CATS, day 2

Friday dawned chilly in Hershey. The car seats had not dried out yet, which made it real uncomfortable to drive even the little bit from the hotel to Hershey Lodge, so we put down an afghan I had in the trunk to sit on. We got over to there, and had nothing to do til 2, when my Nutcracker Christmas class started. We cruised the shopping mart for a while. Mom was in love with a Stoney Creek angel afghan. I bought that for her, but I don't know when I'll get it done, as I don't really like angels, and I can't afford the afghan, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. She had also found a chart she liked at Gitta's so I bought that for her.

We headed down to the lodge lobby to meet up with some stitchers from Texas. That was a lot of fun and an enjoyable way to pass the morning, stitching quietly on the couches and chatting. They were working on designs from My Big Toe, and Debbie, the designer, had come along with them. My online pal, Chris, showed me her Q-snap covers, which I think I may buy as they seemed really practical. They were going on the tour of Hershey, so we got separaated because I couldn't go, so we headed to the stitchers' lounge for a bit of stitching.

My class with Marilyn from Stoney Creek was really good. There were a lot of specialty stitches in it, though. But I figure if I ever get the nutcracker done, I'll worry about those stitches then. It does use the turkey stitch, which I don't know how to do. Marilyn showed me, but I still don't get it, but I was thinking, it's not going to be such a bad thing if I don't master it. I don't like the way it looks--the nutcracker looks like a hippie, dang it--so I may substitute Very Velvet for his hair and just give him a tighter do, or else some other fiber from Rainbow Gallery.

And then we stitched in the stitcher's lounge, from 5PM to midnight. It was sheer bliss. I worked on Summer Ball, by Sandy Littlejohn. I didn't make a lot of progress, but I had a good time stitching it. It's a massive project, and I anticipate it will take forever, but it's back in rotation now, so should be better.

I also discovered this designer, JAR Designs. Their website is www.jardesigns.biz, and their designs are neat. I think they are fairly simple, but there's a high impact to them, and I like that. I bought Christmas Memories and Halloween Horrors. I can see Christmas Memories on a gold flecked aida or evenweave. Halloween Horrors will be a harder choice of fabric, but I can figure something out. When in doubt, I guess there is always grey. But I really liked their stuff, and I realize, without CATS, it's going to be hard to see new stuff from them, and that's a little sad. But I wanted to share, because I like their style.