Weaver's Meeting Recap

Tilly was in great form at our weaver's meeting. She's such a sweetheart!! I took this picture of her from behind the couch and I moved so it's a tad blurry! She's our mascot I'd say!

We had a great meeting this past Saturday at the Warped Weaver's. I did show some of my projects completed this last month but I'm not posting them so as not to bore my followers! For weaver's that couldn't make the meeting, you can see my work on my blog. But here's what you did miss if you weren't at the meeting! What a great show and tell and a fun project!

Before our meeting started, Mary was presented with a treat and a candle to blow out for her wish! Happy BD, Mary!!

Blogger may not co-operate with me today..the quilt on the right is Susan's kaleidoscope challenge piece she finished. The quit on the left is one of two projects Susan is working on. You can see a picture of the actually stained glass piece Susan is creating using her reverse applique technique. I think she captured the colors beautifully didn't she.

The flower quilt on the right is Susan's second project. Aren't' they beautiful!

Now I hope the rest of these pictures I can label!

The rose knitted piece was done by Mary! She made a headband and a scarf!

The purple woven piece are 'mug rugs' made by Diana. I never heard of 'mug rugs' but then I had a DUH moment! Diana took a weaving class at the conference and these were her practice pieces. The green piece and the jewel tone weaving was done by Pat K. at a weaving workshop at the conference.

The mitten is being knitted by our very own Theo!

She also made the knitted purse (it's lined on the inside). Really a nice pattern to it. It's from a book knitting purses with one skein.

And Caryl's hands are busy! Or I should say she's busy making hands for her dolls. Caryl is taking an online class which teaches some great tips and techniques for doll making. Also, check out Caryl's finished chair that will have a hand made doll sitting upon it!

The green bag was made by our own Queen of Purple. She took a class at the conference that uses fabric to make all different types of wrapped bags for presents. I don't remember the name of the technique, but if I find out, I'll post.

Of course, you'll recognize other items by the Q of Purple! I believe she purchased the small change purse at the conference.

Again the sheep and tree were woven at a workshop at the conference.

The pic on the left are postcards from the lady who taught the sheep/tree weaving class.

The flamingo was a present for Caryl. You have to see all the wonderful flamingo's Caryl has around her house!

And here are the ladies working on our afternoon project. Betty brought the book, Jewelry Making for Fiber Enthusiasts. Really a fun book as you can see by all the items made in the afternoon.

The blue/white earrings were made by Mary. Caryl made the necklace!

The blue circle piece was made by Susan.

And guess who made the purple charm!!

We had a great meeting and I'm certainly going to miss all the ladies!

Bunnies, birds, dogs and other such things!

So here is my progress on the bunny peyote bracelet I'm beading. I still have 3 1/4 bunnies to bead. The pattern is from Beth Muer (Until We Bead Again). Isn't it cute!! Check out Beth's blog and web site to see her bracelet and other patterns she has. It did take me awhile to 'teach' myself odd count peyote but after four hours and one margarita I did it! Or I am doing it - minus the margarita's now!!! I've only made needle cases (even count peyote) from Beth's patterns but now she has me hooked on this beading technique. Thanks for all your help on this as well, Beth!!


Now on to birds, dogs and other such things! These are pictures from this past week or so that I thought would be fun to share for family and friends. This is Mandy and Gracie sitting outside one sunny afternoon! It was too hot for them to sit in the sun! And you know how aware they are of the harmful rays from the sun! Neither of them care for sun screen!


About a week ago we had heavy, heavy rains here in Ocala early one morning. Poor Mandy had to wear her raincoat along with her booties. She's used to wearing the boots because I put them on her every morning because of the dew. White dogs don't stay white on their own! She doesn't like the coat but that morning it sure helped. It didn't stop raining until around 10 a.m. so we had to coax her outside. She's your typical 'woman'..."it's ok, I'll just 'hold' it!" hmmmmmm

This was the rain coming down at 7 a.m.! You can see the newspaper sitting in the middle of the driveway. Bob and I tossed a coin as to who was going out to get it! Wasn't me!



And check this out! This was hung in Jan's lanai the other day and I had to take a picture of it. It just reminded me of something you could 'zentangle'!

Or it would make a great beading project...

Or it would make a great black and white art quilt....

Or...Or...Or....oh, so many ideas and only one life!


And this was a piece I 'zentangled' the other day. The black is the front of a card I made. Rick and Maria from Zentangle developed a new 'tangle' called Mooka..that's at the bottom. Quite a lot of fun to do!


Today Carol and I headed back to the Villages to do some last minute shopping! We both saw on GMA yesterday that shopping is healthy for older folks. Well, Carol and I want to be healthy you know, so we did our best...and it worked! We just felt so good today! Our hubbies called us on the cell just as we were leaving the Villages and said to meet them for an late lunch/early dinner so we did! Another fun day with friends and of course food! Can't beat the day!

Food, Friends and Fun!

Friday night was a WONDERFUL night at Jan and Larry's! Carol, Tony, Bob and I headed off early yesterday afternoon looking forward to a great dinner. Let me tell you we were NOT disappointed!! First, check out the napkin Jan gave us! Just way too funny! You have to read the writing to see what the letters stand for.

Our evening started out with drinks and appetizer's of shrimp with cocktail sauce, baked brie and fruit. Wonderful..so good.
Next, Jan made Bang, Bang Shrimp! OMG Bang, Bang shrimp is a dish made at Fish Bones or is it Bone Fish restaurant..either way, Jan has a recipe for it which is awesome!!! You fry shrimp using a coating or flour/cornstarch, egg dip then after it's fried you toss in this spicy Asian sauce and serve on romaine lettuce! Needless to say after all of this food we felt like we already had our dinner! But no, the main course was on it's way!

This is our beautiful hostess, Jan, getting ready to cook up the Bang, Bang Shrimp.


and these are Larry's hands holding up the crab legs he was preparing for us! I think he said he had eight pounds of crab legs!! Eight!!!
This is the bang, bang shrimp! The best ever!
Of course the guys had to watch the Master's as they ate! Tony is on the left, Larry in the middle and my better half with eyes glued to the set is on the right! The guys did take time out to fill their plates with food!
This was our place settings which Jan had decorated so cute! Lots of sea shells and candles!
Jan's centerpiece! Just a fun and colorful table setting! So inviting!
Yes, this was my plate and of course I ate it all!! I can't believe I did! In addition to the crab legs, Jan made home made cole slaw, biscuits, baked potato wedges and Larry made deep fried shrimp. Do you think we had enough to eat! It was ALL so good!! But wait..we aren't finished yet!
Dessert consisted of pecan squares that Jan made and they are to die for (of course, there had to be a scoop of pecan ice cream). Yummy!
And we had favors of M&M's and other chocolate to take home!

We had such a wonderful time with our friends and can't thank Jan and Larry enough for a great evening of food, friends and fun! I think I need to ride my bike for 20 miles a day for 20 days! But it was worth it! I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

BJP February finished!

Yes, that did say "February BJP" in my title! I'm a tad behind, but I'll catch up when we're back in Michigan. Here's my finished painted bunting and I'm happy with him. Each of my journal pieces are 9" x 11". I did take liberty with the colors of this bird and I have to say I enjoyed beading it (even ripping out areas time and again!). I posted on my 1st BJP bird last month which you can read here. I'm using Helene Knott's bird patterns from her article in the AQS magazine (Mar. 2011). Check out some of Helene's work on her web site here. Her designs of nature and landscapes are amazing as are her Oriental quilts. Fill up your coffee cup and click on her gallery to browse through her work. Just wonderful! This is just a closeup of the tail of my bird. Next I'll work on Helene's Blackpoll Warbler pattern. I've not finished the edges of each journal yet. I have a few ideas on how I want to display these. I thought once of putting into a large quilt but now I'm leaning towards attaching each piece to gallery wrap canvas. I am getting antsy to work in reds so a cardinal will be in one of my journal pieces I hope. My other 'little' project is working on an Easter peyote bracelet! I purchased Beth Murr's peyote pattern and started on it yesterday. Now I did take a lesson last winter on creating a peyote tube, then purchased and completed several beaded needle cases (patterns from Beth, of course!) but I've never beaded odd count peyote! OMG...I was like a mad woman yesterday trying to start the pattern! BUT....I did it! The bracelet is turning out really cute!! Check out Beth's blog and scroll down to the bunny bracelet. Beth also has some great You Tubes on beading that guide you so well in even count peyote (she's working on odd count peyote next!). I'll post pictures of my bracelet tomorrow when I return from Weaver's meeting. It's my last meeting of 2011 and I'll miss the ladies. We're going to be meeting with several of our friends here in Ocala the next week! Seems as if we gain all our weight the last week of our stay in Florida!! But we enjoy being with all our friends one last time this year! Tonight Jan and Larry are having us over for crab legs! So off for a bike ride..at least I can work off one crab leg calorie!

Georgia Back on My Mind!

Yep, this little guy above is the newest member of the family. Amber is playing with 'Spike' (ok, I'm not the best grandma - I'm not sure that's his name!). He really belongs to Nick but sometimes Nick is camera shy. I took this picture while skypeing the kids yesterday. I have to admit he is a cute little guy. I just don't want him to come and live with grandma and grandpa!

Making progress, whew, on 'my bird'..finished both wings. Actually, I've beaded on this more than it shows because I've been ripping out more beading than beading! At times I just don't like the direction that I'm beading so rip, rip, rip! I had his entire head beaded but I didn't like it so.....I think I have more beads on the couch and floor than I do in my tray. I'm not a good 'ripper/outer'! The picture below is my original "Georgia on my Mind" piece I'm doing for the Inspired by the Masters exhibit back home. I just wasn't happy with the leading/black fabric because it was fraying so much. From a 747, the piece looks pretty good but up close there are some areas that are just not well done. I will finish it and most likely hang in my sewing room or just leave as is and use as a practice piece (per Susan).

So here's my redo! Fortunately, I had enough of my original fabric so I could redo without purchasing more. Buying fabric isn't something I do back home because I have so much commercial and hand dyed fabrics. My shortcut is to put fusible web on my muslin background then fuse my pieces to it. Susan hand bastes her pieces but I like to cheat!

This is the back of the piece where you draw with Micron pen where each fabric piece butts up to one another. This is your leading line.

Yippee!! My piece is all basted and ready for that 'first cut'!!! I bought some black/blue batik for the leading so I know it won't fray like the Kona I bought! Duh! Kona cotton!! I know it frays..what was I thinking! Now I can start packing up my sewing and art work. I love hand work so between my beading and this applique piece I'll be happy.

We only have two weeks left and we're both sad about leaving. We just love being here in Ocala. There's so much to do and you don't have to drive far to do any of it! It's always hard for us to leave but we love our home back in Michigan and do miss our family and friends so packing will be started! It's already 68 degrees, Bob off golfing outside the community today. I'm getting ready for my bike ride and to start my day. Bath time perhaps for Mandy and then play time for me! OK, packing then play time for me!!

Pizza anyone?

Now you have to admit this looks good doesn't it!! This was my 2nd pizza I made last night while attending the 'Pizza, Pizza' class at my favorite store in Ocala, The Artisinal Dish! We/I had a ball and learned so much from Chef Greg!! This is my 2nd class and most likely my last for this winter but I'll be back for sure next year to take some more classes! Chef Greg showed us how to make a red sauce you can use on pizza or pasta. It was delicious! In fact, so good, I'm making some for our dinner on Sat. We also got to taste two different pizza dough's that Chef Greg had made up ahead of time. He did show us how to mix up each batch and of course we each got the recipes! You don't realize all the great tips and techniques you learn at one of these classes. Ocala is lucky to have Chef Greg along with Mary and the other "Dish" ladies! If you haven't had a chance to stop by and check out their deli or their list of classes, you are missing out! And did I mention that Mary makes the best cookies! Guess it's good that I'm only here 4 months out of the year! I'd be a bigger 'blimp' than I am already!

Here's Chef Greg mixing up some dough!

Here we are all lined up to roll out the dough for our 1st pizza!

Check out all the toppings we had to choose from and then our pizza's went into the brick oven! YUM!!!

You can see the oven behind Chef Greg (in the hat) on the left. Everyone had a great time and it was so interesting to see how each person created their pizza...some messy (me!), some very perfect with placement of the toppings and some just down right artistic.

And the end result! We were trading pizzas we each made at our table, which was fun to try different toppings! Just a great evening..oh, and we also had three different wines to taste! I forgot to write down the names of all the red wines we had, so I have to go back and do that. They were all red wine (of course!) and I do want to purchase a bottle of one of the Chianti wines. Really good! Nice way to try out some wine...and there is another wine tasting next Wed. at The Dish! 7-9 $15 and well worth every cent! hmmmmm Hope I can work it in but that's Margarita night! Wonder if tequila and wine mix? I just might find out!