Measi's Musings

Archive for the ‘Travels’ Category

Erich and I are back from the weekend at Cape Cod.  It was a fun time with friends.  My Thanksgiving turkey was once again a success and we all ate ourselves into a near coma.  The guys played many games of Risk, we all fawned over Jack (the toddler of the hosts), and I managed to find some stitching time.  It was gorgeous all weekend – low 60s!  In New England!  In late November!  (in case you’re not familiar with my area of the world, it’s normally just above freezing this time of year, often with snow flurries or freezing rain).

I even found a new stitchy shop on the Cape to head to when I’m searching for specialty fibers – Town-Ho Needleworks in Brewster, MA.  Always nice to find another supplier “just in case.”  Cape Cod isn’t too bad of a drive (I think this shop is roughly the same distance as Bush Mountain from me).  In the summer, though, I wouldn’t dare try it – traffic on the Cape gets a bit… insane… on the weekends.

Good thing I found it – I was missing two Kreinik colors to finish off my Mira RR square.  Which no, is not done.  But I made progress and will definitely be ready to send it by the deadline.

Rather than take US 6 off the Cape today, we decided to enjoy the nice weather and drove the entire distance of 6A until we arrived at the bridge, wandering through the little towns.  It was a wonderful Sunday drive.  We saw tons of antique shops, Inns, B&Bs, and gorgeous little cottages.  Cape Cod is adorable to the point of overkill.  It really is.

*****

I’ve updated the Wipocalypse signups – we’re now over 180 members!  Can you believe it?  I’m shocked. I really am.

In the near future I’ll be popping by everyone’s blog to remind them of the start of the SAL (some people signed up at the end of August!), make sure I have everyone on my blog reading list, and post a link to the FAQ Page.  Since the first people signed up, I’ve added the FAQ page, added the discussion forum, and hope to have one additional element to add for folks:  a sidebar linky button.

This is where I need some help, however, because I’m design-challenged.  If there’s anyone out there who wouldn’t mind putting some sort of a stitchy-themed button together, that would be awesome.  The only thing I can offer is thank you credit, but any help you can provide would be awesome.  I’d like to have a standard sized button (I think they’re roughly 80×20 pixels?) and also a 100×100 pixel icon square if possible.

Any help that can be provided would be awesome!  Send anything (along with your link and how I should credit you) to measiwitch@gmail.com.

I hope that everyone in the U.S. had a lovely Thanksgiving, and that everyone else has had a good week. TGIF!

I’m doing a very quick entry because I’m running late this evening, but I didn’t want to forget my Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long post for the month. (Daffycat has opened next year’s signups, by the way. Jump over here and check it out!)

My jar is officially filled to the lip now, albeit with a lot of loft. This month I focused mainly on ornaments. I’ve also done a little stitching on the final round of the Mirabilia round robin (which I should wrap up this weekend).

I’ve finished my ornament for my personal exchange for Rahenna just a short time ago. I’ll post a photo of it once she receives it. I’ve been good and have avoided opening up my package from her… my willpower is about to give in!

I’m off to finish packing. This weekend is an annual trip to Cape Cod with my group of friends. We do Thanksgiving dinner, play lots of board games, drink too much, and just enjoy a couple days in a timeshare condo away from the craziness back home. I’m just waiting for our roommate Matt to get home so he can help me lift the turkey (25 pounds!!) and the brine pot into the car, and then off I go.

See you on Sunday – hopefully with a round robin finish!

I’d decided to write up the WIPocalypse SAL page during a random rainy day.  I think Irene blowing through our area qualifies.  :)

So come one, come all and sign up for the 2012 Wipocalypse!  And please pass the word along.  :)

It’s been a windy, wet day today, but thankfully it looks like we’re missing the bulk of this storm.  Our rainfall totals haven’t been that bad here in Providence (perhaps 4 inches total), and while it’s been extremely windy, we haven’t had power dip at at all, and so far there doesn’t seem to be any damage in my neighborhood.

I headed up to Bush Mountain Stitchery yesterday morning with Lisa and Rebecca (of Samplers & Such) for a fun day of stitching.  Bush Mountain had to do an emergency move to new permanent quarters last week due to ongoing roof issues with their previous location with a new added perk – a room reserved exclusively for stitching!  The three of us were the proud initiators of the new space, and stitched the entire day until the store closed for the day.

The new store is located in what used to be a bank, and it’s a quirky, fun space.  There are lots of little nooks filled with stash to wander and explore.  While I’m sure there will be some changes to the space as the store develops, for now there’s a room exclusively for standard floss.  Another nook for fabric.  And get this – the bank vault is filled with stash!  You actually have to walk through the big vault door!

The stitching room is well-lit and comfortable.  There are bathrooms right off the stitching room and inexpensive food within a block’s walk, so great for a day out.  Maeann, who owns Bush Mountain, is planning to start some events and classes later this autumn once they’ve settled in.

It was a great day – lots of laughing, lots of stash ooh’s and aah’s.  Lisa worked her version of Witchy Washy (Raise the Roof), Rebecca worked on a gorgeous Ackworth School sampler, and I brought Ye Olde Coffee House (Little House Needleworks).  We all made some good progress while we were there.  I look forward to the next trip!

So while the rain has mostly stopped here today, it’s still extremely windy.  We’re watching Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Battlestar Galactica episodes as we goof around all day.  I’ll probably throw some laundry in later, once the storm has really passed us this evening.

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

This year is flying!

For May, I wanted to:

1. Finish Kathy’s Mirabilia square - Done!
2. Stitch five hours on Floral Bellpull -  Didn’t even touch it.
3. Stitch five hours on BoInk - Done!
4. Finish and mail the Folk Egg and gifties to Line - Done!
5. Put at least 10 hours into each UFO RR - Done!
6. Put five hours into the “Super Sekrit Stitch” project. -  Didn’t even touch it.

For June, I’d like to…

1. Finish my hours on Linda’s RR piece
2. Finish Susan’s Mira RR square
3. Stitch five hours on Floral Bellpull
4. Stitch five hours on BoInk
5. Finish one of the little squares on the “Super Sekrit Stitch” project

As always, I set my goals probably a bit higher than I should.  But I think that just keeps me motivated, even if I do a little bitching along the way.

There’s another RR I’ll receive in June (Linda’s piece for the other RR), but it’s not due to get mailed until after the 4th of July weekend.  I imagine I may be holding it until then to stitch at this point.

Tomorrow is looking like a fun-filled day.  I’m heading up to Bush Mountain Stitchery with Hera after we get our nails done.  I need to get supplies for my Mira RR square.  She needs some fabric for a new project (which Bush Mountain has a ton of to choose from).  I’ll be attempting to not spend too much money on other things while I’m there – it’s a huge challenge!  Erich may or may not join us.  I’m hoping he does – partially to keep me out of trouble, but partially because I think he’ll enjoy the back road drive through Massachusetts.  It’s a decently long trip for us – about two hours each way.

And then tomorrow night – hockey!  Hopefully the Bruins will tie the series up.  I’ll be working on BoInk during the game, since it doesn’t require color changes.  :)

Happy Friday, all!

This post started as my TUSAL post, but despite several tries, my TUSAL photo simply refuses to show up in either Flickr or my email tonight.  I’m going to hope it’s swimming in the ether and will pop up at some point this evening.  If not, I’ll resend and post it in the morning.

It’s been a busy week here in my corner of the world.  I had a crazy week at work last week for our largest client, which went surprisingly just as smoothly as it could possibly go.  That allowed me to actually have my weekend free (hooray), which I hadn’t planned on because said client’s project is one that can turn into disaster very, very easily.  I’d honestly planned on having to work all weekend.

The free weekend allowed me to finally go to Celebration of Needlework in Nashua, New Hampshire – an event that I’ve hoped to attend for years now.  Although I couldn’t get the full experience due to my last minute attendance, I still had a great day.  Nashua is just a bit less than two hours north of Providence in good traffic, so while it’s a somewhat long day trip, it’s still doable. I got up at 7, was on the road by 8, and arrived at about quarter to ten in the morning.  Not bad at all.  I spent the day with Lisa, her mom, and her sister.  We had lunch, we did some stitching, and we shopped.

Oh, and there was much shopping to be had.  Most of which was waaaaay out of my completely unplanned stitching budget.  I was surprisingly good and stuck (mostly) to plan.  My only goal was to kit out Book of Ink Circles (aka “BoInk”), using a personalized color palette.  I brought a few pieces of fabric I had from my stash, and figured I’d do either a cool colors or an autumn palette.  I settled on something a bit more autumn-ish against a piece of Lugana in my stash by Silkweaver called Thunderstorm. The picture to the right is the floss toss.  I’m a little on the fence with the light blue, but I can always swap it out later if I don’t think it’s working.    I’m looking forward to getting started with it sometime in the next several weeks.

I also picked up two fantastic Dinky Dyes “oops” grab bags.  They were $14 each, and each contained several skeins, ribbons, etc. of randomly dyed threads – gorgeous colors, but probably not color consistent with the intended dyes.  There were lots of different types of floss in the bags and some gorgeous colors – great stash for those samplers or pieces that could be done in a single overdye.  If you ever come across them, I highly recommend them.

I ran into Sue and Deb from Stitcher’s Hideaway early in the afternoon, and caught a glimpse of a couple other stitchers from the previous retreats milling around the shopping area.  It was great to see folks again – and even more fun to actually KNOW people at the retreat!

Lisa and I chatted with Theresa Venette of Shakespeare’s Peddler for quite a while.  She was doing a “make it/take it” kit event in the main shopping area.  Both of us purchased a kit (she had many different ones available), and then chatted for a little while.  It started with stitching and quickly went into sharing stories and photos of our furbabies.  :)

I also had a couple of newly purchased charts signed by Michelle Lutzen of Stitchy Kitty.  It was great to finally meet her after passing tweets back and forth on Twitter.  Her Halloween Kitty Moon and the Toadally Pirates charts are now mine.

The Rosewood Manor booth was absolutely gorgeous – all of Karen’s models were wonderful, and I’m now coveting several of her patterns. (Next year… next year…) Next door to her booth was Needlework Antiques, which had several gorgeous samplers from the 1700s and 1800s on display – and on sale!  Far, far too expensive for my budget, but it was wonderful looking at them.

The evening brought a large dinner shindig in the main dining room.  Because I was only there on a day pass, I didn’t have a ticket to attend it.  So Lisa and the girls headed to the dinner and I grabbed some cheap food before heading up to one of the reserved stitching lounges.  I got quite a few stitches into the Mira RR while I was there – and a couple different stitchers recognized the piece (*waves to Erin, who’s hopefully reading so I can get her blog address*).  Lisa joined us later in the evening and we stitched until just about midnight, when both Erin and Lisa were about to drop and I still needed to make the two hour drive back home.

It was a great day.  I hope next year my schedule’s free so I can make my plans in advance.  I’d love the opportunity to take one of the classes while I’m there.  Now that I know how extensive the shopping area is, I’ll also budget appropriately.  There were many other booths there, but my budget was so limited that I kept myself focused on floss.  Of course, I still went over my budget, but nowhere near as badly as I could have.  This was definitely one of those weekends where I could get into a ton of trouble.  Whole paycheck and then  some trouble!

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.  :)

I returned home from the retreat late yesterday morning, but I was a bit too much of a zombie to put together any semblance of a blog entry yesterday.  I returned back to work today, and oh boy was that hard.  I’m now battling a bit of post-retreat exhaustion as well as a bit of a sore throat (which I’m not worried about yet, but we’ll see – because a few people were ill this weekend).

Bottom line – Stitcher’s Hideaway is a blast.  I’ll admit I even preferred the Alumni Retreat in some ways because it was just a massive Stitch ‘n Bitch for two days.  No real schedule aside from meal delivery – just show up and stitch on whatever you want, for however much time you want.  Seriously – if you ever have a chance, please go.  And then make sure you go to an alum retreat!  :)

I’ll admit – bringing down my entire rotation was a bit silly.  I know, however, that had I not brought the batch, I would have been sitting there with the itch to stitch on the one piece I’d left at home.  It was easy to transport anyway – it took half of the roller suitcase.

So – onto progress.  After splitting my day in two on Friday, I had plans to do the same thing on Saturday and spend the first half of the day on my HAED and the latter half on Floral Bellpull.  Somehow, I got into a zone on the HAED and worked on it all day (we’re talking 8 am until about 10 pm, with only a couple short breaks).  I finally stopped when my eyeballs were burning.

Progress pics before and after (images pop):

I’m quite pleased. I think I got about… 400 stitches done, perhaps? For me that’s quite good. I’m a bit of a slow stitcher, even on Aida.

For a couple hours on Saturday night, we had a show & tell session of all of our projects.  I brought my two ornaments that weren’t sent off as gifts this year, and Lisa was kind enough to bring the one I’d stitched for the RI Stitchers Exchange.  There were an astonishing variety of pieces, and the work is just gorgeous (including a WIP of “And They Sinned,” which is absolutely insane… I wish I would have grabbed a shot of it – I’m sure the Hideaway report will have it).

There were so many that I just added the photos up to my Flickr set of the Hideaway.  Feel free to browse and enjoy!

So… Stash Enhancement eXperiences.  Oh yes, there was lots of S.E.X to be had!

I was the lucky recipient of a door prize from Rosewood Manor:  a rainbow butterfly pin kit, complete with the frame, pin, jewels, Sullivans floss for outlining, and the options for the butterfly.

Our gifty bags (all wonderfully donated material from the designers/distributors):

• Sew Many Stitches (Sue Hills Designs)
• Frolicking Amongst the Bluebells (Tempting Tangles Designs)
• The Frog Prince (Giulia Punti Antichi/”GPA”)
• Bee Hive (Elizabeth’s Designs)
• The Carrot (Trail Creek Farm)
• Established With Love (Blue Ribbon Designs)
• Three Birds and a Butterfly (Rosewood Manor)
• Deruta majolica biscornu (Giulia Punti Antichi/”GPA”)
• Appalachian Spring (Jeannette Douglas Designs)
• Barney Stonerich (Calico Crossroads)
• One is Not Enough (Calico Crossroads)
• Think Spring! (Calico Crossroads)
• Poets Heart (Lavender Wings)
• Birthday Bellpulls w/threads – Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec (Victoria Sampler)

I also received a copy of the bellpulls at the October retreat – so if there’s a VS fan out there who might be interested in exchanging my spare copy for something in their stash (new or gently used), please drop me an email.

Of course, our generous gift bags were not all of the stash I came home with.  I also went shopping!  As in past retreats, Chris’ Collection set up a little shop in an emptied hotel room with lots of goodies to peruse.  My goal this time was to go through the “scrap bin” of lots of little cuts of fabric for ornaments, small pieces, etc.  I have a bunch of overdyed fabric, but I have a few pieces I’d like to start that really do need neutrals – and preferably antique or primitive toned neutrals for the best effect.

So the photo to the right shows the fabric I returned home with.  Some of it is for ornaments.  Some of it I have an idea for.  Some of it is just going to float probably until the next Just Cross Stitch ornie issue.  :)

Counter clockwise from top left:

• 28 ct Starry Night
• 30 ct unbleached northern cross
• 30 ct Garden State Java (R&R)
• 28 ct Glasgow Natural
• 32 ct Autumn Red

And I raided the sale bins at the store for patterns.  Aside from one new piece from the Prairie Schooler, I don’t think anything that I bought was over $5!

• Queen of the Needle (Just Nan)
• Cape Cod Garden (Medeiros Needlecraft Design)
• Thistle House (Ewe & Eye  Friends)
• Tiny Tree Exemplary (Ewe & Eye & Friends)
• Happy Mom/Mom Day (The Trilogy)
• Special Stitcher (Elizabeth’s Designs)
• My Cat (Trail Creek Farm)
• Christmas Packages (Ewe & Eye & Friends)
• Rhode Island (Eventide Designs)
• Holiday Homestead (The Prairie Schooler)
• With My Needle (The Goode Huswife)
• Birthday Needleroll Kit: January (Victoria Sampler)
• Rose Cottage Sampler (Ewe & Eye & Friends)
• Folks Eggs (Prairie Schooler) <– my one full-price design

I also bought a nifty little stitching caddy that I can bring with me to hold all of my stuff.

So yes – awesome weekend.  I wish I could afford to go to the next one in Sturbridge, but I’ll just have to save my money for either October or next winter’s alumni retreat!

Michelle spinning cord with Belinda

I’ll warn in advance… this is going be a long entry with lots of pictures.  :)

The quick-quick version? I had an absolute blast.  Good company, great class, fun shopping, lots of stitching.  It was exactly what I wanted (and needed)!

I went to Mystic as part of group two.  The demand had been large enough to add a second getaway, and to my surprise – our little group of Rhode Island stitchers were not the only people there.  Our class had 14 people in it, which was just the right size.  It allowed for one on one time with both the teacher and each other, but large enough that there was some variety and a good mix of different stitching styles and interests.  My understanding is that there were double that in the first session – I can’t imagine fitting 28 people in the room we were in, but apparently they fit!  Honestly, I think our class size was perfect, though.  A larger group may have intimidated me.

Belinda Karls-Nace of Blue Ribbon Designs was our instructor.  She has a unique, crisp style of stitching design that appeals to me that blends the tradition of samplers with a more updated, casual style that I love.  If you ever have an opportunity to take a class with her, please do.  She was wonderful – completely approachable and laid-back, encouraging creativity and experimentation and had no hesitation to help one-on-one where needed.  The detail and thought she put into her classes was fantastic – she gave each of us a wonderfully organized binder with step by step instructions (including photos) of everything we covered in class for later reference.  And outside the class, she stayed right with us, chatting with everyone and getting to know us.  I tend to be a bit reserved with people I don’t know (particularly in group settings), but felt completely at-ease with her from the get-go.  At the end of the retreat, my group of friends were having a slightly rowdy dinner conversation with Belinda – she now has groupies. We’ve nicknamed ourselves the BG’s (Belinda Groupies).  All Bee-Gee and disco snarky silliness is implied and encouraged.  Tweets have been exchanged over the silliness.  I imagine they may continue.

Jill, Michelle, and me - just a bit hungover on Day One

Belinda’s class focused on finishing techniques, particularly for ornaments and creating twisted cord.  She used her upcoming design “Pocketful of Peppermints” as the teaching piece, with an adapted ornament that we worked on in class, to teach the techniques.  It’s exactly what I was looking for – I’m not afraid to learn new specialty stitches (which half of the stitches on the ornament were for me), but I’ve been intimidated and frustrated with finishing.  Since I don’t own and don’t know how to use a sewing machine, I’m going to be finishing everything by hand.  I’ve seen other people’s work, and it just flat out intimidated me.

Guaranteed – I’m not anymore.  I’m ready to tackle ornaments.  I’m ready to tackle biscornu.  Bring it all on.  :)

My friends and I arrived at the hotel Sunday afternoon.  I was running late, so Lisa, her mom Kathy, and our friend Jill were already over at Mystic Pizza (and nearly done with dinner) by the time I got there.  Thankfully I’d already eaten specifically because I’d been running late.  We headed back to the hotel.  Kathy went to her room to relax for the evening.  Lisa and Jill came over to mine for some proper retreat-starting partying (because I had the couch in my room).  Michelle joined us later – she opted to take a little side class on beading on Sunday night (which I thought was pretty, but not really my thing).  The four of us were incredibly rowdy – I’m shocked no one came to complain.  I can only imagine that no one was next to my room because really… we were that bad.  At three a.m., I finally kicked everyone out so I could attempt to sleep.

Teaching Ornament Sample

So Monday morning came and oh god, the hangover!  But I got up – I got coffee and breakfast, and I was ready to tackle the day (with three Aleve in me for the headache).  Monday, the first day of class, was essentially the stitching day.  We started on our ornaments and worked throughout the day on the specialty stitches and to get a piece ready for the meat of the teaching on Tuesday.  The ornament we worked was a cute little band ornament – a top and bottom row of fan stitch, surrounding individual rows of rice, standard cross-stitch, four-sided stitch, long armed crosses, smyrna and diamond cross stitches, plaits, satins, and montenegrin stitch.  Due to my hangover, I decided to stick to something really, really basic at first – backstitching the outline for the piece.  It took me far longer than it should have.  Honestly.  The entire outline was only forty-odd backstitches on each side, and it took me at least three hours to do.

So needless to say, I was very slow on Monday.  But I kept plugging away.  And mixed in with our stitching, Sue (who organizes the retreats) had door prizes flying fast and furious to the stitchers in the room.  Seriously – I’m in awe of what I came home with.  The donations from individual stitching companies were incredibly generous and varied.  And Sue was kind enough to include a thank you note already addressed to the individual companies so we could just write and send away – no address trackdowns needed!

Best. Santa. Ever.

Class broke at 5 for a quick break before dinner.  (and let me digress on the food for a bit – my selections from the caterer were fantastic.  The prosciutto & mozz sandwich on day two was particularly wonderful).  After dinner, we returned to the classroom for a little bit of stitching, some gifties and goofy instruction from Sue and a visit from Santa.  It was no surprise to us, but Santa put our little crew on the naughty list.  :)

After festivities ended, we all decided to be good that night (hah – not really… we just all needed to recover!) and headed back to our own rooms.  Now… here’s where the silliness comes in for me.  I’d come to the retreat a bit under-prepared, both financially and supply-related.  Stupid me had only bothered to pack the 11-inch Q-snap that I normally use for stitching, never thinking that I might be stitching something smaller in class.  So about halfway through the first day, I’m starting to debate whether I’d make a quick drive home to grab supplies for day two (since it’s only 45 minutes from home).  I also was trying to figure out how I’d afford the stuff I really, really wanted to buy from Chris, who had set up a great little shop in one of the hotel rooms that we popped down to during breaks.  The pounding headache, however, said no.  No driving to Providence and back that night for me.  So then my attentions turned to asking my husband whether he’d grab stuff from the house (particularly my smaller hoop, since I’d been using Lisa’s Q-snap all day), should he still be thinking of coming down for the evening (a discussion we’d had jokingly for a couple weeks).

mmm... husband in kilt...

So around 8:30 or 9, I get a knock on my hotel room door.  I open it to find Erich – decked in his (and my) cold weather standard New England Patriots jacket, the shirt he’d presumably worn to work, and… his wedding kilt!  Totally mis-matched, but still my husband.  And he’d brought chocolate.  FIVE BAGS of chocolate.  I quickly sent photo messages to Lisa and Michelle to announce how awesome my husband is.  Michelle came over to goof off for a bit and chat.  After she left, we chilled out, ate way too much chocolate, watched Castle (during which I continued to stitch), and cuddled on the bed.  :)

He left a little after 11, and I went to bed shortly after midnight, fighting off that urge to do just one more stitch (over and over and over…)

Tuesday was our big instruction day – we headed into the classroom at about 9:30 and quickly got to work.  Belinda started by teaching us how to twist our own decorative cord, either using a little hand corder or by using a pencil.  I was surprised, honestly.  It’s so easy!  As with anything stitchy, it just takes some patience and practice to identify the tension you need to get the cord to, and ta-dah!  Cord created – and in the color you actually need it, as opposed to the  ”sorta-but-not-really matching so I guess I’ll default to gold or silver” cord that I always wind up with at JoAnn’s Fabric.

My finished ornament for the class!

After the cord instruction, Belinda moved onto cutting and finishing our ornaments using a whipstitch through the backstitches method.  And seriously – Belinda commented about loving her students having that “a-ha!” moment?  Yeah, there was mine.  This method was so much easier than what I’d been doing, and honestly much less labor intensive (for far better results) than what I’d done in the past.  It took me a little while to get into a groove with the technique, but once I did, I was moving steadily.  Beads on, stitches going.  I knew I wasn’t going to get all of the rows on the front done, so at one point I quickly stopped the beading/whip stitch process and threw a rough “2010″ date on the front of my ornament so I’d fill the empty space at the bottom.  Yep, a little off-centered – but hey, I threw the thing on there with no template in about four minutes.

By the end of the afternoon – I had an ornament!  And it’s all hand done by me – right down to the beading and the twisted cord.  Seriously, you have no idea… I can’t believe I made this thing.  (but I can’t wait to make more of them!)

Dinner on Tuesday, as I’d mentioned before, was where my friends and I really clicked with Belinda.  :)  I have a feeling some of the other stitchers may have been a bit annoyed with the rowdy, younger stitcher set my friends and I brought to the retreat, but Belinda welcomed us in and we had a great dinner laughing and flashing phones and pictures of our pets and such.

'Tis (not) Green, all finished

After dinner, we returned to the classroom for a couple hours for some final gifties and the traditional ornament exchange.  It’s done in a Yankee Swap style at Stitcher’s Hideaway, so everyone brings the ornament in a gift back and then draws a number to pick a gift bag from the table.  I brought my finished ‘Tis (not) Green for the exchange, paranoid that my previously sub-par finishing skills would be a bit of a detriment.  Lisa was even planning on doing the “I’ll grab it if it’s still up for choosing if you feel that bad, Mel” save for me.  I hope that Martha, who picked my ornament, does enjoy it, despite how simple and basic the finishing was.  I do love the design – and I’m planning making a couple more of them now that I can be a bit more creative with them!

Belinda's ornaments - now residing with me!

I lucked out and managed to get Belinda’s ornament in the exchange!  She also generously gave each of us a gorgeous snowflake ornament that she’s able to do on her sewing machine – each ornament was just a bit different, just like real snowflakes.  Both will happily be added to my tree this year.  :)

Lisa and Kathy had to leave a bit early as Kathy wasn’t feeling well.  Michelle and I were the next to leave, shortly after the festivities ended (since we both were driving home).  I drove home very happy, relaxed, and so happy I’d gone.  Honestly – it was just what I needed this year, both from a relaxation angle and a stitching one.  It’s been a rocky year.  I didn’t even know if I’d manage to get to the retreat due to Erich’s job loss earlier this year, but all things happen for a reason, and this definitely was on that list.  :)

So all told, it was a fantastic retreat.  Sue puts a lot of organizing effort into them and it shows – everything’s well organized with plenty of instruction time and free-form time to socialize.  I’d definitely go back again, and in fact Michelle and I are thinking of registering for the Sturbridge retreat that will happen next June, since one of Michelle’s favorite designers will be the instructor.  So yes – I definitely recommend going to Stitcher’s Hideaway if you haven’t gone.  It’s a lot of fun and a great, relaxing weekend of stitching.  The only thing I think I’d change is that I would have stayed the extra evening in the hotel afterward, just to stretch out and relax.  Without a hotel room to retreat to for a little lie-down the second day, I felt like I was a bit of a stitcher without a home. But hey, things to remember for next time.

Belinda’s going to be teaching next autumn up in Enfield, NH – and now I’m torn as to what I’ll do next year in the autumn.  Clearly I have to win the lottery so I can attend a couple of different retreats!  (is this how the insanity starts?)

Door prizes, our class kit, and Belinda's designs that I purchased

So… stash enhancement.  OH DEAR GOD(DESS) THERE WAS STASH ENHANCEMENT.

First, we all received a big gift bag on the first morning with lots of patterns and goodies in the bags.  I took photos of all of the stash enhancement and the retreat and put them up over on my Flickr Account for browsing.  Seriously – it’s a ton.  I’m overwhelmed.  And mind you – most of this I didn’t purchase. I only bought eight charts and the fabric that goes with one of those charts:

• Creepy Crawly (Blue Ribbon Designs) – I fell in love with the little keeper casket!
• Black Cats and Flying Bats (Blue Ribbon Designs)
• The Witches Wheel (Glendon Place) – which goes on the crazy orange tie-dyed fabric
• Ghool School (Glendon Place)
• Thine is the Trick and the Treat (Prairie Moon)
• Have an Ice Day (Raise the Roof)
• Jenny Bean’s Halloween Sampler (Shakespeare’s Peddler)
• Peaceable Kingdom (Teresa Wentzler) – in my never-ending attempt to collect her designs

Everything else was free stash – whether in our initial gift bags or via door prizes or via the freebie box in the back.  I’m seriously overwhelmed (and all in a good way).

So yeah – can I go back now?  I was having entirely too much fun!

Short, short entry for now – I had an absolute blast.  I learned  bunch.  I finished an ornament in class (yay!), and learned so much.  I’m now ready to start tackling ornaments with confidence (and will… starting tomorrow!)  I have an obscene amount of new stash to show off and lots of photos to upload, but I’ll do that tomorrow.  For tonight, I’m just adding some new contacts from the retreat while it’s fresh in my mind and having some alone time.

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Also – the “possible big news” I alluded to in my last entry is no longer on the radar.  Erich and I had a bit of a possible pregnancy thing hovering, but I can confirm that nope, not pregnant (and honestly, I’m okay with it – I was on the fine-with-either fence).

Erich, Matt and I headed to South County today for theCharlestown Seafood Festival. Lots of great seafood, some interesting raffles, a fantastic classic car and motorcycle show, and some great music. The weather was just a bit hot (due to the asphalt), but we had a great time.

Afterward, we headed a bit further down Route 1 to Quonochontaug Pond and wandered through the salt flats on the southern side of the pond for a couple hours. We saw several crabs, tons of minnows, jellyfish, and a horseshoe crab. The water was wonderful – I honestly wish I would have had my bathing suit so I could have gone deeper. At one point on our way back from a little rock shoal in the flats, we tried crossing through a cut path in the reeds – but I quickly sunk to mid-calf in some very stinky mud… so yeah, backed out of there and continued trudging through the water instead. On the mud trail, we did see lots of bubbles against the water – we’re thinking it was a well-populated clam bed. Several people were walking around with buckets and nylon bags, and I’m pretty sure I saw Quahogs in those bags (a local really, really big clam for those who are unfamiliar).

It’s a fantastic place – the water is brilliantly clear and a great temperature (not too warm, not too cold, with some neat swirling eddies of both temperatures). Great for little kids because there’s no real tide to worry about. There were plenty of people there, but it didn’t feel crowded or chaotic – just a bunch of very friendly people enjoying a gorgeous little nook of Rhode Island on a gorgeous summer afternoon. Can’t beat it!

Matt got very sunburned, and I’m a little toasty feeling – but I think both of us should be okay tomorrow. Erich is just fine – I’m envious of the native blood in him. He just tans.

***

I’m redoing some pictures for the Postcrossing of the Day cards – I wasn’t happy with how they photographed (they look very blurry to me). Once I get some done and cropped, I’ll start back up with the feature. Probably will get at least a few done this week.

***

Stitching, stitching… it’s been a wild week! On Sunday, I got together with a few fellow stitchers from Rhode Island for our first official Rhode Island Stitchers get together. We hit it off immediately and had a great time. The next meetup is scheduled for Saturday the 14th at the Warwick Public Library (open to all, so please come down… info is on the Facebook group).

I’ve been working on two projects this week – Spryntz‘s RR piece and Astrology Sampler.  I decided to restart Astrology Sampler on Thursday.  The original fabric I’d chosen just was NOT working as I’d hoped.  Even Erich looked at it and went “ugh… no, that looks bad.”  So rather than have fun with Silkweaver fabbies on this one, out came the Aida tubes.  I’ve restarted it on good old-fashioned 14 ct black Aida, which is what the sample piece is on, I think.  It already looks much better.

Spryntz’s piece is coming along slowly but steady.  I’d planned on getting some of it done tonight, but I’m too tired after being in the sun.  I’ll work on it tomorrow.

Speaking of Robins – there’s a new UFO Round Robin starting up soon, if anyone’s interested.  Go over here for the information.  Right now it’s in preliminary sign-ups.  The plan is to kick it off sometime in September (I’m guessing probably late-ish September).

That’s it for me… time for bed.  :)

I’ll admit that I’ve been in a meh mood about blogging lately so I haven’t been around LJ often. Part of it has just been a pullback after all of the fandom b.s. over the last several months (and taking a breather). Part has just been that frankly, I don’t have a lot I’ve felt like writing about. And really – in a lot of ways I just don’t feel like I have anything interesting to say. *shrug*

That being said, I hate that with the exception of a few very filtered entries, my journal has really only been filled with dragon eggs for the last several weeks. And that needs to change. I’m also debating whether to start posting most stuff in unlocked entries again, and just say “eff it” to all of the crap that’s gone on. Filtering myself into a lockdown, and then forcing myself to further filter due to the people who were on my friends list has honestly hurt my writing style. A lot.

Thankfully, I’ve done a lot of sweeping. And I’m thinking I’m okay.

So for giggles, here’s just a “what’s Mel been up to lately?” life recap post…

Writing Stuff
I’ve been doing a lot of writing, both fanfic and casual fiction, but not getting anywhere near where I want to be. That’s frustrating. I’m now two months late on my Support Stacie fic – mostly stuck because NC17 was requested, but I just can’t get my brain to go that route right now. *sigh* (and of course, forcing makes it even worse). I’m now also late on an OT3 fic, although the deadline was a bit looser on that one. I do think that my OT3 writing is being affected by the Stacie fic situation. I’ll just try to keep plugging… somehow.

Once these two fics are done, though, I need to take a break from fanfic for a while. Just to focus on other projects, I think.

Travels
This past weekend Erich and I headed to Chicago to celebrate the wedding of our friends myownwench and jgulner. We had a great time, despite some extremely crappy weather on Saturday and Sunday. Neither of us had been to Chicago before. To be able to fly from snowy teen-degree Rhode Island to a sixty-five degree Chicago and sprawl out on the Navy Pier on Friday, complete with mini-icebergs in Lake Michigan, was a blast.

The wedding itself was very nice – a pretty and heartfelt ceremony for two fantastic people, followed by a good party that went past midnight with lots of dancing and goofing off. Really can’t beat it.

Oh – and if you ever go to Chicago, you must eat at Glenn’s Diner. We saw it on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network just a week before heading out west… and it was fantastic. It’s a bit pricey ($17-22), but very, very good and worth it in my opinion. Some very different fish selections than you’ll normally see.

Work
Work’s been stressful, and I admit that I’m very frustrated with the situation. I love the company I work for, but I’ve got a growing resentment regarding the people I work with… and having gone to my manager about it, now know that I have absolutely no solutions beyond the traditional “put up and shut up” about it.

I know I’m good at what I do, and I take pride in my work. I’m not just there to get a paycheck – if that were the case, I definitely wouldn’t be traveling 90 minutes each way. The downside of being good at what I do and taking pride in my work is that because I’m willing to take the responsibility, I see the two people I work with taking advantage of that. It’s expected that if a project’s going to go later than our scheduled hours, I’m the one staying. We’ve been on an adjusted work schedule since October when our receptionist went out for double hip surgery. One of the women I work with volunteered to work every morning starting at 8:30, and then the other two of us work the afternoon shifts. When early morning admin is off or having to cover the mailroom because THAT clerk is out, then the two of us who cover in the afternoon have go come in early. Well… I’ve wound up having to cover six of those so far this year, and nine since October, including working THROUGH the office Christmas party. The other girl has worked that extra phone shift… once.

And when I pointed this out to my manager, I got absolutely no help on it. In fact, she claimed that both of them are getting glowing reviews – completely OPPOSITE of what I’m hearing from people, who come storming to me to complain about the stupid mistakes and attitude they get from the others. I suggest they take it to my manager, but they tell me that they get blown off about complaints.

So yeah… despite carrying a heavier workload because extra afternoon person sucks, both personality and work-output wise… I’m just expected to put up and shut up. More and more people are either waiting until I’m by myself in the administrative assistant cube to give work, or just not bringing it to our department at all because they don’t want the other two working on their projects.

And of course, I’m happy to do the work. BUT… I’m also getting major attitudes from the other two, who of course, I’m making look bad by actually DOING MY JOB.

The whole situation is souring me. I’m tired, I’m frustrated, and just need a venting session. I keep reminding myself that I need to be thankful I have a job. That because I live in one of the states with an over 10% unemployment rate, I can’t do anything to risk it.

But it’s getting harder to get up in the morning, knowing that I’m going to have to put up with the crap again.

*sigh*

Health
On the downside – I really need to get in soon to get my blood pressure under monitoring. Three separate times over six months, my reading was at roughly 140/90. Considering I was at 115/75 consistently (even at my heaviest weight) until very recently, I’m wondering what’s up. I’ve been watching my sodium intake in the meantime, since it’s the easiest thing to keep an eye on.

On the upside – I’m somehow down two dress sizes. My clothes still fit me, but I’ve gone down a couple dress sizes… and a bra cup size. Not complaining about this. Not sure how it’s happening, either.

But I’ll take it.

And I’ll look forward to the weather getting better so I can take advantage of it and get some good walking in.

So yeah, that’s basically everything going on in my head these days.

Hey masquedbunny, myownwench, and aibhinn? A big red box from Stratford FINALLY arrived.

I was a tad worried about it.

In any case… the paper items are safe and sound. I will mail yours, Aibhinn… probably next week once I get back from parental Thanksgiving travels. I’ll meet up with my fellow partners in crime at some point soon to get books & posters together.

*sigh* The Warwick Castle mugs didn’t make it intact – all three handles shattered. *sigh* Erich’s thinking he’ll just dremmel the edges to smooth them down though, as the actual goblet part is intact for each of them.

Part two of the recap, now with photo goodness at my flickr site. As before, spelling and weird grammar errors are what comes from the entry. I’m being a purist here.

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16 October 2008
on train to Cardiff via Birmingham

Well, leg one has ended and now we’re on leg 2 – a couple hours until we arrive in Cardiff. I’ll miss Stratford – it was a lovely little town, so quiet at night yet bustling all day.

Love’s Labour’s Lost was extremely good last night. Our seats were directly below ours from last night – only 8 rows from the stage and an unobstructed aisle view straight to the stage.

We laughed most of the night – it’s amazing how modern (or perhaps… universal) the humour is in Shakespeare. Add to that the very flirtateous asides of David to the audience (and the screaming fan girls) and it was a good time had by all.

I’m not sure which play I liked better in respect to David’s performance. Both were so different that it’s honestly a bit tricky to compare. I think they provided a fantastic cross-section of his talents.

Unlike Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost had one set – a large tree with multi-coloured stringed glass hanging from the rafters to represent tree limbs. Lounging pillows and a swing that dropped from the ceiling added to different scenes. And there were a few instances where David was up in the tree.

So yes – no regrets. The shows were fantastic!

After the play last night, Maria and Erich and I went to the Dirty Duck, a pub known for post-production pints by crewhands and actors at the RSC. It’s a cozy llittle place – only a few tables. While we were there, a few of the actors came in – the actor playing the Spaniard, two fo the Ladies, and Zoe Thorn, who is the tinest woman! She was in 4″ heels and still barely could see over the bar! Last call was early – about 11:30. We walked Maria back to her B&B and then went back to our hotel, the Thistle.

We did some sightseeing whilst there. Before the play, we hopped the train to Warwick and went to Warwick Castle. It’s been kept up lovely – there were tours through the main living quarters, decorated in Victorian times – there were residents in teh castle until the twentieth century. Each room was wax-like fitures that honestly appeared too real. A bit creepy – almost as if they could turn to you at any moment.

Erich, Michelle and Maria did the ramparts and towers walk. I managed to get up to the first rampart, but had to turn back at the first tower. The stairs were so narrow and so tightly enclosed that I panicked. Full-on claustrophobia. So Erich helped me back down to firm Earth, and then continued the walk. Apparently I bailed out at the right time – the stairs and path grew more difficult later on. But Erich got pictures. SO I’ll still be able to enjoy them. And even without that, I got to go into a real castle! I’m not complaining!

This morning we headed over to Trinity Church to see where Shakespeare is buried. Unfortunately there was a funeral this morning, so we were unable to go inside. We wandered the church grounds, though – now nearly entirely a graveyard, very peaceful and quiet. The centuries have worn many engravings away, much as they have in New England.

We went back to check out, and then I popped over to a newsagent to get postcards and a Shakespearean bookmark for Matt. I found the cards, but no bookmark. So I decided to head back over to the Courtyard Theatre. I bought a couple bookmarks at the RSC and walked into the main foyer, where I find…

David Tennant! Having some water during a rehearsal break!

I shook his hand, complimenting him (and a couple of the other actors) on the plays, and then left him alone. Quiet, simple, but oh… squee!

Erich, Michelle, and Maria all hate me now, of course.

But such strange timing – to think that I was there only to find that bookmark. SO I suppose I have Matt and his desire for a Shakespeare bookmark to thank!

I’m a bit sad that we had to leave Stratford so soon – we might have needed another day or two. But hopefully we can go sometime again. Erich jokes that we’ll do that on the next Doctor Who hiatus, when David’s again on an RSC turn.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten to record some of the early stuff – I’ll write more later tonight once we’re at the Cardiff hotel.

–

So yes, that’s the rest of the Stratford recap, and yes – I got to meet the man under purely unusual circumstances… but was so stunned and shocked at it that I barely said anything. No photos (the camera was with Erich), no autographs (too shy to ask). Just a handshake, and my chance to compliment him.

And I didn’t even mention Doctor Who. Somehow, I bet he would have known anyway, given that there was a Yank at the RSC.

Squee!

I’ll be typing up my handwritten journal entries over the next few days for my trip recap. Weird spellings and broken trains of thought are from the journal – I figure I might as well be a purist in this and just use the immediate reactions I had.

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14 October 2008
Stratford-Upon-Avon

We returned just a few minutes ago from seeing Hamlet at the RSC. Absolutely fabulous! And contrary to my husband’s teasing, I didn’t stare only at David Tennant the entire time – the entire cast was fantastic (!!).

But still the fangirl in me is all thrilled that I have now seen David perform – in person – and… and now also have seen Patrick Stewart perform on stage, which I’ve dreamed about since my early teens.

It’s hard to believe that the original catalyst for our entire trip – seeing Hamlet – is now past us. It was so worth every penny (pound?).

The almost entirely blank set, save the mirrors and reflective stage, were used in such an interesting way, and right from the start! In the first full scene, the guards and Horatio are on watch, seeing the ghost of Old Hamlet, and rather than having stage spotlights, the actors provided lights themselves, bouncing the beams of slashlights off of the stage surface into the face of one of the others – very clever!

As much as I loved David and Patrick (more on that in a moment), I think Polonius stole the show. I don’t remember him beng the slightly absent-minded, tangent-loving old man from reading or watching previous versions. But here I felt he was oddly endearing, not so slimy as int he Mel Gibson version as I remember. Oh, how he made the audience laugh!

Laertes looked so familiar. His program bio had nothign I’d remember, though – I shall have to look him up on IMDB when I get home.

I like dthat the scene in Gertrude’s bedroom (and yes, I’m lazy and not referencing the exact scene numbers) wasn’t as overtly sexual as I’ve seen it interpreted before. The hints are still there – a strong undercurrent. But the raw anger expressed instead made a lot of sense… it seemed very “true.”

Seeing Patrick Stewart perform has been a dream of mine since I was 13 or 14. I learned of him through Star Trek, of course, but while I was a teenager, he also performed a one-man version of A Christmas Carol on stage, and I desperately wanted to go (but never dared ask Mom for tickets – she’d think I was very weird).

His presence on stage is amazing – his voice just booms from the stage, and his diction is so clear. He played both the ghost of Old Hamlet and the King in this production, and I think the combination worked perfectly. It was an absolute treat, and I’m so happy to have one of those longtime goals fulfilled.

And onto another goal – THE goal that brought us here – to see David Tennant in Hamlet I think Russell T. Davies has it right in his Production Notes in Doctor Who Magazine – I can say I was there. Hamlet. RSC 2008.

Absolutely thrilled. to. bits. Beginning to end, I saw Hamlet. Yes, my more annoying fangirl mind broke through fromt ime to time, but I saw Hamlet. He was a destroyed man in mourning. he was mad. He was hysterically funny. I stand amazed – David acts with every ounce of his being. His body movements, his facial expressions, his words – all are perfect.

And like I said – I am amazed.

One particular point got me – after Hamlet has broken from Horatio and the guards to follow the Ghost and hear its tale, he has a soliloquy on stage -and he was staring right at me. Now, I know he wasn’t actually looking at me – I was merely in the way of his focal point. But for one small moment – many lines, in fact, I was breathlessly still because David was staring at me, and for that time, i felt like it was only me in the theatre. Just amazing.

I am in awwe. And osm eof me can’t believe that it’s now over. At least… Hamlet is. Tomorrow is Love’s Labour’s Lost.

One thing I’m very thankfully about – Maria and Michelle had originally planned on goign to the theatre door after the performance to get autographs. I wasn’t keen – over the months I’ve heard the horror stories, so I wanted to stay away. While yes, I’d love to have David’s autograph, I’d much prefer to send him a small note via his agent to compliment him, but still give him at least the portion of privacy that I can provide.

Michelle was chatting with two ladies who work for the RSC, and from what they said,t he poor guy has just been bombarded. So I was happy when Michelle and Maria decided not to go. We stayed for the curtain calls (only a few people standing – perhaps standing O’s are not British proper?), and then headed for a pint, wandering into the dark Stratford night, where the streets were dead silent within a half-hour after the play.

More thoughts tomorrow – it’s now 1:20 a.m…. must sleep!

—–

More recap stuff tomorrow, once I get some photos uploaded!

This morning I’m getting everything together – doing the final load of laundry, collecting all of my addresses and phone numbers, etc. Then I’ll pack.

And then I’ll go get ready for wedding #1 of the weekend – for a friend who was one of our groomsmen, but someone we’ve essentially only seen AT weddings for the past couple years. Otherwise, we’re in totally different circles. It’s going to be a weird one, I think.

We’ll get home late, then get up Sunday morning, clean up, and drive up to New Hampshire for wedding #2 (Erich’s dad’s).

And then up early on Monday, leave the house about quarter past five, and head to Boston for our flight over to London. An early morning shower and coffee should get me up and moving!

It’s weird – maybe it’s because of these weddings still lying between us and the trip, but I’m still not quite believing we’re going. I dunno. I’m excited, but I think disbelief is still overpowering the excitement too much.

I think once I hear “mind the gap” at Heathrow. That’ll make me realize where I am.

Definitely won’t be my last entry before I go – I’m sure that’ll be on Sunday night.