Salty and Strawberries

Baby Girl and I are in Maryland at Salty Yarns for classes with Sherri Jones. And it is as wonderful and enjoyable as every other visit in the past has been.

Travel here was not without its . . . irritations . . . we have got to work on our timing and plan to try something different when we come back in June. Apparently we hit the Norfolk area just as the Navy Yard changes shifts. This is not good planning. There is already a bottleneck where four lanes have to merge into two to get through the tunnel. When you add a whole lot more cars and trucks and every other vehicle short of a donkey cart, it gets a trifle stressful. I have to admit, that was the worst of it, but it did make the rest of the trip a wee bit more tiring than it could have been.

However, we made it, we unpacked, we went to the lovely opening reception on Friday night, we saw old friends, and we were both in bed and dead to the world before ten.

I had class yesterday. I took the Fanciful Fragaria class. Fragaria is apparently Latin for Strawberries. I had five years of Latin about half a century ago and did not remember that.

Sherri is a wonderful teacher and I love her classes and her designs. And I have part of a strawberry.

It is stitched on silk gauze. This will make half of one of the strawberries that will dangle from the handle of the little scrim basket we were to make during the afternoon portion of the class.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you will remember that I need many deep breaths and loads of time to do anything resembling finish-finishing. I also do best when I can work at home where I can walk away from my worktable and beat my head against an easily accessible wall as necessary. And I should never try to finish anything after lunch. I should take a nap after lunch. This is why I take my lunch hour at work as late as possible and do all the complicated things in the early morning. I am no good in the afternoon.

I was definitely no good yesterday afternoon. I tell myself every time I take a class--if the afternoon session involves putting something together, take notes, take pictures, avoid sharp objects (sewing needles and scissors), and do my best to look alert so my table mates won't feel the need to see if I'm still breathing. After fumbling and bumbling, I decided to do the pin cushion basket when I am back at home.

Baby Girl is taking today's class, the Plump and Pleated Parlor Purse. She will surely hold up the family honor as a competent stitcher and finisher.

Meanwhile, I'm going to stitch more strawberry halves.

And in case you're interested, here are the contents of the goody bag--all kinds of glorious things to help make me a more competent finisher. 

Salty Yarns and the Lankford Hotel have become my favorite venue for classes--have definite plans to be back in June and hope to be able to attend classes in September as well.