Monday....February 28th...I think

We survived another weekend, we've almost got every bag from Nashville unpacked, but I'm still looking at a mess at home. Cynthia and Crystal left yesterday and we miss them already. We had a wonderful time catching up with them and swapping stories....today will be a lot different with just Sara and I alone again. We not only had Crystal and Cynthia yesterday entertaining us, but Greg was there as well. He's become quite the baker and each Sunday he brings me a treat that he baked. Sara doesn't appreciate it since she's my caretaker regarding my health and the diabetes...which of course I'm completely ignoring...but I'm loving the treats. While I spent the weekend grabbing stuff for my tote bag, Sara has apparently being doing the same. I grabbed the St. Patrick's Day gauze piece from Erica Michaels and started it Sunday night and it is so much fun. It's one of those pieces which you have to do prep work, sew fabric on it so you can put the small piece of gauze in a hoop, and so I have had some of these kits sitting in my bag since they came in last year, but prep work is a step I usually don't like to do. But Sunday I just took the piece and sewed the fabric on and got it ready to go for Sunday night. Oh, my God....I can't believe how much fun these are. At first I had a problem seeing it, but after looking through the 2 magnifiers for a couple of minutes my vision cleared and I was focused and I took off on a run. I stitch until I get tired and unlike Jayne Donchez who stitched hers in 24 hours.....I've worked on it for 2 days for a few hours, and I've got a couple of days more to finish it, working on it for at least 4 hours per night. But I have enjoyed every stitch. I can't wait until it's done. Sara got caught up in it and brought a piece into the shop today that she did her prep work on. By the end of the day she was so excited and couldn't wait to get back to it after dinner. These are like potato chips, there is no way you can only take one. We're almost done unpacking, so today was spent on mail orders and Sara's stitching. Unbelievable as it seems, I also have a ton of orders to get in as the new stock has brought about the need for new fabrics, fibers, etc. Well, I've got to get back to the web site, clean up more boxes, and get to stitching. I can't wait to find my camera to get pictures on the blog, but I still haven't found it or my trollbeads necklace. Where the hell did they go? Well, I've still got one bag still sitting here so perhaps that's the go to spot. Think I'll go to it and see if I can't find it. Have a great day.

Good Golly, what a mess...........................

I have caos at home and caos in Salty Yarns...well, on the home front I've managed to get through some of the cartons, but the house looks like the homes on the T.V. show "hoarders" and it's driving me crazy. I'd have been better off if Mary had just thrown everything in the trash and just told me they still were packed up in her place. I'd never know. This job is never ending and all I see is stuff sitting on every table and every chair waiting for me to find it a home. I've managed to throw out some of the old craft crap, I mean really, am I ever going to do folk painting again? I think not, so I chunked the books, wood pieces, paint, etc., that went with that. Next! I can't let go of the miniatures that I've collected for my Dollhouse (which Mary must have tossed out, a gorgeous Houseworks dollhouse purchased back almost 30 years ago for over $300. Rob worked tirelessly on it and had the exterior done, it was wired for a door bell, electric, and the chimney smoked. A lot of work went into that so while the dollhouse itself didn't come down (or maybe I just haven't unearthed it yet although it's really big so I think I'd have noticed it), my minature collection did find it's way down and I just can't throw it out. Some of these pieces are really expensive, so I've given them a new home, under Michael's bed, but when I went to put it under there something was already there...apparently I ran out of room for clothes so I had put them in one of those bags you suck the air out and shoved them under there. It's getting a little crowded under there but who cares, it's out of the dining room. But the floss, and fabric that came down. Oh, my I need more storage people! And yet I still have to go buy fabric for different projects and I'm always taking floss from the shop. This job is never ending...and then I go to work where we also have a mess as we are still putting away Nashville stuff. This also feels neverending. For 2 days we have been pricing and putting up on racks and we're still not done. My mood is starting to turn sour...although Cynthia and Crystal arrived this afternoon for a weekend retreat so that provided Sara and I with some comic relief. Those two girls are fun to be around...and they pick really interesting projects to work on so it's always fun to watch what they are doing. While the weather is pleasant enough, today got into the 60's, the wind will blow you away which makes it feel cooler and we had a torrential downpour just before we closed the shop. The wind is still blowing, but the rain has now stopped and it is glorious out.

We're home....

My God, this show about killed me, which is why I never blogged again. I'm telling you I'm way too old to continue with this. Some of the designers opened their rooms on Friday night so we started shopping then, but were only able to get in about 4 rooms, however, we got the new Impie, Bea and Hattie piece on Friday from Hoffman...whoppee...I didn't even know they had anything coming out. Score!!!! The chart , "Garden Fresh" has not only the sampler that you see, but also another chart for the needlebook shown in front of it. That's a separate piece from Impie, Hattie & Bea. You get the needlebook and the tomato pincushion show in front of the frame...in fact it kind of looks like it's stuck on the frame but it isn't...that's the pin cushion. Well made and adorable, just like everything else those ladies put together. On Saturday, the actual first day of the show, we finally stopped shopping at 5:00 p.m. which is 1 hour later than normal....and my body was telling me it was a mistake. We started out camping outside of Shepherd's Bush and Just Nan's rooms so we could get some of the "limited edition stuff." At 8:45 a.m. Shepherd's Bush had a line down the hall, although Sara managed to get in Just Nan's room rather quickly, but I was stuck in line. While we snagged all of Shepherd's Bush's new stuff, they didn't have any show specials...damn! Sara got everything Just Nan had to offer and we then set out to conquer the show. It was disappointing that several of our favorite designers didn't attend this year, and the halls weren't packed as apparently several of the shop owners didn't come either. TNNA apparently doesn't appreciate this show and is trying to cancel it. Both the vendors and shop owners are dismayed as we love this show, but what can we do? Anyway, we ran the halls until 5:00 p.m., trying to get most of the show in. This turned out to be a big mistake as I was so tired I couldn't function for the rest of the day. I just sat moaning for the rest of the night after eating a late dinner and then just went to bed. By Sunday I really wasn't much better, but rallied to the cause until about 1:30 when I said "it's over for me" I cease to care what is being sold. So I went back to my room and laid down and Sara went back to the selling floors to do more damage and get help with Clifford, the peyote piece she was working on, but had a brain freeze and needed help from the ladies at Fern Ridge. Monday I woke up and felt a little better but was thrilled to be heading home. Meanwhile the temperature was hovering around 69 and reached 71 driving home. It was gorgeous. Poor Sara did all the driving as usual, and I was no help at all as I slept for long stretches, would wake up and start to read (I had a goal of 4 books but only got 3 read because I couldn't stay awake), and then I'd fall asleep again and I did this for the 8 hours we were on the road the first day. Tuesday I did a little better and worked on another Pine Mountain Kit which I finished at home last night. Whoppee!!! 3 Books and 2 small kits. Plus I finished another section of my Lauren Sauer piece, and worked on the Cricket Collection "Summer" which I'm just loving. Anyway, that's my excuse for not blogging and I'm sticking with it. Plus my camera had a bug up it's ass and wasn't working right. I believe my card was filled and I couldn't delete fast enough. While on the way to Nashville, I mentioned to Sara how I had cleaned up the house, put everything away, dishes cleaned, counters cleaned, bathroom cleaned, sewing room cleaned, why I even went through the refrigerator and cleaned it out. Yes I was thrilled to be coming home to a house that was clean and straight. However, (couldn't you see this coming) I got a call from Mary on the last day as we were traveling home to let me know that she and Brian had moved all my stuff downstairs that they were storing on their porch, since they moved me into the downstairs unit. "Mom, I justed wanted to warn you so you didn't walk in on it...We have finished moving all the cartons off the porch and we've placed them in different rooms but you can still walk through the rooms, we've left a path." I looked at Sara and said, "You've got to be kidding me. These two pick the most inappropriate times to do anything. The last time they brought 4-6 huge cartons down was in December the night Sara did a cookie exchange so I didn't get home until 10:30 p.m. and the cartons were left on my front porch...in December...in weather that would destroy the cartons. I've been trying to get these cartons down here since I moved to this unit, after my father died about 5 years ago. These two come down the stairs every day, and I kept saying if you'd just bring a couple of cartons, one carton, each time you came down...365 days a year, then we would have them moved, and I wouldn't be overwhelmed. Well, you can see how that worked for me. When I came in I sat and had a soda, went to Mary's to wish my Izzie a happy birthday...he turned 1....listen to Solomon tell me how I didn't pick him up at school like he wanted, and then came back down stairs and started unpacking. It was like a bad Christmas all over. I can't believe I actually purchased some of this garbage, but apparently I did. But between last night and today I've managed to get rid of approximately 12 cartons, but these are only the cartons left in my dining room and I still have more there to go through. It looks like "hoarders" in my house, but I'm weeding through it slowly and every once in a while I find a gem"...just not often enough! I have managed to throw some of it out, but things like the smocking patterns (I never did one even though I have the machine...anyone need a smoking machine?) quilting patterns, you know the list...well I've found them a spot in my stitching room which also has stuff sitting here. I finally have my old stash of fabric and floss...only I had already built up a new supply of fabric and floss, I guess I'm now double blessed. Anyway, I just had to take a break, actually I used the excuse that I could eat and type at the same time so I'm multi-tasking. I'm putting the designs up on the web site that we brought back so take a look when you have the time. I'm thrilled to be home and talking to you...and tomorrow we are going into the shop to get this stuff in place for Cynthia and Crystal who are coming down to retreat for the weekend. I've never worked so hard in my life.....perhaps a pound or two will find it's way off my ass ... yea, like who am I kidding. As fast as I misplace a pound two more take it's place. Have a great day...beautiful weather and we drove home behind the storm so we never had to drive through rain or snow. God was on our side!

On Your mark, Get Set, SHOP!!!

And shop we did. Last night we were able to start shopping as a few of the vendors decided to skip the meet and greet and start selling. We never do the meet and greet since there is no point. They apparently let vendors set some of their new things up in one of the convention rooms but they aren't allowed to sell or take orders. It is strickly a time to meet the designers, which you can do in their rooms all day Saturday and Sunday. We race through this show in order to get it all in, and skip some vendors just so we get done, so I'm not wasting my time with that meet and greet. An added detraction would be the fact that the people are 4 feet deep so you can't see the tables in the first place. I want shopping people, give me shopping! And apparently some of the vendors felt the same way as they opened their doors tonight and letting us shop, along with serving wine and cheese. Since we spent the entire day resting, stitching, well Sara stitched and I was on the internet checking on things, we were both more than ready to start. So at 4:30 we struck out on our journey. Since we met Ellen Chester early in the day we were already ahead, so we headed to Hoffman who had a new Impie, Bea and Hattie piece that we didn't even know about...how was that possible? It's a cute tomato shaped pin cushion and a needlecase and the chart that goes with it is from, who else, Little House Needleworks...cute, cute and even cuter. So we were thrilled to be first in their room and holding limited edition pieces. We were high on life as we searched the halls. We then traveled to Fern Ridge and were rewarded with their new pieces plus we picked up more of the Clifford the crab and got a new pin, a pumpkin. We also picked up their Pokeberry bird set, along with their humbugs. They are smaller than Just Nan's, which makes them so cute. I'm fascinated by the fact that they are all done in peyote beading. Well, Sara was simply drooling at those so I'm sure they are going in her "to do" bag. In fact, Sara started working on Clifford the Crab tonight. We thought we were out of them in the shop and when she spotted one hiding she grabbed it and made that one of her Nashville projects (along with 50 other kits she brought). So hopefully we'll have it as a model when we get home. We also got into Praiseworthy Stitches and picked up the Sailor's Valentine....it is huge. I saw the picture before the show and thought it was perhaps 5" in diameter...but was I wrong. It is the largest box I've ever seen....but it's got stitching panels inside and it is a must have for us. I have to have everything dealing with the sea, ocean, oh heck water! We also picked up their new items and then we were off once again. Then hit Periwinkle Promises to look at their humbugs. Their humbugs are large, but really well done and so we had to have theirs as well. It's fun to see all the different sizes of humbugs. Just Nan introduced them a couple of years ago, or was that just last year. We just loved hers and found several ways to use them. Now Fern Ridge's humbugs are really small, so I think they would make perfect fobs and they put a magnet in theirs so your needles can still stick to them. And Periwinkle's are perhaps 3-4" so theirs would be a pin cushion for me. Periwinkle also uses many specialty stitches on hers so it does make it interesting to look at as well as to stitch. We loved all the humbugs we saw and will be bringing them all back to let you decide which ones you like best. I swear I'll get pictures up ... Hoffman asked that I not do it until the weekend so I'm trying to honor that. It's difficult because we're so excited, but what can you do. I'll post tonight and let you know what we were able to snag for you. Have a great day!

We're here...................................................

That's right stitchers, we have entered the hallow halls of the Embassy Suites hotel in Franklin, TN., and we're thrilled. We left Ocean City on Tuesday morning after getting Michael to school, and getting my car packed. Little Solomon came down Monday night and just pouted because he asked if he could go on the "road trip" with me. He kept saying "Nana, I want to go on a road trip." Honestly, Sara is lucky Mary intervened or I swear we'd have been taking the little tiker with us. Anyway, we arrived, without Solomon, on Wednesday afternoon, tired and worn out from the drive, but thrilled to be here finally, and thrilled to have good news about our Staci Buhrman who came through her surgery with flying colors. Yes it was a good day for us all! I also got an e-mail from Shiela letting me know she was fine, although she had caught pneumonia while in the hospital. (a hospital is no place for the ill). Both ladies are going to be fine...thank God! So we felt we had plenty to celebrate and we started off our stay with a drink. The show doesn't actually start until Saturday; well, there are classes on Friday but we no longer participate in those so for us it's Saturday. We ran into Ellen Chester on Wednesday as she arrived at the same time as we did. I was thrilled as she has one of the items we were dying to get and they are in short supply. In fact, she's already sold out ... and we got some...whoppee! We ended up staying in and ordering room service and I have to say, this place sure knows how to cook a steak. It was done to perfection. Oh, my I forgot to mention that on the way down I worked on a Pine Mountain kit as I couldn't just sit there in a car for 2 days doing nothing, and my goal was to finish one on the way down and one on the way back. Apparently I fell short of my goal since I couldn't stay awake but when we got to Franklin I made myself finish the little pillow. I still have to put the beads on for the eyes, but was thrilled that this was finished as my Lauren Sauer piece is the piece I really want to work on and get done. But in the spirit of Debbie Liming, I brought multiple projects just in case I got bored. Remember, I have the attention span of a gnat...so I have to have lots of toys and playthings. My latest love is the Cricket Collection Summer piece. I'm loving working on it and I brought all the supplies to start that. I also brought 2 Shepherd's Bush pieces, and a few other little kits that I could work on between the bigger pieces. I may need to stay here for a month to get this stuff done, a month...I may have to stay the entire year! Anyway, Sara and I have had a lot of fun, eating, stitching, napping, eating, stitching and now I've the computer hooked up and that will come into play. While we were checking in at the TNNA table today we heard Thread Gatherer and Little by Little were cancelling and when I said something to the ladies they said they had 3 other cancellations. Oh, My, that doesn't bode well does it. I'm so afraid they are going to cancel this show I don't know what to do. That is the threat and we didn't find out until July 2010 that this show was going forward so I'll have to wait until summer to see if they are going to do another one next year. Like I don't have enough to worry about as it is. Damn! So I'm going to really enjoy this years show and some of the vendors have already said we could come by and pick up our pre-orders early so I'm also excited about that. Sara and I will be off and running tonight to get in as many rooms as time allows. Well, it's time to run down to pick up Ellen Chester's newest items. I'll check in later.

Superbowl is just a fond memory....

The stitchers arrived beginning with Debbie and Phyllis on Tuesday and the rest of the Pennsylvania retreat arrived on Thursday. The local stitchers arrived on Friday along with the Baltimore group and Stacy Stinson. Friday many of the stitchers attended a tea in Berlin, which gave Sara and I time to get some shipments marked and ready for the weekend of shopping, as well as time to pull the first of the Superbowl orders off the computer. Then Friday night the Superbowl reception festivities at Sara's house, along with the celebration of Phyllis impending birthday began. The food was excellent, but we've come to suspect that, but it was the gathering of all the stitchers, including (Greg MacCord who is joining us for this weekend of fun....he's become our token male) the exchange of information, the excitement about the upcoming projects that really makes these receptions fun. We don't get to spend as much time in the shop with all the stitchers that we'd like to...so this also gives Sara and I time to meet and greet. We hadn't seen Pat Wright in a long time and she was in attendance so it was nice to see her once again, and Jackie Janovsky who blew out her knee and missed our Christmas dinner was able to get here. We did miss our Kay Fletcher who wasn't able to attend, and our Candi and Linda who also missed the festivities, but we carried on bravely without them. I left early as my grandson, Michael, wanted to spend the night with me and he was driving Sara crazy so I figured I better get him out of there before he drove her to drink...well, it was a little late for that as she had already begun, but who could blame her, parties can be stressful when they are at your house. I'm so thankful for Sara, there's never even a question as to who will be throwing the receptions...she just does it. Saturday the Superbowl sale continued, of course. The shopping bags began lining up and the filling of them continued throughout the weekend. It's so much fun to see what the stitchers are gathering for their latest projects. And thankfully some of the latest designs have arrived so they were snatched up. The latest Little House Needleworks designs are absolutely wonderful...how does she do it so quickly? The newest Ornament Series is here and I haven't even finished 2010 ornament series. I'd better get to stitching if I'm ever to catch up. Whoops, who am I kidding, I'll never get caught up to this madness, but I'm having a ball trying. Every time someone asks for a chart I then have to look for, I find more designs I want to stitch. I'm filling up a bag faster than anyone else. Whoppee!!!!! Right now I'm still working on my Lauren Sauer class piece, but it's coming right alone. It's a joy to work as the design is a repetition and once you get the count down you no longer have to look at your chart. With the Betsy Morgan pre-stitch done I'm going to have all my pre-stitching done long before class starts....another Whoop, although I had a goal of having Lauren's piece done before Nashville and I'm sorry to say that is definitely not going to happen, but at least I'm moving along nicely. Jayne stitched the over one on gauze Erica Michaels Valentine piece while here, in 2 days, and it is so adorable that entire gauze series is now resting in my tote bag. Gosh, and Nashville is now just days away, in fact Sara and I leave on Tuesday morning. Renee, Pat and Connie will be in the shop in our place so you can still visit. I'll be taking my computer, as usual, to Nashville and hopefully I can figure out how to get on-line, etc., and can let you know what we are finding. We're both so excited. There are some marvelous pieces coming out...we've had a preview so for the first time in a few years I really can't wait to get there. But for now we're busy getting the Superbowl mail orders out....and bills paid before leaving...I just hate the few days before leaving because I'm trying to get my house in order and the office in order (I have a better chance of becoming President of the U.S. than achieving everything on my list). To make matters even worse, last night...when it snowed here...just 1/2 inch but snow and freezing temperatures....I had no heat. I'm telling you if it wasn't for Mary Porter's quilt I'd have frozen. But I went to bed early and covered my self with Mary's quilt and another quilt and I slept until morning when Vernon came over and got the heat back on. But, oh, baby I thought I'd freeze to death. But tonight I've got plenty of heat and I'm thawed out so I'm a happy camper again. And I want to say "Thank You" to all of you who came by for the sale, called in an order or e-mailed an order. Sara and I appreciate it all and thank you for it. You helped make a wonderful event for us.

Well, I made it through unscathed....

I've been recuperating from my Nana duties having Michael over for 4 nights. I will say, having a boy in the house was very different from having my girls, and I'm 63 so having to care for someone 24/7 was also different, but we made it, he's still alive, and as far as that goes in today's world so am I, so I feel we were successful in getting through it. I think I really did well on the mothering front, as I helped with his homework, even though he pouted when he had to change something, I quizzed him on his spelling words, even though he rolled his eyes until I thought they'd fall out of his head, and I let him get away with only a couple of things and that happened because I couldn't decide if he was telling the truth or not and at some point you just give up. He wanted to wear his Raven's shirt, and even though I suspected his mother would say no, I gave in and we went to his house and got it. (I'm picking my battles with this guy). The next day he wanted to wear sweat pants to school and I said no, (only to find out that his mother let's him on occasion...I was shocked). The last day as we were packing his 2nd backpack with clothes, etc. to take to Max's house for the night, he said he needed to take his gallon jug of Lemonade ice tea as Max's family only drinks regular colas. I argued, threatened to call his mother, but in the end jammed that gallon jug in and sent him on his way. I don't know how he lugged it into school. When I told his mother I wish you could have seen her face...apparently he got another one over on me. I was patting myself on the back with the wonderful job I was doing getting him to school, reading, homework, dinner, lunch, oh yeah I was a whiz until I got home from work at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday and found his packed lunch box on the table. I had gone to work directly from dropping him off at school. I felt terrible, except since he had jump rope for heart that afternoon and needed quarters for snacks, I had sent him to school with $6.00 in quarters (another eye roll from Sara, however, he wouldn't tell me what anything cost...they have snacks for the kids)...so when he got home on Wednesday, I apologized and asked why he didn't call me to bring his lunch to school. He said, I did Nana, three times but you never answered your phone. Ridiculous I said, I have the phone right in the pocket of my jacket....and then we realized I had switched to a raincoat and left the phone in my winter jacket....so much for well laid plans. But, I said, at least you had the quarters for snacks. Did you use them? No, he said, I borrowed the money from my teacher. So another $2.00 had to go to school the next day as pay back. But aside from those few glitches we did pretty good. I was excited when I got up on Thursday thinking, Oh, my God, tonight I get my T.V. back. I don't have homework or reading, oh my mercy, I have my house to myself. And I would be able to stitch once again. (Because Michael was here the last two nights I also had Solomon down here dragging out all the toys out of the toy closet and asking me to play with him. I've perfected Candyland so that Solomon always wins so he loves playing with me). Anyway, I turn on T.V. as I'm whistling a happy tune and counting the minutes until he's at school when I get that dreaded news....Worcester County Schools...1 hour delay. Oh, my God, you would have thought they said the school was cancelled. At that point every little thing that poor child did was somehow getting on my nerves. I felt guilty about my feeling, but remembered I had just had 4 days of T.V. football (and I never watch football), Sponge Bob Square pants, and Nickelodeon until I thought my head would explode. No reality shows, no regular T.V. (you know the intelligent shows I watch), until he went to sleep...which was at 9:00 so it wasn't that big a deal, but you know how it is when you aren't the master of your domain anymore. He was also anxious to get to school once he was dressed and ready, asking me every 5 minutes what time it was. Finally, even though I knew he would be early I said, let's go. And off we went. I was doing the happy dance as I waited for him to exit the car and then he turned around and said, "Thanks Nana for letting me stay at your house." Oh, my, even now my eyes tear up and I think of all the grandparents who wouldn't care what they watched on T.V., or how many games they had to play, or how much homework they had to help with, they would die for the privilege of having their grandchildren stay over one night, let alone 4. So I felt guilty as I left him at school, lugging his backpack full of lemonade iced tea, for having one moment of wanting my house to myself again. He was and is a joy in my life, he's inventive, loving, and is no trouble at all....and if he asked me tomorrow if he could spend 4 more days, I'd say absolutely. Sara and Vernon returned on Sunday and apparently by dinner Michael had enough of them so he asked if he could come to my house for dinner. Of course I said sure, but how asked him if he'd like to go to Miones instead (we hadn't been there while he stayed with me and he loves their Cheese steak subs.) Before we left Michael ran up to play with Solomon so when he came down to go, Solomon was with him followed by Mary who said, "I'm sorry but Michael told Solomon he was going out and now Solomon wants to go." As any grandmother would say, I said, "No problem and tell C.J. to come to." This was a first, the first time I would be taking all 3 of them out. Michael and C.J. are one thing, old enough to take care of themselves....but Solomon...well he's a whole other story. So I was surprised when he sat and ate his dinner with no whining, etc., and didn't try to get down and run around. Yes, it was a great dinner, great company, and that was my week. How was yours? Greg MacCord, Jennifer Humphries and Hedy Cronin spent Sunday stitching with us in the shop...Greg brought me dinner, which I ate on Monday night (yum mo). Good times, Good times. We are now getting ready for the Superbowl weekend, which I didn't realize was this coming weekend until last Sunday when someone called about it and I said, "well yes the sale is for Friday -Sunday". And then she said, "I'll see you on Saturday." I asked Greg when the Superbowl was since I thought it was in 2 weeks and found I've lost a week somewhere. If you should find it please return it to me...I'm scattered enough now without losing time. Anyway, now we're in crunch mode for Superbowl. FYI....OUR SUPERBOWL SALE IS GOING TO EXTEND FROM FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. As you know we take mail orders, e-mails, pony express, smoke signals...anyway you can get it here bring it on. We hope to see several of you in the shop. Debbie and Phyllis arrive tomorrow from Pennsylvania, and the rest of the Pennsylvania group arrives on Thursday. Stacy Stinson is hosting Janet Spring and Stacy Brown at her condo. Our Stitch 'n Bitch group will be here as well staying on the property with some of their guests so we will have a full house. Last year we had the blizzard that lasted the entire weekend....well it looks like we're having a northeaster this year. But that beats the snow the rest of you are going to get, so I'll be thinking of you. I'll also be thrilled to be missing the snow. But what a wonderful excuse to stay inside and stitch...and eat...and stitch...and eat. Have a great time, stay off the roads....and I'll be talking to you.