MOTHERS DAY AND MONDAY

Monday Monday - who wouldn't love to be transported back to the innocence of the 60's.  I didn't mean for this post to become melancholy but for some reason I am having a blue Monday. 

We had a wonderful Mothers Day yesterday and I hope all of my blog friends who are mothers, grandmothers or were fortunate enough to celebrate the day with your mother enjoyed it as much as we did.

We had brunch at the beautiful and historic Club Continental which is about 10 blocks from my house.  It is a wonderful old estate home which encompasses 27 acres on the banks of the St Johns River.  The Italianate mansion was built in the 1920's by the Palmolive Soap family and is still owned today by the great granddaughter.  You can see the history of the club on the website if you have any interest.  I am so pleased there is so much of Florida's early history right in my own area.  When you enter the gates you feel like you have stepped back into old Florida - the 300 year old live oaks heavily draped with spanish moss - it just beckons you back to an earlier time.

Here are a few photos we snapped yesterday after brunch.

Mom and I are standing in front of the Club Continental - the courtyard includes lovely landscaping and a circular koi pond surrounds this island we are standing on.

This is my little family


 I don't know what my dad was doing - I did take another shot but my mom was looking goofy in that one so I opted for this one since she looks good and Jody looks good. 
A beautiful fountain dedicated to the memory of Caleb Johnson Massee - one of the recent owners of Club Continental who passed away in 2010.  You can see the beautiful live oaks surrounding the circular drive.

Here is a shot from that fountain back to the mansion - check the website for some much better views and shots of the interior.  If you are ever in this area - they have suites available to the public and it is the site of many weddings and other functions.

 just one parting shot of a beautiful shawl I started a week ago.  It is Saroyan and the yarn is Malabrigo Rios for any knitters out there.  It has a beautiful leaf border - if you look closely you can see it.  I thought it would be hard but if you keep careful row notes it is not hard at all and I love the colorway -  Indiecita

Well friends - I almost never do a Monday post - Working full time - Monday is usually a drag day - getting back into the work groove.  However after writing this post and looking over the photos of my dear family - I don't think I am having a blue Monday any more - I think I am having a really "blessed" Monday - I have the dearest Mom in the world - we share so much - I am so blessed to see her often - she is not only my mom but my best friend.  So this post is dedicated to her and to all the great moms out there.  Love you Mom !

ST SIMONS ISLAND RETREAT

Last weekend the No Fl Rug Hooking Guild and a few non-member friends made a short trip to Epworth by the Sea for a weekend of rug hooking, knitting, needlework, eating, sharing, laughing, shopping, eating, laughing and relaxing by the low country marshes. 

We were housed in top quality hotel type accomodations and just a short walk away from our hooking room which was full of natural light with a restroom close by. Just across the road was the dining hall - all locations had stunning views of the intercoastal waterway and marsh birds abounded. Sunsets not to be believed and balconies in each room overlooking all of the above. My mom and I shared a room and I think a wonderful time was had by all. I think we are all wanting to go by there again for another retreat or perhaps a workshop with a teacher.
Epworth is a Methodist retreat center and here is an excerpt from their website :
From Epworth, England To Epworth By The Sea... Epworth By The Sea is named in honor of the boyhood home of John and Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism. In 1784, John Wesley tenderly recalled his home by writing in his famous journal, "I rode to Epworth, which I still love beyond most places in the world." Though he is said to have ridden 250,000 miles and preached 45,000 sermons, Epworth still held his heart.

There is a lot of history on St Simons Island and the neighboring island Jekyll Island.  I have traveled there dozens of times in my life.  It is only a short drive from Jacksonville and makes a great day trip.  There are lots of wonderful restaurants and interesting historic sites.  Apparently Epworth is popular for weddings also as there were not one but TWO weddings held on Saturday.  Are any of  you familiar with Eugenia Price - she often wrote about the golden isles of GA and Savannah.  My DF Kerrie is a fan of hers and she said Beloved Invader was set in the area of where we were staying - I must try and read that one.  Eugenia Price also had a novel set in the area where I live near Fleming Island Fl and I found out from reading one of those books that the main family name in the book is a spanish name Fatio - that is the street I live on.  Another interesting fact is that our area is built on old plantation land called Laurel Grove.  I have seen photos of the plantation home that was in the area.  There are several structures pre-dating 1900 in the area.  Now I am rambling and getting off the subject of St Simons Island - I will have to do another post one day about the history of my area - I love historical facts and I just get lost in the subject sometimes.


Moving on to some photos of last weekend - here is the view from our balcony - just after sunset - I don't know why I didn't get any shots of the actual sunset

 I'm going to show all the projects that were being worked on by friends and fellow guild members.  I think I got everyone's projects except for one and I don't know why she didn't throw her's down on the floor.

This is DF Karen's rug - I'm not sure of the designer but I think maybe it was Maggie Bonanami from one of her books.  Karen most often hooks in an 8 cut.

Next is my mom's Polly Minick patriotic Uncle Sam hat.  I love the way it's coming out.  She could have finished that hat with just a few more hours work.  This was my own color plan using wool from my little red cupboard and some of Polly's wool.  You can't really tell yet but it has a confederate gray backround (why of course - we are intensely southern in case you didn't know) My maternal family is from south central GA for many generations and my paternal family is about 5 or 6 generations in NE FL. BTW - she is hooking it in a 6cut.

I decided to devote my time to the Angel Runner by Bea Brock - I got a lot done - I finished up two angels which only leaves 1 angel left to complete.  There are lots of fiddly details left to hook but those will actually be pleasant breaks from the backround. 

I love the backround - the color plan is by Diane Stoffel - I was very uncertain of all those blues and purples - not my fave but she said - just put it in - it will look great and I think it does. 

Next is DF Donna's beautiful BBD rug - I think it was from an earlier book of their's and is called Acorns and Pomegranates if I am not mistaken.  Donna was focusing on her border and got a lot done.  Beautiful colors in this rug.

Next is DF Starr's Church Ladies rug.  I love the neat fibers she used to enhance the hats and the stained glass border is such a neat feature.  I'm not sure who did the actual color plan but I think maybe it was Dianne Kelly.

 This was another focus of Starr's - she was learning fine shading and this is going to be a footstool cover. Pretty good for a first attempt but then with DF Katie mentoring - how can you go wrong !

 here is Katie's Jesus rug - she drew this rug herself and worked on it at a camp with Victoria Ingalls - it is amazing - all in a 3 cut.

Next is Nan's rug - it is pretty big - it has 2 tiny proddy mice - can you see them??  I think at least some of this color plan was by Diane Stoffel.  It photographs beautifully.

Another first attempt at fine shading is Sheila's chair seat - She made great progress on this chair pad.

This amazing rug is another Bea Brock design - Barn Symbols I think is the pattern - JoAnne started this huge rug in January - can you believe it and she works full time also.  Another beautiful color plan by Diane Stoffel.

Here is first rug by Michelle - we were happy to have Michelle visiting with us - she works at a local quilt shop and is a new hooker.  This bunny design I believe is another original design by Katie Puckett along with the color plan by Katie.

 Another beautiful shot of JoAnne's rug showing all the details - she is basically placing all the colors herself and doing an awesome job.

 Next up is DF Kerrie's Cow Lady Sampler rug - it is a design by Susan Quicksall and this rug is huge - Of course Kerrie did not do all this work in a weekend.  Katie is doing the color plan for her and the dyeing of course.  We are so lucky to have her - she is an amazing dyer.

This is DF JoyceAnne's needlepoint - she was a guest and the only non-hooker in the group. JoyceAnne and I are in EGA together.  We were happy to see the amazing counted canvaswork she does.  This is a freebie design by Laura J Perrin a needlepoint designer.  she was using all types of stashed threads for these.

Here is a photo of the oldest church on the island.  I don't remember the original name of the church but it is now called Lovers Lane Chapel.  Some of us attended church services there on Sunday morning and it was packed to the brim.  It was a lovely little chapel inside.  I could see why it is sought after for a wedding location.

 A little closer shot.

The weekend would not be complete without a little stash enhancement - there is a wonderful yarn/needlepoint shop on the island - The Stitchery of St Simons - this shop has moved around a lot in the 10 years or so I have been visiting.  It is located on Frederica road and if you are ever on the island - you simply MUST pay a visit.  Bo's yarn selection is awesome.  It is definitely worth the drive from NE FL - I intend to shop there more often since we've lost 3 yarn shops from the NE FL area in the past year or so.  Her needlepoint and fiber selection is good also.  JoyceAnne Kerrie and I visited there  while my DM went antiquing with another group.

She had an awesome selection of Malabrigo yarns - I've been wanting the Malabrigo Book 3 - She also carries Manos yarns which are hard to find.  This is a skein of Manos Lace I snagged.

 Here is the Lakedale Shawl by Stephen West which is in this book - I have been coveting this since I first saw it.  My colors are not exactly the same as this but are close.


here is my small beginning on lakedale - I got a pair of new to me needle also - can't remember the name right now but they are colored wood circulars.  They are pretty nice for inexpensive needles.  I have been enjoying working on this shawl - It is an 8 row repeat for the body of the shawl then that pointed lacy border - I like to have a mindless knitting project on the go for when I am tired and just want to relax before bed.  I've done several other shawls with malabrigo sock and I think it is a nice yarn for the price.

Well - that concludes my retreat report.  Hope you enjoyed visiting with me today and seeing our projects.  I appreciate all your comments - please do come and visit often.

APRIL ADVENTURES

April  has been a great month and it ain't over yet !  Since April is my birth month - I have been celebrating all month long it seems.  I have some stitching WIP's to show you - a couple of new purchases and a couple of birthday gifts from friends.  Next post I will try to remember to take a photo of the beautiful pendant my mom got for me but more about that later.

April has really been a blur with lots going on every single weekend.  April 7th my DF Katie and I went to Savannah and gave a program for the Fiber Guild of Savannah.  I gave a lecture on the history of rug hooking and Katie followed with an intro to the tools and techniques of rug hooking.  It was followed by a  3 hour mini workshop on how to hook.  There were 22 at the lecture and 15 participated in the class so we had our hands full.   What a great group and they have a permanent home on Oatland Island at the Wildlife Center not too far from downtown Savannah.  WHY did I not get any photos of the event - it was housed in a 1926 structure that looks like a gigantic red brick school with huge gothic columns - they have a large room upstairs where they do weaving spinning and so forth.  We were downstairs in a lovely location.  We hope to partner with this group in the fall and maybe do a Fiber/Hook In.  After the lecture - we beat feet downtown to shop and have dinner in the historic district.  Katie had not spent much time in Savannah so we had a great time driving around the squares.  It was Easter weekend so the town was packed.  We wanted to visit a specific shop so I could introduce Katie to Visible Faith and Waxing Poetic jewelry.  Yep I know - my name is BI (bad influence)  Let's just say she was properly introduced LOL.  With the yarn and needlepoint shops I love being already closed - we were forced to do all our shopping in that one little shop - Terra Cotta is a cute little nook of a shop on Barnard St if you ever get to Savannah.  Spending some degree of time in Savannah when I travel there for business - I have my fave restaurants too - Imagine my delight to discover that one of my faves Circa 1875 was just down the alley from Terra Cotta.  Of course we could not get seated on a Saturday night with no reservation  but we did snag a wonderful window seat in the bar.  Our meal was to die for - so much so we had to get a pedi cab back to the parking garage.  I was joking with Katie that some poor 20 year old beanpole college student would be there soon to pick us up and sure enough that is exactly what arrived.  Poor kid having to lug two big middle aged overweight women thru all that traffic but it was better than walking.

The following Saturday 4/14 was my actual birthday.  We had decided a long time ago to go to one of our favorite day trip destinations.  Mt Dora/Garden Gate Tearoom/A Stitchers Dream -  when we arrived at ASD - DF Carol was waiting with fresh homemade cranberry scones, strawberry jam, real butter, hot coffee, cream and hugs for everyone.  I was so shocked - not shocked at her kindness because Carol is one of my dearest and most treasured friends but just shocked at all the trouble she went to since she lives an hour away from Mt Dora.  Sad news awaited us - the shopowner informed us that she was going to have to close the shop.  Her 4th year in business was the worst yet with sales down 50% - she had no choice but to close her doors.  It really put a damper on the day since that is the closest stitching shop to us (2 hours away) oh there are several needlepoint shops as close or closer but most of them do not carry any samplers, linen or anything for sampler lovers.  We broke for lunch at the wonderful Garden Gate Tearoom - it was quite bittersweet as I lamented as to whether we might not ever make it back that way again.  quite sad a thought indeed.

Since my DM and I were too tired to stick to our original plans of picking up my dad and Jody and heading to the lake for the weekend - we just ended up meeting them for pizza half way between our house and the lake but agreed we would meet the following day for a birthday celebration meal and afternoon of relaxing on my folks porch overlooking the lake.  Blue Water Bay is one of our favorite seafood restaurants - it is not too far from my folks house and about 30 east of Gainesville.  After our great meal - I wanted to visit this unusual place Shake Rag which is soooo cool - we spent at least an hour walking around looking at all the beautiful artisan crafts.  Pottery, mosiacs, painting of all types, jewelry (yes my fave), wood turned items - this was a church which was started by a woman who wanted to be a minister and her traditional faith would not allow it so she built this church and pastored it for many years.  They also hold concerts there and while it is quite a ways from our house - we certainly hope to attend a concert there in the future.  The final touch to the birthday celebration was a fabulous chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream frosting and fresh strawberries in the layers and 3 chocolate dipped strawberries on top as a garnish.  Bakery Moderne  is a favorite lunch spot of mine - it is near the office and she has fresh homemade soup every day - great pastries and other sweets.  Natalie the owner did a superb job on my birthday cake - wish I had a photo but I just wasn't thinking "blog fodder" at the time.

This great looking group is the owners of the company I work for - the Lynch family - Mr and Mrs Hal Lynch are in their 80's and they are so much fun.  Their two sons Bob and Bill are running the company now but Mr L plays an active role in advising and keeping everyone on their toes.  They are standing in front of the Timuquana Country Club where we are blessed to be taken every year on our birthdays.  I could not be luckier to work for this awesome family.

 I had to show a couple of photos of birthday gifts.  DF Carol surprised me with the BBD book "for my Friend" and a beautiful piece of 35ct linen when we met in Mt Dora.  It has some great projects and I can't wait to start a couple I earmarked as "must do"

 This beautiful Tanta scarf was knitted for me by DF Henrietta - I've had it for a while since she wanted me to be able to use it before all the cool weather was gone.  it is a lovely Ella Rae yarn.  Henri is a beautiful knitter and I love this design.

Here is a close up that shows the color off a little more and the beautiful sawtooth border.

I felt I must show a couple of WIP's lest you think I don't stitch any more but just write long boring blog posts.  Here is a photo of Part I of Elizabeth Milner - the sampler that Theresa at Shakespeares Peddler is doing as a gift with purchase every month in 6 parts.  Yes I am behind as usual but I am so far really enjoying this sampler.  The colors of overdyed silk Theresa chose are awesome.  Mine is being stitched on 36ct Lakeside Vintage Porcelain.

 Next up is Peter and Peep by With Thy Needle and Thread - however all you see here one big flower and a wheel  - no Peter and no Peep (sigh) at this late date - I am doubting P&P will be making an appearance until next spring when I haul them out to play again.  Besides SADD (Stitchers ADD) I really like to stitch in the season and sadly the seasons come and go before I am able to get a finish in most cases.  Oh well - it's the journey that counts with me.  this is being stitched with the called for GAST and on 36ct R&R French Vanilla.

Another favorite shop of mine is Attic Needlework  -  I have visited the Attic in person so it is always a pleasure to work with Jean.  She puts out a great weekly newsletter that keeps everyone drooling and not to mention what is new and exciting in the world of samplers.  Jean always tempts me terribly with her beautiful sampler of the month offerings.  The April SOM was just too wonderful to pass up.  I did not recall seeing the Hands to Work design "I Wait for the Lord" by Tracy Rifle.  Jean gave all sorts of tempting linen and silk choices in the newsletter and I finally settled on a selection Jean and I collaborated on - 36ct Colorscapes Earthen with Gloriana Florimell new color Hazelnut.  OOH LA LA - I hope you have all tried Florimell - I have to give a plug here - I adore Soie d' Alger - it is my favorite solid colored silk - I love the plumpness so imagine my sqeee of delight when Anne started dyeing this beautiful base.

 A girl has gotta give herself a Happy Birthday present right - Well - I could NOT resist Jeans doodlings with GiGi Ree's Virginie Grimeoux french sampler.  OMGOSH - another great Colorscapes linen - I think it is called Dill if I remember correctly.  I was waiting for the silks but they arrived today YIPPEE - I did not want to hold up my post to get a photo but suffice to say that Jean's conversion using all kinds of yummy silks including the awesome Florimell just made my day.

The month is not yet over.  In the morning my Mom and I and DF Kerrie are leaving for St Simons Island GA.  We will be "retreating" with our rug guild and a few friends who are not members of our rug guild - heck a couple of them are not even hookers LOL - So there will hopefully be another post soon on the final chapter of April Adventures of 2012. 

SEBRING - THE EXHIBIT

I wanted to show you some of the wonderful rugs that were displayed in Sebring at the Scrub Hooking Workshop in March.  There were some rugs that I could not get photos of because of the way the sun was coming thru the windows so I apologize in advance if I did not show a photo of  your rug.  Plus some of them I had to discard as they were too blurry.  I will comment if I know who hooked the rug but I did not take notes so please don't be offended if I show your rug and don't remember who hooked it - it was a lovely display - there are some awesome rugs by this great group of hookers.  If you are a rug hooker and have never attended one of the camps that Anne Eastwood directs in Sebring FL - then I encourage you to plan for it and try and come.  She has a week long camp in November with great teachers and then she has 3- 3 day workshops in January - March and July.  So come and experience some hooking bliss in Sebring.

Well here we go

well here is DF Susans rug with my mom's tiny little foot LOL - isn't this a dramatic rug - I just loved seeing Susan's work

This I belive is Corrine Bridges rug done in a fine cut - lovely!

another dramatic beauty - this rug was stunning and I'm sorry I don't remember who hooked it

Another beautiful tropical rug - sorry i don't know who hooked it but I think it was one of Carol Finney's designs

This is a prize winning rug by one of the teachers Pat Gaufaliet from Ocala - It is an angel holding a dove - once again the sun from the windows was interferring with the shot.  I think it is hooked in a 3 cut

What a neat prospective on this rug 

This rug was also hooked by a teacher Vivily Powers - we have taken many classes from Vivily - this rug was actually designed by Jane McGown Flynn and named "Vivily" in honor of the namesake.  Several friends in her class were hooking this rug.

Diana's beautiful pillow - another dramatic tropical canvas by Carol Finney

This lovely octagonal oriental was hooked by teacher Pat Gaufaulet - I was enchanted with the colors - another 3 cut prize winning beauty by Patti

I'm sorry but I don't know how hooked this lovely oriental tile type rug

This was a hooked purse - how cool is this and what a fashion statement this would make!

Another beauty by Corrine Bridges - she said it was hooked with swatch scraps - what a great finish to have come from the scrap bags.

this is a rug by our teacher Polly Minick - I think it is one of her newer canvas designs - I think Polly said she almost aways hooks with an 8 cut

A beautiful tuscan scene

another cute fish purse

A cute dog cushion hooked by Dee Giel - what a great likeness

Well friends that concludes the rug exhibit in Sebring for 2012 - there were many more rugs I didn't get photos of - this was just a sampling of the high level of talent possessed by the attendees of this workshop.

I hope you all have a blessed Holy week and a joyous Easter - Hopefully you will have time for some stitching, knitting or pulling a few loops - oh and popping a few Dove eggs along the way.  Wooley hugs to you all ~ ~ ~