I am back from the Twin Cities. In one piece and only slightly worse for wear. I'm adjusting back to the Eastern Time Zone although I grew up in Central Time and it is the real time. We didn't get on the plane when we tried the first time Sunday night. We ended up going early Monday morning. We had a full day of working on #1 son's deck. Then Monday night was very special. We met up with friends we hadn't seen in 35 or so years. My dear friend Leslee is just the same wonderful person she always has been and her husband is so funny and entertaining. Leslee was the bridesmaid at my wedding. I had forgotten what a terrific personality she has. I want to be more like her. She is so positive and supportive and honest. Honest doesn't really convey how upfront with no agenda and plainspoken a person she is. I want to keep in better contact than Christmas cards. It was great to see her.
Then on Tuesday my BFF drives way out to our hotel to pick me up and then drives way back the other direction to the most marvelous cross stitch shop, Stitchville USA. She even took the morning off work to do this. Thank you!!! What a great friend to take the time and trouble! I walked into the shop and was overwhelmed with the inventory. The shop owner, Debbie, has a vast array of charts, tons of threads, Charms like crazy, framing, walls filled with models. If you want something obscure, she probably has it in stock. The organization is fabulous. I almost didn't know where to begin to look. I wish I lived near this shop and could go to the stitch-ins. They sound like so much fun. Another friend, LuAnne, came to the shop. I met her at Celebrations this year. So we all went to lunch at Old Chicago. It was fun and we got to gab. My BFF had to go to work so LuAnne waited for me to finish shopping at Stitchville and got directions to take me back to #1's house. Clear back, completely across town, well, several towns. LuAnne, you are a true friend to take the time to drive me back, thank you. Plus, you are so funny. I could listen to you and your adventures all day.
We spent some time at #1's house then went to the airport for the afternoon flight. We almost got on the flight, but at literally the last moment, the lady that went out to smoke made it back. I guess you have to go outside the airport building to smoke. It took us 50 minutes to go through security. So did she have to go back through security after smoking? Since we didn't make it on that flight, we amused ourselves looking at stores and eating and puzzles until the next flight four hours later. The flight was a breeze - only an hour. It was a long day. We are glad to be back home and able to sleep in our own bed.
I finished my plane stitching project. I also finished the Sweet Baby James needle case holder. I want somebody to show me how to use the Lacis cordmaker I bought. I not entirely happy with the twisted cord on Sweet Baby James, but it is okay. I am almost done with the Make-it, Take-it project from Cherished Stitches at Celebrations. I changed the colors as it is supposed to be blackwork. The name of it is "A Garden of Roses" but it looked more like a spider web. To make it more rose-like, I stitched the round motifs in an overdyed pink and the leaf motifs in an overdyed green. It was a fun experiment to see how it turned out. I like it. I have some rosy material to finish it off. It will hold a little two and a half inch square ruler that measures where to start a stitching project.