Another Great Weekend in Atlanta

So, in case you missed it, I started the month off heading to Mesa, AZ with DF Heather for a weekend of stitching. Ok, let's be real, it was a partial day of stitching and lots of stash enhancement opportunities. Then I came home, worked to pay for that trip, and then proceeded to head off to Atlanta for 6 or so days of fun, stitching and more stash enhancement with my peeps up there after only being home for barely 10 days.

I worked from Jean's on Thursday but we managed to make a trip to Eat.Sleep.Knit's store. Now I've done some damage on their website. But as scary as the website is the store/warehouse is even more so. The proof is in the picture.

That's just my haul. DF Jean managed to have a pile just as nice. In all that is a full sweater and who knows what else.

Now, I was there to take a class at In Stitches with Tony Minieri Friday through Monday. But that didn't stop us from heading over to The Nimble Needle and checking out what they had. I like to make sure I support small business as many of you well know, so of course I couldn't leave empty handed.

 A little something for mom's blue & gold tree....eventually.

 Something for my stitched tree...eventually. 

And of course I changed the colors!

(Quick Jean...don't look!) I had to have the Halloween shoe.
And really, didn't your mom tell you about kissing lots of frogs? 

Then Friday we packed ourselves up and headed to In Stitches. Heather met us and she and I managed to get started on our project with Tony. About 2 hours in Heather leans over and says to me in a very low whisper, "I couldn't figure out what we'd be doing for 4 days!" That was way funnier than it sounds, believe me. By the end of the day my canvas looked like this...

No really, that's a day's worth of class. And that was a LOT of work. Tony kept the class moving and I kept up. By Monday, that's day 4 for those of you trying to keep track, I was a little punch drunk but still going strong. I think it helped that Jean & I decided back a few months ago that it would be fun to really try and relax some that weekend and to get a hotel room in Buckhead near the shop for Saturday and Sunday night. It helped some not having to get up quite as early as if we'd stayed up at her house.

We really treated ourselves, well and I found a good deal, and we stayed at the Grand Hyatt, which used to be Hotel Nikko. The Japanese garden is still there, but I didn't get out during a morning to get pictures. If you're staying in the area I highly recommend this hotel. The staff was wonderful and the whole place was beautiful. Unfortunately Jean started feeling sick Saturday and by Sunday she was slightly miserable...maybe really miserable. So she went home and I hung out Sunday evening with DF Heather watching the final NASCAR race and rooting for Tony Stewart to win. I even had Heather rooting for him, although if she'd seen Carl without his helmet before the race started she might have been yelling a different tune at the TV. Heather went home after the race and some dinner next door at Brick Tops and then met me Monday morning for breakfast at The Flying Biscuit cafe. Then we grabbed a ride from the hotel's shuttle for our final day of class. By the end of the day this is what my canvas looked like...

For those familiar with this pattern you might notice that the colors I have are a bit different than any of the pictures you can find online. That's because I went with the "fuchsia" colorway, which is really more a jewel tone take on the original. Love the colors and I'm planning on working on this next year. It's an amazing piece with lots of great stitches. Learned lots of great techniques as well during the 4 days.

Now most of you are wondering what other trouble I managed to get myself in to while wandering around such a great needlepoint shop for 4 days. Wait no longer...

I mean really? You expected me to by pass this? As Heather told her dear husband it was a triple threat. Lots of great blue/green colors, bunnies and they are in Medieval dress. I was a total goner. It really was sad. Plus Tony Minieri himself was there and kept giving me ideas for stitches and pulling colors from the vast supply in the shop. For four days we had it laying on a table in one of the rooms and would just pull fibers and play with what would look just perfect. I forgot to lay out some of the fibers I bought already to get a start on this, but let's just say I'll be working on this for a nice long time. Heck, I don't even have stretcher bars this will go on yet! Oh, and that brown dress is changing colors thanks to Mr. Minieri's suggestion. Now to finish the Mermaid so I won't feel too crazy about putting this in the rotation come 2012!

Of course all good things must come to an end. So it is with getting to hang out for 4 days stitching and looking at fibers and great canvases, spending time with old friends and making some wonderful new ones. Tuesday I had to get back to work and fly home, in that order.

Thanksgiving was a day spent with my parents, nice and quiet. Didn't even cook. I took them out to dinner so we'd have a relaxing day for a change. Didn't even make it to shop on Black Friday (oh please stop...I know what you're thinking...why would I need to shop after my two out of town crazy stash hauls...and you might be right.)

Now I'm on the countdown to Christmas. We'll be starting to decorate this week I'm sure. Takes time to put all those tree's up you know. Of course now it's dark at like 5 so it's time to have trees with lots of lights to brighten the darkness.