6PM update

It's close to 6PM, which means the children will start coming soon. So I wanted to post an update on this. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. It was a busy day--HTB wanted to go on a bike ride, truly terrifying in our hilly neighborhood, I had to go to the store, and I cooked supper, including apple crisp, which we'll have after 9PM. At least Ichabod has a head now--this has been more like a headless horse race for a while. Now to work on Gunpowder

Have a BOOOTIFUL day!

(edited to fix, because I have an issue with fast fingers)

Good morning! Happy Halloween if you celebrate that! Blessed Samhain if you celebrate that! Happy Fall if you don't!

We carved our pumpkin last night. It was pretty fun. Our pumpkin was 37 pounds, and needed an awesome carving. I found a book of templates at Walmart last night along with carving tools, so we went that route. I haven't carved a pumpkin in 15 years, HTB hasn't in 30 years. We decided to go with two carvings on it. It really is a lantern! The pittybulls helped us by eating the pieces of pumpkin that fell on the floor. And by wagging their encouragement!

His side. See the orbs on the right?


My side. This black cat fetish I have is getting a bit out of hand.




And my project for the day for my October 31st SAL. If anyone is interested, please participate! It will be fun!




OK, I have to run, I'm off to start work on this WIP.

Happy October

If you celebrate, are you ready for Halloween?

Do you have your offerings of candy ready? I was just thinking about this. Are you the "cool" house on the block, giving out the full-size bars? It's not so bad to not be a kid at Halloween. Instead of having to rely on the kindness of strangers for your candy booty, and ending up with stuff you don't like (Smarties, anyone want to trade for Smarties? No? I don't blame you), you are in control of what YOU will be eating after Halloween. You decide if you're giving out good candy, and therefore snacking on it for the first few weeks of November, or if you're eating Mary Janes. Maybe you LIKE Mary Janes, though. One thing for this year--I'm not letting the trick or treaters choose, I'll do the choosing. Too much swine flu going around, and SIL's kids like to snack out of our bowl when they come over for my birthday. No need putting them at risk.

If you're not celebrating, are you enjoying the fall? This is the last little bit of, "Aaaaahhhh" before the rush of Christmas. The weather is still pretty nice, though I think I'd better wear a long-sleeved teeshirt handing out candy tomorrow night. I think we get so wrapped up in the quest for Christmas that we forget to appreciate the time between October 1st and Thanksgiving: the smells, the colors, the smells, the foods of fall (apple cider donuts, anyone?), and that general sense that the work of the year is done and we got through it. We can think about Christmas, but it's not worried thinking.

So, before I get caught up in the frenzy of tricks or treats, I am wishing you and your loved ones a blessed harvest season. Enjoy the fragile beauty of fall. And, please, if you run onto one, eat a caramel apple for me!

Happy Wednesday

Still not much going on. Not much stitching wise, at least. I'm still plugging away at my Christmas ornament. I hope to have it done by this weekend. Actually, I hoped to have it done by last weekend, but I was busy last week and it didn't get accomplished. This is life, right? I even wanted to take WIP photos, but didn't have time yesterday. But I don't have much left to do. Friday night, I'm searching for fabric for it. I think if I go with a woodsy plaid, maybe a plaid flannel, that would be cute.

Has anyone else noticed the really great freebies that are out there all of a sudden? It's like the designers are giving us early Christmas presents! Or are they early adult stitching trick or treat gifts? Suzanne sent me a great link to Primitivebetty's freebies, which I love. They are on my list, and I'm already trying to figure out if they would be better as little pillows for on our coat hooks or as pillow ornaments. Thanks Suzanne for the link to the welcome additions to my stash for next year's stitching.

After I get this ornament finished and a quilt square for a sick acquaintance finished, I'm back to my UFO stitching. I've picked out my project, a Forever Friends project from an old Cross Stitch Quick and Easy (I miss that magazine, does anyone else?). I think it became a UFO because I apparently robbed a skein of the Anchor floss for another project. I think I even know which project it was--Summer Ball. I know why I did it; I don't find pulling floss in a store to be that much fun, and wanted to have to pull as little as possible, so I robbed myself and that project has lingered. But it's time to get it finished. They're cute lil bears and I'm ready to finish them! And I no longer do this sort of thing, since both Needlecraft Corner and 123Stitch carry Anchor and will pull the floss colors and ship them. Makes it so much easier.

And how was YOUR weekend?

Mine was rather . . . disjointed.

I hadn't had my nails done in 4 weeks and my left thumbnail lifted like crazy, so I was up and out of the house bright and early for a nail appointment. She did do a really good job shaping them. She even put a spider on my ring fingers, which, to be frank, looks like a ghost doing jumping jacks under a chandalier, but I'm not complaining because she said she'd never done a spider before. And my nails were in such bad shape that anything on them was better than running around like I had been. It's hard to stitch with a lifted acrylic nail, and the little paranoid voice in my head that fears fungus was starting to yell, "There is MOLD under that nail, and water and fungus will grow, and your finger will fall off," just a tad bit louder.

I also went for our Halloween candy. We get so many trick or treaters, it's not funny, and I think I have the biggest kid of them all, at least when it comes to candy. He has a little pumpkin container I keep stocked through the year with goodies. And he was eagerly anticipating new goodies this year. Earlier this week, he picked out the Airheads left over from last year and sent them to my father, who loves them (why we did not do this in, say, November, I don't know) so there is room in the pumpkin. And made requests for Sweettarts. So I stocked up. I even found the most divine pumpkin spice Kisses. OMG. And some bouncy balls. The kids freaked over Play-doh last year, so I think this will be as much fun. I admit freely to bouncing a ball in the house on Saturday.

Of course, I intended us to not eat any of the candy until Saturday. So, I should have known better than to open up the bags with the intention of mixing some up for my mom to give her trick or treaters--she gets maybe 20, so it really is a waste for her to get a lot of candy. But I did. And then watched DF go crazy with it. He taste tested the Sweettarts and apparently found them to be so yucky he must eat them before the children get to them :). Then, later, when I was downstairs, watching the Travel Channel and stitching, he crept down with the 100-piece bag of candy bars. I said to him, "Please make sure you leave some for the children on Saturday." He told me he'd buy more. He is actually planning on going to BJs to get the full-size bags, or at least he says. I think I can safely say I'll be at Walmart on Friday night, replenishing.

I had to work yesterday, while he went to the pumpkin patch. He brought me a white pumpkin for pretty on the porch and a big green and orange one to carve. He said his family was suitably impressed with our large bag o' candy. They can't believe we get that many trick or treaters. We do! I left instructions for our niece and nephews to get their own bouncy balls, which they did and were happy with. MIL was drooling over my stitched decorations, most of which I didn't stitch. This is probably why they're so cute!

I do have to post pictures of the cute things I got in exchanges this year. I got the most adorable bat ornament, and a gorgeous Halloween pillow came from the Sanman board Hallo-Fall exchange. SO cute! I love them, and they take pride of place with my Halloween decorations. Oh, and I seem to have finally rounded up the last of those from Mom's. I brought home a candy dish, a ceramic trio of chipmunks, and a wall plaque that I didn't even know I had--DOH! So now it will all be centralized and we can enjoy it!

Starting to celebrate my birthday early

OK, so it's two weeks from now, BUTTTTT . . . I've been very good the last few months, and all my bills are paid, soooo I decided to do a little birthday shopping for myself this week. I'm so bad, I know. But it was sooo worth it.

I went a little crazy at 123. Ordered Witch Hollow, by the Primitive Needle. I know people are saying that it takes A LOT of specialty thread, but, if there is one thing I have a lot of, much to HTB's chagrin, it's specialty thread. So I decided I'll kit it up out of my stash, and what's left over shouldn't be a heinous expense, right? And I saw BBD Midnight Watch on a few blogs, and fell in love with that--my fetish for black cats rears its head. So that came in my cart along with Pumpkins for Sale, the one Vonna did the beautiful finishing for, and a couple other small charts. I totally blame the twins for this expense. They told me I was a good mummy, especially since I figured out Chancey is a much happier dog when she gets to go for a walk. How did this happen . . . my fiance loves to exercise, my dog loves to exercise and I like to not exercise. Ey yiy. Anywat, since I am so fantastic, and I bring them cookies, they said I could treat myself. They're such good dogs.

And then, when I opened my blog today, there was an intriguing blog entry from Sampler Girl. All day today, a lot of her charts are just . . .$5.00. I have been drooling over several of her charts for a very long time. The Mary Lincoln Sampler, one about hope, and her new Seaside Memories, which I love. To buy them for $5 each was too tempting to pass up. That's three charts for just a little more than 1 chart regular priced. Head over to her website and see what tempts you!

So I had an idea

Halloween is on a Saturday this year. I took the day off that day to take a punchneedle class at my LNS, but now that I know how much wedding stuff costs, and I realize I won't have time in the next year to become proficient at a new craft, I couldn't see spending the money on the class.

So that leaves me with a whole day to myself and nothing to do. And several Halloween UFOs and WIPs.

So I was thinking, why not spend the whole day stitching a Halloween project? I could make good progress in one day, right?

And then it morphed into maybe having a one-day Halloween SAL. I posted the basic idea on 123Stitch. Anyone that wanted to participate would, on the morning of the 31st, post a photo of either the fall or Halloween-themed project they want to work on that day, or what they want to work on. Then, at 9PM their time, post a photo of where they got to during the day. A couple people are interested.

And then I thought, bloggers might like to do that too.

So, this is my idea.

Choose a fall or Halloween-themed project you want to work on on October 31st. Post a photo on your blog in the morning. Stitch as much as you can all that day, even if you spend part of it handing out treats to kids (I'll be outside on our porch myself, since our doorbell doesn't work, and we have the wailing pitbull chorus in the garage on that evening). Then, at 9PM your time, post about how far you got. Maybe you'll finish. Maybe not. But, how often do we get to enjoy a whole day of holiday stitching?

Let me know if you would like to participate. It's nothing formal, I swear!

Exchange finish and WIP

If I wasn't reasonably certain my partners don't read my blog, I wouldn't post these, but I am pretty sure they don't, sooooo thought I would share.

This is my finished Sanman board Hallofall exchange piece. It's LK Treats from the Boo Club. On perforated paper, backed with scrapbooking paper. Not too inventive, but I think it's pretty. I've discovered that spray adhesive works REALLY well to attach paper to these. I sent it to my partner with a trick or treat bag and some little goodies. I hope she likes it.






And my WIP for Dalene on 123. It's from Santa and Friends by Prairie Schooler, on 28 count Lugana that I had at Mom's. I had been going back and forth about this, remember, but someone on 123 stitched these for soldiers and I thought they were so cute. I thought I recognized the chart and started looking through the big binders and I had it, so this was the one I chose. I am having fun stitching it for her, and will stitch all of them for myself too. Eventually . . . I hope she likes it!

A kitty story

We're in process of cleaning out my gramma's/mother's basement. It's a bit packed. I still have things there, my brother does, and we have my grandmother's things and now my mom's stuff.

On Friday I went over to start removing my stuff.

My Gussiecat has recently decided that my brother's former bedroom is his. He is technically, by dint of he's been there the longest, the man of the house. However, he can't go in the livingroom, because of the twins--they are doggies, they move quickly and they are loud, and he finds this to be upsetting, particularly if they attempt to lick him. Dogs are repulsive to him. He sometimes stays with my father, he loves to be in my former bedroom, and the bathroom sometimes works, especially in the summer, because there's an old cast-iron tub.

But he's decided that the basement bedroom is his--totally doggie-free, since Robbie hasn't mastered steps, and Chancey just don't like it down there. He has a couch, the couch is his.

I went over on Friday at lunch and my mom was down, gathering stuff up to give away. Gus was in his room, on his couch, surrounded by boxes. He was NOT happy. He told me, in no uncertain terms, was this acceptable. He voiced his fears he would be evicted from his beloved couch. He stretched out to show me he requires a lot of space to conduct the business of being a tabbycat. And those boxes were not helping him be content.

I told my mother not to put boxes on that couch. Because he needs space. And he will break things if they're in his way. Usually on accident--he has a flaccid tail which does not function--but sometimes I can see in his eyes, he means it.

My mother mumbled about how the cats don't make the rules in the house.

She's done this before.

The first time was the battle of "Why we don't bring flowers, live or silk, in the house." Felix won that one. Sucker chews anything with a petal. He's cute, but he's dumb.

The second time was the battle of, "We don't bring things that have feathers on them in the house, we don't draw attention to it if we forget not to bring them, and we certainly don't hang them on the Christmas tree where the cats can smell them, see them, sense them." There were casualties of that fight. Namely, vintage glass balls . . . it was bloody . . . because I stepped on one of them in my bare feet. Score one for the felines.

These battles never end in our favor. If they do, they are hard won.

I've known Mom for almost 33 years. I know she thinks someday these cats will act like decent cuddly creatures.

I've known Gus for 10, he is who he is. He wants things how he wants them. And they will be his.

So I was happy when I didn't get the phone call detailing what 'your cat' did. I guess she took me seriously, assessed the potential victims of a box on the sofa--half of the ever-dwindling ornament stash--and left him alone on his sofa happily.

Saturday when I went over, he was sitting in the bathtub, wailing. It was as if his whole little world had been torn up and he was in his refuge of last resort. Which shows he is pretty smart--neither of the twins is too heavily into batheing, so they weren't bothering him in the tub.

And then he came downstairs to make sure we didn't annex his couch again.

But, in retribution for the affront of the day before, he spent 7 hours "assisting" us in the organizing. By assisting, I mean getting in the way, getting in essentially every place we were trying to put things to get them out of the way, yowling indignantly like we had hidden his toys, and, then after we swept the floor, he indulged in one of his favorite hobbies, the litter kick for distance.

Bless his little barn cat heart. I love that cat.

He's a keeper, yes, indeed

A long time ago, I joined the Brides Tree SAL. I have been a slacker, though. Mostly because I knew no brides, didn't know if we were really ever going to get married and got caught up in other things. Well, now, all that's changed. I've decided to get my butt in gear and get my ornaments stitched. I should have enough freebies and charts in my stash to make this possible, right? Right.

So, anyway, last night I came home after church in a tizzy. Not about church, that was pretty centering--plus my priest definitely said he'd marry us, woo hoo!--but I was on a quest for a pinecone chart. Because one of the months is for a pinecone, and I wasn't sure I had a pinecone chart in my stash.

It's a funny thing to think about what people don't chart. Pinecones, for example. You would think this would not be a difficult thing to chart, right? It's an oval if you have a primitive pattern, a few splotches of thread on a sampler? No biggiem you would think. Surprise, they're hard to find. I know this because I searched 3 binders of Christmas charts, all but one issue of JCS Christmas Ornament issue--the one I used to stitch the Santa from the fair, it's missing, this is bad--and found 2 ornaments. One of which was from 1999 and the pinecone was a button.

And the funny thing was, I hauled my stuff into the bedroom, with a panicked look on my face. HTB was in bed, watching New Jack City, and trying to figure out who the bands were that were performing onscreen (we knew it wasn't BellBivDevoe, but other than that, we were lost, there were a lot of one hit wonders in the early 90s). He asked me what I was doing with all those charts at that hour of the night. And, when I said, in my most imperious voice, "I need a chart with a pinecone! And I need it NOW," he said, "OK." He's a smart man, that fiance of mine. He no longer tries to understand me, he knows there are forces at work that he can't fight, LOL.

I've taken a break from my large projects for the week. I have an ornament that is due today for a Halloween ornament exchange that is not finished yet. I can get it done by Saturday and priority mail it and that should be OK. It's not ideal, but I'd rather have a nice thing to send her a few days late than have a yucky thing sent on time. I also have to work on a Christmas ornament for another exchange, but I know finally what I'm doing. I figure a couple days off isn't a problem.

Photo updates

The finished Square 4 of the Hummingbird Trellis afghan.




My Summer Ball. It doesn't seem to be going so fast, does it?

Random thoughts for a Monday

I'm probably a freak for doing this, but I got to thinking about just how much time it actually takes to stitch something. I think maybe because I'm doing two very detailed projects that don't seem to be moving too fast, but it takes me FOREVER to do anything.

I have The Summer Ball as my traveling project. I took it to work yesterday to work on when we weren't busy. I didn't get too far on that one, either, but I do see some progress. I got a lot done on the main dancing girl's skirt, so that was good. I am trying very hard to keep myself from getting intimidated by the size of this project, as well as the afghan size, but there are moments where, comparing what I've finished with what I haven't stitched, it's daunting. I mean, it's taken 3 years to get 4 squares done on this afghan. Even just to do the little bit that I did on this last square took a month. I know there's no race to get things done, but I don't want to take 30 years to get an afghan finished. Or 10 to get The Summer Ball done. Do your projects ever do that to you?

I finally finished Square 4 of Hummingbird Trellis afghan Saturday night. We watched An American Haunting, which, despite the reviews, I liked. I'm all for a good ghost story, and this one was based on true events. It's based on the Bell Witch legend of Tennessee, but it doesn't exactly follow the story, so if you're familiar with that and expecting a documentary, this ain't a movie you want to watch. But it's more real than, say, Wolf Creek, which was the most disturbing moving I've ever seen, and which bothered me immensely because I didn't know how "based on a true story" it was, and all that's real was that someone was killing people in Australia. This is a little closer. Not really gory though. Scary, and there were a couple oogey moments--I don't know about you, but I find the sound of nails on floorboards to be absolutely NASTY--but I wasn't upset and I was able to stitch. I finished that square and started a new one, Square 8, but didn't get too far. Not even a square inch. It's constant stop and start, stop and start. And this one has a lot of stitching down at the bottom. I am hoping to have it finished by December 1st. I think that's a decent goal.


While I was working on The Summer Ball yesterday, one of our patrons came up to the window and asked about it. I divide patron responses to my stitching in three categories: the ones who ask if I'm knitting, the ones who know it's not knitting, but aren't exactly sure what it is, and the stitchers. There are a lot of people who used to do needlework, but don't anymore, but if I use specialty threads or non-Aida, it throws them off, and most people are in the might-be knitting category, but this lady knew the right terminology, so I could tell she was a stitcher. And she loved the piece. She said she doesn't do much, but she loves it. It's always nice to meet a stitcher around here; we're a rare breed, since everyone around here seems to have no time for a hobby. We had a lovely chat.

Middle of a long slog of a week

It's Friday! Did anyone else feel like this day would never come this week? Not that my workweek will be done anytime soon. I still have 11 hours to work at my part time job between now and Monday, plus that long drive to Somerset tomorrow. I worked last night til 8:30 and then came home. HTB was watching the Psyfi Channel (Sci-fi? I don't know. They changed it around, but it's channel 40 on our cable) and they are doing their 31 Days of Halloween. Last night's shows were something called, "Possessed," which was hard to get into, and "Children of the Grave," which is about 699 orphan children who were buried in an Indianapolis cemetary. I've seen it before and it's a really good documentary, albeit a bit confusing, since they go off on tangents about how these children got there--some were orphans, some were accidentally poisoned with formaldehyde-laced milk (apparently, back in the day, no one seemed to realize that using stuff you use to embalm people to pasteurize milk was not a good idea). I think HTB was really affected by the plight of the orphans; he adores his niece and nephews, and I could see he was thinking of how he would feel if something like that happened to them.

Anyway, they were on a ghost investigation. I believe in ghosts, but I sometimes question how "real" these investigations are. EVPs are cool, but part of me questions anything requiring that much digital manipulation to hear. Likewise, they were using some device that was supposed to enable the spirits to talk and I don't think that would provide credible proof. But it was neat to watch the show.

I'm going like gangbusters at The Summer Ball. It's slow progress, but not as slow as Hummingbird Trellis. I can actually stitch more than 3 stitches of most colors, LOL. It's just a very big project. I discovered that, at some point, something spilled onto my makeshift stitching bag and stained the fabric. It didn't ruin it, because this is a solidly stitched pattern, and, when framed, I'll run the mat right up to the stitching, but it does need to be washed, since I have no idea what got on that fabric and I don't want it coming up through the finished stitching. And I have to figure a way to get the cat hair out of the parts that are already done. Why is it cat hair sticks to everything but the darn cat? Is that how they signal ownership to the other cats? "Can you not see that this toy/binky/Mummy is mine? Look at all the tabby-colored hair! You are black and white. Therefore, you did not claim it/it/her. You can have one of the doggies. You can have both of the doggies. The boy already has your fur in his mouth from when he snapped at you cause you smacked him." That must be how it works . . .

A bad anniversary

October 7th is the anniversary of the day my grandmother was killed in a car accident. It was 4 years ago yesterday. It's strange, it is the event that has basically split my life into "before" and "after", and yet, I didn't remember til noon that it was "the day." Now, to be truthful, I was sick yesterday, so that probably played into it, but I think, after 4 years, it's easier to remember the joy of my grandmother's life and not the thoughtlessness that led to her death. How she loved pansies and dogs and how crestfallen she was when, at the breeder's, picking out my puppy, I told her we couldn't get Robbie because he was already sold; she liked him better than Chancey because his ears stood up while Chancey's hadn't quite gotten there yet. How she cooked to feed the third army; I never realized til I had my own home how much effort it takes to fry chicken and make mashed potatoes, and that was a normal dinner, WITH GRAVY. How she looked the night I walked in to find her feeding my new kitten from a bottle, and how absolutely delighted she was with him, and him with her. Most people have grandmothers who they only know as sweet old ladies who get their hair done; I knew my grammy made moonshine, but then again, that was a time when everyone had a still. I was blessed to be her grand-daughter; I hope she's proud of me.

Because of the way she died, and because it shattered our family, I have made it one of my goals to do what I can to keep any other person from having to go through this. Please drive defensively. It's fall, the leaves are falling and it rains, a cocktail for disaster. SLOW DOWN. If you feel your car start to skid, steer into the skid, not against it. Don't worry about your car. They make more. My grandmother died because the boy in the other car didn't want to hit a guardrail. He overcorrected, lost control, crossed two lanes of traffic, the median, another lane and his back end slammed into the car my parents and grandmother were riding in.

Since you can't really control how other people drive, the one single thing you can do to help in an accident is to wear your seatbelt, no matter where you sit in the car. Make your passengers wear one, no matter where they sit. Gramma was an unbelted rear seat passenger, no one ever wore their belts in the back seat, we figured the seats would protect us. If an accident ever happens, which we assumed never would. And then the sky fell down, and, all of a sudden, it seemed like such a stupid selfish thing to think. And maybe that's her legacy, so that people will know how much it damages a family to lose a loved one over a seatbelt click.

And most of all, cherish your family. Keep the memories of the good times in your heart. No one is ever gone as long as someone who remembers them lives. Tell them that you love them, every day, even if you're angry at something they did. You never know when it will be the last time you get to tell them that.

Saturday will be my grandmother's 92nd birthday. The last promise I made her before I left on the day she died was that I'd get her flowers for her birthday, and so we take her pansies every year. Purple ones, her favorites. HTB understands my need to do this. It's the closest I get to her on earth, and I feel her there. I can give her flowers, and I can hope to make her death a lesson.

As promised, the photos!

I promised some photos!

Stephanie had asked about my poor, long-suffering WIP, Summer Ball, by Sandy Littlejohns. I actually have not worked on it for a long time, but I think it's time to pull it out and work on it. This is where I left it a year or so ago (Updated: it was actually 2 years. Per a blog post from October, 2007, I was working on it then. I didn't realize the time had flown like it had. I am a dork)



And the horrible embarrassing Cocoa ornament. This is a freebie by Sanman Originals, from her website. I did it eons ago, but just finished. It's not a good job. NOT AT ALL. But it's done. I'll try better next time.

Now that didn't work

I finally had some free time this weekend. I had the day off Sunday to go to a bridal show (which, by the way, if you don't have a huge budget, already have a photographer, and are on a diet, is a complete waste of time), and HTB went pitcrewing for his buddy, so I was all by myself. And out came the glue and fabric.

I posted the other day how I found a new way to finish ornaments from the back of JCS. I wanted to try sliding the stitched piece over the foamcore. It seemed so simple. It was worth a try.

I'm glad I didn't try it with an ornament I really cared about.

It looks awful. To the point that I thought about tearing it apart and stuffing it. I didn't do it though. I didn't want to waste the foamcore. I don't know what went wrong. I also tore part of one of the seams. Which made me MAD. AS. HECK.

The only good thing that may have come from it was that I figured out how to get around my issue with the hangers. I was wandering around the jewelry section and found small pins (there is probably another term for these, but I don't make jewelry so I don't know) with a loop on the end. I gently stuck one of those down in the foamcore and it worked! Woo hoo!

A delightful rediscovery

Last spring, I mentioned how Ms Inez of Inez' Creative Stitchery died. I hadn't been in the shop for a long time, and had kinda pushed it aside. Well, I rediscovered it.

The bridal salon Mom and I went to on Saturday was right around the corner from Ms. Inez's in the antique district of the county. I haven't been in an antique store in, a year at least, so of course we looked around. I drooled over the jewelry in one shop, looked at some samplers in another shop, but decided that, with all the reproductions out there, $245 is too much to pay for a sampler that is not authenticated, and finally bought a piece of stitching in another store for $10 and considered that a treasure.

And then we decided to go visit Ms. Inez's store. Just to see if it was still open.

It is! Not a lot of new stock for stitching, but the lady who helped us said they'll get in new stock as they can. Woo hoo! But there was still plenty of stuff, including OLDER things to look at. And fabric. Oh, she has fabric. I bought placemats. Mom wanted to know what I'd put on them. Probably lighthouses . . . or Christmas stuff? And I bought a big piece of Christmas fabric. It had been $40, marked down to $25, too much of a bargain to leave there, right?

It's been a while since I've been in an LNS on a consistent basis. Salty Yarns was a quick trip, and I never looked at the fabric. Plus, that shop is a delightful sensory overload, and I was still in a haze that day, so really, that doesn't count. I haven't shopped at Stitching Post in several months, and really have been trying to limit S.E.X. trips to what I need. I haven't really bought new fabric in months, and that's been mostly neutrals from Michaels or AC Moore. So, it was a real delight to see colored fabric in large quantities, probably far more of a delight than it should have been.

And then it struck me! I only work 2 exits up the highway from this shop, and not really that far if I cut through a nearby parkway It certainly couldn't take that much longer to go from my office to there than it takes to go out on the highway and merge over to get to Michaels. Or to sit in traffic getting back from AC Moore. So, why the heck would I spend my money to get neutral stuff, when I can get good fabric in pretty colors from Ms. Inez? And braid, she had braid! No more ordering it or driving to Catonsville for it Woo hoo.

So it was a pleasant rediscovery for me. If I had an LNS within close distance to the house, less than 30 miles, this wouldn't probably be such a good thing, but I don't, and so it is! And, this way, at least I'll be buying fabric to do charts I have, and not more charts. Always a good thing!