Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I'm Back Baby and Better than Ever!

I'll tell you I am as fresh as a daisy after my week-long vacation with Russell and LuLu in Cooperstown, NY. What does one do in Cooperstown, NY for a week? Well, let me just tell you. We went to Glimmerglass Opera. We saw Cenorentola, Dido and Aeneas, Traviata, and Menotti's The Consul -- all of them very good (well actually the Traviata I didn't care for too much but the others made up for it). We also went book hunting. Oh my gosh, I found so many good books you wouldn't believe it.




There was this one bookstore in Cooperstown that I almost didn't go into because it did not look that promising from the street and it turned out to have the best collection of needlepoint books that I have seen in quite some time. It was unbelievable and right down the street from the Baseball Hall of Fame -- go figure. Ugh, those baseball people -- don't get me started.




I also spent lots and lots of time stitching and that was great. Some people might be surprised to hear that I spent time stitching on my vacation but hey it's my way of relaxing and even though I own a needlepoint store it is not like I have a lot of time to stitch. So -- you know me -- I brought a number of unfinished projects with me. And I made progress on all of them. Well, most of them. I didn't do any work on my Frank Lloyd Wright cross stitch project. Not sure why guess I guess there just wasn't enough time and/or didn't feel like it.



I did begin work on my Christmas stocking for Russell. I embroidered the bird using wool, alpaca and Impressions and a loose interpretation of long and short stitch. I think that it turned out rather well. Stop by the shop and I will show it to you. I also got started on the background. I am using an open stitch that I call skip-a-row diagonal mosaic but I am not sure what the "real" name of the stitch is. I am doing this stitch with just one strand of Appleton Crewel wool and so I am a little concerned about its durability but I like the effect -- very open. The photo doesn't do it justice. I chose it because I thought that I needed something diagonal in orientation and also something that would not call too much attention to itself. I want the tree to be the focal point and I want the piece overall to have a peaceful, restful feeling.

I will write more about some of my other projects tomorrow. Don't want to use up all my new material at once.

3 comments:

  1. Glad you had a nice vacation. :) Upstate NY is so beautiful this time of year. The stocking is looking great! I'm still in San Francisco for a few more days, but will bring that (hopefully finished) stocking by next Tuesday or Wednesday. I enjoy needlepointing on vacation, too.

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  2. Hey Mindy -- Can't wait to see ya and the cat project and the Russian cathedral project and the xmas stocking and ... and ...

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  3. :) I'm a wee bit out of control lately. The stocking isn't quite finished, but will be finished by the end of this upcoming weekend -- it's soooo close!

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