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.