Embroidery, The Language of Art: Getting There

Last Thursday was all about getting to Wilmington Delaware.  I flew into Philadelphia, the closest airport to the Winterthur Museum.  It is only about half an hour away.  I rented a car to drive down there.  I liked the Chevy Cruze they gave me.  This time I made sure I the seat was adjusted so I could see out!  I had Matilda, my GPS.  I absolutely could not have gone on this trip without it.  I decided that my first stop would be The Strawberry Sampler.  I had ordered a couple of patterns from them but I had never been to the shop.  I missed turning into the strip mall on the first go round so had to try and turn around and go back - but I didn't realize I was on a one-way street.  I did finally make it to the shop without too much more trouble.  Don't you love the big red Cross Stitch sign?

There are rocking chairs out front. probably for husbands.

Good needlework shops always have lots of models on the wall.

I bought another Funky Bird pattern.  Why do I like funky birds?  I have no idea, but I do.

I got all the stuff so I could work on her if I wanted.  I only brought one (really) project to work on, Betsy's Pioneer Girl's Book Etui.  By the time I was done at The Strawberry Sampler, it was two in the afternoon.  There was a pizza place just a few doors down from the store.  So I went in there and indulged in my guilty pleasure, pizza and breadsticks.  Yum.

Now my next job was to find the hotel.  Matilda got me there just fine.  I saw a lady in the hotel lobby who introduced herself, I thought she said her name was Jane but I found out later that I didn't hear it correctly.  She said I looked like a stitcher.  (I wonder why she said that, because I'm old?)

I was pretty tired as I didn't sleep very well the night before, I was too excited.  Later a maid came to my door and gave me a slip of paper.  It said that a lady would be in the lobby at 6:30 to take people to another lady's house.  I was tired but thought I would be sociable.  So I went down to the lobby and was talking to another lady down there who was giving a workshop on Erica Wilson. A van came to pick people up.  A lady asked me if I was a teacher.  It turns out I was given the paper by mistake.  This was a dinner invitation for the teachers at the conference.  The lady who introduced herself in the lobby was there.  So I figured out who she was.  She hadn't said her name was Jane.  She was Joanne Harvey who is a very famous needlework teacher.  I have a class with her on Saturday.  So I just went back up to my room and relaxed.
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