Over the Hill and Running: Rhonda's Rughooking Retreat

I am behind on my posting, but will start with sharing all of the great rugs that were worked on at the hooking retreat I was fortunate enough to be invited to. Rhonda has been sponsoring this retreat at the Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center in Newport, TN for several years, and this year, thanks to dear friend Kathie, I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation. We drove up, stopping by Roswell, to pick up Deste, on Friday, April 5th, and spent the next three days doing what hookers love best.......hooking, eating, laughing and shopping for more wool (thanks, Sheri) !!! The accomodations were lovely and the weather was beautiful. The fellowship was even better. Rhonda does an exceptional job organizing this hookers' weekend.

Here are some of the great rugs the girls were working on:

Becky finished hooking this wonderful cabin with proddy flowers. The strips are all hand cut at 1". She started this large rug with Betsy, from Heavens to Betsy.

Georgeanna started this rug last year at Caraway with Anita White. I just love the colors in it. It is perfect!

And Nancy almost finished this gorgeous pineapple rug that she had started in a workshop with Eric Sandberg in January. I love the way each pineapple is a tiny bit different. And the striking red/orange

fabric is actually paisley. The pattern is by Sheri Bennett.

The talented Cathy worked on three projects. The cat mask is a project for Teacher's Workshop this year........where Cathy is anticipating finishing up her McGowen's certification. Way to go, Cathy.

Diana continues to work on her interesting Family rug, which can be viewed two different ways.

Gail started this striking runner on Friday, hooking with a 3 cut, and was nearly done by Sunday night.

Kathie made great progress on her rug for her new bathroom. It is a pattern by Eric Sandberg, started in his class in January. Great rug!

Sheri drew her own pattern and pulled from her wormbag to make this visually appealing rug. She dislikes how close the border is to the body of the rug and plans to rework that. As always, Sheri's color choices are exceptional.

Katie drew her own pattern and started hooking these cheerful little birdhouses. I love her color choices.

Mary worked on this adorable Lori Brechlin design. She has the cutest bunny face, don't you think?

Robin was hard at work on these sweet little pictorials. She is making fourteen of them for a friendship block exchange!!!!!!

Deste started this handsome creature recently at Barb Carroll's.....it is one of her new designs. Deste really stuck with it and got lots of hooking done. Everyone was in love with her background choice and the colors in her horse.

Rhonda got tapped to do this rug for Teacher's Workshop this year. As you can see, it is 20" x 30". She started it on Friday and got this much done......using a size three cut. Her hooking is so perfect it looks like velvet.

I finally finished Semper Fi by Polly Minick. I had ordered it several years ago, and started it a few months ago. It is ready to bind!!!

I also got quite a bit done on Albany Sampler by Susan Quicksall. I had started this one in a class with Susan at the 2007 ATHA Convention in New Orleans. I got one bird and a blue flower finished at the time, then packed it away. By the end of the weekend all of the motifs except the berries (because I ran out of wool on them) were done. As usual, I really like it and don't know why I never went back to it. It is nice to have this much done.

Georgeanna and I both celebrated birthdays over the workshop weekend and were pleasantly surprised with our own individual birthday cakes and a little impromptu party. And, no, I am not sharing our ages :-))