My trip started with the Ladies of the Lakes guild in Lakeland, Florida, http://www.ladiesofthelakes.org
It was a fun group of ladies and Jacqui, the program chairperson, had things nicely organized. I’m sorry I did not take pictures of the lake. They have black swans which I do not believe I had ever seen before. They were nesting around the lake but it was raining and not great for photos. But, it was beautiful.
From there I moved to the Friendship Knot Quilters Guild in Sarasota, Florida, http://www.friendshipknotquiltersguild.com/about_us.html
Elva, the program chair, had everything ready. This guild has many of their members help with the visiting teacher so one person does not have to do all the work. Each morning a different person would pick me up and take me to the workshop and then someone else would take me out to eat. It allowed me to meet several of the members and to share some personal time with them. Since Easter was in the middle of my trip in Sarasota the guild did not want to hold a workshop, which I certainly understood. Elva asked if anyone from the guild was interested in showing me around the area and lucky for me Cheryl Szynkowski volunteered. We had a fabulous day. Otherwise I would have been staring at the walls in the hotel and never seen some beautiful and interesting things. Thank you so much Cheryl!!!
The first place Cheryl took me to see was Anna Marie Island. OMG. Beautiful, beautiful and beautiful. I love the Ocean. Love it.
Love these leaves. I think I’ll use this type of leaves in one of my quilts. Great colors.
And the water fowl!!
On my first day of classes Donna brought her finished Magical Medallions quilt to show me. Impressive, don’t you think? I am very, very proud of you Donna. Thanks for sharing.
Here are some photos of the ladies working hard in class.
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I liked Jo Jo Moyes’ last book so much I thought I’d try another one. The first part of this book is based on the time period around 1916 when Sophie’s husband, Edouard, who was an artist, leaves to fight on the front. Sophie goes to stay with her sister. Their town is taken over by the Germans. Edouard’s portrait of Sophie causes her to risk everything to see her true love one last time.
The second part of the book is about Liv. Her husband bought her this portrait of Sophie when they were on their honeymoon. Liv’s husband passed away suddenly. Liv ends up in court trying to keep the portrait. Family members are trying to get the portrait back saying it was taken during the war and belonged to the family. Good read.
Next week I’ll have more photos to share of Cheryl’s and my Easter Day out in Florida.