Saturday, February 19, 2011

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!

1 comment:

Kevin said...
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