Stuck in DC

I love those old colonial historical sites. I've been to Old Bethpage (on Long Island) a couple of times a year since I moved back to LI, and so when I planned this trip to DC I asked Is to go to Colonial Williamsburg with me. We went Thursday and had a great time.

You know you're in Colonial Williamsburg when you see this sign on the bathroom:

LOL!
We bought tickets so we could go into the buildings. We stopped into the Saddlemaker's and the Shoemaker's, both things they don't have at OB (since it's way smaller than CW) and learned some cool facts about colonial times.


Then we found this Colonial Garden. I'm used to NY winters, so I was surprised that there even was a colonial garden in January. A man working in the garden told us a whole long list of vegetables that grow in Virginia in winter since they don't have a *hard freeze* like we do.


See the little wooden stick hanging to the right of the door? It's attached to the top left corner of the door, so that when you open the door, the weight of the stick shuts it behind you. They use similar tricks on gates too. How smart were they??? (very)

Friday I had to work, but we still managed to do some shopping.... First Is took me to her LNS, Stitcher's Stash in Fairfax, VA. They have a great variety of fibers, and a lot of really pretty shop models on the walls. I got to see my *next* Mirabillia project (Bliss Fairy) all stitched up, which was so cool! As far as I could tell though, the charts were each about $1 more expensive than at my LNS so I didn't buy much... just 2 SNC threads for a Cedar Hills project and a cute Beer chart that will be perfect for my brother.

Next I dragged Is to In Stitches in Alexandria, based on a great recommendation. We were both astonished at how much they managed to cram into their store. There were soooo many charts, and they had the best fiber selection I've seen. They even had some pretty 18ct fabric for "Cooler Heads" that I've been searching for. I could've stayed for hours, but we had to get back home.

Since Is is my only stitching relative, we did a lot of stitching over the weekend. I did 2 of 3 snowmen heads on my new fabric, plus a ton of work on Ivy's skirt. Check it out!


I'm just getting caught up on emails/blogs/life, and a lot has happened over the weekend. I have a partner for the HSKS4 exchange! I won Daisygirl's blogiversary contest (she's one of my stitching/blogging idols, so major :-)! I'm going to be doing an exchange with Beckysc, one of my other stitching/blogging idols! w00t :-)

Then I got the call: JetBlue canceled my flight home due to impending snow and there were no earlier flights. So I'm stuck in DC tonight, and I'm going home first thing in the morning. Provided they don't cancel another flight or 10. Oh well, looks like Is will have to stitch with me for one more night. She looks soooooo broken up about it, lol. I'm just a little sad missing my wireless, and I need to get back to work but the good thing is that I can work anywhere I have wireless access, so I'm not in too much trouble with my boss. I think.

Anyways, I put my needle down long enough to blog a bit and now I'm getting back to it. Ttyl!

Oops

Thank you to everyone for the nice comments on Rose Sampling!

I was all proud of myself for finally framing this piece, and doing a decent enough job of it that I'm thinking of framing some other pieces... and then this morning I re-read the packaging for the board I mounted it to. Bad call, I shoulda left well enough alone. Did you know you're supposed to attach the stitching to the sticky side of the board?!? I thought you stretch it over the smooth side, and just tack down the edges on the sticky side - on the back! LOL, I'm still not redoing it.

MZ & I went for a walk during lunch since it was so nice out - I think it reached the 60's today. I wasn't even wearing a jacket, and we were discussing possible sunburn. Not your typical January discussion for a New Yorker!

Tonight I'm getting my stitchy things organized and packing for a trip to DC to visit a cousin. Is's my mom's first cousin, and she used to live in NY until she moved to a suburb of DC about 8 years ago. Since 2004 I've visited her with one of my brothers every June or July, but last summer was busier than expected so I'm going now by myself. Last trip (June '06) I did some googling and found a needlework shop near her house in Fairfax. Of course we had to stop in, this was before my NY LNS opened so the idea of going to an actual needlework shop was mind boggling :-) Even though I didn't recognize a lot of the designers and fibers, I dragged Is all over the store looking at everything and explaining stitching to her somewhat. I ended up buying Trilogy's Spring Lineup, and IS was very amused that I got fuzzy whisper for the clouds. (That reminds me, I need to pack Spring Lineup to show her :-)

A few months later, Is's friend dragged her into a needlework shop when they were out shopping together, so IS decided to give stitching a try. By now she has finished a few pieces and even framed some, but haven't seen any pictures. I can't wait 'til tomorrow when I get to see them! We're going to do *some* sightseeing, but I have a feeling we're spending most of my visit stitching.

Off to pack and watch the return of Jon Stewart & the Colbert Report. Ttys!

A JS Wedding Update

Not much going on today, so I give you an update on JS's wedding. Enjoy!

JS IMed me in a panic about bridesmaid dresses. All along the plan has been for her to pick 1 designer and 1 color, and each of the bridesmaids can pick whatever style she likes. Well, she told me that over the weekend her mom told her to let us choose from just 2 styles. At which point I started panicking too. We are all very different body types, so this is going to be a disaster. First of all, if we don't get a 2-2 split then the odd person out (and I know it's gonna be me) is going to look like the idiot who ordered the wrong dress or the [insert unflattering adjective] girl who couldn't pull off the same style as the others. Second, I cannot imagine a dress that would fit me well and also fit any also any of the other 3 girls well. Ditto for fitting JS's other non-sister bridesmaid and any other person. I don't know her sister or the fiance's sister so well, but they *might* have similar body types. So good luck with that plan.

Thank goodness JS doesn't like the 2 dress style idea either! I'm not sure if I would argue with both her and her mom on the dress I'd be wearing, or if I'd just shut my mouth and go along so as not to cause problems. Luckily she's way ahead of me, and her mom seems pretty reasonable. So I think she's just not working with all the facts that JS and I are, which would be how different the 4 of us are. JS said something about having her call me (yikes!), or maybe she'll just email her mom photos of us and she'll see for herself.

JS still hasn't picked a dress designer or a dress color yet so that's the other thing she was panicking about. I got her slightly calmer, and found out all the dates she could possibly go dress looking. We called up some dress stores and we now have plans to go look at a place in Manhattan on New Year's Eve. Problem solved. Now we just have to actually pick stuff, but she's pretty decisive about things so I'm not worried.

Oh, I forgot to mention. I'm going to visit my cousin in DC next month, the one who stitches. HD! We're going to drive to Colonial Williamsburg - my first visit - and also try to go to the stitching night at her LNS. Should be fun. If anyone has any other LNS to recommend, or interesting/unusual stuff to see while in DC, please leave me a comment. Thanks!