Week Twenty-Five, June 25, 2015

I did it! I actually stitched this week. Partly because of International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, but also because I unpacked my traveling gear and decided to keep out that traveling needlepoint for at least this week and get in some work on that leopard spot border.

Here it is after last night - a lot of the terra cotta red background in on the left border:

And a close-up of the upper left border:

Wouldn't you know, as I was stitching down this side, I found three or four spots stitched in the wrong direction! AAARGH. Frogging needlepoint wool is hell so I decided to leave it, hoping that because it's an almost-black dark brown that it won't show. But this is a home decor piece anyway, not for judging, so, if I EVER get this done, I really won't care!

I also prepped two blocks for April and June (but they aren't sewn yet) for the Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project piece I'm working on. I hope to get them assembled and stitched on before this next week is over!

My stitch mojo is back --- not in full force, but back!

I said  last time that we were on a three-week road trip the first three weeks of June and that I would share pictures...

Florida - Manatee Springs on the Suwanee River:

Florida - Cedar Key at sunset

Florida - Micanopy (these are two of four, purported to be slave cabins)

No pictures in Atlanta --- I stayed in the hotel, reading and (gasp! stitching while husband was touring daylily gardens and attending break-out classes at the National Hemerocallis Society Annual Convention. 

North Carolina - the Slightly DIfferent Nursery from the back deck of the home:

West Virginia - Our hosts' gardens, front (including Chonga, the greet-cat):

and back (Our host did all the dry wall and flagstone work himself!):

As you can see, we had a long (and at times exhausting) trip but we managed to fit in visits with four sets of friends we don't get to see that often becasue of distance, all fit in around the convention! This is how we did it last year when the convention was in Asheville, NC. Great way to plan a road trip, I think. 

Next year is in Louisville and we don't have any friends to visit in that area so a road trip doesn't seem to be in order there. The 2017 convention is in Virgina, which means a mini-trip to West Virgina is a possibility. But we can recreate this trip in 2018 when the convention is in Myrtle Beach. Getting to see parts of the USA we have only passed through in the past ... I highly recommend it!

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, June 19 - 21

Well, I promised myself I would NOT miss another IHSW so I did keep out my traveling needlepoint and finished the leopard spots (well --- almost; when I was taking the photo I noticed one glaring spot that was only half done!) - and actually started another color, a sort of tile red in the upper left corner:

I think I will continue to keep this out a while longer until I get my base blocks for the April and June Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project assembled and ready to stitch. Big projects like "Savs the Stitches" and "Roll Your Own Mandala" will just have to wait until I get fully back into a stitchery routine...

Week Twenty-Three, June 11, 2015 and Week Twenty-Four, June 18, 2015

I'm B-a-a-a-ck! Well, *I* am back... not sure about the stitching mojo.

The cold finally seems to have depearted. Maybe 90° weather in Atlanta baked it out of me. I will see.

Atlanta. you say?

We've been on a three week road trip (June 1 - 19), or as my husband called it, when the car's starter died in West Virginia, "Charlie's Exciting Adventure". We had two days drive form Ohio to Florida, seven days with a freind, one day's drive back north to Atlanta, four nights in a hotel/conference center for the National Hemerocallis (AKA Daylily) Society Convention, another day's drive to Shelby, NC (Yes, THAT Shelby where that mass shooter was caught, two days After we left!), a night there with a friend who hybridizes GORGEOUS daylilies, and then a day's drive to Harper's Ferry, WV where we planned only to overnight with yet more friends. Trouble is, the next day, the car wouldn't start and husband embarked on his "Exciting Adventure", locating a Lexus dealer, getting the car there, and then dealing with a beaurocracy that left us living on the mercy of those friends for three more days! Finally, we drive ten more hours through the remnants of tropical Storm Bill, arriving back home at around 6PM! Exhausting!

I'll share a few trip pictures next week when I check in...

Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of stitching done but, when husband was touring daylily gardens on the 12th adn 13th, I did get in some stitching on my traveling needlepoint piece. Here is what it looked like after the last known stitching, in June of 2014:

 

And here is  a closeup of that top border after three more three-ply wool strands were put into the leopard spots:

 

Not a lot, but given the light in hotel rooms and the fact that it was storming and VERY dark outside the room window, not bad.

I plan on keeping it out for the weekend and see if I can at least get the border done before putting it away for the next trip. I'm hoping, also to finish one Craqzy Quilt/Bead Journal block, assemble and start two more, and get the two BAPs ("RYO Mandala" and "Save the Stitches") out of their dust wrappers and onto Q-Snaps in the coming week. After the laundry, the bills and the thank-you notes are sent out, that is!

Weeks Twenty-One, May 28, 2015 and Twenty-Two, June 4, 2015

What can I say? the cold is back... again! No stitching since my last post. This year is going to be a real loser, at least re stitchery. Don't have but one possible fair entry and I'm not sure it's worth entering just one so...

I'm off to refill my OJ cup and take some DayQuil!