Friday, May 25, 2007

Stitching, stash, beading and cats

This morning I thought I should show some of the stitching part of my garden. The little book was stitched for me by a friend from FTLOS group it is stitched on celery gingham linen and it says GIRLFRIENDS at the top. I just love it. The stitched needleroll is from Lynda from the May Day exchange - it is very lovely. The other needleroll is done in the French Hand Sewing technique ( a mini workshop I taught for my EGA group) The brown Biscornu was stitched for me by my dear friend Diane who lives in Mt. Dora, Florida - the other two Biscornu were stitched by me. The little bag is Filet Lace which was a class taught by Adrienne Meyer. I made two of these - one is framed and I made a bag with the other.

Now since I could not get a good picture of the Black Squirell in Kent, Ohio - My DH bought me this little guy.

I also have put up some pictures of my beading and some of the stash I have accumulated recently. I am now set for life!!!! 'o)))

Our cats decided they needed to be helpful with the picture set up.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Flower Show

At the end of March, The Garden Club of Stuart (of which I am a member) put on a flower show at one of the local parks. Halpatiokee Park. I had been asked to stage this event, which I accepted with some trepidation, since the venue was the roller skating rink pavalion!!!

This was the largest venue the club had ever used and it was quite huge!! However with a great Flower Show Chairman, Cyndi and several helping hands and mental support, the development and the staging of the show came together into a really fantastic exhibition.

Everyother year the garden club puts on a flower show, free to the public as a Thank You. On the other years the club does a garden tour for which there is a fee charged. It is also quite an event.

One of the driving forces to make this show great was to go for a National Garden Club Award. We needed to attain a score of 95+ (out of 100) to be able to apply for this award. Well I am happy to say we did receive above 95+ and the process for this award is in the works in the form of A Book Of Evidence. Will let you know how we did. I have added some pictures of the show hope you like them.

My sidekick throught this whole process was a really great gal Louise Anderson. She painted, build, carried, created and just keeped a great sense of humor thoughout the 7 months of planning and working.

All in all, I am glad it is over since it really cut into my stitching part of my life, but I am so pleased with how well it turned out.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Trip to Ohio

Our nephew, Justin, graduated from Kent State University on May 12th. It was a wonderful day and weekend and we are very proud of him. Terry and I was given a tour of the campus and to the memorial for the fallen students of the May 4, 1970 campus demonstrations. It was very touching to walk thru the paking lot where cement columns surround the spot where the 4 students were killed. This is an incredible school and campus.

In the afternoon, we drove our neice to the other end of the state of Ohio to Ohio University - Athens where we had a tour of Jenna's campus. It is just like a quaint New England town. Lots of red brick and hills and wonderful older buildings. Jenna is a freshman, but she has chosen a great school.

On Monday, Terry and I went to Wooster, Ohio to the Pine Tree Barn where we met a friend from 15 years ago. We both lived in Tampa at the time - she and her family moved to the Cleveland area and Terry and I had moved to Minnesota, then to Miami, then to Palm City, Florida. Wooster is about 1/2 way between where my sister, Jean, lives and where our friends Linda and Dave had moved. Dave did not make it due to work obligations. The Pine Tree Barn is a large furniture, gift, Christmas store with a lovely cafe inside. The cafe looks out over the valley - great food and a lovely setting. After much talking and looking around the store Linda headed back home and Terry and I took a quick side trip to Lehman's Hardware Store, this is where the Amish shop for tools and supplies, it was great. There were washing machines with the rollers on the top for squeezing out the water after washing - this machine uses a gas motor no electricity. Great tools, interesting toys for the children, food products, and pottery.

We decided to take the back roads to my sister's house and it was so beautiful driving through the hills and valleys and farmlands. Everything was lush and green. Great older homes in the small towns some with large wrap around porches, gardens, laundry on the clothes line. Some of it was definately a step back in time.

On Tuesday, Jean, Terry and I drove into Holmes County, where there is a large Amish population. Stopped in Charm, Ohio (don't you just love the name) we had lunch at a wonderful Amish restaurant and of course there is a wonderful quilt store just down the street that I had to just drop in to visit. (I have been here before) After some poking around Charm we headed to Berlin where there are tons of little shops and eateries - a bit commercialized. Fun but I perfer some of the smaller towns. On the way home to Jean's I drove by the Longenberger Basket administration building which is in the shape of a Longenberger Basket - huge basket!!!

On Wednesday we returned home to Palm City and laundry and multiple e-mails!!!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

The Life and Times of my World

Hello, seems like a great way to start a new venture in my life - blogging. So many people I know have a blog and I thought I would give it a try.

I have so many adventures in my life that I would like to jot down, and since I am not a good one to write in a diary, I thought this might be a good way to start.

A quick profile of myself - I love to stitch, quilt, knit/crochet, garden, read and cook. I, for some reason, travel a lot. I am married to a wonderful man, Terry, who just completed his PhD. We have two great children - both grown and on their own.

I am looking forward to setting up this new tool of communications and being part of the blogger world.