THE WINNER IS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the orchids on my desk at the office.  Yes I am working today - it is not a holiday in our company but we usually get released early in the afternoon.  I'm proud of these little flowers because my plant has not bloomed in almost 2 years.  I keep talking to her and encouraging her and she finally bloomed again.

Now on to the exciting stuff!

Here are the names of the blog commenters who entered my drawing.  I wish there had been more but it makes the chances for winning much better.  The lucky winner is KRAYOLA - a first time commenter on my blog !  Congratulations Krayola - please email me at mbryan10@comast.net to discuss mailing your prize.

Since I could not post without a stitchy related photo - here is a shot of the LHN Schoolgirl Lessons.  I think I've done a little on it since my last WIP shot.  I brought to work with me today in hopes of getting in a few stitches during lunch.  Things are very quiet here today.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  I hope you have flags waving, music playing, drinks cooling, grills cooking kind of day and many happy stitches in between!

CELEBRATING MEMORIAL DAY

I hope everyone in the US is celebrating our freedom with family and friends this weekend.  Many of you are off on trips and many are staying home and enjoying cook outs and beaches and maybe just staying out of the heat and catching up on movies and handwork.  I'll be doing a little of all of the above except traveling - for many years we always took a short trip up the mountain in North GA over Memorial Day weekend - I think next year we may just revisit our past haunts and do that again. We started thinking about it much too late to make plans and reservations and that area is certainly busy on holiday weekends.

Last weekend our sampler guild met after a long absence.  It took a while to find another location to meet after the Olde Green Cupboard closed.  We met at a local library and everyone seemed to enjoy seeing each other.  Some great projects were underway and I thought I would take a few photos to share with you. 

We started a guild SAL a few months ago on the Vierlande sampler which was published in SANQ.  DF Henrietta has finished hers and was it a WOWZER!  It is stitched on 40ct (vintage buttercream I think) with DMC.  Mom and I are working on this too and Mom has more done than I do but she is still in the alphabets and I am only on row 3 - I haven't worked it on it in a while as I am trying hard to focus on Where the Heart Lives.  I think Karen is also working on this but I did not get an update from her when she visited me earlier this month.  Great job Henri !

Also from Henri is this lovely WIP Hannah Horsfall - repro'd by DF Karen aka The Spinning Monkey - I think the linen is 40ct -  Lakeside Homespun but I'm not positive on that and it is in DMC. This is a gorgeous Ackworth and Henri is getting down to the last few motifs on it.  I see another BIG finish on the horizon.








Kerrie does a 10 hour rotation on her projects.  She has a number of really big samplers like Jane Rees, Where the Hart Live and Charlotte Clayton on the go. Here is a WIP of her gorgeous Providence by Brenda Keyes.  Wish I had gotten a shot of Jane Rees- she is on the bottom portion on this beautiful red Bristol Orphanage sampler.

Last but certainly not least is Linda's PAPA sampler.  I think she is using 45ct Graziano linen in creme with HDF silks in a lovely blue.  I'm not that familiar with Vicki's silks so I did not catch the color name but it was lovely.  Linda also had a beautiful french sampler called Marie-Lucie in reds on the go but I failed to get a photo of that one.  Oh well  - blog fodder for next time.

I thought for sure I had a shot of my Where the Heart Lives from sampler guild but I did not seem to have one.  So I'll leave you all with a beautiful shot of the full moon rising up over the river as I was sitting in a restaurant eating my dinner last night.  This photo is not nearly as dramatic as the sight really was but you'll get an idea.  This spot is about 5 minutes from my office.

Wishing you all a very happy and fun filled Memorial Day weekend!

I DO BELIEVE IT'S A FINISH!

So hard to come up with catchy blog post titles.  Drum roll please - I have a  finish - don't faint - my faithful followers know it is a momentous occasion that Mel has a finish.  I have been working on this shawl for at least 2 years maybe more.  It was my car project until it got too big and bulky to drag out in doctors offices and restaurants and on lunch hours.  I took it in the house and it sat for a long time until I started getting the itch to knit with lace weight yarn again.  I don't know about you other knitters but I have to be in the mood for lace weight - it has a different hand than heavier yarns and while I adore small needles - there is a trick to knitting with lace -I am a loose knitter anyway and i probably have less of a problem with dropped stitches than tight knitting so lace weight is fairly easy in that regard for me.  well here is my masterpiece - it is so much bigger than I expected I am not going to block it otherwise it would turn into the bat cape I'm afraid LOL - and oh horror of horrors for any knitter - I RAN OUT OF YARN -  yep - I ran out just before the picot bind off on the ruffle edge.  Oh well - not to be deterred I found some other stashed lace weight yarn in the lime green color and I just kept on trucking - I was determined to finish this thing come hell or high water.

Here is a close up of the bell ruffle and the neck edge trim which is entirely in the green - oh well - at least it matches.  For any knitters out there - it was knit out of Malabrigo lace in Hummingbird and the pattern is actually from the Victorian Lace today book but this version was published in a Knitters mag several years ago.

 
 
 
 
 
 

in my last post I mentioned DF Karen came to stay with us and we attended the annual hook in not to mention our traveling about.  I wanted to show you the awesome neck warmer she made for my birthday out of Malabrigo Rasta. I dont' remember the colorway but is it GORGEOUS and so cushy - this is their super bulky weight and I had never seen it before.  Darling buttons HUH?  go and check out Karens recent blog post and you'll see more photos of our shopping excursions and adventures while she was here.  Karen also gave me a wonderful Vera Bradley lunch tote and a note paper holder.  I screwed up the photo so there is no shot of that.
 
Speaking of wonderful birthday gifts - DF's Jackie and Teresa went to Stitches South last month and brought me a BIG SURPRISE -  Sanguine Gryphon Bugga - WHEEEE - it is a very coveted and almost impossible to buy sock weight yarn.  They sure know how to peg the MEL colors - isn't this awesome !
 

I will have to think long and hard about a special project to honor this yarn and my DF's who gifted me.

Speaking of special yarns - I wonder how many of you know who Ysolda is?  she is a hip new designer from the UK - she visited Lornas Laces in Chicago not long ago and in honor of her - LL developed a new color - Ysolda Red - WOW WOW WOW - is it ever gorgeous - I don't think my IPhone camera can show the depth of color and variations but here it isI wound one ball of the Shepherds Sock by hand last night in preparation for my cast on with friends of the Traveling Woman shawl at Knit Witz Midnight Knitting.  I am not usually a red person but here is more recently purchased red yarn.

This is Malabrigo Lace in Sealing Wax - an awesome pinky red - There is a cardigan in the newest KnitScene mag that uses this yarn and I wanted another lace weight project to replace the Ruffled Fichu I just finished.

The obsession with Malabrigo seems intense right now - I could not leave Hanks without trying the sock weight - no I am not technically a sock knitter but what does that have to do with anything ?????

Another exquisite sock weight yarn - Saki by Prism - wish the color was more true - it is just gorgeous.One last photo of my recent yarn buying excursion.  This is the Spud and Chloe sweater (worsted weight) yarn.  Purchased from Wild Fibre in Savannah - I am going to make one of their patterns called the Tea Party Cardi - darling !

Our local sampler guild is meeting tomorrow afternoon.  It's been a long time since we saw met as a group - about 2 months.  It will be fun to see everyones projects and of course I'll be sitting in the corner hanging my head in shame - again no finish in the stitching realm but there is hope.  I will be showing an updated progress pic on my folks anniversary sampler soon.  Also some rug updates - I have a big announcement coming up soon in the hooking WIP world.  Don't forget to check my previous blog post and make a comment there to enter my Memorial Day drawing for a hooking, stitching or knitting prize. 

I enjoy all of your blogs so much - they inspire me and enrich my life.  You are all so special and unique and I love what you do.  thanks for coming to visit and for leaving your comments.  Have a wonderful weekend doing what you love to do.

MORE TRAVELING

WHEW .............  TGIF and all that jazz.  I am exhausted. Wonder if I can remember what I 've been doing since I last posted. Come take a little journey with me on my adventures in wool land for the past week.

 DF Karen came up last Friday to spend a long weekend with us. She arrived on Friday afternoon and I quickly whisked her off to a not so local yarn shop called The Local Needle in Macclenny FL.  Karen is doing a KAL with this shop and Joan had special ordered some yarn and shipped it to Karen.  It was fun seeing Karen's project in it's final stages.  LN has knit night two fridays a month but we opted not to stay since Karen had already had a long drive up from South Florida.  She treated me to a wonderful evening at a favorite local bistro called Biscotti's near my work.  We had a delicious cheese tray and some lovely reisling and finished with a great spinach cobb salad. 

 On Saturday our annual rug guild hook was held in Jacksonville.  It was a great time had by all.  You'll have to take my word for it since I did not take one single photo. BOO HISSSSS - I know all you closet hookers will be miffed at me for not posting a single photo of the rug exhibit.  I can only say that all I did was talk and eat.  there were many people there from surrounding areas, even as far away as GA and So Fl.  We had visitors who were interested in learning to hook, we had members who we have not seen in years - it was a wonderful but tiring day.  I did not get very much hooking done but I worked on my Peace and Plenty from Not Forgotten Farm.

Sunday was Mothers Day - I thought about posting a photo of my mom and I that Karen took for us but I looked like the great white whale but my mom looks pretty good - Oh what the heck - I'll post it anyway. We went to brunch at a lovely B&B - The Riverdale Inn in the historic area where I work that has an awesome restaurant open to the public.  The history of the mansion and some local history is contained on their website.  It's a wonderful area and I love coming to work every day in the historic Bensel House.

We went back to my house after brunch - my folks stayed and chatted for a while but they were anxious to head  home.  The minute their car left the driveway - Karen and I were plotting our next trip - HANKS YARN in Gainesville.  WHEEEEE - did we have enough time to make it worth the trip - hummm - it takes 1.5 hrs to get there and they are open till 7pm - oh and what excuse are we going to use to get out of the house - hummm - going to visit a sick friend NAH - going to shop at a sale - NOT GOOD ENOUGH - Going to shop at a sale of a store that is closing UMMM - that might work - so out the door we flew.  I am participating in a KAL at Hanks and the group was meeting Sunday afternoon - well by the time we arrived that group was all gone but we still had fun perusing even more yarn.  I failed to get photos of my purchases but I did get some photos of the shop.

Their Shop has two entrances one on each side of the building. This is a shot of the long narrow space leading to the other door.  Full of yarn of course!

On this side of the shop is another seating area, the purchasing area, the yarn winding area, a nice big window and see all the spinning wheels and accessories.  They do some dyeing of their own at this shop and they have a small dye kitchen over behind that swift which by the way is holding some lovely Malabrigo lace weight yarn that I bought.

Karen had to go home on Monday - and I had to go back to work.  Found out Monday I had to go back to Savannah - OH DARN - Savannah is just about one of my favorite places in the whole world and this time I was not leaving without visiting one of my top 5 fave yarn shops Wild Fibre.  So I got up extra early and started my drive to Savannah.  It is about 2.5 hrs from my house to the dealership the company I work for owns there in Savannah.  Our controller is a long time resident of Savannah and he loves to spoil me.  We discussed visiting Mrs Wilkes Boarding House for lunch but he said we'd have to leave early because they pack out.  OK - I was up for that - why work when you can eat and visit yarn shops LOL

Well - was Brian ever right - there must have been 50 people on the sidewalk when we got to Mrs Wilkes - URGHHH- plan B - did we have a plan B??  Brian said he thought I would love Soho Cafe and it was only a block down from the newly relocated Wild Fibre.  MAN - did I LOVE Soho - you bet I did.  Let's go inside and take a look.

Apparently this was once a garage or repair shop of some type.  See the top of the huge roll up bay doors and there was an exposed ceiling with piping and so forth.  Hope I got a photo of the neat chandeliers they had hanging from those rustic pipes.  It was a very ecclectic place and the food and atmosphere was awesome.  Brian can sure pick the place.  There was artwork for sale displayed all around this enormous venue.  Here are a few more shots of the artwork and seating areas.Doesn't that look like Alice in Wonderland or Mary Englebreit meets Alice in Wonderland.  Needless to say - I can NOT wait to go back to Savannah and spend a whole day having lunch at Soho and visiting with my friend Jennifer who owns Wild Fibre.

So after a delicious lunch - we walked a block down to the new space Wild Fibre has secured.  Oh look - here's the stepsAlmost there - can't wait !!!!!!!!!!!!!!OH MY goodness - here is my first glance inside.  What wonderful light coming in from these huge windows.  I did not have time to ask Jennifer about the history of the building but my presumption is that it was once a private residence that has been divided up for retail spaces.  Look at that lovely marble fireplace.

Did I ever have a hard time making a selection from this delectible wall of wool.Another fireplace and a cozy seating area.

Such a lovely space - look at the hard wood floors.  WHHAAAAA - I did not want to leave but I had to make a quick decision and bid farewell to the sweet Savannah.  I'll be back again soon - you can bet that.

I promise in my next post to show you some of the lovely yarns I purchased on this trip and maybe just maybe - a finish of a HUGE project that I have worked on literally for years.

As a reward sticking with me on my journey - I am going to have a giveaway. Not a lot of stipulations - if you are a stitcher, hooker or knitter - just give me your preference of prize and I'll surprise you with a little gift.  Just leave me a comment on "THIS" post and I'll draw for a winner on Memorial Day 5/31. 

I enjoy hearing from you all and reading your blogs.

TRAVELING WOMAN

Hi Friends - I have been away on two different business trips. Have missed reading all your blog posts so I have a lot of catching up to do.

 Last Friday I went to Savannah on business.  Since Savannah is one of my favorite places - I parlayed an overnight stay so I could visit my two of my favorite yarn shops.  Unwind is less than a year old - it is a GREAT shop.  I think it is a shared ownership but most of my contact is with co-owner Leigh who is just the nicest most accommodating person.  Here is a photo of their lovely facade

Here is two shots of the inside of their shop.  LOVELY!  and full of awesome yarn.  They also have a great class area and a full kitchen which is a seperate room in the back of the shop. 

Believe it or not - this is NOT all the yarn - there is another whole wall that I did not photograph - I never even made it out of this one area.  I only had limited time to spend at Unwind - I left Jody at the hotel and had to get back there to check out before noon.  Plus when we got up it was raining and messy so I decided that I would have to forego visiting Wild Fibre's new location down in the historic area.  Parking is such a pain down in that area and plus I did sufficient damage in Unwind and did not really need to be tempted to spend more money at WF. 

I scanned the yarn section quickly - I am looking for unusual things that I can not get at our LYS.  I zero'd in on some lovely Louisa Harding yarn I had not seen before called Willow Tweed.  Fortunately there was a lovely book from last fall called Little Cake that includes designs featuring that yarn.  It is a lovely blend of merino and alpaca with natural silk slubs - yummy! This color is called denim but it looks quite lavendar in this snap. 

 

The book is lovely - beautiful photography - unfortunately in my haste - I picked the wrong yarn for the design I had in mind and now I'm in a quandry about what I will do with this yarn.  Could be something not in this book at all.  Oh well - that's what happens when I have to make rush decisions. 

Another yarn that surprised me a lot was the new Debbie Bliss Amalfi - I typically don't care for summer yarns especially with lots of cotton or linen.  This yarn has gotten a lot of press and is in all the spring/summer mags - It has a very light twist which is going to make it difficult for some people to knit with as it will easily split however it was quite lovely and the color selection at Unwind was great.  I could not leave this yarn behind - it was reasonably priced and has a pattern book to support the yarn line.  I have already cast on a neat summery moss stitch jacket.  The color is a typical "mel" color - a very rich, bright gold with  lots of green - they call it maize.  I love it so far.

I can't believe I did not get a single photo of our lovely Saturday afternoon stop on St Simons Island.  Another of my favorite places - great spot for a day trip or weekend getaway.  I was miffed I had to leave Savannah without visiting Wild Fibre but a visit to the Stitchery of St Simons and lunch at a favorite spot called Gnat's Landing would ease my pain.  It was drizzly and gray and quite cool on the island but Gnat's was packed - I guess everyone had the same idea as we did.  This is a great locally owned place that we have frequented a lot over the years.  They have great seafood but the crabcake sandwich is a favorite of ours.  Can't pass on their fried green tomatoes either!  We moved on in search of the Stitchery after lunch - they had also moved to a new location last year.  I am so mad I did not get any photos of the new location but I didn't - just suffice to say it was packed with great yarn and needlepoint and should not be missed if you are in the area.  I knew I only had limited time here as Jody was waiting in the car and was getting Florida fever - SSI is about 1.5 hrs from our home and he has always been patient about my needlework shopping excursions but I know when to push and when not to. 

 I knew Bo would have the Manos Silk Blend that had been on my mental "must have" list for quite a while.  Just as I suspected she had several colorways to choose from and I only had to make a selection.

Isn't this gorgeous !!!!!!!  Wildflowers is the colorway and I am planning to use this for the Traveling Woman shawl.  DF Kris is just finishing up this lovely shawlette so I am anxious to get mine going.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This past Monday morning I left for Auburn Al on another business trip.  Home of Auburn University - Auburn is a beautiful little city.  The only issue with Auburn is that there is no needlework or yarn shops any where close at all.  There used to be a nice little shop in Opelika but it closed last year so no shopping opportunities of that sort while in town.  They do however have a nice Ravelry group that meets at the Books a Million weekly - I met up with them on Tues night and chatted and knitted a little so that was nice.
 

Here are a couple of photos I shot from my hotel window of the historic AU campus.  Auburn was still all abloom with azaleas.  They were on their way out but still pretty - too bad my photo did not show the beautiful azaleas on the campus grounds.

I was home again for a couple of nights and am leaving again this afternoon for a weekend stay on St Augustine Beach.  I am taking lots of stitching and knitting projects and plan to mostly just sit and relax and stitch.

Next weekend will be busy as it is our annual rug guild hook in here in Jax and DF Karen is coming up to spend the weekend.  Look for lots of adventures in the next post!

GOT STASH?

OK - be honest - I know you have ALL gotten some sort of stash from market in February. Imagine my dismay -  I ordered a few things from two different shops and thru circumstances that were unavoidable I guess - I am just now getting one order and have yet to receive the other order. 

I have been DYING to get Mrs. Waddelows huswif.  I had been dreaming of going into the Olde Green Cupboard and actually having a real excuse to peruse, fondle and drool on all the beautiful fabrics.  When they announced they were closing the store in March  - EGADS - what about my fabric for Mrs Waddelow - I had to scramble around on my IPhone and find Ellen's blog post giving the exact measurements of the amount of fabric needed to complete this project.  I am not a quilter so forgive me if I am not savvy with the lingo but I think what I chose was Moda fabrics from  Kansas Troubles  - in reviewing on line - I think maybe Kansas troubles is a designer for Moda and then there is a certain "line" name - sorry but that is what I don't know.  Whatever it's called - it's beautiful.  I am using Days Gone By linen and I had a special silk from Gloriana  that Anne dyed to match one of her multicolored silks.  I never used it and it seems to be perfect for this project.  It is similiar to Rosewood but not as dark.

I still can't get over the fact that the OGC is closing.  They were my source for BBD (among many other things)  and had even had Alma and Barb for a class two years ago. I also picked up Honeysuckle Manor and Winter Wonderland as final purchases. Here is a link to a huge article that ran on the front page of the business section a few days ago regarding the OGC closing : 

 I forgot to include WW in the photo.  Also in the recent stash enhancement package was Ann Rayner and some vintage basketweave to stitch her on and AMAP Alphabet Noir.  Can't wait to start Ann - after seeing Tanya's gorgeous version - I have been chomping at the bit to start this colorful beauty. I think I'll treat myself and do a birthday start on Ann.  A friend in my sampler guild was stitching Ann but said the overly bright colors bothered her and she had toned them down some.  I will probably do a mix of Belle Soie and AVAS on mine but I do intend to stitch the brights - I am thirsting for some color after a long drab winter here in NE FL.

Speaking of color - I joined an upcoming KAL at one of my favorite LYS - the Local Needle - scroll down and see a good photo of the Jellyfish bag.  How fun - I've never made a bag before and the construction on this one with the pleats intrigued me.  Plus I love Ty Dy cotton yarn but I don't prefer to knit garments with cotton.  In my quest for color - I picked up some beautiful Ty Dy last weekend and the mag needed for this KAL.  I've already started as I am not going to be able to make the KAL kick off next weekend.  Here is my start:

One last photo for today - In my quest for color these past few weeks - I ran across an almost finished project - The Ruffled Finchu shawl.  It was published in one of the knitting magazines several years ago but the design came from the lovely book called Victorian Lace Today.  Mine is done in Malabrigo lace weight yarn in the colorway called BlueLime.  This photo doesn't show much except the color - it is quite large and is a triangular shawl with an optional bell ruffle.  the ruffle was what attracted me to the design in the first place so once the triangular shape is completed - you pick up all around 3 sides and create the bell ruffle.  This was my car project for a couple of years and it finally got too big to drag around so I took it inside and it hit the black hole of UFO's in the wool room.    I was moving around a bunch of WIP's this week trying to make room for the primitive piece I bought from the OGC (I'll show you this soon I promise) and I found this lovely shawl.  So out it came into the knitting pile by my chair and last night I reacquainted myself with it and off I went.  It is a wonderful mindless project which I need at all times.  Not sure how taxing the bell ruffle will be but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Thanks for all your kind comments on my blog - I love hearing from you all and enjoy reading what you are up to in your needlework pursuits.

EASTER JOY

Happy Good Friday to everyone !

I have a few Easter related photos to show you.

Last weekend I realized that I should have been working on the darling design that Paulette from Plum Street Samplers did last year as a freebie.  Easter Blessings - I have seen a few of them stitched on linen and they are sooooooo cute - however I thought this would be perfect for a small rug so I asked my DF Katie to draw it off for me on rug linen.  Of course I asked Paulette first and she thought it was a great idea.  Most rugs have a border - I thought this rug needed a border to bring up the size a little bit and Katie and I brainstormed on a border.  I did not show the border but it has carrots all around and Easter Blessings at the bottom.  Isn't it darling??  The chocolate bunny boy looks a little ardvarky with his "too pointed" nose - I'll have to fix that next time I work on it.  I had hoped to finish the yellow daisies but I did not have time to hook any this week.  Katie is dyeing a light easter egg dye backround for this and I will probably use a spot dyed green/brown for the border backround which will show the carrots off nicely.  I was determined to pull all my wool from stash for this piece.  We'll see what Katie's backround creation looks like - hope it's what I envisioned - other than that small purchase - I think I can manage the rest from stash!  WHOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

DF and stitcher extraordinare Henrietta also does beautiful paper crafting - her creations never cease to amaze me.  She always remembers her dear friends birthdays and holidays with her wonderful paper crafting.  Here is the oh so darling Easter card.  thanks Henri for always remembering!

Next up is Harriett on her tuffett - I showed you this lovely little primitive bunny in a previous post but she is nestled in a Longaberger easter basket along with plenty of carrots and some pretty eggs.

This very special lady was made by Jody's grandmother and mother.  They sewed many of these bunnies in the early 90's - If I recall correctly - Jody's mom made the bodies and did the embroidery on the faces and Jody's grandmother who was already in her 80's at the time made all the clothes. She passed away 11 years ago at the age of 92 and we miss her so much.  Sadly Jody's mom is now in a nursing home and has the dreaded Alzheimer's so she is slipping away every day.

 I have not used her for many years but she looks so cute on my couch and she is holding the Easter Joy bag by Shepherds Bush. I think she looks very happy there and who wouldn;t be glad to be "out of the bag"!

I wanted to share with you some more sad news in our world - our wonderful "Olde Green Cupboard" is closing.  How sad is that.  The news came a couple of weeks ago and it was sure a shock.  How awful that another great shop has been so affected by the economic woes of these past two very difficult years.  It was a wonderful respite for all who frequented there.  The retreats, classes, communing with like minded needleworkers - They are clearing out all their inventory at 50% off - I have already spent a bundle there - I'll show you in a future post the wonderful cabinet I got there for my wool room.

I'll end this post with a couple of photos of the beautiful Azaleas in my yard.  We had a very rough winter here in NE FL but the flowering trees seem to be ever so lovely this year. 

I wish for each of you Easter Joy - It is a time for renewal, for spending time with family and enjoying a bit of chocolate and hopefully some time with your needle.  Easter Blessings to you all !

SEBRING BLISS

What can I say - Sebring was total bliss - the weather was cool and refreshing. My mom and I and DF Susan traveled down together on Sunday.  The bad weather was nipping at our heels the whole time.  We stopped for a lovely lunch at a favorite spot in Winter Park and OH WOW did we ever get caught in a torrential downpour.  Once we got back on the road the rain was quite heavy - needless to say I was very glad to arrive at our destination safely.  We checked in and got settled but did not leave the hotel for the next 3 days and you will see why we did not see any need to leave the property.

Come Monday morning - the clouds and rain were all gone away and here was the gorgeous site that greeted us.

The Inn on the Lakes is a privately owned family property.  We sprung for a small upcharge and opted for  lakefront rooms. We opened up the windows and they stayed open for the entire duration of our stay there.  Sleeping with open windows was total bliss.

 Their landscaping is just magnificent - it is truly something to behold.  Take in the sites and enjoy!

This rug camp had 3 national teachers - Mom and I and DF Susan were all in the same class.  We've had Vivily Powers (Colorama) before.  My rug is rather small 24" x 24" and is designed by Bea Brock - a texas artisan - I had given the canvas to mom as a gift several years ago but she never warmed up to it so she suggested I take it and see what I could do with it - here is my progress as of the end of the workshop.

Mom started a darling 18" x 18" canvas by Not Forgotten Farm - we just adore Lori's designs and this one is just so dang cute.

here is DF Susan's progress on her little pastoral scene - she is an awesome hooker.

here are a few of our classmates rugs - sorry I can't show them all and no these egrets were not worked in class - these were ongoing projects.  Same with the rug called Alphapets - many hours have already gone into these rugs.

There was an exhibit held - it was small as the camp was small.  I only snapped a couple of photos and regret to say I did not get a good enough photo of my mom's santa rug and there was a big glare on Susan's Houses rug I showed on the blog last month.  WHAAAAAA - however - here is a few snaps from the exhibit.  enjoy! 

Hope you are all having a good time with your projects.  Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your comments.  Without them - the blogs would not be as much fun to read.  Happy Springtime Stitching!