FABULOUS FEBRUARY

YES it has been a fabulous February so far.  Weather has been wonderful in NE FL - lots of VERY cool days and nights which I LOVE !  I know my dear blogging friends in other parts of the country have had much too much cold and winter weather by the time February rolls around but we've had practically NO winter at all up to this point so I'll take all I can get because I know within a month - our chances of wearing any handknits at all will be over for many months.

First up - I'm sure many of you read Laurie's Corgi Cottage blog and might have noticed that I won her 100th Blog post giveaway - YEHAW!!!!!!!!!!!  I was simply amazed at all the goodies Laurie and the Corgi kids packed in that box.  Here is a peek

It was so much fun unwrapping each one.  Like Christmas.  The Quality chick tshirt is so cute. There were just all kinds of stitching accessories and goodies.  Emma and Owen even sent me some Cadbury Eggs since they got to keep their pumpkin treats.  Laurie - MANY THANKS for this awesome giveaway opportunity.

If I had to pick a favorite out of the whole massive prize it would be the needle case stitched (and I'm sure sewn) by Laurie.  It is so beautifully done, perfect fabric coordination and sweet little details not to mention the over one black birds and lettering.

As I said in my last post - I've been on a finishing binge lately - I really needed a boost for sure in the finishing dept.  I've also been trying to bolster my confidence and try to get some "finishing" for the finishes done as well.  Here is the With My Needle Hornbook I recently finished.  I think it is so sweet - I used chenille I dyed myself for the trim and the fiber is Belle Soie Rosebud on LL 36ct Chantilly Cream.

Speaking of WMN - our EGA chapter is hosting Ellen for a class this weekend.  We are SO very excited to have the opportunity to do the Ladys Worke Box.  So hopefully my next post will be focusing on that wonderful class experience.

  

Here is a progress photo on my BBD piece in the Remember Me series.  I'm very slow building my house but it is coming along and I really should start that massive mound of grass below the house.

 Yes I too am participating in the wonderful Scarlet Letter blog Nicola put together - Waving to Nicola !!! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!  Here is my Hart Lives.  I've been trying to work on it at least once a week or more.

 Here is a close up of Lady Jane Hart and Sir Henry Wiley Hart - those are my parents real names - Sir Henry Wiley finally has a face, hat and hair YEAH!!!!!!!!!  Maybe he'll get some clothes soon.  This is a really pleasant sampler to stitch.  I'm glad the SL blog prodded me into brushing the dust off of it and getting it back out.  I am stitching mine on 32ct Antique White Belfast with the called for AVAS.

Can't leave you without showing a knitting WIP - this is my 1st quarter challenge project that I am doing with the Loopy Ewe.  It is called Winter Wonder a pattern by IrishGirlieKnits.  The yarn is the most nummy nummy stuff - MadelineTosh Pashmina Worsted.  The challenge was to use only use one skein of anything you wanted to use and the pattern had to contain cables.  I have been absolutely loving both pattern and yarn and I could see myself doing another of these.  I think I am going to be sorry when this project ends and I see more of that Pashmina Worsted in my future.

Well friends - that about concludes all the news I could muster on this fine February afternoon.  I hope you are having a FABulous February as well.  I'd love to hear about it so please leave me a comment.  I love hearing from you.

FEBRUARY FINISHES

Ok - don't faint - I'm on a roll with finishes lately.  First up - in our local chapter of EGA - it has become an important directive that we all have nametags to wear at EGA sponsored events and at our monthly meeting.  We are all extremely excited to be hosting Ellen Chester of With My Needle  later this month for the Ladys Worke Box project.  We have 17 lovely ladies coming for class and 3 are from out of state and 4 from other parts of Florida who are plural members of our local chapter.  I can't wait to show you photos from our fun day with Ellen.  Want to come and join the fun ???  We might could squeeze in one more person.

So in preparation for this and other upcoming events - I got myself busy and designed a nametag. This design is by Sheri Jones, Patricks Woods. The lovely scissor fob and nametag chain was designed especially for me by DF and fellow chapter member and beader extraordinaire Becky. She knows I adore green and she made the fob first and then I begged for a design that would have little clamps to hold this or any future nametag. I think she did a smashing job. The fob looks so cute with my bunny scissors.

Friday night I was on a mission to finish up the nametag - I set about doing the actual finishing - I am gaining confidence with some simple finishing lately.  However when it got to the trim - shoot - I didn't have anything at all that would cover up my messy edges.  I really really needed to have this finished so I could wear it to our Stitch in Public event on Saturday morning at the local quilt shop.

So I happened to remember this gorgeous yarn I had that I thought might work out.  I found it pretty quickly and while it looked pretty good color and texture wise  it was too flimsy for edging.  With necessity being the mother of invention - I tried fiddling around with it and ended up crocheting a chain and then tacking on the crocheted chain for the edge trim.  VIOLA!!!!!!!!!

I rooted around in stash and found some BBD fabic that I thought looked pretty good and thus the nametag was complete. 

Here is a shot of me wearing my newest knitted finish - the Eustacia cowl by Shibui.  For any knitters out there it was made with 2 strands of Shibui Silk cloud held with one strand of the lucious Shibui Stacatto.  There is a cardigan in my RAV que made with this same combination of yarns that I am really coveting.  BTW - I attribute that double chin thing going on to the fact that I was looking down at the screen on the IPhone LOL 

A lovely new start - Color Affection shawl - A wildly popular design that thousands on RAV have made.  I have stayed away from this design because it was just agony trying to pick 3 colors that I thought complimented each other.  I started with Madeline Tosh Well Water - the pinkish one is Dahlia and the tiny dark ball is Black Currant and this is MT sock.  I had to reward myself with a new start since I had a finish.

Last weekend I attended the Olde Green Cupboard retreat which was held on Kingsley Lake at the Camp Blanding National Guard facility.  Kingsley is a beautiful lake - it is actually very near the lake where my parents live.  I spent many a happy day on Kingsley lake as a teenager.

Heres a shot of the main room where 180 quilters had 3 - 5 happy days sewing, laughing and also taking classes with two national teachers.

There were 7 of us there hooking.  The sunsets on the lake were gorgeous and lots of people ran out every day to take photos and see the sun setting on another beautiful day.

Being around all those quilters and then being in the LQS yesterday left me in a weakened state.  I succumbed to a small purchase yesterday.  There were some Moda booklets called Candy Store or something like that.  They had tiny 2.5" squares in the display which are used for projects in the booklet.  OK - so I'm a sucker for sheep.  One of the designs looked like it should be easy enough - 12" x 12" with a cute little appliqued wool sheep - right up my alley - right?  So maybe next year at Camp Blanding - I will be quilting too - HOPE NOT but I am going to be brave and try this tiny project and we'll see where it leads.

I am hoping February will contain a flurry of finishes for me.  I finished ANOTHER design yesterday but I will save it for a future post hoping that I can find a suitable trim for it and get the actual finishing done on it too.    We are having wonderful cool weather here in NE FL - in the 30's at night which I just adore.  Love to be able to wear my hand knits - it's also makes for perfect hooking and knitting weather.

Hope you are having a FABulous February so far - thanks for visiting my blog - I love each and every comment.

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 !