ADIOS APRIL

Bye Bye bunnies, see you later chickies - no more spring weather or delicate flowers. 

April has been a busy month - my birth month - so I always seem to be in the "12 days of birthday" mode during April.  It's been a fun month and I hate to see it go and with it our cool temps.

I did a few fun things in April - most recently I went to a retreat with our rug hooking guild on St Simons Island.  I did some yarn shopping at the Stitchery - that's always fun.  My mom was admiring a granny square afghan they had there done in Noro yarn and so under the pretense that she would learn to crochet - she bought yarn for one of those.  Needless to say I am "hooking" along on *HER* afghan but it is fun and I probably have not done any granny squares in 30 years, this is just one giant square - you keep going round and round and round until it is as big as you want it.  A photo next time I promise.

This is the year I am hoping to finish some rugs - yes RUGS plural - I really didn't want to work on a fall rug in April but this rug was more than 1/2 finished.  After another long concentrated weekend of hooking - I am happy to say I'm in the home stretch.  I only have 2 more leaves and a few picket fence pieces left.  This is a fairly large rug 28" x 32" and I believe done entirely in a 6 cut for those rug hookers who may be interested.  It is a design by Beverly Conway and most of the wools are from Bev.  I took the workshop a few years back.  Actually the color plan is my creation - it was a private workshop with lots of newbie hookers and she had her hands full so the experienced hookers were basically on their own to pull wools from her massive stacks and see what we could create.  Some of the greens and the browns were from my stash.  I really really like this rug - it is one of my favorites and I will be SO glad to see it finished so I can use it this fall.

 Here is the view from our room overlooking the marshes surrounding the retreat center.  I always say I am going to spend some time on the balcony but it was quite windy on the marsh and when we weren't shopping or eating - we were trying to get some serious hooking done.

The other fun workshop I took this month was with a very famous knitting celebrity.  Sally Melville came to Jacksonville - to my LYS Knit Witz.  I took a class called knit to fit that went along with her newest book which I purchased at the workshop.  Sally is just beginning to make some of her designs available on Ravelry - so for you knitters out there - check out her Stair Step Shawl - so cool.  I don't know what has been wrong with me and the photo-taking. She brought a ton of designs and I only took this one photo of her lecturing in class.

I am still stitching - I promise I am but I just have not been doing much for the past month.  I started a couple of new pieces - you know an attack of my start-itis.  I started BBD Violets Blue and Mary Moteshed by Needlework Press - I'm still trying to devote time to my SL focus piece - the Hart sampler but I just have not been motivated to work on it, sadly  . . . .   I am supposed to be devoting at least one night a week to that WIP.

I have a couple of fun things coming up in May - our annual rug guild hook in and then a needlepoint class with a teacher I had last fall.  So I am looking forward to those two upcoming events. 

I wanted to take a moment to welcome my new followers - I'm finally over the 100 mark and it makes me happy to know that people find my ramblings of interest.  I hope you will leave me a comment - I am always excited to hear from you.  May Day is tomorrow - give someone a flower if you get a chance.

NO FOOLIN' IT'S A CELEBRITY SIGHTING

Happy April Fools Day Friends !

I trust everyone had a beautiful Easter.  I know we sure did.

On to the big news - last weekend my mom and I made our annual trip to Sebring FL to attend the Scrub Rug Hooking workshop.  It is always a great time for us.  I have tons of photos to show - so many in fact that I am going to have to break this up into two posts but I wanted to give you the exciting news first. 

On Sunday night we were hooking away in our classroom and someone from the upstairs class ran into our room and said Bill Cosby was sighted in the hotel.  YEAH right - we just chuckled and kept on hooking.  Didn't really give it too much credence actually.

Well the next day - there was all this commotion coming from the lobby - everyone was rushing out into the lobby.  Bill Cosby in the flesh.  Here he is with our teacher Vivily Powers and in one of his famous shirts.  He was talking with all the hookers (rug hookers) laughing and joking of course about being surrounded by "hookers". 

Here is a  photo with my mom peeking out from behind Bill Cosby, Janet a classmate of ours on the left and Vivily Powers our teacher on the right.  What a great shot.  He was very gracious and cordial and just sat there in the lobby quite non-chalantly while all these woman posed with him - sat by him and asked him a zillion questions.  Apparently he had been in Orlando over the weekend for an appearance and then was appearing in Sebring.  It was a fun experience and fortunately he was very patient with all the "fan"fare.

On to the rug exhibit - there were some lovely rugs in the exhibit and some real big rugs.  There were great examples of all styles of hooking, fine shading such as this beauty above and wide cut primitives, bright bright bright -

You always see an abundance of bright Florida colors in Sebring

Searsport Mom and daughter team Julie and Chris taught at Sebring this year.  This is one of their rugs which they also designed.

It was fun meeting them and shopping in there mobile store - WOW - great hooks made by the daughters husband - I'm sorry but I don't know which one is Chris and which one is Julie.  Their colors on this rug are just wonderful.

You can always see lots of bird life in Sebring around the lake.  Here is someone's blue heron which was color planned by our teacher Vivily.

exquisite !

lots of tropical themed rugs in this area of the state

This is one of Carol Feeney's creations.  Carol designs rug canvases and this was her first teaching assignment.

Another of Carol Feeney's rugs - you can't see it but the flower petals were ruffly with some type of roving.   Lovely - just lovely !

Another teacher's work - Marq Miller from Canada who will be teaching at Sebring in November.  I think she said this was a wide cut shaded project.

Another of Marq's rugs - she was working on this one last year when she was in our class with Polly Minick if I am not mistaken.

Many of these rugs I don't know the designer or hooker but they were all just so lovely.

Here's my little wedding pillow by Dianne Kelly sharing a seat with a cool zebra purse.

Elaine's Peking duck - she was in our class 2 years ago and Vivily did most of the wool for this project.  Nice to see him framed and finished.

Is this tiger realistic or what ???  Sue was in our class this year but you can see Sybil Osicka's influence all over this work of art.  Looks like a photograph.

Another of Carol Feeney's designs - DF Donna was hooking this canvas in Carol's class this year.  It will be fun to see it coming to life.

I know this canvas was designed by Connie Charleson (Connies Cauldron) - fellow guild member and friend.  I don't know who hooked it.

This rug was hooked by Fern G - I was completely captivated by this rug.  If I had the money - I would have asked to purchase it.  the purple flowers on the right and left are proddied.  Love the verse - the rug was almost finished except Fern was hoping to buy wool to complete the border.  This was probably my favorite rug I saw this whole weekend.  Fern is quite the character - she has been hooking at least 50 years and she is always all smiles and full of sharp witty remarks.  She is one of the people I always look forward to seeing only when I travel to South Florida.  A real treasure and her repertoire of hooked rugs is simply amazing.  A lifetime of hooking have created many works of art.  I am so pleased to have met so many people like Fern.  The hooking community is a wonderful one and part of the fun of going to these workshop events is having time to really sit and talk and listen to the life stories of the people you meet along your journey.

I still have the Inn on the Lakes gardens and our class WIP's to show in another post.  Until then - keep those needles and hooks moving.

MEANDERING MARCH

March is meandering along and I don't have much to show for my efforts.

Easter is almost upon us and I am usually excited to be stitching on a springy easter project of some sort however since it has been so cool (and sometimes cold) here in NE FL - I have not had spring projects on my mind.  Instead I am still knitting a lot which is great but I'm afraid Easter is going to slip right on by this year without any finishes. 

April is when I really like to do springy projects and I will go right ahead with that.  I recently got the BBD Violets Blue from Jean at the Attic - a full kit which includes her exquisite silk conversion.  I am itching to start that beauty. 

You will notice I refreshed my blog header and sent Mr Snowman to bed for a long nap.  I know some of you poor souls are still getting snow and while I love winter - spring has definitely sprung here in our area.  All the azaleas are in full bloom and the flowering trees like dogwoods are gorgeous.  Pansies and petunias are everywhere and looking so bright and beautiful.

Here is a lovely cowl I just finished.  It was a 1st quarter challenge project with an online shop that I love The Loopy Ewe.  Sheri does a great job keeping her customer base motivated and excited about trying new yarns and new projects.  This challenge was to pick a project which only used 1 skein and the project must contain cables.  This is Winter Wonder by Irishgirlieknits and the yarn is the new-ish MadelineTosh Pashmina Worsted in the Lowland colorway.  I am in love with this yarn.  It is the big sister of the gorgeous MT Pashmina which is more than a fingering weight and less than a DK - I think they classify it as DK.  Anyway - that is all for the knitters who may be interested in what it is.

 A closeup that shows the cables and color a little better.  It is a beautiful rich green and a dreamy blue gray.

Next up is an absolutely wonderful gift that I received from dear friend and mentor Dianne Kelly.  She made this wedding rug for Jody and I and presented me with it at our Off the Ocean rug camp in January.  I have been waiting to show you because she wanted to finish it off for us either as a framed piece or a pillow.  I chose a pillow and it came in the mail last week and I was excited all over again.  Isn't this just the most creative sweetest thing you've ever seen.  Dianne does wonderful rug hooking using all types of embellishments - she is famous for her hooked wedding cakes.

I think in this photo you can see the veil a little better and the cute little bouquet of flowers.  The church is done in reverse hooking where the loops are on the inside and the front is quite smooth - it gives a lot of texture to the piece.  I didn't show the back of the pillow because it is just a nice cream color.  Dianne said the wedding dress was hooked with some type of silk I believe.   This is a gift we will treasure forever and every time I see it I think of my dear friend Dianne and her thoughtfulness.

LOVE YOU DIANNE!!!!!!!!!!!

Speaking about lovely flowers - I am SOOOO proud of the orchid I have on my desk. SEE SEE !

I bought this last winter - it was in bloom when I bought it and then of course went dormant or whatever orchids do when they are not blooming.  So I moved it to the credenza behind my desk, keep giving it water once a week and low and behold - look what it presented me with this winter!  These blooms have been open for about a month or two - I know they will soon be coming to an end but I am so proud of these little flowers.

About this time next Friday I will be sitting in Sebring hooking my heart out.  My DM and I go to this Scrub Hooking camp every year in March - this will be my 10th year I think.  I am SO ready for a hooking vacation at the wonderful Inn on the Lakes.  So my next post will be the Sebring recap - I know many of my long term followers always enjoy seeing the gorgeous flowers and landscaping at the inn and all the rugs being worked on in class and the display of finished rug.

Until then - I hope Spring has sprung in your area and that you are stitching (and hooking maybe) many bunnies and flowers.  I love reading your comments and having you stop by and visit for a while.

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.