took this same class from Audrey last year and finished my seahorse into an ornament.  It hangs year round keeping miss mermaid company in our sun room.  Last year - the finishing was very different - everything was done either on a machine or stitched by hand.  This year the glue gun was my new best friend.

I was very apprehensive about gluing - Oh My I thought - GLUE - egads - not sure I can put glue on my beautiful ornament but Audrey assured me that unless it was an heirloom piece that she would not hesitate to finish with glue and that many finishers use glue.  OK - so let's jump into the gooey glue.  I had never in my life handled a glue gun - I guess that is why they call it "hot glue gun"  DUH - it does get very hot.  Anyway - here are just a few sneak peeks of my ornament - it is going to go to a DF of mine and just in case she sees the blog - I don't want to spoil her surprise but I could not resist telling you about my great class and showing a few sneak shots.

Audrey has an extensive collection of trims, baubles, fabrics and treasures.  If you love needlepoint, fibers or accessories and you are in Savannah - do pay her a visit .  She also does lovely and unusual finishing and has a website to purchase from if you can't pay a visit in person.  Her wall of fibers is not to be believed. 

Look at the darling tassle that hangs on one side

I adore the christmas lights that are on the bottom of the ornament.  I did sew all these on by hand.  They were the finishing touch on my ornament and I think they are perfect to set it off and give it some whimsy.

I will show a photo of the finished ornament once it is gifted.

I have been working on nothing but this ornament - I knew I had a deadline and simply had to finish before this class.  So I have no other stitching progress to show and I did not allow myself to do much knitting either.  Nose to the grindstone and I did get it done.

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday.  Can't believe today is December 1st - Christmas in 24 days and counting. only 30 days till 2012 -  I hope each and every one of you has a wonderful holiday season - turn on your favorite christmas songs and enjoy the season !

WHAT !!!!!! LOOK WHO'S 50 TODAY

Jody or JD as he sometimes calls himself is 50 years young today.  I can't believe how the years have flown by.  Ours is an interesting story - I have known Jody since he was just a kid riding his bike around our neighborhood.  He was and still is best friends with my only cousin - they are only 4 days apart and grew up in the 'hood together.  While they have somewhat drifted apart - they still keep in touch by phone but since we have all moved away from the area we grew up - the boys are now seperated by about 25 miles.  So in essence - I have known Jody for probably 40+ years and we have been together as a couple since 1980 when I finally saw him one day with my cousin and thought 'HUMMM' - is that Jody??? Wow he has grown up and is pretty cute.  I was in between boyfriends at the time and since he is almost 5 years younger than I am I had never viewed him as anything other than "my cousins BFF".

Jody is a very talented musician - he has played in various bands over the years and has been really missing not having any equipment to not only fill some void in his life but also just to keep limber and stay involved with making music. So for his 50th - I bought him a new Ibanez bass (don't ask me the model - there were dozens of them and I get confused) it is a beautiful very deep navy blue metallic and I think the color was called metallic thunderstorm. He also got a "combo" amp - it pales in comparison to the giant stacks of towering equipment he used to have when he was playing in local bands and doing gigs. I'm really glad he moved out of that phase but I have no doubt he was good enough to be in a professional touring band - I'm just selfish and glad he did not go down that rock and roll highway.

I wanted to get a photo of him holding the guitar but he was too shy.

Here are just a few shots of my best friend Jody.  My soulmate - my buddy.

 This one taken on the porch at my parents house at the lake is one of my faves.  I think he is still a very handome dude and has lots of beautiful thick hair - I'm always trying to get him to let it grow long again but that is selfish of me.  Who wants all that long  hot hair to deal with down here in sweltering NE FL.

 Having fun on the lake - that must have been summer before last because the lake was so low this past summer from no rain that my folks could not even get their boat out of the boathouse.

Happy Birthday my love - may you have many happy healthy returns.

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.