This weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, hosted by Joysze.  I took full advantage of it, thanks to the three day weekend we had due to Patriots Day on Monday.  Lots of round robin stitching to do – and the first priority was to get my final hours on Rachel’s HAED complete, since it was due to be mailed yesterday.

The photo to the right is where I ended up yesterday.  I’m not thrilled with what I got done, but the color changes really slowed me down this round.  Ah well – progress is progress!

Unfortunately, my hours for Rachel’s piece took up my weekend – I’d planned on putting some time in a couple other things, but that’s now shifted to tonight through Friday.

Next up is the final few hours on Kris’ piece – I want to get that mailed off to Blu by Friday to allow for the extra shipping time needed.  And then I’ll get my square for the Mira RR finished.  I’ve already made a good start on it, so hopefully I can have the stitches done by the end of the weekend.

On Saturday, I had to do a stash run for beads and metallics for the Mira RR.  Erich was hosting a Dungeons & Dragons game at the house starting at 10 am, so I got up bright and early and headed up to Bush Mountain Stitchery in Ware, Mass.  It’s about a 2 hour drive from me, but it’s a pretty route and after an extremely difficult, emotional week, I definitely needed the drive alone in my car to do some thinking.

It started as a sunny spring morning, complete with a pack of wild turkeys popping across the road in front of me as I wound through the woods at 50 mph – I now know my car has fantastic brakes.  Thank goodness the roads weren’t slippery.

I spent a couple hours at the store, buying the materials I needed and doing a little wandering.  I picked up three charts – Salem Remembered from the Primitive Needle, Official Crazy Cat Lady from Raise the Roof, and Ye Olde Coffee House from Little House Needleworks.  Bush Mountain carries full lines of DMC, Anchor, Finca/Presencia, and Sullivans, so I decided I’d do a little experimenting.  I kitted out the Little House pattern with Sullivans to see how it stitches up.  I’ve heard mixed reviews, but the shop owner at Bush Mountain likes it and says the coverage is good with the Sullivans – and that it doesn’t tangle as badly.  I am intrigued.

I mean, I’ve always stitched with DMC.  It’s what I’m comfortable with simply because I’m familiar with it.  But I’m not devoted to the brand, particularly if another brand fits my stitching style better.  To me, floss is floss – just like with fabric, different projects may be better with different materials.  I’m not someone who is devoted to a brand – I’ll just use what I feel is best at the time to get the effect that I want.

Anyway, after I left the store I decided to wander a bit further out Route 9 to see what was there, mostly in hopes of finding something for lunch… and yeah, there’s nothing really. I finally gave up at the McDonalds in Belchertown.  I headed south from there, past the Pike (I-90), and then took US-20 most of the way back home, since it’s a road I’m very familiar with thanks to the Brimfield Show.  It’s so eerie to see the show fields completely empty when I’m used to seeing them in complete chaos for the May show.

So I got a good day of wanderlust in.  A little shopping, a nice amount of wandering that took me in a huge circle of western Massachusetts, and a lot of time to myself to think.  The thinking is continuing.

And so’s the stitching.  :)