Thursday, January 29, 2009

Happy 2009!

Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted. To those of you who read my blog, I'm truly sorry to be so lax. I recently attended the 2009 Myrtle Beach Quilt Party and one of the instructors, Cathy Bogan, told me she reads my blog. Shock and surprise! Well, it reminded me that "if you post it on the internet, they will read it" (remember Kevin Costner's 'voice' in "Field of Dreams"?), so I promise to be more faithful to the blog.

Let's see, since my last post I've been to SAFF, celebrated Thanksgiving (in Florida with my son and his family), watched my grandson play in a baseball tournament at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, celebrated Christmas at home with my children, attended the Quilting and Needlearts Extravaganza in Statesville, NC, and attended the Myrtle Beach Quilt Party in South Carolina.

I've also completed quite a few projects since I last posted: a number of Quilter's Tote Bags, the Wall Street cabled vest (Elizabeth Zimmerman design) for DH, the A-Line Jacket from Runway Knits for my mother (who did not particularly care for it), a beaded and felted purse for my niece (never heard one way or the other),a purple Popular Girls Shawl (owner is yet to be determined), and a felted heart-shaped purse knitted with mitered squares for my dear friend Sonja (who loves it). I'll be teaching the mitered square purse class at Baskets of Yarn on February 7--appropriate for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday, right?

I also learned with the help of my friend Sue Dial how to make this beautiful necklace:

Hammered silver-plated wire and lots of beads resulted in a really beautiful piece of jewelry, don't you agree? It was lots of fun, too, hammering that wire--very therapeutic! Sue is an amazing artist and fearless when it comes to trying new things. I'm blessed to call her 'friend.'

The Myrtle Beach trip was fantastic! Soooooo much fun! We had a group of 6 women staying in a 3-bedroom condo that had closets bigger than my office. We had lots of room to spread out and relax, and that we did! We took quilt classes, ate in local restaurants, shopped in the local craft stores (beads, scrapbooking, fabric) and laughed and laughed (which is the main reason I go at all). The only pitfall was that my DDIL came down with a stomach virus on Friday evening (after dinner at Carrabbas) and spent a miserable night running to the bathroom. Poor thing! She missed her Saturday class and ended up going home Saturday evening before the banquet. We missed her, but we all understood how sick she felt and how much she wanted to be in her own bed. Next year is the 20th year for the party, and it should be great fun. I've already started researching the property where it will be held next year. Mardelle, the hostess, always does us proud.

My sock project (2 socks at one time, toe-up, on circular needles) is going great guns, thanks to my sock-wizard instructor Trish at Baskets of Yarn. I'm knitting a pair of socks from a hand-dyed sock blank that was dyed by my son Lucas. He keeps insisting that he'll actually wear them, but I'm not-too-secretly hoping they'll 'accidentally' end up in my sock drawer. Here they are in progress:


Another knitting project that is very exciting to me is a beaded scarf that I just designed. Here it is in progress. I'm scheduled to teach this at Baskets of Yarn on February 7, and I know it will be great fun. It's truly a piece of jewelry, so heavy with beads. I can't wait to show it off!

This gives a brief synopsis of my activities since the last post. I hope to get back more often and fill you in. I hope you will let me know what you are up to these days.