Notes on a Road Trip

I hit the open road this last weekend and travelled to Western Pennsylvania for Mother's Day.  It had been a long time since I had taken a road trip all by my lonesome, so I was a bit nervous.  As a New Yorker, I don't drive very often.  I used to joke that I only drove twice a year and that it was usually just taking my Grandma's Buick to the grocery store!  I used to drive a lot.  I had a sporty little two seat Honda and I used to love to go out exploring the Iowa backroads in college.  I tried to remember my relative lack of country drives on Friday when I found myself lost for an hour or two in Amish Country and literally stuck behind a buggy.  I was really lost, but it was really beautiful.

Two eight hour days of driving behind me, I can say that what everybody says about road trips is true.  I had a great time.  I played the same song on repeat yesterday for a full hour, belting out every word every time, and no one complained!


PS- I recently got the world's nicest letter from a reader who said she loved all my travel advise.  I never really considered myself a travel blogger, but with her in mind, I'll tell you this. For this road trip, I packed; music that I could sing along to, twizzlers, carrots, kale chips,  kombucha, chocolate, beef jerky and gum.  I chewed through two packs of Bubblemint Orbitz like a chain smoker smoking cigarettes.  I love it, and there's no better place for totally unabashedly obnoxious gum chewing than a road trip by yourself!

PSS- the car I rented was a Kia Optima Hybrid, and I drove not less than 16 hours in the mountains on just one tank of gas, returning it to New Jersey on fumes.  I'm definitely not in the market for a car, and I'm certainly not getting paid by Kia to say this, but that was one sweet ride!

Color Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered the color giveaway!

I used random.org to select two winners, and it picked #8 and #16.  Carrie and Nicole, I just e-mailed you.
I'll get the fabric shipped out to you this week.  Congrats!

Friday Flickr Pool

Dropcloth Sampler of the Month, a photo by davyse on Flickr.

I love the way the couched border of this sampler switches from one way of couching to the next. It's amazing what tiny little tweaks can do! Check out the other stitched samplers by davyse in the Flickr Pool!

Handmade Color Giveaway

Last month, (whoa! how is it possible that it is May???) subscribers to the Sampler of the Month club got a skein of hand dyed perle cotton from The Occasional Purl.  Don't you love variegated threads?  I really appreciate something that changes quickly as I work, keeping me interested.  I tell myself I'll stitch until it turns yellow, then can't resist waiting until it's orange again!

In addition to the threads, The Occassional Purl also dyed two color packs of cotton fabric and embroidery floss for two lucky winners of this blog post.  

The reds are hand-dyed with Cochineal, Rose Madder, and Brazil Wood:

The yellows are hand dyed with Chamomile, Onion Skin, and Cutch:

 Which do you like better?  I'm a red girl myself, but I love that rich Onion skin color.  

As you can tell by my background for this photoshoot, I'm not one for muted colors, but I love the way these naturally dyed colors combine with brighter colors, adding contrast.  To enter to win one of these two packs, leave a comment below telling about how you would use them.  I'll pick two winners next Monday, May 6th.  Good luck!

Friday Flickr Pool

540058_10152668837840048_1865757426_n(1), a photo by hippiemommy on Flickr.

I'm working on the drawings for the sequel to this original sampler today- a new version with more advanced stitches. It's almost done, and I can wait to print it and stitch up my sample.  I love this original version, especially those satin stitched tulip leaves! Thanks to everybody for uploading. Come back next week for another selection from the Flickr Pool....

NYC Escape.....

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, sometimes living in New York City is hard.  It's pretty loud and crowded most of the time.  Which is why sometimes it sure feels good to hop in a rented car and go from this....

To this.  

Hooray for the Hudson Valley and for narrow country roads just open for Spring hikers.  Hooray for getting my heart rate up without setting foot in the YMCA.    Hooray for antique stores and brunches and for sleeping to the sounds of rain and waking up to the birds.  The birds!    More about antiquing tomorrow....hope you all have a great spring week.

Quilting....

I've been making a quilt with my Grandma's house coats.  I'm hand quilting the whole thing with perle cotton, and it feels so good to sit still at the end of the day and stitch on and on with this in my lap.   It's cooling off again here and I think I'll do a lot of just that.  Wishing everyone a cozy weekend.


PS- For more quilt progress reports, you can follow me on Instagram

Color Winner!

Thanks to everybody who entered the giveaway!  It was so much fun checking out all your flickr pictures and Pinterest Boards.  You all have some great collections!  I re-pinned some things to my own board, and I'm grateful for your recommendations.....

Thanks to everybody who entered.  Random.org picked #14, and that's Amanda- I just e-mailed you!  I'll be sending you a sweet package filled with thread, the new sampler, and a special treat from Creativebug.

For all the rest of you, DyedFiber asked me to let you know to use the code 20THANKU for 20% off in her shop. 

As for me, for today only, until midnight EST, I'm offering 20% off as well.  Just use the code COLORBLAST in the shop, for the color wheel sampler or anything else you like, including subscriptions!    

Small town joys and big city woes........

I've been spending this afternoon packing up this month's edition of subscription samplers, and  I've been missing the women that helped me last month so much.  My mom and two of her friends spent an evening cutting, folding, ironing, wrapping, stickering and licking envelopes with me to get all those samplers out the door and to the post office last month.  Talk about generous..... I've been all by my lonesome self today, and while I genuinely like what I'm doing, it is a bit lonesome, and boy o boy does it take a lot longer with one instead of four.  Thank you, Mom!  Thank you, Mom's friends!

The people that were helping me stuff envelopes in Michigan last month were not the only thing that made packing up all those subscriptions last month so effortless.  The postoffice in the town where my family lives is a real treat as well.  A tiny little post office with the world's friendliest postmaster is right across the street from where I grew up, and the postmaster, Fred, happens to also be a good family friend.  Those of you who live in small towns might not appreciate the joy I feel going to this particular post, while New Yorkers and other city dwellers will acknowledge the lack of bullet proof glass separating postmaster from customer, and the genuine smile on Fred's face.  He actually asks how I am every time I go in there!   It's the little things in life, you know?

PS-------Today is the last day to enter the Color Wheel and Thread giveaway.  Enter here!  

PSS-------Big news!  Creativebug has been nominated for a Webby award!  Vote here......

Crafternoon at the NYPL: Tomorrow!

I can't wait to co-host the Crafternoon event tomorrow afternoon at the New York Public Library with my friend (who I've yet to meet in person) Liesl Gibson of Oliver and S.  We're embroidering hankies and adding decorative tassels.....it's going to be a great afternoon!  This is a Creativebug sponsored afternoon, so there are sure to be no shortages of inspiration, friends, and maybe even a raffle or two.  See you there!