Sunday, October 26, 2014

The Trail Leads Home

It's taken a few days to get everything back to normal after our ort-sprinkling journey across the country. Cathy Habermann of Hands On Design joined me on a seven stop hop that took us to two shows and five LNS shops in between.
We started in St. Charles MO at the Celebrations of Needlework.
I taught a class the silk-sequencing technique
I've been playing with. Alyse is showing off
her finished class piece.

Stitches Etc. is right there in historic downtown St. Charles.
Hanging out with Cathe Ray from Needle in a Haystack, Gail Zumwalt of
Stitches Etc, and Cathy Roginela of Inspired Needle. The Cathe/y contingent were
all in town for the Celebrations show.
Susie has an amazing shop in Evansville IN.
Stitches From the Heart, the second shop on the route, was filled to the brim
with good stuff. Our little table was equally packed. We could have spent days there.
The Stitchin' Post in Nashville was shop #3. Again, we got to meet some
amazing ladies and see a wonderful LNS.
Anyone would be happy to be able to call this their LNS, and we were
lucky to have a little shopping time here.
Cindy welcomed us at shop  #4 - Dixie Darlin in Pigeon Forge. She was getting ready
to join us at Stitching at the Beach, our final stop.  You might know Cindy from her design
work as Foxwood Crossing (lots of sleds) but she also keeps a fully stocked
shop in a historic touristy area.
It was easy to see why stitchers living a four hour drive away call the Stitch & Frame Shop
 in Rock Hill, SC their "local" needlework shop.  We even had a few of the not-so-locals
drive up for the day to meet us on our trip.
Stitch & Frame's building was perfect for a shop - light and airy, with high windows,
ledges and cubbies everywhere that were filled with models.
Cathy drove up and brought in her finished 99, which included
a custom bottle she swapped in. I love it!
And onward to the Ocean.
Stitching at the Beach is a lovely retreat with a shopping boutique area in the room.

I got to see a few friends from the Branson retreat last summer,
as well as meet a few friends from Facebook. Many of them brought
in finishes. Such nice work - I am so proud!

I have such wonderfully nerdy fans! And such accomplished
stitchers. All of Janel's work on the table there is over 1.

We kept busy enough that not much actual stitching was done, and we left very few orts in our wake. The weather at Myrtle Beach was fabulous, and after days of driving in the torrential rain that was very welcome. Wish we could have found a little more time for the sand, but we enjoyed every minute of it.

I have no clue whether factors will ever align to let us plan something like this again, so I am truly thankful to everyone that came out to meet us and all the beautiful shops that opened up their doors. What a trip!