Where has May gone?

Busy is good.  I say this to myself all the time.  I like to stay busy.  But busy also means that the time flies by and one day you wake up and wonder where it went.  That's the way I feel today.  Somehow May flew by when I wasn't looking.

I traveled down to Odenville, Alabama to teach for the Wool Sisters a few short weeks ago.  I love these gals!  They are so talented and just a little bit crazy too.  We tease each other about our accents and then I always learn a new Southern "phrase."  This year it's "coldrank" and "eatersnacks" and "hose pipe."  The food is all made from scratch and it's good old Southern cooking...biscuits, grits, cornbread salad, barbecue brisket, and chocolate sheath cake and banana pudding for dessert.  Yum!  No wonder my pants are tight.

  And I've got lots of pictures to share.....

Just a section of the wool I brought...I always bring too much.

 Show and Tell time....this is a wool quilt that Sheila made...

...and so is this quilt.  This one has a cute story behind it.  Last year, Sheila asked each workshop participant to draw a sheep and then she made each picture into a square and assembled it into this Wool Sisters quilt.  Awesome!

 Show and Tell again...this is Ruth's rug from 2 years ago when I taught for the Wool Sisters.  I couldn't wait to see it!  This was adapted from a black and white photograph of her family.  Each person has their own distinct personality but without a lot of detail.  I love this rug!

Here is Wendy Miller holding up a new design she calls her Prairie Series.  *sigh*  I love Wendy's style!

 These two smiling faces are Bobbie and Ginger, real life sisters who run the workshop.  They both just wrote a book about string quilts so I felt like I was in the presence of famous people!!!

 More students in my class, working hard on their projects. (ah-ha!  I see some "eatersnacks" on the table!)

 Ali Strebel was the other teacher at the workshop.  She was teaching all kinds of fun and creative techniques in her class.

 More of Ali's students.

 Here is Nancy Wiley.  She was working on a pillow to give to her nephew, who is a hockey player.  He is depicted in the design, with the Colorado mountains and some trees in the background.  It is really turning out great and I know her nephew will be thrilled with this gem.

Here is Ruth.  I think she is the queen of photographic hooking.  This is a view of a street in San Juan, Puerto Rico and it is turning out FABULOUS.  She is hooking in 3's and 4's so I am impressed with how much she got done in 3 days!

(When I got home, I was disappointed to find that I had not taken any more pictures of my students rugs...I am sorry for that and I hope that they send me pictures of their rugs soon).

 Diana McMichen brought in a fabulous estate sale find....rug hooking retreat paperwork and photos kept by a rug hooker named Edith Wood.  The top picture is the front of her Retreat notebook.

 This is the letter about the retreat.  We chuckled about the sentence telling the ladies what to bring....and check out the cost of the 3-day retreat....

 Here is the gathering of rug hookers at the retreat.  Note that all are wearing dresses and sensible shoes...

Another group pose with their rugs.

 I found these three pictures to be quite interesting.  They were inside the retreat notebook and colored carefully with colored pencil.  Lessons and notes about shading.  I found myself wishing that I could have known Edith Wood and I probably would have asked her what a rug retreat was really like back then.  I think she would have been surprised to hear about our rug camps 53 years later...that we don't wear dresses much anymore and we don't have to bring our own sheets and towels!