Oh.no not again....

I guess we're all saying that today as we see another storm about to hit us.  Today it's sunny, glorious, with a temp that is moderate....I came to work in a shirt...didn't need a coat....just lovely.  It's just so hard to believe that this time tomorrow we will be in the middle of a mess.  I thought we might escape the gloom and doom, but noooo, we're due for a few inches.  I know those of you who are looking at a foot are just shaking your head at our 5 inches, however, consider we don't have snow removal equipment because our history is ....we don't get snow.  Anyway, I went grocery shopping yesterday (first time since Superbowl) so now I'm stocked up and ready.  So bring it on, snowman, just bring it on....and then leave town and don't come back until 2015.  I'm anticipating plenty of stitch time this week....can't wait.  I've got bags loaded with projects sitting beside my sofa but I swore to myself I wouldn't put anything else on the shelves of my stitching room so I'm loading down bags and leaving it in my living room (does this defeat the purpose?)  I've dedicated the next few days to my Sherri Jones Tulip Tray in hopes that I can really get a lot of it stitched so I can get  another finish done this week...I like to see at least one finish per week, and I know it won't be the Sherri Jones,asI have to get a bit done on it before I'll allow myself to work on anything else.  Linda Wimbrow and Candy came in today...Sunday is the joint project day for us...at least Linda and I.  While Linda did work on her piece, between updates on weather forecast every 10 minutes, I started to do the Moss Creek  Knot...had to pull it out and said, "I have to work on this at home...." and put the whole thing back in the project bag.  That Moss Creek knot is one of the most difficult knots for me, and yet, I have to say I think it is the most uniform knot ever.....but I can never seem to remember how to do it without the paper sitting in front of me.  And of all days, I  brought nothing else to work on....so....I just pulled something new from stock and started working on one of the Limited Edition Lizzie Kate kits.  I know I can finish that and get it put together during the snowstorm so that will be my finish this week.  Candy got 2 Shepherd's Bush little kits done since she was here a week ago...good job!  Sara is just hoping no one asks her do to anything as she had her exercise Boot Camp yesterday morning and can barely bend over.  Add that pain to the head ache she must have from last night's newly wed game she participated in at a local bar...where it seems you have to be drunk to participate.  Glad I wasn't there to witness it....however, our Stacy Stinson was living it up there was well.  Think how much stitching you girls could have gotten done....probably wouldn't have had as much fun though.  Anyway, I've got to get some work done...less than an hour to go before I'm homeward bound...so I'll sign off...have a great night of stitching and stay warm.  Good luck to us all for the next 24 hours.  Hope you don't suffer another blizzard.

I was wrong...winters apparently not over....

I was suppose to go to the framers Tuesday, but since I finished the
stitching on my latest Ladies Primn Society kit, "Growing Love" stitcher's wallet , I stayed in and finished the piece (shown to the right), plus there were snowflakes coming down.    While it's taken me much longer to do the finishing than I would have preferred (I'm such a novice with finishing), I'm thrilled with the outcome.  The first picture shows back and front of the wallet and of course the second picture shows it closed.  Made a great little gift for Sara (although she paid for it so not sure how much of a gift.   Ann from R & R told us in Nashville the kits had been sent out so of course the minute I got home I was waiting for it.  It finally arrived Friday and then I was itching to get started on it.  I swore I wasn't going to just put these kits on the shelf and finish them whenever, so I am thrilled I've been able to get the first two stitched and finished right away.  Hopefully I will improve with the finishing over time.  I did finish it a little differently than they suggested.  I added the overdyed rick rack in the seam to give it a fancy edging.  Love it.  The other news is I was wrong, wrong, wrong....winter is not over it snowed a little on Wednesday and now with the polar vortex...well suffice it to say that we are freezing down here.  Thursday Sara and I went to Salisbury to take my pieces to the framer, then back to pay our real estate taxes (whew...that was a chunk of change) and by then I was too tired to go to the grocery store....meanwhile I haven't been grocery shopping since Superbowl...needless to say I'm down to mustard and relish in the refrig....getting touch to find something to eat....this could be a wonderful diet for me if I didn't have candy here I'm trying to ignore.  I do think I have a couple cans of soup....damn, it's going to be a rough dinner hour.  But on the plus side, I get to start a new project and God knows I have plenty of choices here.  But when I finally got home guilt got the better of me and I pulled out the Tulip Tray of Sherri Jones and decided I had to get started since I had just a little over a month left before the class.  As usual I thought I read the directions carefully...but as usual I missed the fact that it was a tent stitch and just the first pocket was taking me forever when I realized I was suppose to be doing tent and I was doing the full cross.  You'd think I would learn since I did the same thing last year, but noooo, I just forge ahead and start stitching and now that I've committed to a complete cross I can't stop, at least on this one panel.  However, since the other backgrounds on the other panels are specialty bargello like stitches, this won't happen again.  And by the time I realized what was wrong, I still had the swan to do in the center so it is done in a tent stitch.   Now I will "stew" over whether I will run out of floss or not.  It's always something!  But I have to say I'm enjoying the variety of stitches on this piece.  I also started the "Beekeeper" from Plum Street on Monday.  And because I had 2 days of non-stop stitching I've really got quite a head start on it.  The urn and 3/4 of the beehive are done.  Of course now I'm pushing forward with Sherri's class piece so The Beekeeper has been put on hold (unless I'm able to get some of the panels for the Tulip Tray done quickly so I can go back.  And of course there is The Cottage I'm doing with Linda that must be worked on..oh, my ... good thing I don't need a lot of sleep.  I have to get back to Nashville stuff and finish getting it ticketed.  Sara is working with a yarn salesperson and is giving me the evil eye as she knows I'm not doing tickets.  So I'll end here before she fires me...have a great day....catch you later.

New Day...Another finish

A guilty pleasure...that's what Pine Mountain pillow kits are and I love to stitch these in between my linen projects that take longer to finish.  It makes me feel like I'm getting a lot finished.  Anyway, as I'm praying for spring, it was fun to stitch with the bright colors announcing spring and I love, love, love the little blue bird in the corner.  If I was taking this home I would also have added beads, (for birds' eye and for the raindrops at the bottom).  But it confuses everyone if I add stuff and then it isn't in the kit so I made an executive decision and decided not to get off the sofa to get the beads. We're almost back to normal in the shop....not everything from Nashville is up yet, and certainly I haven't been able to get everything on the web site because I've been too busy getting prices on charts etc., but soon.  I'm a work in progress.  There is a quilt retreat in town this week so they are steadily streaming into the shop.  Nothing better than a retreat where all you do is what you love to do and eat.  It's still gorgeous and sunny here, however the winds have picked up a little and of course we have that darn forecast of snow Tuesday night.  But you know my feeling...winter is over so while the cold is returning somewhat (40's...that's not really that cold) I seriously feel we will only see rain.  I'm a little tired of rain as well, but will take it over snow now.  Anyway...I've got to finish my work so I'll say so long for now...have a great day.

We're exhausted......................but plugging on

We have had a hectic weekend down here.  The weather has been gorgeous, while not the 60 degrees (I don't think so at least) they forcasted, it has been in the 50's and sunny.  You couldn't ask for a more gorgeous weekend after the snow, etc. we've all experienced.  We were thrilled for Cynthia  and Crystal who were retreating here to get some down time from the snow of New Jersey.  They are always such fun and spent 2 days with us in the shop.  Crystal is a lover of samplers and has around 100 original samplers she's collected with at least one dating back to the 1600's.  So we had an interesting discussion about that....I'm hopeful she'll open her own Sampler Museum...we'll work on her some.  She does want to reproduce them with needle and thread and then sell the charts....but of course she has to work that in her work schedule which is daunting.  She is up at 4:00 a.m. on the phone and sometimes after 11:00p.m.  When is her down time I want to know?  No wonder she needed a retreat.  Anyway, we've seen several of our stitchers as they came through to see what's new from Nashville, this weekend.  Everyone added new stitching to their already hearty stash.  Speaking of which...I finished this little pyn cushion a couple of nights ago.  It's about a 2 hr stitch at most and putting it together was no problem.  You get all the supplies, including a piece of fabric to put on the back and the frame is also included.  Also included, the little  butterly pin.  The design is approximately 2"x2".  Makes a cute, quick gift for a stitching friend....secret santa people.  We need to get started thinking about that already.  It will be here before you know it.  In fact with all the snow it feels more like December than March.  Anyway, I just wanted to touch base and let you know what's happening here.  Will talk later...have a great day and keep those needles moving.

We're struggling................

As I reported in Nashville, Sara's back was giving her trouble and it only got worse so she went to have her back adjusted and felt a little better....whew....but then this morning I tweaked mine so now the two of use are struggling to get through a day at work.  But with all the Nashville stuff we just can't stop.  And we've almost got it finished....almost.  Of course if I would stop checking out all the new stuff and continually putting things in a bag to go home we might get there a little faster, but what can I say.  Wanted you to see the Lizzie Kate, "Song of Spring" which was actually finished (stitching) while in Nashville, but I just got around to putting it together.  I loved this piece and everything was included in the kit, fabric, backing fabric, lace, buttons...everything but the stuffing.  Last night I finished Praiseworthy Stitches Pyn Cushion...I'll get it  up tomorrow.  Cute and obviously fast since it was started and finished last night.  Anyway, I've got to get back to the job at hand.  Have a great day....around 60 here....uh, spring at last, although Monday we're back to winter, but at least it's a break.  While we were in Nashville Syd Serson was retreating here and after checking out the Nashville stuff she headed home today. Thanks Syd, it's always great to see you.  Stacy Stinson was in today to get her stash restocked and Crystal and Cynthia arrive today for a weekend retreat.  Yes we're busy here this weekend and with the weather...well it's going to be a great weekend in Ocean City.  Hope you have a great one too. 

Travel day.....

Woke up at 3 a.m. not feeling so hot...apparently now that other things are clearing up I'm getting a cold....ugh!  But it's travel day so I'll get sleep in the car and we'll be home tomorrow...thank God.  I decided since I was awake to get some stitching done.  I'm working on the new  Limited edition kit from Lizzie Kate, "Song of Spring".  Think I can finish this before I get home so that makes 3 finishes since I left home...whoppee.  Once the show was over for us...we decided to take a break before I started spitting out tickets for the "stuff" we got and we stitched until about 10 p.m. and then Sara went to her room and I started working on the computer, Sara's computer.  I got one sheet of tickets done and her computer than froze, when I went to reboot I got the dreaded message that it wouldn't reboot so I was out of business.  So now I'm going home with work to do once I get there so Wednesday I'll have to go into the office to get everything priced by Friday, but  we'll have everything done before the shop opens.  Come on by.  Guess my mini vacation is over.  I've had a great time, will be returning with great books and kits and will start posting Friday.  Sara has been putting new stuff on Facebook since last Friday.  So take a look there for now until I get up to speed.  Have a great day and I'll keep  you posted.

Final Day....but we're hitting the floor running.....

Didn't get any stitching done last night as I was busy fighting the printer and getting all the new stuff ticketed.  Did pretty well and until the whole thing went to hell and I went to bed.  When I got up this morning I fought with it another 45 minutes and then decided to let Sara deal with it.  I've ceased to care whether tickets get done here or home....today I stitch after the show.  Seeing everyone's models and picking up all this merchandise, well I'm like a child in a candy store.  But this room is such a mess...bags all over hells green acres in here.  It's not condusive to stitching it's so messed up, but I suppose I could start taking some of this down to the car....no that would just take away stitching time and I wasn't able to stitch at all yesterday so stitching is a priority today.  But picking a project is the problem.  Forget all the projects I brought down here with me.  I've been pulling projects as I go through the bags and so far I've got 2 small Shepherd's Bush that are  1 night each...Spring Box and Winter Box, oh another one, Count Your Blessings.  Then I also pulled The Beekeeper which won't be a one night project but is a kit so I'm able to start right away, and then the 2 limited editions by Lizzie Kate which have all supplies, including finishing supplies included.  Everything else I want has to be supplied with everything so they will have to wait until we get home.  This is the fun part of owning a shop.....you have a huge stash (called your store) to pull from...the not fun part is the amount of money that stash costs you...my mother spent a few years trying to get me to understand that it would probably be cheaper for me to buy my stuff from someone else and not have a shop....I understand I'm still paying for everything so in theory she's right, but it sure wouldn't be as much fun.  I'd never get to a market and I love coming to these. And the friends I've made through stitching...well it just wouldn't be the same without Salty Yarns.  In fact, I've seen several of the participants in our retreats this weekend.  Ran into Pat Eaton, from In Stitches, who comes to our retreat.  Melinda from The Stitching Post was running past us on every floor...don't know how she does this show alone.  All the designers I love seeing...Oh, my and when we were in the Shepherds Bush room  I was mystified when they started talking about seeing us until I realized they were talking about our segment on Hotel Impossible...they even said they wanted to come down to stay....hummm you know what I'm thinking.....we're hoping we can convince them to come and stay with us and in their down time teach (yeah, downtime...I can hear them laughing from here.) But what a dream I'm having about that.    Oh, My God...shoot me now...it's noon and I'm praying I don't die before we're done.  I always fade on Sunday but with Sara's back tweaked I can't do that so I'm marching forward bravely.  I'm just thrilled she had to go to the Great Model Giveaway and I have a chance to get off my feet.  Mercy...this is for younger people with less weight hanging around them.   Well, it's now 3:00 pm and we are officially done for the weekend and not a minute too soon.  I actually stopped about 1 1/2 hours ago and just sat in with Inez of Adam Originals and talked.  But we've had a great time and I'm thrilled that many of us feel the same about this Market and there is a rumbling that someone else will get a show going here again regardless of TNNA's decision, which today I found out from one of the board members is really made regarding the wishes of the  needlepoint industry and the yarn industry and with little regard for the counted cross stitch community.  I'm mistified why they purchased INRG in the first place.  Why take over a market you aren't interested in preserving?  Well, hopefully someone can get it together for us.  Let's keep our fingers crossed..  Damn, Sara got the printer working so I'm done here....no stitching til later.  I'll keep you posted.