20 years...... wow

Time flies when you're having fun!

It's that time of year again....

It's the third week in September...so it must be the FLORIDA FIBER IN!!!!

People sharing their talents and skills with others.....

VENDORS!!!

Demos!

People having a REALLY good time with fiber!

Learning new things....

Old friends reconnecting, and having fun!

And practicing new skills...



This year was the sixth annual FFI. This is my fifth year, and I am already looking forward to next year! (as is the case every year after the event ends...) This year it was right here in my area, Sarasota Florida. In past years it has been in St Augustine, Orlando, and Cocoa Beach.

You should join us next year!

Never Forget.....

Always remember.

NEVER FORGET.....

Summertime.....

Before I forget - AGAIN! - the pineapple was awesome! Super sweet and delicious! My daughter does not usually care for fresh pineapple - it's not sweet enough for her, just the canned. Well, I managed to get one piece, and she saved one for my husband; other than that, she ate the whole thing herself! (it was only about 5 or 6 inches tall - so she pointed out)

DH had 2 weeks off between the end of his summer term and the start of Fall term. We spent the one day at the Sarasota Jungle Gardens and, surprisingly, only one day at the beach. I enjoy the beach, but I have to spend my day mostly under an umbrella, so I don't fry to a crisp! (see the large round shadow?)

But I manage to find ways to keep myself entertained and happy.... I enjoy doing my knitting on the beach and taking pictures...

and I go out a few times into the sun to find shells, interesting rocks and SHARKS TEETH!!!

Luckily for DH, he has weekends off and we can do the beach for at least 2 more months!

Sarasota Jungle Gardens

This place is so cool! They have a "Reptile Encounter","Birds of Prey" show, and a "Parrot Show" - with this guy and some of his friends. I love Parrots. They are beautiful birds. But I could never own one - they are so obnoxiously loud!

I took a picture of my husband, taking a picture of our daughter......

The last time we went to Sarasota Jungle Garden's, my daughter was 3 1/2 years old! We were in Sarasota camping with DH's parents before we left for Italy in the summer of '04, and we took a little side trip here just the three of us. It was pretty cool to go back. DD only remembered seeing the VHS tape of the day, but was thrilled when she recognized the "stage" that the parrots perform on. So this was a day that brought back some memories.

These two "ladies" are from the "Reptile Encounter". The top one is a two year old gator, the bottom one is a few years older - they called her "Attitude".

We had such a GREAT day! I think next time we won't wait 14 years between visits!

Donna's reached 100!

My friend Donna is having a giveaway!

She has reached the 100 posts MILESTONE on her blog, and is hosting a great giveaway (with 3 different fabulous prizes!). Go by and check out the Brynwood Needleworks site. You'll be glad you did. :)

Harvest Day

I picked my pineapple today!

It didn't get much larger than the last time I posted a picture (June 19th), but turned a bright golden yellow color (which is what I read online that it should be). I plan to cut into it tomorrow, and will let you know how it tastes! Hopefully, super fantastically sweet! I'm really jazzed!

1 scarf down, 2 to go

And many thanks to Helen, for modeling it for me!

I am working with my Tuesday B.A.M. ladies to make scarves and hats for our Appalachian project for kids, in conjunction with a Fort Lauderdale group (did you see the 20/20 show?). Anyhow, my personal goal is for three scarves and three hats by September (in between Christmas knitting and finishing a few personal projects). This is my first finished scarf. I finished it yesterday and sewed in my ends at our Tuesday night meeting. I got Helen to model it for me so I could take a picture.

So, ONE DOWN - TWO TO GO! Will update as I finish more. :)

VBS was awesome!

Welcome to Crocodile Dock! We had a good time down on the bayou this year!

Thanks to a bigger church down the road, we had some great decorations, like this fishing shack and dock. ;)

Our volunteers were truly outstanding this year. Here is our new Pastoral Intern, John Scott, with "Skeeter". Skeeter is looking sad, because the kids couldn't seem to remember their Bible points that morning.

Our teen/young adult volunteers went above and beyond our expectations also. I was so proud of them all!

By Friday, we all looked a lot like this though....

Crazy Busy!

Vacation Bible School is happening at my church this coming week! Are we ready? I sure hope so! I am in charge, and from what I can tell, we have it all together. Here's hoping!

I have been crazy busy trying to get it all together, and woefully neglecting my blog. So I thought I would add a picture that I love. It's a plaque on my bedroom wall. And yes, there is a story....

My DH has an obsession with flamingos. For years he has threatened to fill the front yard with those tacky plastic flamingos as soon as we moved to Florida. Soon after we moved here, he waited until I was out of town, and bought a small (1ft) resin one (on the phone he just said "Yep, bought a plastic flamingo for the front yard, you'll like it") that sat by the door for awhile - until it succumbed to the heat. DD bought him a singing and dancing one that was 2 ft high at Spencer's for Christmas in '07, but it gave up the ghost too (plastic doesn't last as long as it used too!). This one we picked up at Sea World in Orlando, (or was it Busch Garden's in Tampa? anyhow...) it is suppose to be the three of us! We have very interesting family portraits!

I haven't posted recent FO information lately, so I thought I had better pull something out of my hat to put on here. Just so y'all could be sure I am still knitting. ;)

Here is a "Market Bag" that I finished a few weeks ago - free pattern from Knitting Daily. I lucked out and got two skeins of the Euroflax linen at a "going out of business sale" last year. It's almost the exact same color as my text here. :)

DD Modeled for me, with some groceries from the cupboard. Lighting not so good, but you can still see the bag.

We enjoyed our local firework display Saturday night. I put my camera on nighttime and took about 100 pictures. Came home with some good ones! (Especially that last one!)

But, I decided this year that I am getting too old for this. (Or sick of the hassle, or...whatever) Drive downtown, find a place to park, set up lawn chairs, sit in the parking lot, spray down for bugs, sweat for a few hours to OOOOH and AAHHHHH for 1/2 hour, then get back in the car and fight with 400 others to get out and on the road to get home.

Maybe I will feel different when we have grandchildren someday, but next year... I say we stay at the in-laws, have a barbecue, play in the pool, and listen to the firecrackers the neighbors set off!

Nellie's last Chat 'N Sew meeting

Nellie's last meeting was this past Monday(June 22). I wanted to add a picture from that meeting.

One of the other ladies, Rita, made this thoughtful gift for Nellie. She let her unwrap it, and examine it for awhile before offering up this info on it:

It is of the softest fake fur. Rita made a robe out of it for her son, 35 years ago! (So it is well aged.) And no, it isn't a strange looking hat like was Nellie's first guess. It is a mitt for her ICE SCRAPER. "Because, honey - you are gonna need one of those up there!" You just slip your ice scraper handle through that hole, and your hand will stay dry and warm this winter! Modeled after ones she has seen in catalogs. ;)

To which Nellie informed us all, she has already requested NO SNOW in Connecticut this winter! Let's see how well that works! ;)

Goodbye Nellie

These are a few of the ladies that I have been crafting/knitting with since soon after we moved here, almost 5 years ago. During "season" (Oct./Nov. - Apr./May) we have 20 something ladies attending (now at a church), but summers drop to anywhere between 3-10 of us.

When we got settled into our rental in late 2004, I found a listing under the community section in the local paper for a group called "Chat N Sew", in a nearby town called Englewood. The phone number listed was for Nellie, one of the original members of the group from 20 some odd years ago. She gave me directions to the library where they met every Monday, and made me feel like I was really welcome to come. I thought the 15 mile drive to Englewood would keep us from going every Monday, maybe every other week. But the lovely ladies at "Chat N Sew" took us in as part of their family, and Amber and I have been there almost every Monday since. (DD got a roomful of instant "Grandma's).

Well, after having a heart attack last year, Nellie decided to move back to Connecticut this year to be closer to her kids. This was her "going away party" last month. We met at her condo's club house for our regular Monday meeting, then a potluck lunch, plus we were invited to bring our suits and go swimming after. We all got a big kick out of Nellie's swim suit cover up.

She is a very interesting lady, with a lot of stories to tell, and a great personality, and she will be missed - dearly.

This is so cool, I have got to make one!

DD and I spotted this a few weeks ago, and I love it!

I have been talking with DH about re-doing the counters in our pop up camper in a similar manner, only minus the pictures. But I think I like the black and white pictures and the newspaper clippings they put in this too.

It's a plywood base with sand spread over it all. Small shells, flat shells (like sand dollars and star fish) and some cut conch shells. All scattered between black and white photo's and newspaper clippings. Then Lacquer is poured on about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick. Those are napkins to the left, sort of a 3D effect.

The blue is the border around the table, and the lacquer is even across the whole table with it.

Don't you just love it?!?!