Happy Easter!!!!

Finally finished, border and all...yea!!!!!  I just had to take a day off from the pre-stitch as it is a test to my endurance at this point.  As I said before, the colors on Autumn Log are not colors I normally work with, but I will say I loved most of the stitch.  I come from a crewel background and I do miss, on occasion, the lack of dimension I got working with crewel fibers, etc.   I had used many of the stitches before, although I swear they've changed some of the names, so it was like going home again.  I'm not used to working on stretcher bars so that was a little awkward for me, but all things considered, I'm getting ready for my next canvas work piece, only this time I'm picking the project.  Sara just got in a book with so many different stitches which shows them made into blocks and forming the American flag.  Of course done in reds whites and blues, doesn't that sound perfect?  I feel like we all have to join together this year to stop the embarrassment of the pre election smack downs, so I will be doing patriotic pieces to show I still believe in us even when grown men are acting worse than kindergarten bullies in a school yard and then wanting to become president.  Really, I'm an independent because I refuse to vote for a party, I vote for the person who has the same vision, morals and ethics as I have.  That is certainly missing from this build up to elections and certainly shows us the true ethics and morals of the people running.  I know I don't want a bully in White House calling other heads of states names, but I shall not go there today.  This election tends to depress me.  So let's move on.  As for my prestitch, well let's just say I could have done better.  From the beginning I started incorrectly and stitched going down the length of the linen instead of the width....Wrong #1...then there are 2 pieces to stitch which come together in the back and I stitched the right side on the left ....Wrong #2...which means now I have to stitch the left side on the right ...Wrong #3 (Sara said it was alright she doesn't care so I left it.)  That meant that the dates and initials that are worked into those 2 sections now have to be moved and new spots found...oh, my it might have been easier to just start over.  I have to say though, I love this piece, wrong or not, it is simply beautiful.  I was doing well with the specialty stitches until....Peruvian loop has thrown me for a loop.  I finally said, "I'm handing this off to Sara"...I mean how many times can you rip something out before you admit defeat?  And of course, I'm looking at bags full of Nashville stitching that I can't wait to get into.    So for the weekend it's in Sara's hands and after she gets that part done I'll do the accessory pieces and then I'm done all pre-stitch, until we get Betsy Morgan's.  Whew...now on to Nashville stitching.  And finally, I pray you all have the Best Day Ever, as we celebrate Easter.  Happy Easter Everyone!!!!

Finally, I'm back from the Nashville Market!

First report back from Nashville Market....wonderful time, but exhausted even a week later. I picked Sara up last Tuesday around 9:00 a.m. for our annual trek to Nashville Market, and we had beautiful weather and I had plenty of things to do on route.   I had planned well, a week out made a list of what I needed to bring, etc., pulled luggage out so I could start putting things in, oh, yes I was going to be ready, packed, and luggage in the car, early.  I even brought the list in to show Sara how organized I was this year.  I did laundry 2 days early so I wouldn't be up all night on Monday.  Well, things fell apart quickly.  I felt sick on Wednesday so started my doses of Nyquil, but this time they weren't working as before.  But I kept it up and just knew I would get over it before we left.  I left work on Monday without having completed a few things, but I had my list and I was going right home to get stuff done and get packed so I would be ready in the morning.  I was still dreaming that I'd have the bags packed and I could get some sleep.  Well, I get home and couldn't find the damn list I had spent a week to compile (I found it while in Nashville...not really much help there), but I just started methodically loading the suitcase.  I decided to go with all black pants and tops and just add colorful shirts, etc., and when I pulled out the 2 pairs of summer slacks (I knew it was going to be hot inside the hotel so I was prepared), I found that they had white streaks over them and so at 1:40 a.m. I was back doing laundry (best laid plans sometimes go awry).  As I was cursing about my luck and lack of sleep, I just kept moving, loading snacks in bags (that was as important as clothes to me), also loading the largest stitching bag know to man with projects.  I had a few already started projects, my 2 pre-stitch pieces and the supplies for some of what we were buying so I could also stitch on them once the show started.  I had the computer, printer and all the office supplies ready to go , and 5 books for the trip packed and sat down at 5:00 a.m. to catch a nap.  Sara came by around 8:30 to help me load the car and then we got her stuff loaded and we were off. We arrived at our first stop, Annapolis Cheesecake Factory and had lunch, delicious pot stickers and Sara's usual salad, and then it was Nashville or bust!  We make it a 2 day trip with poor Sara driving the entire way, because I was too busy reading (one book down).  I didn't so much as put the needle through the canvas work piece I had for the car.  But as you can see from the picture, I did get some stitching in finally in Nashville.  We arrived at our destination on Wednesday afternoon, unloaded, and stitched.  I looked at all I brought but I just wanted to finish Sara's canvas work project, which became my project.    So that became the only thing I worked on the entire time.  I couldn't believe it was taking so darn long, but now that I'm done the major part (now I'm working on the border and should have it done this week) I'm glad I stuck with it.  Of course after seeing all the stuff at the show....well my stitching tote is overwhelmed with new projects.  I'm still working on pre-stitch for Sheri Jones classes so at this point I can't work on anything else.  To make matters worse, I got done one half of the back panel on the Garden Variety Long Pocket and realized I had stitched the panel on the wrong side.  It was supposed to be on the left side and I stitched it on the right.  So I brought it into the shop on Thursday and told Sara to cute me a new piece of linen because there was just too much to tear out.  She looked at it and said, don't tear it out, just keep going because she didn't care if the panels were reversed.  While in the beginning I was opposed to leaving it, by Sunday I was on board.  We had problems with the computer and printer in Nashville so I didn't do any tickets or tag the charts, etc., while we were there.  So Thursday I got the boys to unload the car and Sara and I started working.  I got the tickets done and inventory loaded into the computers while Sara got the tickets on the  merchandise and was busy getting it on the racks.  Sunday I realized something was wrong and as it turns out, there was a glitch in the system here and none of the  merchandise I had put in the computer for the past 3 days was showing up.  I'm telling you I was so aggravated.  Vernon came in this morning to see what he could do, and the end result we called our "tech" guy and told him to put us on our own server since he couldn't figure out what went wrong.  Now I've got to go back and reenter everything....UGH!!!  Not a great start to my day.   But this time around I'll get to really look through what came back with us.  As I was doing some of the tickets I made sure some went into my bag, but I didn't get to go through everything.  After going into Erica Michaels show room I became obsessed with the strawberry's.  While I haven't stitched a lot of them, I have done a couple, but the strawberries done on silk gauze are just too cute and then she stitched one of the gauze strawberry's on 32 ct. linen over 2 and it became a giant strawberry and she had me sold.  Sold I tell you....so I'm doing that too.  Too darn cute!!!!  I went through a few showrooms saying, "Sara I can do one of those for a sample."  Finally Sara said, "Mom you have said that in too many of the rooms, you can't possibly get all of them done."  Just you wait, as soon as this pre stitch is done I'm going to be stitching 24/7.  Can't wait!  Got to start loading our website so I'll talk later.  Have a great day