Cincy Trip Day Two

It's class day for me.  BFF#2 isn't taking this class so she can stitch or visit shops or whatever.  She is wonderful to drive down a day earlier than she needed to just so I can go to Ophelia.  I go walking around our hotel.

 We are by two busy roads so I can't walk very far as there are no sidewalks.  I discover a sweet flower garden on the other side of Wendy"s.  It is in the middle of nowhere and has a little bridge.  Cool.
We take off to find Carol's house where the class is being held.  I've been there before and know it is a little hard to find.  My sense of direction is just awful.  Good thing we have GPS.  There is traffic and construction and I tell BFF#2 to turn at the wrong place.  What a ditz I am.  We manage to find it.  It is a lovely spot and a lovely house.  Carol's display of her stitching is just phenomenal.  There is a small boutique with items you can buy to add to your Ophelia display stash.  Of course there are scrims (miniature ruler and threadwinder that go in her needleroll), chairs to sit her in, a painted trunk, frames for her sampler, antique buttons and threads and stuff.  I only get a frame for her sampler.  I already have a chair at home that I think will do. Ophelia is based on this antique doll:

Here is Merry:

  I see some familiar faces.
 Several ladies are from the Kindred Spirits Sampler Guld and I have met them before.

 I sit with Barbara, Nancy and Jenny who lives next door to Carol.  Oh what fun to get a whole new complete kit!  The first thing we work on is the trunk for Ophelia.  We line it with beautiful scrapbook paper.  I am thrilled to get it all done.

I like the way that Merry says to line the trunk.  Cool, I have something to show for the day.  Then we start on Ophelia.  We have to stitch her dress - by hand.  I worry that I'll mess it up somehow.  But things go well.  I love the trim that goes around the sleeves.  I put a flower on her bodice too.

  Lunch is all fixed for us upstairs at Carol's.  All the better to look at ther curio cabinets.  She has WIP's stashed behind her stitching chair. Carol has already stitched Ophelia and has her displayed with a mini doll in her hands.  Oh my, I want one of those.  Back down stairs to work on Ophelia's dress.  I get the bodice and sleeves all done.  Merry has a marvelous technique for working with the dupioni silk using fray check.  That is a great tip.  I usually have a terrible time with all those strings from the silk but this technique works very well.  Before you know it, class is over.  But luckily there is time to go to Keepsake Framing and Floral before it closes for the day.

  Yeah!  I have been here before and know it is a good needlework store that is in a house.  Look at all the models.

 Wow.  Several people from class are here too.  I find a couple of things to buy.  I see a couple of models of charts that I want but they are out of.  It's fun to look at all the stuff.  Then next door, which is a few stepping stones away, is a quilt shop.  So we go there to get the row by row pattern.  Class and shopping, what better day can you have than that?

 One more thing needs to checked off our list:  Skyling Chili.  There is one very close to our hotel.  So we go there.

I thought it would be a more formal dining place.  But it really is a fast food place with a drive through.  You can see them making your order.  The menu is fairly limited.  I want to try both the chili dog and the 5 way chili.  But knowing that my eyes are usually bigger than my stomach, (DH: Nobody's eyes are that big), I just order a chili dog.  It is huge.

 BFF#2 gets the 5 way Chili and lets me have a bite. It is served over spaghetti.

 I have to try the funnel cake thing that I saw a picture of on the door.  It turns out they are funnel fries - served with powdered sugar.

 Quite good.  The chili is way different than I am used to.  This chili is a Cincinnati specialty.  It has different spices (cinnamon and nutmeg?) and is runnier than Betty Crocker chili.  You can add onions and beans to it.  I don't even know if it has beef in it.  We both like what we had and would be willing to come back again before we go home.  That was fun.  Another class tomorrow.  I'm going to see if I can finish off Ophelia's dress.
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Cincy Trip Day One

It was a rainy morning last Thursday.  So no walking.  My BFF#2 and I started out but didn't get very far.  We stopped down the street for coffee.  Then I realized that I had forgotten my camera so back to my house to get it.  I'm so glad I got it so I can show you all about our adventure.   BFF#2 had programmed directions to several quilt shops along the way.  So we were off to our first quilt shop, Trevathan's Sweep & Sew in Hillsdale.   It started raining hard. 

It was fun looking at the fabrics and getting the free pattern when we got to Trevathan's.  I  got a couple of fat quarters (one is a small William Morris print) to use in finishing and the free row by row pattern.  

So then we were on our way to Fort Wayne.  We stopped at another quilt shop but it was a bust.  The row by row pattern used an embroidery machine.  So forget that.  Then we stopped for lunch at Panera.  Why do I always buy too much there?  I can't resist that bakery item for 99 cents.  I got a pecan roll but saved it because I was too full.  So then we are on to a stitching shop in Fort Wayne.  It was sort of weird when we walked in as it seemed no one was there.  But there was a man doing framing in another room.

It was fun to look around.  They didn't have the particular pattern I was looking for, so I behaved myself.

Then we are off again, aiming the car toward Cincinnati.  I see the a couple of signs with Limberlost in the title.  Is this where the novel A Girl of the Limberlost was set?  BFF#2 asks if I want to turn around and check this museum out.  Yes!  That book was one of my favorites as a teenager even though it was written in 1909.  There is a Gene Stratton Porter museum but it is closed.  I get out and look at a couple of the buildings.  

This is a cool place.  We would like to come back this way and see the museum.  Maybe on the way home.

 This was Gene Stratton Porter's home.  I think there is a lake nearby.

 Groups can rent out this building that is in back of the house.

So off we go again.  It is getting late so we don't stop at any more shops as they are probably closed.  Maybe on our way home.
We find our hotel.  Next door is a Cracker Barrel.  That was an easy choice for dinner.  It was late by then and not at all busy.  They let me order off the kid's menu.  It was great to get to Cincinnati.  Tomorrow I'm taking the Ophelia class.  Can't wait!
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The Experiment

Way back five months ago I set up an experiment.  I needed some floss.  Whatley Woodlands from Classic Colorworks.  I was using it as I was working on Anne Hathaway's Cottage needlebook.

 It was a great color for the lettering.  So I ordered it from two places to see which was quicker.  I ordered it online from Stitching Bits and Bobs and I ordered it from my LNS.  I was quite surprised when I got it in about a week from Stitching Bits and Bobs.  Then I forgot about it.  Until yesterday, that is.  When my LNS called to say that my floss was in.  It took five months.  I went and picked it up this morning because I ordered it and because it is a great color to have on hand.

 Unfortunately, that five months is not a record.  I've had an order in to another shop (which shall remain nameless) for over a year.

This is where I am today on Williamsburg Remembered.

I have changed the spine.  The pattern had lettering.

 I put in roses and one more sweet snail.  I love that snail.
Look how much more of the "bones" for the bargello I have done:

I hate when I get my legs in the photo!
I'm getting ready for my trip so you probably won't hear from me until next week.  We are going to be stopping at quilt stores along the way to Cincinnati to pick up Row by Row patterns.  It will be fun.  Let's hope I can control myself and not buy too much fabric!
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Something Different

As Monty Python would say, and now for something entirely different.  A while back I saw the neatest thing on Janet's blog.  It was a handmade book of boxes.  It looked so interesting.  I wanted to make one too. So I ordered the books on how to make it.

 Then nothing.  I never got around to making it.  When I was visiting Janet in Indianapolis a couple weeks ago, I got to see her book in person.  She keeps it in her casket.  I was reminded that I always wanted to make it.  When I got home I looked for the books and found them.
So I scrounged around for some special paper to make it with.  Or rather, to just try out the first step.  I had some leathery paper that I tried it out with first.

 Like Goldilocks, that paper was too heavy.  So then I got some rice paper, but it was too light.

I want a paper that you can draw on with pen and ink or watercolor.  What is recommended is cartridge paper.  I guess that means copy paper or computer paper.  But it has to be slightly larger than 81/2 by 11.  So at this point, I haven't found the perfect paper.  I want some handmade paper.  But the box is easy to make.  Then as I was walking this morning I thought about making it out of linen.  Could you cross stitch linen and make this?  I thought of all the unfinished stitching I have in a drawer.  Could I take a piece of stitching and make it into a box?  It could happen.

I happen to run across a tutorial about lining an Altoid's tin with paper.  The tutorial used Mod Podge.  I have some of that.  I also have a limited edition kit that I stitched that goes on a tin.

 So I tried using the Mod Podge to apply the paper to the inside of the tin.

 It worked beautifully.  I also thought, hey, why not try to attach the stitching to the top of the tin in the same way.  So I did.

 There is still some twisted cording that goes around the edge of the top to hide the wonky edge.

It's a lovely day for doing something fun.
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Eight Threadwinders

I got the threadwinders done for Friesland so I am totally finished!  Happy dance!

I am so close to having the front of Williamsburg Remembered done as well.  I only have a few stitches left to do.

I have to think about packing and getting ready for Cincinnati.  I am taking three classes and seeing some friends.
We are meeting old friends tonight.  It will be fun to catch up and to eat out.  Strong storms are almost here.  I sure hope we don't lose our electricity.
I did make the box yesterday but I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.
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So Close

I got both the drawstring balls done and attached.  Yeah!

That means the main piece is done and all that is left are the threadwinders.

That is my goal for today, eight threadwinders.  Then I will do a happy dance.

I want to finish the front of Williamsburg Remembered today.  I only have seven more numbers to do.

  I did some "reverse stitching" as I was off one thread (ARGH) on the bottom.  Now it is fixed.  There is another error but I'm not telling where it is.  I'm pretending it is not there.

Today it was 70 degrees when I went walking.  That's the warmest it's been all year.  How appropriate that it is the first day of summer.

I have something else I want to do today.  I want to make a box out of some leathery looking paper that I have.  We'll see tomorrow if I get it done.
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Pinch Me

I can hardly believe that I am almost done with Friesland.  I worked on the bobbles that join two drawstrings yesterday and I got them done.

So the next step was to weave them in and out of the eyelets of the main piece.  Check, I did that.

It is starting to look like a bag.

 That's when I could see that there isn't much left to do.  Just the balls at the end of the drawstrings.  I have one almost done.

 It is scary to work on as you are taking twelve very small pieces of linen and whip stitching them together to make a one inch ball.  You have to be very careful.  Once the balls are attached to the drawstrings the only thing left to do is make the actual threadwinders.  I wonder how long I have been working on this?  Maybe three or four months?  I see light at the end of the tunnel.

I got the alphabet all done on Williamsburg Remembered.  I started the next row.

 I'd like to finish the row and get started on the last row of the front.  We'll see if I get that far.

I've been to the Farmer's Market this morning.  I was hoping the candy place would have chocolate covered orange peel.  No, they didn't.  So to soothe my disappointment I had to get something else.  A peanut cluster.  A turtle.  Some caramels.  Maybe I'll give the caramels to DH.  We'll call it a Father's Day present.
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