FIRST FINISHES FOR 2013 AND RUG CAMP

Hi there !  Remember me ???

Well I tried to make a post before rug camp but for some reason the option to load JPG photos was just not there.  very frustrating to have my post all complete and not be able to upload my photos.  Oh well - that somewhat explains my absence from blogland for almost a month.  January is almost over and what a busy month it was for me.  I had two business trips this month then it was off to Off the Ocean rug camp for  5 days of rug hooking bliss with my mom and friends.

First up is a very blurry photo of my Santa's House finished FINISHED - I mean finished YEAH!  Into a cube- it box.  Our EGA chapter duClay had a wonderful workshop a few weeks ago given by plural member Linda Ferguson.  She taught us how to do cube finishing and I thought it would be a great option for the Santa's Village.  I have not gotten the ribbons on the top  yet but that is another whole step for me and I'll show another photo when I get that done.  Unfortunately I was too busy on the day of the workshop since I am workshop chair to get any photos but friend and fellow guild member Devon did get some awesome photos.  Please pop over to her blog Devon's Quiet Corner and see the photos she took of the event.   Another presenter for this workshop was Carol Presley who had an astounding simply amazing display of smalls and finished samplers.  Linda Ferguson had some pieces in this exhibit also.  What these ladies have accomplished made many of us scratch our heads and wonder what we've done with the last 20 years of our stitching journey.  For more close up shots please check this post of Devons

I was soooo pleased - I need a nicer camera - that's on my list for my birthday this year.

I used Moda fabric - QuiltyKim helped me find it on Etsy since it was sold out at our LQS - it is called Christmas Medley or something like that.  Anyway I thought it would be perfect for this piece.

My next finish for 2013 is a gorgeous Vogue Knitting pattern - the Welted Scarf - it is huge - much bigger than it looks - it was knit with Rowan Big Wool and I decided that it would be a great gift for our rug hooking teacher Dianne Kelly.  Dianne has done some wonderful projects for both my mom and I and our friends as well.  We are very fond of her and I wanted her to have something I did for her.  It looked great on her - too bad I didn't get a photo of her.

I can't believe that Off the Ocean rug camp 2013 is now just a memory.  It goes really fast - you think you have so many hours to work on your project and see and enjoy friends from far and wide.  It goes by in a flash.  Here are a few of the rugs from the exhibit this year.

This lovely rug was the winner of the wide cut category.  It had a braided edge and was fairly large runner.

This little whale rug was so cute - I want to do a whale rug one day.

This stunner was started at camp last year by a fellow rug guild member.  The rug is an old Pearl McGown pattern called Collinet - I know this because I watched it being hooked this past year.  This smashing color plan was done by Vivily Powers - another favorite teacher of ours.  It has a very dark eggplant backround - again my IPhone does not do these rugs justice.  This rug is quite large - probably about 3 x 5 at least.  Oh and no surprise - it was first place in the fine cut category.

This beautiful realistic parrot rug was hooked by teacher Sybil Osicka and I believe I heard her say it was a donation to the Cleveland Zoo for an upcoming auction.

Not sure who did this cute turkey pillow but it is just another wonderful example of the creations people do with rug hooking.

This darling rug was designed and hooked by teacher Beverly Conway.  I thought the subject matter was just so cute.  Apparently Bev has a scottie herself so it may be a self portrait .

This was my camp project this year.  A huge bed rug called Essie's bed rug.  For any rug hookers out there - it is a Charco pattern designed by Joyce Krueger.  It is mostly hooked with a 6 cut and Dianne Kelly from Hiram OH was my teacher and did all the dyeing for this project.  I am so pleased with the colorplan.

I don't have much of the backround in place but it is a very dark brown she calls Old Leather.

All the major motifs have been hooked and now it is just a matter of duplicating on the other motifs how they have already been hooked.  Sadly - this rug will be put away for another day (or year) I have so many rugs in progress that I usually return to rugs which are far closer to being completed and concentrate my very little hooking time on those.  I'm very sorry to say that I didn't have any rug finishes in 2012 - I am determined to have one or more rug finishes in 2013.  I'm off with a bang finishing up two knitting projects this month and the one little stitched piece.  I'm full of optimism for lots of finishes in 2013.

Take a look at the wonderful Santa and Ewe that my mom worked on at camp.  I think she did a wonderful job with Santa's face.  She worked some wool curls into the topnot of the lamb and is using roving for the first time to hook into the lambs body.  It will be a fun piece for her.  Again Dianne did a great color plan on this rug.

Well my friends - it's time to be on my way.  I saved a few things to show you on my next post which I promise won't be too long.  February is upon us and I  hope you all are finding quiet time with your needles and hooks.  Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving comments for me.  I love reading them and hearing from you.

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

Don't you love that line in the song - And these are a few of my favorite things !

Merry Christmas everyone - I thought I would show you a few of my favorite things from the Woolwoman's collection.

This is a wonderful hand carved Santa clutching a hand hooked rug of course !  Beside him is a neat handwoven basket full of cinnamon sticks instead of wood.  I got this Santa a few years back from a rug hookers husband.  He developed some type of illness or disease and was barely able to fulfill the orders they had taken.  I treasure this piece.The carver has likely passed away and his beautiful carving skills live on.

Love this Liberty Hill feather tree with all the hand painted ornaments.  It sits on top of my antique sewing cabinet.  Could have removed our 2 stupid remotes before snapping this photo but oh well - too late now.

Another favorite of mine - my Snowman rug which is hooked in a very small cut.  I have always loved the effect of this snowy sky.  It is hooked mostly in a 4 with a lot of 3 cut.  The funky christmas angel shown with the rug is some type of collectible series but I can't remember the name.

This Santa is a new addition - he is a cute primitive Santa all hand made out of wool felt by an artisan named Betty who lives in or around Pigeon Forge Tenn.  Her creations can be found at the Dixie Darlin cross stitch shop.  He is nested in a big Longaberger basket with some little hand made pillows and a Santa needle roll and kept company by a wooly sheep.

This is a cute Snowman primitive piece that was created by the woman who owns the Feathered Nest in Fernandina Beach Fl.  It is sitting on a redware plate that says Rug Hooker and behind it is the only antique sampler I own from the early 1800's.

Another cute LH piece - the threadboard for winter and in front of it is my scrabble pieces from fellow wooly friend rug hooker Lauren from Rugs and Pugs blog .  I won this in a giveaway from Lauren last year.

Love this awesome wreath my mom found this fall on one of their trips. An early gift so I could enjoy it this season. It is covered with little balls of yarn and just my colors too !  It has sprigs of mistletoe and red christmas balls and it hangs on the door of the wool room.

Another wonderful early gift from my DM - it is an Atenti bag - again in just my colors.  It is my first Atenti bag and I just love it - it is designed primarily to carry needlepoint projects on frames instead of knitting.

Couldn't leave you without an image of my darling Christmas to Ewe rug.  I have not worked on him much this season but I did add the two little feather trees and the star.

That stinkin' star took 2 hours to hook because I was using a very flimsy  ribbon along with the white wool to add shimmer.  I was afraid the star would be lost in the backround.  I am so pleased with the effect it was worth the fiddly 2 hours I spent getting it just right.

Lastly is my pitiful progress on Santa's House from the Santa's Village monthly series.  I changed the fabric (of course) and my snowflakes were getting lost so I added a krenik blending filament to the DMC and it looks pretty good in person.  I had a counting mishap and had to pull out the wreath and 3 of the 4 windows and the door frame.  This is what has been corrected and re-stitched.  urghhh - I am doing my series seperately - I envisioned it being a little 3-D village when all done.

Well - all my friends in blogland - I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support this past year.  I have many new friends/followers on my blog and I wanted to welcome you to my Wooley world.  Also wanted to acknowledge and thank my blog friends who have been with me a long time.  I feel like I know you all personally and I'm sure if and when we ever get to meet - it will be like meeting an old friend.  I treasure each of you and hope you all have a very Merry Christmas !

CAN IT BE DECEMBER !

This is the gorgeous 10ft blue spruce which was delivered to the office last week.  I can see it every single day from my desk.  I am so blessed to work for such a wonderful family business.  You know Christmas is coming when the tree arrives.

I can't believe the entire month of November slipped by and I did not even make a post.  I was waiting for some photos of a very special event and they did not come so I was so bummed I just didn't have much to say.  More to come on those special photos that have just arrived.

This is Saroyan - finally finished !

 

Close up of the actual colors - in case there are any knitters out there - Malabrigo Rios in Indiecito - My first time using this worsted weight yarn and it won't be the last - I love it !

This is the BBD Remember Me piece that has been getting most of my attention.  I think I started it while on vacation in September. It is worked on R&R 36ct Cappuchino with the called for overdyed cottons. It's coming along and more is complete since I took this photo several weeks ago.   Where does the time go -

This is more gorgeous Malabrigo yarn I purchased for the Gnarled Oak Cardi - It is definitely a "mel" color - I just love it and have finally had time to cast on the cardi.  All 304 stitches of it AACCKKK !

From the same wonderful shop on St Simons Island - The Stitchery - I also purchased this Debbie Bliss book Riva and a few skeins of Riva yarn to try.  There is a great shrug in this book and also a wonderful shoulder warmer not to mention other great patterns - so I sprang for the book.  Haven't had a chance to cast anything on yet but I am looking forward to trying it.

Now for the formal announcement some of you have been waiting to hear . . . . . .

After 32 years of sharing our lives together - Jody and I were married on Sept 5th on a mountain in Tn.  With only my parents in attendance - we had a lovely ceremony in a cute little log chapel with the full wedding regalia.  A minister to do the ceremony - tuxes for the groom and best man/father of the bride and a simple gown for me.

I have to say - most of the photos from the actual wedding day were pretty horrible.  Out of 78 photos - we only purchased about 16 - this is the best one - maybe I'll show some of those some time.

Even my bouquet was not what I had hoped for in Tenn. but when you arrange everything on the internet - you just take your best shot.  We had a blast with it anyway.

This is the exquisite bouquet that was done by Kelly's Bloom Room for my reception in October.  It was exactly what I wanted - porcelain roses and hydrangeas. 

The happy couple

Just can't see enough of this bouquet -

Kelley's assistant Shanna Derby did the tablescape and also all the photos.  She did an awesome job.  We were so pleased  Our cakes were created by Elizabeth of Let them Eat Cake.  They were so wonderful - I'll show another blog post later with more photos.  Apparently I did not get a photo of Jody's grooms cake which was not only gorgeous but delicious.

 Oh here's a tiny peak at the whole tablescape and the grooms cake is peaking out behind my bouquet.Our reception was at the historic Riverdale Inn which is just a few blocks from my office. Owners Linda and Bob Waln did an absolutely fabulous job with our special day. Their son is a chef and he did the food. Again I will show photos of those things another time. I intended to devote an entire post to the announcement of our wedding but time just got away from me this fall.  Plus I was waiting for the photos of the reception.  It was worth the wait.  See in the mirror - my tiny little mom on the right and dad/Wiley in the middle and one of their friends on the left.


So cheers from you to you !  Enjoy every minute of your life - we sure have !

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Felt froggy last night and painted my nails purple for Halloween !  I'm getting more used to them today - I am so conservative with nail color it was a SHOCK and I almost took it right off again.  Just wanted to do something fun, different and out of the ordinary.  Why would I even have OPI Iris I Was Skinny you say?  Well it was something I got free from Sephora as a frequent buyer gift so there !  That explains my witchy nail color completely.

Since we are rocking out with Heart on Friday night I thought my purple nail polish would fit right in with that crowd LOL.

It's hard to be festive when there is so much destruction and devastation in the north.  My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the storm.

Just wanted to send a little Halloween BOO to you !  Enjoy - eat lots of candy

SCARING CROWS? NOT !

Happy Halloween friends !  This will be the last post I will be able to get in before October is poof - gone.  I just returned from a rug hooking retreat on St Simons Island Ga with our local rug guild.  We had about 18 in attendance and had a great time.  I brought 2 rugs, several knitting projects and even a bag of stitching projects but I was having such a good time with this fellow I devoted all my time to him.

Long time followers of my blog have probably seen this guy before.  Sad to say I only work on him for several months a year in the late summer and fall then he gets rolled up and put in the red cupboard until the next year.  I am really excited about the progress I made on him - I completed 3 partial pumpkins, 2 complete pumpkins and started the final pumpkin.  I completed 1 partial leaf - completed 2 large leaves and started another.  This rug is finished as far as the color planning goes which has all been my own.  This is a Bev Conway canvas and almost all the wool came from Bev.  I did a weekend workshop with her in St Augustine a number of years ago but she had a large class with 4 people who had never picked up a hook before so I was basically on my own for wool selection and placement.  I had picked up a ton of wool from her so I really had lovely choices.  I am so pleased with how it is coming out.  This is not a small rug - it is about 30 X 30 and is hooked in a 6 cut for those hooking fans out there. The fence at the bottom will be ho hum so I will try to get him finished up - truly I will.

We had magnificient sunsets all weekend at Epworth by the Sea retreat center.  It was mostly a gray blustery weekend with Sandy brushing the south Ga coastline but not a drop of rain which we appreciated.  I really feel for those people in the NE and even for miles inland who will be affected by this monster storm.  I'm just thankful we were spared this one.

the following night - the sunset was even more dramatic - my IPhone and poor skills just does no justice to how gorgeous and unusual this sunset appeared to be.

This is the view from our hooking room - which overlooks the marsh and the intercoastal waterway.  That chapel is just to the left in this shot.  This is the sight of the Hamilton plantation.  they grew Sea Island cotton.  Much history about the island can be found by just googling St Simons Island.

We made a trip to the LNS and yes I did my part to influx the local economy.  I have not taken any photos of the yarn stash yet so that will be blog fodder for another post.

I see that I have finally tipped the 100 mark on blog followers - YEAH ! Welcome to all my new friends who joined me.  I will be putting together a giveaway in the near future to celebrate my 100 follower mark.

Many thanks for visiting my blog - for leaving your comments - I read every one and appreciate the time you take to visit and to comment.  Comments are important to bloggers - it lets them know people are visiting and reading.

Hope all my friends in the path of Sandy will be spared any damage to their homes. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone.

AUTUMN DAYBREAK

The title of this post is really referring to two different subjects.

First - HALLELUJAH - I finished Daybreak.  This was supposed to be finished in August as the last of the 3 Camp Loopy projects with online shop The Loopy Ewe.  I've given those links in previous posts so I won't be redundant.  Anyway - I didn't finish on time - didn't get my prize for finishing all 3 projects on time so I just lost interest in finishing this shawl.  Now it's time for the 4th Quarter Challenge project and I just wanted Daybreak off my needles so I could move on with a clear conscious.  It was a pleasant project to knit - no problem there - it's just that the joy and thrill of the chase had left me so finishing was just an obligation.

This photo is pre-blocking - It is also not black like it looks - see the close up photo for a more realistic look at the color.

The edge and the stripe is called sable and it is a brownish gray color - the top color is perfectly plum and  it is beautiful.  The yarn was Fiberphile MCN fingering.  For all the non-knitters - the MCN means merino/cashmere/nylon.  The blends with cashmere are my very favorite.  I can't hardly say the word CAAAAASHMERE without remembering that hilarious Seinfeld episode involving the cashmere sweater that was purchased for a great price because it had a spot on it.  Anyway - who doesn't love caaaaashmere.

Next up is my long neglected Autumn House by Melissa Shirley Designs.  I went great guns on this design - doing tons of research into stitches and made up my own stitch guide.  I was so very pleased with how the fields came out.  I agonized over what and how to stitch those wheat sheaves/stacks/bundles thingys.  You see I've never seen wheat after harvest and of course now days there is no bundling, tying and drying like they did in the old days or the days prior to mechanized farm harvesting.  So I had no clue what they really looked like - anyway - I got about half way thru those wheat things and I just put this project away.  I mean AWAY away - it has not seen the light of day for at least a year or more.  Last month I went to a fun "girls night out" at a not-so-local needlepoint shop with DF Kris and I needed something to work on.  EGADS - it took me a week of studying this piece - just staring at it to first figure out what stitch I was using for those wheat things and then to decide if I really wanted to jump back into the field with it. 

Well - jump I did and I promised myself I would not put it down again till it is finished.  So I finished those hateful wheat things and started on the dirt below the fence.  Here is a close up of the fence - I'm not sold on this stitch which is just a simple brick done both horizontally and vertically to give the illusion of the wood planks having grain.  Anyway - it looks pretty good in person so I decided to leave it and press onward - The canvas is so busy - I don't really want the fence to be the star anyway but I also didn't feel I wanted simple basketweave for the fence.  I am still pondering what to do with the sky.  I ordered Gloriana Florimell a long time ago (maybe 18 mos to be exact) for the sky - I do want a basically black sky so I am happy with my color choice however I am wrestling with whether to do basketweave on the sky or some simple horizontal type stitch.  I am also toying with the idea of putting tiny beads for the stars.  I've never been a big beader but that is all the rage in needlepoint these days and I took a recent class (see last post on Candy Claus) and there was some beading involved.  So I got reacquainted with beading and now I feel empowered to do more beading.  I am going to put a few in before the final decision to bead or just do tiny X stitches with krenik.

Another poor neglected project is Saroyan - I picked it up after finishing Daybreak and decided it would be a fairly quick finish since it is done with Malabrigo Rios a worsted weight wool.  So after a few nights - I am about at the halfway mark.  The pattern is a 14 row repeat - simple if you keep accurate track of the rows.  This is not an accurate representation of the colorway.

This however is  - isn't it lovely - I've never been much of a blue/purple person but it seems like I have been on a purple binge lately and everything that I look at is purple.  Nothing wrong with purple - in some cases it is a very cheerful color - mixed with my favorite yellow/green it is smashing color.  See the fun leaf border - I just love how the pattern creates a vein in the leaf.  Plus it is a free pattern on Ravelry for all you knitters out there.

LOVE LOVE my pottery pumpkin I got while on vacation last month in the Smokie mountains.  We dropped a load of $$ this year in the Old Mill Pottery .  Last year I bought some soup bowls with handles and I wanted at least 1 or 2 more.  My mom wanted some too - they are awesome and each one a little different.  Last year I saw these awesome pumpkins scattered around the store - the clerk said every year they sell out as they only make a certain number for the fall season.  I could not resist this handsome fellow - It is heavy because it is solid not hollow.

Here is a good view of the stem and also the dried corn I put with it on my tablescape.  I wanted to find something else to throw on this pewter tray - however I have not run across anything I liked yet. 

I finally felt like putting out my fall things last weekend.  I usually start in September but when it is in the 90's around here - it doesn't remind me much of fall.  We have finally broke into the 60's in the mornings and a few mornings it was foggy, damp and very fallish looking so it's time! 

I hope you are all feeling very fallish and are enjoying working on fall projects.  I am a "stitch in the season" type of person.  I work on fall things in the fall and christmas things in December.  It just helps me get in the  mood for said season - so enjoy what you do when you do it !  Thanks for dropping by my blog - hope you will leave me a comment - I love hearing from you all.