Have been away from the blog for far too long. Will try and be more diligent in posting.This rug I hooked for my mom. She had been wanting something I hooked and since she loves to stitch reproduction samplers I thought she would love it. It took me about 9 months to complete. had the help of several teachers to do so (Susan Quicksal who designed it, and Katie Puckett who dyed most of the wool). It was 4 x 5 when completed and when I displayed it at the annual Off the Ocean Rug Hooking Conference in Jacksonville this past January it was awarded Best of Show in Wide cut. I was honored!

Let's try this again.... having trouble posting pics. This is the rug I finished last year. Had to finish before starting a new piece at camp in January. It was a huge challenge for me. But to tell you the truth I was please with myself for pushing through. My teacher was Joan Reckwerdt (the same that did the wool for the halloween tree skirt. She dyes fabulous wool and has the patience of a saint. Thanks to Joan for all the help.

Still Halloween time at the Inn. The painting of the exterior is moving along, they should be finished in maybe another 2 weeks. I've been in halloween cookie mode. I trained to be a pastry chef when i lived in New York City. I went thru the pastry program at Peter Kumps, now called the Institute for Culinary Education. It was a 20 week program ( 14 weeks in school and 6 weeks doing an externship at a restaurant or bakery). The program was designed by Nick Malgieri. I had a blast. I did the workstudy program, so the first 14 weeks I washed dishes in the pastry kitchen, the second 14 weeks I got to work with the teachers by getting their ingredients together for their demo's and I had to make lunch everyday for the students. Then after that I got to go through the program free. It was a great experience. So, now I take care of the Inn and I bake for a gourmet take away place up in the Riverside area of Jacksonville. I bake on the weekend and deliver on Tuesday. She loves my carrot cake and of course there are the sugar cookies. Today is my day to host the rug hooking guild so here is the platter of cookies we'll eat later today.

This is our dining room. The tree is 6' tall and decked out for halloween. The tree skirt underneath I hooked last year. It was designed by my friend Katie Pucket and the wool was all hand dyed by Joanie Reckwerdt in Oregon. It was my camp project at the Off the Ocean Rug Conference January of 2005 and Joanie was my teacher.

A view of the staircase with the hand hooked stair risers.

HALLOWEEN! I love halloween. I don't really dress up in costumes, but I love to decorate the Inn. I deck out the dining room & parlor mantles , plus I put up a 6' tall Christmas tree all done in Halloween ornaments. The best part of my Halloween decorations is the view you get when first entering the Inn. We have 12' ceilings and a beautiful curly pine staircase that goes up 3 floors. 2 years ago the rug hooking guild I belong to hooked Halloween stair risers and gave them to us. What a huge gift that was (I hooked the skeleton) but they did the other 18. My good friend Katie Puckett (who is also a hooking teacher) hooked 4 of them. So many thanks to... Katie Puckett, Melody Bryan, Jane Hart, Henri Allegrante, Nancy Show, Kerrie Lester, JoAnne Perrone, Dawn Gray, Nan Freeman, Judy Colley, Jackie Mesnick, Karen Gutowski and Jan Miseradino. You all hold a special place in my heart.

When I last wrote, we were going to get estimates to paint the B&B. So, here is a taste of what it is like living in a small town and getting a contractor out to bid and work. I called 6 companies. The first two showed up the next day, after spending an hour with them going over what would need to be done (we figure we can do a few things, like stain the decks...and some railings and trim were done a few years ago ). The first guy got back to us with in a few days his estimate $8500. Now this threw me because the house is 3 stories tall and 5000 square feet. The second contractor..... never heard back with his estimate. Contractor #3 came out next day and called back 2 days later with his bid....$18,000. Contractor #4 & #5... took 2 calls to get them to come. #4's bid $40,000 (took 2 weeks to get back with the estimate) and #5 we never have heard back from. #6 showed up within 30 minutes of calling and their bid is the one we are going with. It was for $20,500 but there are somethings that need to be taken off and they came highly recommended so the painting is to start on the 18th of September, they say it'll be a 6 week job.

Here's the Azalea House Bed & Breakfast. We've lived here 7 years now (June 1st) and everyday we learn a little more about running a business. We're located in a smallish town in northeast
Florida. We picked this location because we loved the house, was the only B&B in the town (Palatka) and felt we could make some changes and could grow the business. Our first 5 months was unbelieveable. We had to put in an interior sprinkling system. It's code in Florida that if your building has 3 floors and you want to use the 3rd floor you have to sprinkle the house. What a job and what a mess! The next thing we tackled was central heat & air on the second & third floor, first floor was done but upper floors had window units (yuck!). Another big mess (drilling into plaster walls to put in the duct work). The deck going out the first floor into the backyard was rotting along with the colums so that got rebuilt. We repainted one of the second floor guest rooms along with double wall paper borders, added shades & custom curtains, bed skirt, spread & shams. Repainted & wallpapered that rooms bath (Garden room). Wallpapered the bath that goes to the Magnolia room. Then up to the third floor! One room (the Azalea room) was drywalled. The other 2 rooms (Aunt Esther & Aunt Martha) were partially drywalled & the interior walls were exposed lathe. All drywall had to be removed. So that renovation-all new insulation, drywall, adding 2 bathrooms, carpet, wallpaper, shades, curtains, looking for furniture, bedding etc, took 2 months and by November 5th we took our first guests up on the third floor. While all this construction was going on we still took guests. So this was our first 5 months. In September of 2000 we decided to have the double porches on the front of the house replaced. They were really rotted and just had to be redone. Big job! The next thing we tackled was the pool....resurfaced & new pump. Then we were able to take a breather until the hurricane season of 2004 (4 hurricanes hit Florida) we were fortunate that we didn't suffer direct hits but we did take some guests that had to evacuate the beaches. That was an experience, lost power the second day, but all kept in good spirits-had flashlights, candles, oil lamps and alot of board games were played. Had alot of wind in those 2 days and a huge live oak branch brushed against one chimney and it shifted which caused the metal roof to pull up. So, we finally bit the bullet and last November we had a new metal roof put on and the porch on the left side of the house rebuilt (that job took 4 months) what a pain. So, what's next for The Azalea House saga? Paint. Yes, she needs to be painted. In the process of getting bids, I'm sure this will be another learning experience. For living in a small town.... getting people that will work on this house, even submit bids is one huge pain!