Long Distance Lovin'

Remember this yarn I bought in Buffalo when I was staying with my friend, Jill? The colorful ribbon that will be featured in Romantic Hand Knits (Potter Craft - out this August)?

Well, the most wonderful Jill sent me a very special gift - something I will love and use - TEA!!

And a TEA POT! And it's by Jill!

And they're Green, yellow and red (I love those colors together, they always seemed like a happy family to me) The box was beautiful, the gift GREATLY appreciated, and I felt warm and loved. Thank you so much, Jill.

Inspired by the gift, I ordered a Bonsai Azalea Tree for my mother in law (her birthday is this week) and some flowers for a deserving mom that I know. See, Jill, your gift prompted more loving giving - see what you started, young lady?

I spent a lot of the last day resting - I need to energize for Midwest Masters this weekend, and I feel like I may be getting a slight cold. Luckily, I have my old standby, Airborne, and I'll be fabulous in a day. Or two.

Another Menards visit today - I needed wood glue and some paint for the $125 table I bought a few weeks ago. It's a nice table, but it had pretty sizable gouges, scratches and some mystery solvent had been spilled on it at one time. It also had a clear, hard stuff on it (nail polish?) so it was not in the best shape. But it was a lot cheaper than the $550 table I'd been eyeballing. And MUCH cheaper than the $900 table I saw at Crate & Barrel.

Although I love the idea of a copper-topped table, this table opens up with a leaf and covering that much table would just be too hard for me to figure out. Instead I sanded it, painted it red, then painted just the top part gold. When that was dry, I drybrushed and rubbed more red onto that. It looks a lot like copper (which, for some unknown reason, seems exactly what I want for this dining room.)

After the dry rubbing, Hannah and I both thought it could use a touch of something extra, so we rubber-stamped gold leaves on the table (yes, I love falling leaves) and I'm really happy with the effect. The next step is to let it dry thoroughly, then do some kind of polyurethane or sealer so we can actually EAT on the table.

Of course, I didn't paint the drop-in leaf because I just didn't want to deal with all of the work. So either I'll paint the leaf separately, matching what I did today, or when we have company we'll use a tablecloth. I'm certain I'll paint it. Yep. I will.

Midwest Masters (Mistresses?)
I'm getting excited about traveling to Neenah, but apparently not as excited as this guy.

I'm curious as to whether I'm pulled over now that I have MN plates. It's supposed to be a rainy weekend - but that's good for knitting at Midwest Masters I'm psyched for the knitting with wire class, it was SO much fun this weekend, and I don't really teach it all that much. The other classes will be a blast, too, but the wire class will be a real eye opener! I'll drive back on Sunday, then Monday I fly to Detroit to meet up with Drew Emborsky to tape Needle Arts Studio with Shay Pendray (er, uh, sorry for the earlier mistake...)

When I was a kid I used to watch Carol Duvall's show on Detroit TV - Carol Duvall is NOT Shay Pendray. This is what I get for starting the day with smack. I remember the theme music like it was yesterday - I have the gift of remembering every TV theme song I've ever heard. I know, you're jealous - it's a gift, and also a burden.