Anyone who’s tired of eyeing and envying other people’s needlework skills can join the fun with individual help or group classes through the following craft groups and Northern Neck businesses:

Charity Knitters of the Five Rivers Fiber Guild; meeting the fourth Monday each month, 10 a.m., Northumberland Public Library; free yarn and needles available; contact FRFG president Judith Mooers, 804-580-8289.

Crafters for Haven’s Sake; meeting the second and fourth Wednesdays each month, 10 a.m., NetCruisers Café, Lancaster; crochet instruction available; contact Barbara Shine, 804-529-5775.

No Name Needlers; meeting every Thursday, 1 p.m., at Art of Coffee, Montross; beginners’ and advanced instruction for crochet, knitting, and quilting; contact by attending a meeting.

Uptown Quilt Guild; meeting the third Wednesday each month, Warsaw; beginners’ and advanced instruction for hand and machine quilting; contact Guild president Liz Mesec, 804-472-3498.

The Bay Window Yarn Shop, Irvington; offers classes and individual instruction in knitting; for details, 804-438-6636 or www.baywindowyarn.com.

Material Girl Quilt Shop, Burgess; offers classes in various sewing and quilt projects; for details, 804-453-6003 or www.materialgirlnn.com.

Bernina of Richmond, Northern Neck Sewing Center, Irvington: offers group classes, primarily in quilting; for details, 804-438-5348 or www.bernina-richmond.com/nnsewingcenter/.

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The Northumberland Library Art Committee will turn the February “Art Alive” spotlight on the Five Rivers Fiber Guild. A wide variety of yarn creations, woven garments and wall hangings, quilts, and unique multimedia assemblages by Guild members will be exhibited in the Library’s community room from February 5 through 26. Selected works will be available for purchase.

For 20 years, the Five Rivers Fiber Guild has worked to sustain and revitalize the arts of spinning, weaving, and handiwork with fiber of various types. Several members of the Guild earned ribbons for their outstanding woven, knitted, crocheted, quilted, and appliquéd collage creations at the 2009 Virginia State Fair. Be assured: These are not your grandmother’s doilies!

The public is invited to meet some of the fiber artists and preview their works on Friday, February 5, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Northumberland Public Library in Heathsville. For more information about the February event or future art programs at the library, call Sally Vinroot, 580-4591.

Pictured: Fiber Guild member Sharon Gillen-Davis (right) shows her Virginia State Fair prize-winning knitted sweater to Barbara Makin.

On Monday, February 8, the Five Rivers Fiber Guild will host Mathews County artist Nina Buzby. “Pine Needle Basketry” is the subject of Ms. Buzby’s presentation. Virginia’s peninsulas are a rich source of the long pine needles first used for basket-weaving by Native Americans of Appalachia and the Southeast. Pine needle baskets today, created much as they were centuries ago, are fragrant and durable, useful and artistic.

The Fiber Guild meeting is set for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Wicomico Church Parish Hall. All Guild members and other interested members of the community are welcome to attend. There is no cost to visitors, and light refreshments will be served. For more details and directions, call Guild president Judy Mooers, 804-580-8289. Image courtesy of ehow

By Dianne Nunnally Thorn, Nunnally’s Floors & Decorating, Warsaw

Either by itself or as part of a design which mixes other kinds of flooring, carpet is a world of glorious, seemingly endless choices to explore and a unique opportunity to find our fashion selves.

Carpet appeals directly to two of today’s leading trends in interior design (luxury and personal expression) because it offers a unique combination of color and pattern and both actual and visual texture.



The “luxe” trend in carpet is largely about making a personal statement in textures, tones-on-tones and mixtures of cut and loops.

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By Steven Reiss What I first remember about the house was the sunlight coming into the rooms. I tried to imagine it with the darkened cedar walls painted white. The house at 729 Chesapeake Drive in Irvington was designed by Alan McCullough and has remained architecturally intact through three owners. The first, Ann and Jack Garrett, were looking for a house and a community in which to settle after years of moving with the Navy. In 1955 they bought a 1.49-acre lot at the end of Chesapeake Drive for $3,500. Ten years later they hired McCullough on the recommendation of a local builder. Jack describes it as “one of life’s great decisions.” Alan McCullough was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and one of the few mid-century architects in Virginia bringing a contemporary design approach to his houses. They are easily recognized: long, low structures, carefully sited and gently placed into the existing landscape. Distinctive roofs – some sharply pitched, others flat, and all with wide overhangs to provide shelter from the sun. Floor to ceiling windows grouped to provide unobstructed views and natural ventilation. McCullough favored cedar siding, inside and out, keeping his materials selection simple and as maintenance free as possible. At their first meeting, Ann and Jack felt that a New England farmhouse style house, similar to what they owned in Newport R.I., might work well on Carter’s Creek. McCullough gently but firmly responded that “if you want a New England farm house, you’ll have to buy one, because I can’t design one.” Instead, the house that Ann and Jack got from McCullough recalls a Japanese pagoda. Jack remembers, “It was very attractive. Alan had a way of always improving the land, not desecrating it.” Surrounded by tall trees, it is barely visible from the water yet provides wide and long views of Church Prong and Carter’s Creek. A thirty-two-foot square room anchors the 2,000 square foot house. Its open plan allows spaces to comfortably overlap and is a perfect place to watch the seasons change. A series of bedrooms were connected to this front living space initially by a covered walkway. The most popular gathering spot for the family, “The Creek Room,” was an east-facing screened porch off the main space, ideal to watch the sun rise every morning. Jack recalls it as the “center of all our social activities, overlooking the creek and woods."
		Rendering of original McCullough House circa 1965 by Alan McCullough
		View across Carter's Creek to house site.
		Aerial view of house.
		Outdoor walkway of original house.
		Exterior view with walkway enclosed for new gallery. Photo by Julia Heine, McInturff Architects

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