FINALLY FRIDAY!

I am excited to make this post - I finally have a WIP photo of my mermaid rug. It is adapted from a folk art painting by M Shaw. For the rug hookers it is a Spruce Ridge design and has now been retired and is no longer available. WHEW - I feel lucky to have gotten it. Ooddles of people are now trying to get it and can't. I have now almost finished with the middle border which is a dark blue. The seaweed is almost all finished and YAHOO - I see a finish in sight for 2006 on this rather large rug. I will warn you that my rug is anatomically correct. This photo was taken in early December by a friend and fellow guild member. I am making this my focus project in hooking for this year until it is completed. Diane Stoffel was my teacher on this rug and she had complete creative license on the color plan. However I certainly do love the colors even though they are not typically colors that I am drawn to.

March Highlights

Seems like these months are just flying by. March was a fun month for me. I hosted our ANG chapter combined meeting and stitch-in at the historic home where I work on March 11th. I think a wonderful time was had by all. Next wonderful day was March 18th with Ellen Chester designer of the wonderful With My Needle items. She was visiting her in-laws and decided it was a good time to spend the day with our Azalea Sampler Guild. We met at the lovely Azalea House B&B in Palatka FL and we had a huge turnout. Jill also had a house full of bicyclists that were touring this area so needless to say it was CRAZY at the inn. I had a business trip to Albany GA just before Ellen arrived and decided to take a spin thru Thomasville GA on my way home. A lovely little town where I used to go on business. They have a new (1 yr old) yarn shop and I wanted to see how they were progressing and if they had anything new. I was able to pass by everything she had until I got to the Colinette - That hand-dyed yarn from Wales is something that I covet more than gold! I added one of the Limited Edition Ab Fab of the Month afghans to my stash collection. I had seen the Enigma yarn but WOW WOW WOW was it gorgeous in the Easter egg colors and she also had a nice pattern book with that yarn so I was hooked. My drive home from T-ville was a happy one - plotting my next Colinette project!
March 24th I was off to Sebring FL with my mom and 2 good friends for the spring rug hooking retreat. Mom Jill and I were in Vivily Powers class - past president of the National McGown Rug Guild - she is a sweetheart and what wonderful wool. I started ANOTHER new rug - yes my 3rd for 2006! This one is relatively small and is from my friend katie's design catalog - it is a footed compote filled with fruit and sitting next to the compote is a little monkey stealing a piece of fruit! I love the way it is turning out and I made wonderful progress. Hope to show a WIP photo of it soon. Just can't believe it is the last day of March. It has been beautiful weather here in North Florida. Still very pleasant and some cool nights. I love it and hope it continues as long as mother nature will allow it! My stitching highlights were few - altho I did add some great stash to the collection from the Feb needlework market. I am doing an on line class with the Legacy board - Joanne Harvey from the Exemplery is teaching her Hannah Prescott - I have looked at the kit but not started it yet - I am excited about that. Well - that is about it for the last day of March! I am happy to say it was a very good month!

WHERE DID FEBRUARY GO?

It is unbelievable to me how fast the days fly by. To mark time in stitches or loops pulled in a rug is good on one hand and bad on another. Bad for me because another month has passed that I have not pulled a single loop in one of my many hooked rug WIPs. I have been stitching some on various samplers and did attend a wonderful needlepoint workshop with our local ANG chapter this month. One of our LYS has knitting on Friday nights and I do try to go out there several Fridays a month. It is just a nice time to unwind and shake off the stresses of the work week along with enjoying friends and a Starbucks.

I just enrolled in an online sampler class with Joanne Harvey on the Legacy board. I am very excited about this because I have always wanted to take a class from her. Not in the cards for this year - that is for sure so this will have to suffice. Hannah Prescott is the repro - should be a little challenging without quickly moving to the UFO pile.

I suppose this is a bad time of the year to be contemplating how much one is accomplishing. Two big needlework markets have just passed and lots of new things are arriving at the local shops - some have made their way into my stash already.

Am still knitting a lot also which bites into my hooking/stitching time. Knitting is probably the most relaxing of my addictions except for mindless basketweave in needlepoint. I just started a lovely jacket called Winter Star from the Winter Interweave Knits mag - very pretty scottish tweed wool is used - very rustic - LOVE IT!

Just wanted to make one final entry in February - just to bid farewell to February 2006 - it was a good month!

Hey there - Thanks to Quilting Fitzy for helping me post my first photo to my blog! YEAH - this little rug was my only rug finished in 2005. It is by Sunnybrook Designs and the wool was hand dyed by my friend Katie Puckett. (daughter of Judy Colley - see below) I have a rather large mermaid rug based on the M Shaw folk art design that is near completion. Also had lots of rug hooking fun in January as I attended two different rug camps. Off the Ocean is held annually in Jax FL and I had a great teacher from Ohio. Dianne Kelly color planned a bed rug for me and it is spectacular! Brilliant fushia - greens against a chocolate brown backround - Now that I know how to post photos - YAHOO - I can post some WIP's of my rugs and needlework. The second camp I attended was also in FL - way down in orange grove country - Sebring - home of the 24 hours of Sebring car race - I am fortunate enough to go down there 3 times a year for 3 day workshops. I started a great oriental crewel type design in a fine cut. Telemark is the name of the design and it was beautifully color planned by Judy Colley from Michigan. It is typical colonial colors - yellow greens, teals, mossy greens, brilliant golds on a dark eggplant backround. The last weekend in Janaury was spent with my good friends in the Azalea Sampler Guild doing a workshop/lecture with Lori Mootz from the Celle Museum in Germany. Our project was a little needlebook that Lori repro'd from one in her personal collection. Her lecture was on Pinkeeps and Needlecases and their history. Fascinating material and it is always a great pleasure to see Lori. She has done 2 other events for our sampler guild. Tomorrow I am leaving for a needlepoint workshop in Winter Park FL. I was the chairman of this workshop and our project is the Christmas Door by Tony Minieri - It was organized for our 8 Flags Needlepointers guild in Fernandina Beach Fl - this is an ANG chapter. I have been needlepointing since I was a small child but in recent years - rug hooking and repro samplers have consumed most of my free time. Throw my love of knitting in there and I am one busy girl! I'll try to report in on our excursion to Winter Park very soon - Until then - keep doing what you love to do!

Happy New Year!

Well - here we are - made it thru the first week of January!

It is going to be a real busy month for me. One week from today we start our long awaited rug camp Off the Ocean here in Jacksonville Florida. Lots of my friends including my mom are attending the camp this year. I am soooooo excited because I am starting a bed rug. It is a commercial design but new on the market. It was designed by Joyce Krueger from Texas and is called Essne's bed rug. If I can locate any info for Joyce I plan to contact her and ask what her inspiration was for this beauty. My teacher is Dianne Kelly of the Woolen Cottage in Hiram Ohio. I had Dianne some years ago at Castle in the Clouds in Lookout Mountain Tenn and altho' I have not yet finished the rug she color planned for me it is one of my very favorites. One day I will learn how to upload photos on this blog and then my descriptions will be more meaningful. Anyway - I am so excited - the bed rug is 45 X 56 so that is quite large - my largest rug to date. The backround is a dark chocolate brown so if I decide to put it on the floor in the future I won't have any inhibition about that.

Right on the heels of Ocean I will make my annual pilgrimage to Sebring Fl for another rug camp. This time I will be doing my first oriental style rug with a dear friend and director of Off the Ocean rug camp - Judy Colley from Wyoming Michigan. Her daugher Katie lives in Jacksonville and is a dear friend also. The three of us always go to Sebring after Ocean - it is a nice way for Judy to relax and wind down after the rigors of Ocean. This year will be a little more taxing as she is teaching at Sebring. Telemark is the oriental I will be doing. It is smallish for an oriental - about 24 X 48 and the color plan is gorgeous. I chose a dark eggplant color for the backround and Judy did a wonderful job incorporating my beloved colonial colors in this rug. Two big scrolls are the focal point of this rug. I am happy to be able to learn from Judy - she is a master colorist in my opinion and has over 30 years of rug hooking experience. She has the coveted cover of Celebrations rug hooking magazine this year. I am really looking forward to being in Judy's class.

This sunday my sampler guild is meeting at the Azalea House. Always a great time to get together with my friends who love samplers. A lot of them are dual members of the rug hooking guild also. I am not sure what sampler I will stitch on Sunday - I have started 3 new HUGE samplers over the recent holidays. The French Alphabet Sampler is my New Years weekend start. It was especially personalized for me and includes names and initials of my ancestors. Working this beauty on 36ct cream Edinborough using Gloriana CHerry Tart silk. It is a lovely muted mix of pinks and creams ranging from deep pink to pale pink and cream to deep tan. It really gives an antique - victorian feel to the stitching. Progress is slow working on a 1/2 yrd piece of linen in hand.

My Christmas weekend start was Mouline Rouge by Long Dog. It has been in my *really want to do* pile for about 2 years. I have had Gloriana Elizabethan Green stashed for this for about that long. I finally have selected a complimentary linen that really looks great with the silk. 35ct R&R Sheeps Straw is the color.

Better wrap this up. My goal for this blog is to learn how to upload photos. A fellow sampler guild member has a blog here and I'm sure she can help me get it accomplished. What would we do without friends???? Cherish them - I sure do!

Happy Holidays!

Well Christmas is upon us. I have been having a wonderful month of guild parties every single weekend in December. January would be a big let down except that I always have not one but TWO rug camps in January. I have two very exciting new projects starting - One is a bed rug and the other will be my foray into orientals! The bed rug is a new design on the market called Essne's bed rug by Joyce Krueger in TX and will be color planned by Dianne Kelly from the Woolen Cottage in Hiram OH - I have had the pleasure of working with Dianne a number of years ago at another rug camp. She is a very talented woman and I am so excited about being in her class again.

The second camp is in Sebring FL and I will be taking a class from a good friend and master colorist IMHO - Judy Colley from Wyoming Mich. Judy's daughter lives in Jax and is a co-director of the "off the Ocean" rug camp. This rug is about 24 X 48 and has a eggplant backround. Scrolls are the focal point of this small oriental and I will be pleased to *try* to learn the proper technique of shading scrolls from one of the premier rug teachers in the US.

I am very busy with my sampler stitching also. I am an active member of a local sampler guild and also an internet sampler guild - Legacy. Lots of sampler stitchers seem to like to start new BAP's on the major holidays. I am no exception to that preference. On Thanksgiving weekend I started Edcina Pieters - a Groningen dutch black sampler that was featured in the SANQ magazine in Fall 05. It is really a beauty.

Christmas weekend will see the start of a Long Dog Moulin Rouge - something that has been languishing in my *to do* pile for many months. I found a great linen choice yesterday to go with the lovely Gloriana Elizabethan Green that I have safely stashed for this project. My original linen choice was not what I expected when it arrived and I just got thrown off the track with this one.

My New Years Eve/Day project will be the French Alphabet Sampler. A custom designed sampler that contains names and initials of your decendents. Since I have no siblings or children myself - mine contains my parents , aunt and maternal grandmother and great grand mother. Another huge project - this one also has been hiding in my *to do* pile.

I need to learn more about how to post photos on my blog. Some blogs are so great - guess they are a product of how much time you put into them. Most of my time is spent at work or pursuing one of my many textile passions. Happy Holidays to you! Melody

Warding off Wilma!

Thankfully it looks like Wilma is passing north florida by! I have a good friend in south florida that I am anxious to hear from.

After an afternoon of rug hooking guild yesterday - I am struggling with trying to finish a rather large mermaid rug. Our local rug hooking show is in January and I would love to think I can finish it to be displayed.

I am just starting this blog so I am not sure what to say or "not" say. Guess it depends on whether you want to air your opinions to the world.

All for now -

My first post

WOW - I have been wanting to do this for soooooo long - I liked the looks of someone's blog so I just followed the links to find it was do-able for me. Being an IT person I sometimes feel incredibly inept at doing things that seem so normal for others.

Anyhow - here I am am - Wooley Thoughts - I am such a wool fan - I am an avid knitter and avid wool rug hooker since 2000. I also do needlepoint - another wooley pastime as well as being a sampler enthusiast.

Since I am currently at work - I'd better get going and preview this and get my bio completed.

Welcome to my wooley thoughts!