A New Finish

It was a long time coming. Started last year, but with Christmas stitching, and 20 scarves to knit, it languished in the bottom of my pile for months. Seemed to take forever to get done, but finally, I'm happy to report, I got it finished, ironed, and scanned. Had to scan it in two parts, but my friend Deb "stitched" the two pictures together for me so that I could show it in its entirety. Was it worth the several months spent stitching it?

There were spots in this sampler that I despised doing. The whitework section was the worst for me. And the top hill seemed to take forever. I'll always be thankful to Lancy for sending me some Williamsburg green to finish it. My favorite section was the sheepies. I'm thinking I can use those cute sheep for other things. In fact, I have this Adam's Original bag with a linen front that they would look perfect on.

My next project will be a Christmas gift for my Father. And I'll also add Drawn Thread's Gameboard as my next SAL with Adana. She's so far ahead of me, I don't know if I can catch up. But, I'll have some extra time when she heads for Utah to the SB retreat. While she's having a great time, I'll be feverishly stitching.

Until next time, keep those needles smokin'.

Trip to House of Stitches

Our drive to House of Stitches, in LaPorte, IN takes over two hours. We set out fairly early, at least for us. Before 10 a.m. For the five days prior, DH had been stuck in a truck, with no one to talk with, except for when he called me. So, the trip to HOS was non-stop talking. On his side. Even going over my list and putting some music on didn't hinder him.

At last, we reached HOS. Made pretty good time, too. Only had one potty stop. Linda and all the ladies were waiting, and knowing what dh's tolerance point was, I had my shopping all planned out. I walked into the store, and all those plans just flew out the door behind me. It had been close to two years since I'd been in a stitching store and I was going to enjoy every minute.

But, wait. I have to set the scene for you. Here is this lovely store, a bit cramped for all the great things to see. Enter this big bear of a man, in a store generally visited by ladies, and he stuck out like a sore thumb. He towered over all the women there, didn't seem to know what to do with his hands, until I stuck a calculator into them. So, he wandered around behind me, carrying the calculator and the shopping basket, until I reached the fabric cutting table. He found a chair and ensconced himself in it, along with the basket, so I got to run around the shop and take things back to him, while he added it all up. I was in heaven. Until I found all the new Waterlilies silks. A ton of new ones, that Lois hasn't put up on her website. Now it was time to go to work, get the colors I was missing, while dh tried to keep up with imputing prices. The higher the total got, the higher his eyebrows.

I walked out of the store with 39 skeins of silk, two pair of scissors, a few leaflets, one kit, four pieces of fabric, two magazines, a silk "remember the ladies" kit and a few JABC buttons. Dh laughed over the look on my face. And for his patience, he got a lunch out.

We arrived home just at dinner time, and ds had dinner ready. It was my best birthday ever.