What a weekend it was!

My very good friends Elaine and Jennifer (Fish Eye Rugs), came to my cottage this weekend, something we were all looking forward to for weeks.

The weekend did not disappoint - in fact, it surpassed my every expectation in so many ways. I knew the companionship would be great. We are like minded souls who love hooking, good food, the occasional glass of wine and lively conversation.

To say we mixed all the elements in perfect balance would be the best way to describe the weekend. Amazing meals, great conversation - and quiet moments when we three were all engrossed in our respective projects - a couple of boat rides, a couple of swims and general euphoria for two days. Each of us was responsible for preparing one meal and to say we ate well is definitely an understatement. Gourmet pasta salad and fresh bread for lunch; a chicken and shrimp barbecue Saturday night and Eggs Benedict for Sunday brunch were a few of the highlights.

The pictures above show what we worked on. We had each decided that the weekend deserved a new project and all arrived with a fresh challenge. Elaine did a proddy study - her first foray into proddy which, as you can see is fabulous. Jennifer started the landscape that she featured on her blog last week (see Fish Eye Rugs link to the right). Her colour journey took her on a few twists and turns, but by Sunday she was totally on track and having a difficult time stepping away from her frame. Her sense of colour is amazing and she has an instinct of exactly what to do when things aren't working out the way she wants. The results at this stage are amazing.

My new project was, in fact, an old project that pre-dated my 2pac portrait. It is a design based on my favourite family photo, taken at my 40th birthday party. It shows Rick, me, Laura and Matt in a shot that forms a human totem pole, and I have been playing with the design on and off for over two years. I finally got down to it, transferring the pattern on Saturday morning and getting two and a half faces hooked before packing up yesterday. It's amazing how the smallest changes to these faces made a huge difference. I still have much fiddling left to do, but I know I will love this journey.

I assembled my Cheticamp frame and experienced a table frame for the first time. What a great way to deal with a large project. And I loved having all my hooking materials right there on the pattern. I can tell that this frame will be constantly set up with a large project and that it will make it very easy to pick up from where I left off. It has even inspired me to try to carve out a space in my unfinished basement studio at the cottage where I can work uninterrupted. I think I will get on that this coming long weekend.

I can't think of a thing about the weekend that I would have changed. The weather wasn't spectacular, which made it easier for us to ignore it and keep hooking. I know for those who don't have a cottage to visit every weekend, there is a real need to balance the hooking with the other activities and I think we managed to do a great job of it.

This will definitely become an annual thing - if not more often. But there is a great deal of diplomacy required in asking the rest of the family to stay in the city. In fact, I'm pretty sure that by the next one, Rick will come along and do his own thing while we indulge our frames, hooks and chatter.

Thanks to both Elaine and Jennifer for making it such a wonderful weekend.