What a lovely weekend!

 Dearly Beloved figured out how to load photos from the old computer, so I can blog again as long as his hack works--which means I can describe the lovely weekend with Jackie at Salty Yarns.

BDE and I left early, early, early in the morning to head to Ocean City, Md. The trip up was long but relatively easy--we had our usual lunchtime stop at the Great Machipongo Clam Shack on the way--we got checked in and unloaded at the Howard Johnson's where the class was being held. With my wonky knees and the four block walk from the Lankford to the HoJo,  we decided it would perhaps be easier on me to stay where the class was.

Sara was very kind and gave me a ride to and from the reception that evening, so I did have a chance to spend some time in the Lankford's lobby. (BDE had announced after driving all day, she was not about to get behind the wheel again.)

The next morning--first day of class!

The Hornbook Slide-Show consists of a lovely little box with a scrim hornbook slide top. A needle roll will fit inside the box, and there is an embroidered doily to serve as a display. Eventually, there will be hornbook lids for the other three seasons and seasonal smalls to fit inside.

Jackie spent the the morning talking about the stitching and we started the flower motif, which can be turned into a fob. In the afternoon, we covered the edging stitches used on the doily and the directions for the needle roll. It was a delightful way to spend the day.

The next day, BDE joined me for the second one-day class.

Oh, my . . . while I love the Hornbook, I adore this Huswif!

OK, I really like bargello patterns and this one is covered with them. Just like the Hornbook, the color palette is one that really appeals. And it will all live in the beautiful box that Jackie's husband, Naas, created for us.

You'll notice there is also a small flower motif. It, too, will become a fob, and since there was a sweet small pair of scissors in the goody bag, it will most definitely have a use.

I admit, I stalk Jackie, every chance I get. And I really enjoy spending time in class with others who also enjoy her designs. So it was great to finally meet Robin of Crafting with the Stitch Witch in class. We discovered that we have a mutual admiration society going--she follows my blog and I follow hers. We talked about grandchildren and projects and traveling companions--we have a lot in common!

And so the weekend ended. I am not going to go into detail on the trip back to BDE's house that included what we in the South call a frog strangler--in other words, such heavy rain that you can barely see the front of the car. I'm not sure either BDE's or my muscles have completely unclenched since.

And then home the next morning with every sixteen-wheeler heading south on the interstate surrounding me. The rain may have been less stressful.

But I am back in my nest. Am I working on the new projects? 

Nope, I am doing assembly. It occurred to me that I have spent this year starting all manner of projects and putting together very little, so I'm going to finish out the year by finishing. I'm working on Tribute since it was already in progress before I ran away from home.

Oh, and by the way, here's the crewel piece I stabbed a bit before I left home. It's going to continue to be my stitch-when-I-can't-think project. I'm afraid I left all the boring bits to last, but maybe that's good for mindless stitching.

After looking at the length of this--I really hope I can get back to almost daily blogging. I've developed writer's cramp!