Hi Everyone —

Today was the last day of seminar stitching!

I made some progress on Starfire, but I also did a lot of backward stitching as well!  Some people in our class are almost finished stitching this, but I had two conference calls and all that ripping out to slow down my progress!

Starfire — Day 2

My threads for Starfire were more pastel than others in the class — this gives the piece a very different look and feel.  I may restitch a few areas with a darker thread so that the blackwork areas can be better seen against the white canvas!

We have been getting a lot of rain — so much so that this morning both the hotel wireless system and Verizon went out for a while — apparently two cell towers were flooded!  I’m back on line now and that is such a relief!  Sue and I have been packing our bags and we hope to get most of the car packed tonight after banquet so that we can get an early start in the AM.  We hope to get as far as Winchester, VA tomorrow!

It’s been a fun and exhausting week filled with good friends, good food, beautiful projects, and fond memories!

Thanks for letting us share our experiences with you!

Cheers, Rosie

Hi Everyone —

I don’t have much to post today.  Many of our group have already taken and completed “Starfire” by Jeannette Rees.  Dee and Robin are both in my class here at seminar.  The teacher made up many different kits — each based on a different batik fabric from her stash.  Most folks are doing this piece in something close to the original colorway, but I chose a pastel fabric with mostly pastel threads.  I learned that I do not have the patience to cut out fabric shapes — as I recall, I flunked scissors in Kindergarten!

My Starfire — Day One!

I can’t believe that tomorrow will mark the end of another fabulous seminar!

Cheers, Rosie

Hi Everyone —

Before I get into today’s events, I thought I would share with you my end of Tuesday progress on Tudor Garden!

Tudor Garden — Day 2

I venture to say that I would have had a bit more done if I hadn’t missed a whole stitching session for a conference call!  This was a fun stitch and as a result of being in the trial group for this distance learning, I earned a free registration for next year’s seminar!  Good thing I planned to go to New Orleans anyway!

Wednesday is always one of my favorite days at seminar — it’s tour day!  Unfortunately, ANG has not had a lot of people sign up for their sponsored tours which I think is a shame since these are both a cultural experience in the seminar region and also a great chance to meet stitchers from other parts of the country!  So, this morning, I boarded a bus with about a dozen other stitchers and we drove about 1.5 hours to the Hopsewee Plantation for a Tour and Tea.

Hopsewee Plantation House!

The Hopsewee Plantation House dates to the 1700’s, before the Revolutionary War.  The owner at the time was a delegate to the Continental Congress and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  When the house was built, the area was known for growing rice and the rice plantation owners were quite prosperous.  They kept slaves and I was able to walk through one of the slave houses on the plantation.  I tried to imagine what it was like to live there, but I couldn’t.

The plantation house itself is small (by cotton standards) — four rooms on the first floor and four rooms on the second floor.  Each room had at least four windows and breezeways connected the rooms to allow some minimal cooling of the house.  Many of the windows and some of the furniture is original to the house.  Today’s owners still live in the house and maintain its charm while still finding a place for their computers and big screen TV!  It really was special to know that you were touring someone’s home!

Our tour was extra special because it was conducted by the previous owner’s daughter — she grew up living in the house and had many wonderful stories to tell us!  I very much enjoyed hearing about a prior matriarch of the house trying to move a piece of furniture through a door.  When it wouldn’t fit, she took an axe to the door sill!  Our guide learned this from a family member of another former owner who happened to come on one of her tours!!  How fun is that?

The grounds were beautifully kept and I took several pictures of especially wonderful foilage.

A Coleus — I wonder if it is related to the Croton from my Saturday and Sunday class?

An unusual and colorful mushroom!

I have no idea what these berries are, but aren’t they luscious in color?

The tea house is on the property but in a separate building.  We had three pots of different tea blends, cucumber and boursin cheese sandwiches, quiche, salmon mousse on water crackers, curried chicken mousse on ginger snaps, and mozzerella, pesto, and tomato on meltaway crackers!  Then they served your choice of two of three kinds of scones!  We thought we were finished but then came dessert:  cheesecake, no-bake chocolate cake, lemon tarts, and a chocolate covered strawberry!  What a feast!

Tomorrow we will brace for Hurricane Joaquin!

Cheers!  Rosie