Just in Case

There is a way to tell if you are truly a stitching fool, and that is to see what you pack prior to going to a workshop or seminar.

Obviously, if attending a seminar, you plan to take a class or classes, thus you will have a new project or projects.  Frequently, the seminar will also include a boutique or shop of some sort, meaning that there will be even more potential projects to add to the stash. Depending on the venue, there may be a merchandise night or expo or other event at which needlework items are sold.

However, if you are a stitching fool, you have to pack a project or two, just in case.  Just in case you're there hours (or minutes) before the event starts and you have time to pick up a needle.  Just in case you feel like stitching but you've hit a spot on the class project that needs more intense thought than you may be capable of by the time the late evening rolls around.  Just in case you wake up very early but already have the class project carefully packed to go to class.  Just in case--well, you really don't need a reason, you just need to have something to work on.

So, you pack a project or two (or three, or four) to take to the event where you are going to be totally immersed in needlework.

I will be the first to admit that I am the textbook definition of a stitching fool.  Therefore I am trying to decide what to take for my just-in-case project.

After all, we are leaving at o'dark-thirty so we can visit DeWitt Wallace and look in the drawers in the textile department.  And we do have early reservations at Christiana Campbell (our favorite tavern in the Historic District). So it is quite possible that I will have an evening in which to stitch, plus the early bird classes don't start until noon the next day--so I will also have a morning of possible stitching time.

Normally I would take smalls because they're (obviously) small and will fit in a corner of the big tote bag.  However, after looking at the basket full of smalls that need to be assembled, and because I'm taking a class that will create more smalls, I don't think I want to add to the list right at the moment.

This leaves either something on canvas or a sampler.  It's easier to travel with something on scroll bars than it is to travel with something on stretcher bars--you can always take the side bars off a scroll frame and roll up the sampler.  So, sampler it is--but which one?

Should I take something that is basically cross stitch like Ann Wheatley?  Or should Martha Edlin accompany me to Williamsburg?  Much more complicated, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and really want to work on her (despite needing to rip out one of the critters because I mis-read the chart late one evening when I should have been in bed).

I need to decide.

Of course, I could take them both.

Dearly Beloved is muttering about renting a moving van just to get us there.