Stitching Nerd-vana

This has been a reeeeeeeeally good day for a stitching nerd!

For many online classes, new classes are posted around the first of the month, which means I can print out and organize the new lessons in my notebooks.  (I love notebooks.  I'm still in elementary school, doncha know, and notebooks and new pencils and subject dividers and pens and rulers just make me giddy!  Back-to-school sales mean that I can prowl the aisles looking for notebook paper and notepads and gel pens in wild colors.  Ok, TMI, but you get the point.)

So I have printed out the classes for Rebecah French and Tricia Nguyen's Masterclass in Gold & Silver (and she just started a new round with that one, so there is probably time to sign up--more in a minute).
I printed out the class notes for St. Margaret's Star, and YAY, Michael Boren, there were photos of the various ways to start a thread if you can't use a waste knot for whatever reason--and that's always a good reminder to have whether you're stitching on canvas or linen--they work for both.

And then the mail carrier came and the little tray ordered from Miller Carpentry arrived.  And let me say this, the man is a fine artist and master woodworker.  Dearly Beloved likes to make sawdust and he is impressed with the quality of this piece and told me he would not have had the patience to make this lovely little piece to add to my collection (and why do you think I ordered it from Miller Carpentry?)  There will be a picture coming as soon as we unpack everything from the week-end (more about that later) and I locate the camera cord.

And then I got online and discovered that Jeannine has a new website for the Gathering of Embroiderers with a list of teachers--and Scarlet Letter just announced that a kit and chart for Ruthy Rogers will be available in the fall--and I have the whole evening to stitch and watch SyFy (which still bothers me--when I see it I see "siffy" and had no problems with it when it was SciFi).

If SANQ had shown up, there would be no containing me.

So back to earth . . .

I promised to say more about the Masterclass in Gold and Silver.  If you're not familiar, go to www.thistle-threads.com and click on Online University.  If you have ever thought you might want to go a step beyond in your stitching life, this is the place to go.  You will use exquisite materials the likes of which you will not find in the local chain store, you will learn how to use them in stitches you never knew existed, and you will have upclose and personal views of pieces of historic needlework that are not ordinarily available for view.  Because I am a history nerd as well as an embroidery geek, the sections on history are fascinating reading and have led me down a number of byways and highways.

Anyway . . .

How am I doing on the group approach to stitching my stash?  well . . . we went to see the Grandson this week-end.  We are now calling him The Flash--the child is in constant motion and constantly curious about everything.  When we finish unpacking and I have the camera out, I will show you one of the typical pictures of him.  It's a blur.  It is not my less-than phenomenal picture-taking, it is the fact that he is faster than the camera can catch.

I took embroidery with me.  I stitched approximately 24 stitches.

Why is it that if you take only one small "traveling" project--or, horrors, nothing to stitch at all--you have endless hours to stitch and run out of anything to do and end up scrounging around the local big box store for something to do--if there is a local big box store to scrounge?  whereas, if you take a tote bag full of goodies, just in case of rain or downtime, you never get anything done?

So, tonight, while the washer is washing and the dryer drying, I am stitching.

Ann