My loot from the road trip

Waking up this morning with Miss Abbie, so tired from our trip. Ren is home now and he had his

cheerios in the mornings and a dryer-warmed blanket each night as the vet said. Ren has really

captured the hearts of our vet over the past 8 years. Our vet listened to his heart with his

stethoscope and he looked up at me and said, "Every day is a good day for little Ren" ;)

So, unpacking the loot I got along the way. Here is some new 32 count Belfast linen.

And because the cross stitch shop displayed their intricate, beautifully-stitched Blackbird

Design stockings, I made a vow to make these throughout the year for next year. The tiny little

stockings are so incredibly cute. I got the January booklet.

With the 3 pieces of linen already precut small for the individual stockings.

I got a pack of Piecemakers needles in size 26. I've heard alot of good things about these needles

through reading different blogs and so I'm going to try a pack.

And at a thrift store, I got a 1936 old copy of Gone with the Wind. I've never owned a copy and I

love the book so much, I was pleased with the find to add to my little library downstairs.

At the old General store in Sylva, Vera Bradly had a 40% off their "Frill Collection" and as you

can see why the name, Frill. Very bright stuff but I loved it.

This little pack could double as a scissor case.

And this little zip up bag which inserts into a notebook would be great to carry to work for lunch

hours small stitching.

Yes, this is really shiney and red! I'm a girlie girl though.

Definitely will need a solid outfit with this purse.

I will be stylin' though. LOL

Now, this, my friends, is really a put-together system that I found in a store and it's really for

jewelry. This store had alot of inserts to boxes with clear tops and anything and everything

including tags to attach to jewelry if you make beads, earrings, etc.

My mind immediately went to .......OMG, I can store my precious silk floss in these, so I put

together a case for my silks. I have only 4 silk flosses as they are quite costly but now I can put

this with my DMC wooden box for organization. Gosh, did I say organizing? That's so not

me! :0

Love it. I got a pad piece that goes in the middle to give me 2 layers, a possibility to keep 16

flosses in this box.

While I don't have very few silks, I know a place now that I can add to another box if I attain

more silks. Or When I attain more silks.

I got this blanket on a discount table for this chair. It's crocheted in beautiful mauves and pinks

which compliments this room and feels oh so comfy and cozy.

At the cross stitch store, got me a copy of this magazine which I thoroughly enjoyed reading

about thinbles and the origins, history, etc.

A few special threads I needed.

And for 99cents each, these pillow covers.

I liked them because they would be great to attach a stitched piece on the front with lovely

buttons and it has a zippered back. I got 2 navy ones and 1 williamsburg blue one.

Deb, I thought of you when I went into an antique store called Memory Lane. I think I got lost in

this place and spent 2 hours there. No flower/scissors frogs out of all the stuff in there. But, I

did get this crystal bowl/vase to hold my large Ginghers.

It's shiny and pretty heavy to hold those special larger scissors.

So, I did get more than I should have on this trip but I'm loving each special one.

I have a "Frosted Cranberry" candle burning now and the family room smells luscious. I'm in my

PJ's still at almost noon and catching a few minutes with CNN. Then I'm off to try to get some

cleaning done. The furbabies are all napping right now, recovering from their journeys.

Part 2--The Road Trip Home

Late last night I did get some stitching time on Northanger Abbey by The Sampler Girl.

I hope to do more in the next couple of days but on the ride there and back I held Abbie so no stitching accomplished during the travel.

We stopped at a couple of shops and old stores and this book I found at an antique store in the middle of some very old books. Copyright 1987. Mostly French sampler motifs and what a charm indeed! I was excited to find this.

A few glimpses inside the book~~~~~~~

Most designs are enlarged enough to stitch. No color coding included here but the first chapter actually encourages replicating these if possible.

Many, many beautiful alphabets to choose from.

Beautiful redwork samplers.

Just wanted to share a pic at random here. We just got home and after Abbie ran around the house erractically, she got quiet and was found here curled on top of my scroll frame canvas case :0

Quickly to retreat back to a lounging position. She is so tired and so am I.

But we truly bonded on our little road trip.

She says, "To know me.......is to love me"

We went back through Sylva, N. C., a very cute town with a really cool old general store.

With a large Vera Bradley selection and 40% off sale.

A town that is at the bottom of this bliss~~~~~~

Make sure you honk your horn through this.

And then more of this~~~~~~~

Abbie and me.......taking it all in.

We saw lots of icicles on the side of the mountain.

And there was lots of traffic too. It was very hard to take pictures in a moving vehicle.

But then, at times, there were onlookers who suddenly stopped for a picture and almost caused accidents.

The skies were so beautiful that it was hard to believe that a storm would soon be coming into this area.

But the trip went by too fast and now we are totally pooped out but we have several more days to rest......in between laundry and taking down Christmas decorations.

I also will be inserting the CD that came with my camera to read the directions on how to use the camera to get the best pictures. I'm having alot of trouble with many pics turning out more yellow, especially with close-ups.

Another issue is that my laptop, my lifeline, is on the way out. My warranty stops in April 2010 and guess what? I have a connection issue with the cord and the monitor. It blinks now to dim, off and on if I move with the computer. We have to find the warranty tomorrow which means alot of digging through paper work in the basement. I can't live without a computer though, so we will be digging and hopefully find it. This same issue was the demise of my last laptop.

But if I just keep the feeling I got from this view, then tomorrow will be peaceful.