Happy Valentine's Day

While I no longer have a significant other in my life, I still got a Valentine gift.  Sara gave me the Tristan Brooks "Sweet Heart of Mine."  I couldn't be more thrilled.  While I said we weren't going to purchase any more of these gorgeous specialty kits until we finished some of the multiple kits we've already purchased...several Merry Cox, Several Jackie DuPlessis, approx. 20 Moss Creek making fun of us daily, at least 5 of the Just Nan Limited Edition Kits...well you can see the list just goes on and on so I made the declaration in the fall when Stasi Buhrman asked if we'd seen "this" and sent us a link.  Stasi gets us into all kinds of trouble showing us the fabulous specialty kits being offered.  I am proud to say in the fall I stayed firm....but Sara got me into the 2 clubs offered through R & R and when I saw Tristan Brooks design I said, the hell with my declaration, I want that.  Then I justify this with..."I don't smoke, I don't really drink (I may have a drink when I go out which isn't that often and then I don't always have a drink so I probably only have about 12 drinks a year), I don't go on vacations anymore and I work a lot so I deserve it.  Yes that gives me the go ahead....and then I read about the group that has made the declaration that they can't buy anything new during the year except I think they can spend $15.00 / month on supplies to finish what they already have.  I read about this and then told Sara about it and we both said, "Well that is just impossible...."  And I have to say I couldn't do that.  I see designs and can't imagine not having that in my collection (since my stash is so enormous it is no longer possible for me to ever finish it all so it's now a collection.)  I'm extremely lucky as I have Sara who loves needlework as much as I do so I have someone younger to pass it on to...in fact her eyes light up a little to much when she is in my stitching room and sees all that will be coming her way...uh, oh...should I be watching my back?  Just kidding...fortunately for me Sara is a mini me and takes wonderful care of me, especially when I'm not feeling so hot.  She returned from her "The How-To's of Counted Canvas" taught by Debbie Rowley and while she's glad she took it, she ranted for about 20 minutes about the others in the class.  You would think as shop owners they would have seen and used many of the fibers, etc., however that wasn't the case.  While Debbie was very patient and understanding and Sara feels she certainly deserves a happy hour after that class, the retailers taking it needed a class on threading needles and help figuring out how to use perle cottons.  She was ready to walk out after 15 minutes because the other students questions were grating on her nerves.  Meanwhile, I lsleep all afternoon.  Again  didn't touch a needle, but now that I'm back up...I'm feeling good again so we are about to go shopping the floors early.  Having fun in our last Nashville...will keep you posted.   We're done for the night.  Sara's back is killing her (fortunately I brought my meds which I haven't needed but at least I can let her take them for pain, etc.)  Anyway, once we had eaten we started hitting the vendors who were open tonight.  I had made a list of the vendors who were offering limited edition stuff so we could hit them first, but things got a little testy with Sara (she isn't feeling well I understand) and I could see it wasn't going to end well so I said the hell with it and we headed back to our rooms hopefully so her back can get some relief.   The rooms are so damn hot I was about to have a heat stroke and we had to stand in line  in a couple of rooms...and Sara was so testy everytime I went to order something she didn't want there were words...but really I've tried to get her to order the Lone Elm shaker boxes since this summer and she just wouldn't do it so when I saw their room....well let's just say, we will have the Elm Street boxes in the shop as soon as they ship them.  I got several colors and several sizes and their charts for them which I think were very well done.  But as downhill as things were going I'm so excited with what I've got at this point I'll be going through it all night.  Picking out what I want to work on....like I don't have enough to work on.