The first shop is called Stitches from the Heart and I dropped by late Thursday afternoon as soon as I got into town. It had been a long time since I had been in an LNS of such caliber and I was in heaven! As soon as I walked in I noticed a long table with four or five ladies stitching and I practically drooled as I looked at all the charts, beads, buttons, threads, frames, fabric, etc., etc.

Part of the reason I stopped at this shop first was because it is open until 7:30 on Thursday nights. Well, it didn’t take long for me to realize that the reason that they are open late on Thursdays is because it is their stitch-in. I started chatting with the ladies and before you can say cross stitch I had gone out to my car and retrieved “Fairy Flora,” “Celtic Spring,” “Passing Admirers,” and “Catch the Wind” and was showing them off! (I had brought those pieces with me to inquire about framing.) The ladies “oohed and ahhed” over all my pieces and made funny little comments like “Oh, I see we have a novice stitcher on our hands.”

I also just so happened to have “Castle Sampler” with me and they invited me to sit and stitch a while. As much as I wanted to, I ended up not stitching because I started talking with their framer and spent most of the time I was there deciding on a frame for Flo. I wanted to frame all four, but the lady encouraged me to just do one piece and if I am happy with her work to bring the rest back later. The shop is even going to ship Flo to me (insured of course) when she is ready.

I also bought some stash (of course!) and the ladies invited me to their fall retreat (the summer one is full). I had such a nice time visiting that shop that I definitely foresee more trips to San Antonio in the future to shop, stitch, and bitch. If you are ever in San Antonio, I definitely recommend a visit to Stitches from the Heart! (By the way, Stitches from the Heart’s website is still under construction, but they told me they will ship things. All I need to do is contact them with what I want.)

But wait, there’s more!

On Friday around noon, I visited the second shop, Cross Stitch Plus. It was a very nice shop as well. In fact, I think they had a better selection of fabric… which would be great if I didn’t already have Silkweaver FOM coming out the wazoo! The ladies there were very nice too, but they weren’t having a stitch-in (theirs is on Friday night) so it was a much quieter experience. I bought plenty of stash there and will go back next time I am San Antonio.

However, in all honesty, the best thing about Cross Stitch Plus was that it is in a shopping center that just so happens to have an Indian restaurant next door. So, I went there and had my birthday lunch. I didn’t have super high hopes for the restaurant because I didn’t remember coming across it when I was scoping out Indian restaurants in San Antonio online, but I was pleasantly surprised with a nice meal and dining experience.

On Saturday, I went to the San Antonio Zoo and got rained on, but was there long enough that it made me tired. After I ate dinner on the Riverwalk, I went back to my hotel room and tried to stitch, but the light in my room was terrible so I cursed the fact that I didn’t buy the portable Ott light that I looked at on Friday at Cross Stitch Plus and just watched a movie.

* Stash Report – Back Row: The Best of Teresa Wentzler Fantasy Collection Volume 2, Witchy-Washy (Raise the Roof), Halloween Eve (The Cricket Collection); Middle Row: Sew Many Memories (Sue Hillis Designs), Jack in the Patch (Cherry Wood Design Studios), Yesteryear (LHN), Summer Retreats (CCN); Front Row: Ladybug, Ladybug (LHN), French Country III – Apple (JBW Designs), Curiosity and Washing Up (Serendipity Designs); Not Pictured: Piecemakers, size 26; 4 packs Mill Hill Magnifica beads. *

Speaking of finals… The good news is that I am now done with this semester’s creative writing class and I am taking some vacation next week… just in time for my birthday! The not-so-good news is that I start my intensive summer classes in about three weeks and, as a result, don’t anticipate I will get to stitch much until August. I guess I better stitch as much as I can while I have a chance!

Speaking of stitching… tell me what a putz I am. Today I got an email from my mom asking if I would stitch a wedding sampler for my stepdad’s stepgrandson (I’m pretty sure that means we aren’t related) who is getting married June 20 and I said yes!

Of course, I used this as an excuse to go stash shopping (Yeah, yeah, who needs an excuse, right?) and will soon be enhancing my stash with Bent Creek’s “Wedding Globe” (for the wedding), Nora Corbett’s “Lily of the Valley Pixie” (or is she a fairy?), Little House Needleworks’ “School Girl Lessons,” and some assorted WDW and Kreinik.

And now that my final is turned in and all five of my readers have been indulged with some stitchy progress, I am off to stitch and watch Season 2 of 24. Cheerio!

1. Did you discover any new (or new-to-you) designers in 2008? And your favorite was? JBW Designs is the only one I can think of right off the top of my head.
2. Same question – New Fabrics? I joined Silkweaver’s FOTM club, but that wasn’t exactly a new discovery. I just finally had the funds this year to do it.
3. Same question – New fibres? Once again, I didn’t discover them this year, but I started collecting WDW and GAST and using them more regularly.
4. Same question – New finishing techniques? I haven’t had a chance to make one yet, but this year I discovered floss tags.
5. Did you have a favorite “theme” in 2008? My “theme” this year was TIME… As in I never had enough time to stitch this year!
6. Did you try any new gadgets? Nope.
7. Did you discover any new (or new-to-you) LNS in 2008? Nope.
8. Same question: new or new-to-you online stores? I think I ordered from Julie’s X-Stitch for the first time this year.
9. Same question: new or new-to-you bloggers?
   a) stitching bloggers: I know my list of stitching blogs grew this year, but I couldn’t tell you which ones are new.
   b) bloggers in general: Most of the new “general” bloggers I found this year were library related.
10. Same question: communities/forums? After I went back to work as a librarian I had to cut down some of my online stitching time and the communities/forums were the sacrifices. I sometimes visit The Wagon (and it wasn’t a new find), but that’s it these days.
11. Whose blog in 2008 was the most inspirational for keeping you stitching? Probably Dawn’s. With a new baby she has just as little time to stitch as I do these days and still manages to out-stitch me!
12. Whose blog was funniest in 2008? My own. Yeah, I’m narcissistic, so shoot me.
13. Which blog’s posts did you “star” the most in your reader in 2008? The posts from The Cross Stitcher that announced the new letters in Margaret Sherry’s Alphabet.

I arrived home yesterday afternoon from my extended Thanksgiving holiday in Arkansas.

Although the primary reason I took the trip was to meet my new goddaughter (see pic to the left), I had fun with Dawn’s other kids too. Allie and I talked music while playing with the baby, Mac terrorized me, and although Krissy mostly ignored me (she is 15 you know!), she did give me a hug before I left.

On Saturday, Dawn and I visited her LNS where I spent way too much money adding to my stash, but considering I haven’t bought too much lately I thought that was OK.

We attempted to stitch on numerous occasions during my visit, but with a new baby, three kids on Thanksgiving break, and a husband underfoot for most of my visit we weren’t as successful on the stitching front as we have been in the past. I only got about ½ of the backstitching on “Cool Cats” finished but that was because I decided to (finally!) start “Tapestry Cat.” I then worked on TC for a few hours before deciding to start one of the charts I bought at the LNS (”No Frogging” by Stitchy Kitty) instead. I stitched the “No Frogging” fob over one on 28 count and (mostly) finished it, but have not downloaded the pictures of it yet.

That was my Thanksgiving holiday in a nutshell and I have to say that this year the two things I was most thankful for were/are 1.) that Megan is a healthy, happy baby and 2.) that I got to spoil her rotten for a week!

Of the 13 Halloween ornaments, there are 6 that I would like to stitch, and 3 that I must stitch. In fact, since this weekend is SAT weekend, I think I am going to do start one of those must stitches. (Probably “Pumpkin on Gingham” from the Sweetheart Tree)

As you may have noticed, I also have a finish to share: Bent Creek’s “Cat-o-Lantern.” It is stitched on 32 count Natural Belfast. This isn’t from the JCS Halloween issue, rather it is one of the pieces that I ordered the overdyes for a couple of weeks ago.

Speaking of overdyes… Once they got here I decided I didn’t like the main color for the pumpkin (WDW Harvest… very brown) so I switched it for a different color that also came with the order (WDW Carrot). I also switched the stripes from GAST Brandy to GAST Butternut Squash because GAST Brandy blended in too much with WDW Carrot.

Anyway, I like the way the pumpkin turned out in Carrot (as far as I know, pumpkins are supposed to be orange, not brown ), but now I wonder which pattern I ordered the Carrot for and whether or not I will have enough left when I get there.

P.S. Click here for another cat-o-lantern.