Ravenwood Cottage

I don't want to leave....

Sunday morning came all too quick for me. I am so nutty...Wednesday or Thursday last week I was sad faced and moaning, “Why did I sign up to go to the Retreat? I have too much to do here, I should have saved the money” and on and on with lame excuses. I always dread leaving home for goodness knows why. Anyway I had one of the best times I can remember enjoying in a long time! No stress, no cooking, no cleaning, no pets to tend to, no problems to contemplate. Just nothing to do but sit and stitch, go for meals, visit with friends and stitch some more. It was sheer heaven! I didn’t want to go home!!

We stitched till about 10:30 and then packed the last of our things in the car and headed home. As much fun as I had, it was still good to come home, slip off my clothing, snuggle into a flannel gown, curl up on the couch with Olivia and watch TV with Mom and Gretchen. Mom had kindly told me that she would provide dinner so I would not come home to their empty rumbling tummies and wistful looks of “What for dinner?” as I have so many times in years past. I embarrassingly wasn’t even hungry as Beth and I did not stop for lunch till 3 pm.

We drove south of Atlanta and stopped at the Cracker Barrel about 10 miles or so from home. I splurged and had breakfast. Fried eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy...but I did order turkey sausage instead of bacon. My own bed felt mighty good when we all turned in early Sunday night. Ah...but it is good to be home.

Day Two Sampler Retreat

Saturday morning was foggy and cool when I peeked out the window upon arising. Beth and I had brought cereal, oatmeal, yogurt and supplies for hot tea or cocoa for our breakfast. This allowed us to eat and get dressed at a leisurely pace rather than hustle to dress and scurry to the restaurant for breakfast. We propped up in our beds and watched the Today show as we ate.

When everyone had assembled in the meeting room, one of the ladies taught a clever ‘ort’ container. Orts are the tiny bits of thread left from snipping off a finishing thread or waste threads. I chose not to make one as I really wanted to work on the Acorn sampler. All through the day we were treated to door prizes and small presents of stitching related items. When lunchtime arrived we were all ready to huddle together and have steaming hot Tomato Basil soup, bread and fresh salads for our meal.

After lunch Beth and I decided to walk about a bit on the grounds as I was quite stiff from all my sitting. We walked down to the lake area and in the distance heard thunder rumbling. Storms had been forecast for the afternoon. We decided that we had better hot foot it back across the meadow and had just ducked inside the lodge when a deluge began. How nice it was to quietly sit and sew with the meeting room door ajar and listen to the falling rain above the level of the ladies’ conversations. These retreats are so nice because it gives one time to really get to know our members better on a personal level and their lives. Discussions of children, grandchildren, pets, men and work circled round and round the room.

One of our members, Kim, had scheduled a parachute jump for early Saturday morning, weather permitting. Poor dear waited all day and then the jumps were cancelled due to storms and she arrived back early evening to join us very disappointed, however she vowed to be back to take her jump the next weekend. Brave one, huh? Dinner was a real treat, prime rib, and it was some of the best beef I think I have ever eaten. It was so tender and moist. Assorted vegetables were offered and a tempting dessert tray. I splurged and had a whole piece of baklava with a glass of ice cold milk.

Games were the order after dinner and what fun they were. We had a scavenger hunt in our purses with a long list of items to locate. My group really had to work hard to come up with 22 items that were listed while some of the other groups had upwards of 40-50 items. We knew we had lost...until we were awarded the prize for having the ‘cleanest purses’. Yeah!! What fun.
Then we had to write down our most embarrassing moment and everyone took turns guessing who the moment had occurred to. Ha Ha I can’t tell you how many embarrassing moments had trips to the bathroom as the main ingredient. We sure had fun laughing at each other dilemmas.

It was hard to stop stitching and chatting when bedtime came but I had slept poorly Friday night and was ready for a good nights sleep tonight. The weather had turned somewhat raw and so Beth and I had to turn the heat on low and pull up extra blankets to get warm enough to drift off. I slept like a rock that night.

Sampler Guild Retreat 2008

After yesterday’s busy activities I awoke this morning to put the finishing touches on my packing for Beth and me to attend the Annual Retreat sponsored by the Sampler Guild of Georgia. I printed out driving directions on the computer as well as locating the address of a second Archiver’s scrapbook store just off I-75. I had hoped to stop on the way because I am in need of a better selection of basic cardstock colors.
Unfortunately we got a later start to our trip than planned. Beth had a sudden emergency at her rental property that required attention. When we eventually set off our first stop was at Abecedarius, a needlework shop in Atlanta. I needed to buy a gift certificate for the person whose name I had drawn for the gift exchange as well as several skeins of thread I required. While we were there one could not help but do some browsing.

I could not resist adding to my collection of Prairie Schooler charts and purchased the four recently released charts.

I was also attracted to the Woodland Cottage by Elizabeth’s Designs as well and purchased the linen, beads and crescent moon button to adorn the sampler. Beth and I were starving by now and decided to stop for lunch at Williams’ Brothers Barbeque. After a yummy chopped barbequed pork sandwich and sweet tea we
were ready to find Archiver’s and do some scrapbook shopping.

Oh my, I have not been in such a nice scrapbook store since Scraphappy closed a few years ago! It was almost sensory overload for me...I even found myself hyperventilating at times. I know I bought way too many things, but all the cheerful papers and darling embellishments were simply irresistible! Even Beth succumbed to adding to her collection of supplies and we were definitely motivated to get busy doing more scrapping.

Clouds had gathered and a sprinkle of rain began as we dashed to the car and headed north out of Atlanta to Red Top Mountain State Park. I could not believe how close it was to the northern suburbs of Atlanta. We arrived within 30 minutes of leaving the scrapbook shop. This was the first time our group had reserved rooms at Red Top and I for one was very impressed! The sleeping rooms were as nice as anyone could require and it was a short walk with covered walkways to the main lodge building where our meeting room was. The lighting was excellent for stitching and the restaurant food was excellent.

We could have driven into Cartersville or other near-by towns for dinner, but it was so nice to just nestle in and stitch and not have to go out any where else to dine. Friday was a seafood buffet in the dining area. The shrimp were huge and yummy. I had a very nice fried catfish with all the trimmings. Beth and I stitched till nearly midnight in the meeting room and then retired to our sleep about 1:00 am. I had only brought my Acorn Sampler with me to work on as I was determined to get that thing finished. I have enjoyed working on it...but it is time to finish it and move on. Beth wanted to complete the stitching on a sampler she had been struggling to finish as well.

Trip to Callaway Needle Art School

My dearest friend, Beth, has been gone to work in the bookstore at the Callaway Needle Arts School for a week now. She is also taking a scholarship class while there. Over twenty years ago she and I took Japanese Embroidery Levels One, Two and Three. Needless to say, we have forgotten almost everything as our last piece languished carefully wrapped in our closets. Beth determined to refresh her skills in this medium and so choose Japanese Embroidery Level One as her scholarship piece. She also took her Phase Three design which the teacher was kind enough to review and assist her with the techniques needed to again work on this design. Perhaps she can teach me as well and we can work on these pieces together. The photo to the left is the Phase Three Level piece we are working on.

Tuesday, January 15th I drove down to Callaway to work in the bookstore for two days while Beth was in Class and the other worker returned home. The weatherman had been hinting that we might get snow Wednesday night so I prepared to dash home in the event inclement weather threatened. As luck would have it Griffin only received a dusting so Mom reassured me it was ok to stay until Thursday morning. There were so many new books offered in the bookstore. Georgia Chapter of the Embroiderer’s Guild of American sponsors this bookstore in conjunction with the Needle Art School as our fund raiser. Our guild receives a percentage of the sales which we apply toward the costs of offering National level teachers to the membership. My budget was tight, but I succumbed to purchasing two books for my personal needlework library.

Designs in the book are either one or two colors (the color choices are left up to you) and all of them come from sources dating prior to 1930. It is hard to imagine what she has left out of this book. An abundance of animals, flowers and plants, decorative motifs, crosses, crowns, musical instruments, cherubs, playing card motifs, household items, and much, much more are clearly charted. Best of all, for designs that do not face you "straight" on, she gives both a left-facing and right-facing version of the same motif. This book would be an excellent resource for those who wish to design their own samplers, but there are a myriad of other uses for the motifs in this book.

I also purchased a book on Thread Painting, which is the art of blending and shading to produce realistic looking motifs; flowers, animals, ect. I have always said the three most difficult stitches were; buttonhole stitch, satin stitch and the long and short stitch. If one can produce these well, I consider her a talented needlewoman. I always become so inspired when I go to the Needle Art School and see all the lovely class pieces and the Needlework Exhibit our chapter also hosts. It really makes me want to come home and do nothing but stitch and design my own pieces.

Progress on the Acorn Sampler

Spent about an hour this morning viewing numerous needlework-stitching blogs online.
Goodness there are some very busy stitchers out in cyber land! I have so many beautiful things that I really want done, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish all one must do. I have hung in there and only stitched on the Acorn Sampler and am nearing completing it. I must admit it is a great feeling to finish something and not find it months...years later and wonder why I had not finished the piece long ago. I only began stitching on this sampler the first of September this year...pretty good progress, huh?
Sorry, for the poor quality of the photo and how many wrinkles are in the sampler, but wanted to share my work.

Forgotten September Activity...

A late entry I really wanted to share with my readers, so that you will see that I do have some fun mixed in with all the musing about work going on at the Cottage.

Thursday, September 27th, was the Fall meeting of the Georgia Chapter of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America. I have recently re-joined this group after several years absence. Beth had volunteered to teach a Halloween themed scissors fob. Naturally, I needed to go and support my buddy.

The design was one by Shepherd’s Bush of a scary Witch made into a scissors fob. Beth and I have long wanted to stitch a seasonal fob for each month of the year. Someday maybe we will get them all done.
Beth catered lunch and I provided brownies with pecans for our dessert, nary a brownie was left. I suppose most women love chocolate desserts. Our group wasn’t too large, but we all had a great time visiting, chatting and getting a lot of stitching done on our fobs.

Sampler Guild Meeting

What a nice visit with all the ladies of the Sampler Guild, Monday Group. I took my Acorn Sampler to work on while we all chatted. Those who had finished the Monday stitch-along group sampler project received a small token of honor for their accomplishment. I am just starting mine, naughty me. Too much else going on is my only excuse. After the meeting we all gathered at La Madeline, a darling French luncheon shop, to eat. I had a grilled ham and Swiss cheese sandwich with a cup of steaming potato soup.

Beth and I stopped by Abcedarius, the nicest counted thread shop in Atlanta, and browsed a bit.
I must confess that I purchased a few small things; it is so hard not to pick up a new project when it calls to you. I couldn’t resist a design by one of my favorite designers, Drawn Thread. It is a pattern for a game board, using varied designs of quaint houses, this piece would be lovely used for checkers or just hanging on the wall for decoration. I also acquired the fabric for this project because it is almost impossible to conveniently find good linen for stitching; one is wise to get it when they find it. Two new autumnal designs by Prairie Schooler found their way into my shopping basket. I think their designs are so sweet and timeless in appeal. I have quite a collection of Prairie Schooler graphs. Several months ago when I was searching for one particular design, I ventured onto EBay to look at the offerings there. Good Grief!! Some of the prices the Prairie Schooler graphs were selling for were ridiculous. For heaven’s sake, I just want to collect a design in the hopes I will find an opportunity to stitch it. Those out of print ones were auctioning for $ 20.00 to 25.00 dollars for a graph that originally had sold for $ 4.00!!

Beth and I also stopped by The Container Store again where I had pre-ordered the shelving and drawer set up for the scrapbooking wall in my new craft room. We would have experienced no trouble loading my supplies if a dear lady at the Guild meeting had not brought Beth four large boxes and two bags of donated needlework books. Even in Beth’s truck we were pinched to get everything to fit in. Beth is a whiz bag when it comes to packing things into small spaces and thankfully we were able to fit all the shelves and baskets into the truck. By this late hour we knew we needed to head South on I-75 or we would be trapped in rush hour traffic.

The Country Mouse goes to Town...

Today Beth and I were to attend a lecture and luncheon sponsored by the Magnolia Sampler Guild of Georgia. It was held at the prestigious Atlanta Country Club in Marietta, Georgia. The lecture was presented by Lynn Tinley, a member of the Magnolia Guild, and expert on samplers and sampler history.
It was nice to see friends who were plural members of Magnolia and the Sampler Guild of Georgia. Beth just recently joined the Magnolia Guild as an Associate member. Rules and requirements of the Magnolia Guild are a bit strict and Beth wanted to see how the Guild ‘fit’ her needs before applying for primary membership. Magnolia Guild requires one to contract with themselves to finish at least 3 projects each year as well as stitch small treasures for their bi-annual fund raising boutique.

The Atlanta Country Club facilities were spacious and decorated in a quite elegance. The lecture room and luncheon area held 7 tables and a total of 56 ladies attended, some from as far away as Florida, North and South Carolina and Tennessee.
Lynn’s lecture honed in on the influence of religion and isolationist practices of the 17th and 18th century Quakers on the evolution of Quaker samplers. As these young Quaker girls received their education only from Quaker teachers, the unique needlework style the teachers developed was not seen outside of the Quaker community. Lynn’s scholarly dissertation of the history of Quaker samplers broadened the knowledge of each attended.

The following luncheon was delicious and served graciously by the stewards. Our menu consisted of:

Assorted Farm Green Salad with Pears
Dressed with a Bleu Cheese and Sherry Vinaigrette
Chicken Crepes
Grilled Roma Tomato with Basil Breadcrumb Topping
Grilled Asparagus
Hot Rolls
Strawberry Shortcake with Whipped Cream Frosting
Coffee and Tea

Bulloch Hall, a Greek Revival mansion, was
built in 1840 by Major James Stephens
Bulloch, one of the first settlers in Roswell. In
1853, the Bulloch's daughter Mittie married
Theodore Roosevelt (Sr.). They later had a
son, Theodore Roosevelt, who became the
26th President of the United States.

My tummy was bursting after such a feast and I was glad that Beth and I were going to drive to Bulloch Hall and walk off some of the calories viewing the Bi-Annual Exhibit of the Magnolia Guild members’ work as well as a selection of antique samplers owned by Guild members.
The afternoon was heavily overcast and we were anticipating rain later in the day. It was a perfect early fall afternoon. Gentle cooling breezes rustled the leaves under large trees at Bullock Hall and although the humidity was quite high it was very pleasant to sit outside after the horrible heat I had endured during August. After resisting temptation of the ‘goodies’ in the boutique, Beth and I drove home.
When I got home Mom told me we had enjoyed a real ‘gully washer’ during my absence and upon checking the rain gauge next morning we were delighted to find we had received 2 ¼ inches rain.

Sampler Guild Retreat At Callaway Gardens

When I registered last fall to attend the Sampler Guild of Georgia’s Spring Retreat the date seemed so far in the distance and now...here it is...time to go. The weather could not have been nicer but the warm temperatures we have been experiencing pushed the season ahead by several weeks. We anticipated the azaleas to be in full bloom when we arrived at Callaway, and they were.

I hesitated to carry my floor Grip-It and large scroll frame so I could work on ‘Secret Victorian Garden’ but decided since I really needed the uninterrupted stitching time it would be worth the effort. Other stitchers at the Chatelaine Bulletin Board are speeding right along and I seem to be hung up on filling in the background on Part 2. This is what I stitched on for most of the time I was at Callaway. I am posting a picture of Part 1 of this Mystery design that I am working on.

Beth and I took a leisurely drive down to Callaway Gardens and stopped in Pine Mountain at the Subway shop and bought club sandwiches and chips for our lunch. Then we drove to the picnic area and enjoyed our meal. The breezes were a bit brisk but the warm sunshine felt good on our shoulders and the pungent smell of warm pine needles was invigorating. We could not let ourselves register at the motel until we had made a cursory tour of the Gardens. My favorite spot is Mr. Cason’s Garden, several acres of vegetables, flowers, herbs and an orchard that I covet each time I visit. I was thrilled to see that ‘my’ potatoes growing at the Cottage were further along than the Victory Garden’s crop. The peach trees were in full bloom and what a splendid sight they were. The heat had robbed the tulip and pansy display of their freshness, but as a Gardener I could still imagine the beauty that had been.

Finally, we tore ourselves away from the Gardens, registered at the front desk and found our room. We quickly tossed our belongings onto the beds and took our needlework supplies and headed for the conference area where our friends were gathered. We settled in and ‘feathered our nests’ for stitching and soon were cross stitching away at top speed. Many of the ladies had never seen one of Martina’s Chatelaine pieces and complemented me on her design. After dinner as we gathered to stitch again, laughter abounded as we played a memory game of needlework related items using the alphabet. Surprisingly everyone did quiet remarkably remembering the items that had been previously mentioned. As the evening advanced lady after lady bid us ‘good night’ and headed for sleep. For some reason Beth and I were the most animated and we stayed in the room stitching until 1 am. Thankfully sleep came quickly for me when we finally retired to our beds.

Saturday was cool and clear as Beth and I strolled down to the Plantation Room for our breakfast. I knew I would be unable to order a decent cup of hot tea, so I took my own mug and tea bag and begged for ‘boiling’ water from our hostess. Not as good as home, but definitely
better that ordering out. All I ever receive when ordering tea out, is one little mousey tea bag and tepid water in which to brew. Bacon, eggs, hot biscuits with gravy, orange juice and small Danish had me ready for my needle again. To the right is a photo of my dear Friend, Beth.

At 6 pm everyone gathered at JoAnne and Katherine’s room for an impromptu cocktail party.
We ‘borrowed’ all the lawn chairs from the row of rooms near our hostesses room and others sat on the soft green lawn. Chips, nuts and cheese straws made for nice snacking while everyone chatted and sipped their wine or mixed drink. Beth and I didn’t burn the midnight oil this night and retired at a decent hour, showered and lay in bed watching TV till drowsy.
Photo of me enjoying the Azaleas

Sadly, about the time one gets all settled into the vacation routine it is time to pack up and return home. Beth and I did stay in the conference area till about 2 pm with the last few ladies who were in no rush to get on the road either. The drive home was made all the more enjoyable knowing that Mom had planned our evening meal and I would not be greeted, weary from travel with “What’s for supper”?

Needlework in Progress

My dearest friend, Beth, had stitched and completed a rather large sampler than we affectionately called "Big Blue". It is a large sampler by Permin, called Sampler 1826. I started stitching on this piece today using a natural colored 32 count linen and one ply of DMC 939, two plies of fiber seemed heavy to me. It will be a piece that surely will occupy my time for quite awhile.

I have also recently completed Part One of Martina Weber's Chatelaine Mystery X, "Secret Victorian Garden". This design will be released via download on the first of each of the next twelve months. I can't tell you how exciting it is to anticipate the first of the month to see the next section of the mystery revealed. This piece is stitched on Antique White 32 count linen with the finest of silken threads. It has been a sheer delight working with such precious materials. The only sad note is that after a morning of scrubbing, cleaning or painting, my hands are so rough to use such delicate silks. A message bulletin board is available for asking questions or posting encouragement to fellow stitchers working on the same piece.

I am making good progress on a Quaker style pin keep for the Legacy Needlework Board exchange. I am using a variegated Sampler Thread called 'Tarnished Gold' and the design is a stylized wheat pattern. Since wheat motifs represent 'prosperity and plenty', I thought the design a good choice for wishing my friend well for the coming year.