My Soul is Fed . . .

. . . With Needle and Thread. Somebody used to have that on her blog. I forget who. She prolly still does have it.

My soul was fed mightily this weekend -- with needle and thread, yes -- but more so with fellowship, community, good food, and laughter. Not to mention a bit of wine.

Ten of us went off to White Oak for our semi-annual getaway. Nine have been going for several years together, and one was brand new: Pat, the blogger I knew briely in a previous life. Honna and I drove out together on Friday afternoon, stopping or a while at Sauder's, where I bought backing and batting and little else. By the time we got to White Oak, the wine had been poured and Pat had been welcomed and embraced.

It was one of the best White Oak experiences ever. I think that a little new blood (after being "typed and crossed" as the medical types would say to be sure of a good match) is an excellent thing once in a while. Kind of keeps the group from getting too comfortable, if you know what I mean. It was fun to share our schtick with the newbie and to get to know her. We sewed and we sang and we laughed and we danced and we solved most of the world's problems. Some of us watched the baseball game on Saturday, and if there were any Yankee fans present, they had the good sense to not mention it.

I was still fighting some sort of a cold (and so far am successful but every now and again the old froat starts to hurt), so I was only sewing at about 80 percent. But as you can see, I got my Peace on Earth assembled and am pretty satisfied with it. I wanted a different fabric or the lattice but since I was so late in hunting or it, it wasn't to be found.

Since I was doing the health preservation thing, I didn't go out to shop on Saturday as is my custom. So I didn't have the opportunity to buy something for my give-away. However, Pat taught us a new project -- we learned to make journal covers and I loved doing it. Here's my plan: I drew a name and my give-away winner is Miriam and if you'd like, I'd love to make you a journal cover and send it to you. You may choose from among William Morris, batiks, or hand-dyed fabrics. And if you already make journal covers yourself, just say so, and I'll head on out this week to the LQS for a store-bought give-away. Miriam, I look forward to hearing from you.

I'm still feeling mellow from all of the wonderfulness of the weekend. Himself was away this weekend, too; backpacking and camping with our expectant-father sons. They had a fine time, the weather notwithstanding.

Life can be very, very rich at times. Don't you agree?