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!