First, I attended my second Shakerag Workshops in Sewanee, Tennessee. Once you attend this weeklong summer arts camp you can't NOT go back. This year I took a class with the very talented Christine Mauersberger.
A whole week of hand stitching in the school library was delicious. I was there with four friends from various spots around America. The food at Shakerag is phenomenal. In fact, I love it so much I brought the chef and baker out to California is July for a week of Southern cuisine at the bakery.
As you can see, the dining room is a beautiful old room, feels like it should be at Hogwarts! We ate well all week! My pals, from left to right, Sarah, JM, me, Sharon and Lisa.
They post the menu for the week so you can dream about what's next.
I made Marcy Tilton's V9174 out of an old Eileen Fisher sheet. I figured I would hand stitch on it. Never did that, we worked on prompted samples the whole week which were fascinating enough to hold my attention. Something will come of this shirt someday, we'll see!
The camp is held at St. Andrews-Sewanee, a private boarding school, and is just gorgeous.
They have an unusual kind of "gum" tree there--made out of real gum!
Above, one of my prompted samples made from vintage kimono scraps, below, a terrific necklace made by the beautiful Martha Myers, who I'd met at a Design Outside The Lines many years ago. It was wonderful spending time with her again.
Here Martha shows a top she made with repurposed denim.
One of the best things about Shakerag is it's director, Claire Reishman. She's a marvel in many ways but one is that she remakes the current year's tshirt with hand stitching. Much of her work is in the Alabama Chanin style. She's been doing this for several years and graciously agreed to bring in all of the tshirts for us to look at one day. This one is the current year's rendition.
I found out, only after returning to home, that the tshirts are designed by baker, Ginger Freeman, who came to Capitola in July. A talented woman in many respects.
Tennessee has the best food! We enjoyed visiting Biscuit Love in Franklin. We had to have their Bonuts--fried biscuit dough with lemon mascarpone and blueberry preserves. Yes, they were as good as they look.
Then it was on to Nashville for a few steamy days of fun and food.
We saw the Nick Cave show, on it's last day. His work is truly unbelievable. Just the shear volume of it is staggering, not to mention the intricacy and imagination. Love his work.
We ate at Husk, a place I can't miss when in Nashville. It didn't disappoint. This is the ham curing room. They procure hams from several farms.
I had to try one of the dishes using the ham! Yikes, their food is good.
A week later Joe and I went up to British Columbia for a summer holiday. We flew into Vancouver and spent a few days eating and site seeing.
Here's the fried zucchini blossoms at Osteria Salvio Volpe. The whole meal was memorable. Go if you can.
From there we took ferries up the coast to spend time in little inns along the way then ferried over to Vancouver Island where we spent a magical week in Tofino on the west coast.
So glad we went on a bear watching boat trip. It also allowed us to see the coastline from the water.
And then we took a small plane to see it from the air. Wow...
There was lots of beach walks and plenty of beach combing.
And of course, there was food. Ice House Oyster Bar was our favorite. Friendly, beautiful views, such good food.
We ate our fair share of oysters.
Their motto, outside the restaurant. You can't help but....
We visited a famous taco truck, worth it.
And on the way home I saw a small exhibit of paper couture clothing. Sorry this pic isn't good, the light made it impossible to capture the details.
A week after getting home we hosted the two Shakerag gals, Sarah Gunn, left, and Ginger Freeman, right. They brought some fantastic recipes with them that our customers just loved. We are still making them.
One their last day I took them to Big Sur. We had a great week.
I had to take a major break after they left, it was a whirlwind. But, a friend brought me raspberries and blackberries she had picked so I was compelled to make a small batch of jam. I used the The Blue Chair Jam Book, a must have if you are a jam maker.
There is nothing like a row of canned goods gleaming on the counter...major feel good moments!
My dear friend Lisa was so kind in offering to reupholster a free chair I found on the street a few months ago. It was in pretty bad shape, you know, that 1960's gold velvet...there was lots to do on this chair. Joe whitewashed the wood, then I painted some canvas and Lisa did her magic. She had help from her teacher, Charlie. I am so grateful. It sits up in the bedroom where we can relax and read now.
And finally, here's some sewing. A year ago, after Shakerag, a few of us visited the Alabama Chanin factory in Florence, Alabama. There I picked up a bundle of hand printed scraps. I pondered their future for a year, thinking of a scarf...pinning them together in various configurations and finally gave up on that idea.
Ultimately, I made them into Diane Ericson's Faultlines Vest, a pattern I return to often for it's versatility. I like it because it uses so little fabric, is adjustable in fit and looks so good on. On this one I closed the front to make it a pullover vest. Did some hand stitching, both as seams and embellishment, and pulled it on last night just after the last stitch was secured. It felt like I'd been wearing it my whole life. It's funny how some clothes feel like that, eh?
That's all for now. Maybe there'll be more before the summer is over, I am taking a wonderful sewing workshop every Friday at our local Community College. Our instructor, Kiki Barrett, is so talented and knowledgeable, I'm working on some things I needed to learn so I may be showing those...depending on the outcome! You know how that is...
