Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A Wild Hair

On the way to work this morning, I was thinking about the lunch hour trip I needed to make BACK to JoAnn's for a couple skeins of embroidery floss I'd forgotten the day before when Martha waylaid me. My brain started churning, Halloween started knocking, and I was suddenly thinking how fun it would be to bring one of my Halloween embroideries on vacation to work on--and I knew just which one!

I wasn't sure which floss colors I might need, so the trip to purchase eight skeins of floss turned into a trip to purchase something like FIFTY-eight skeins of floss. And a magical organizer thingy that could hold floss or any number of other small crafty supplies. And floss holders. Next thing I knew, I was sitting at my guild meeting, winding floss on holders, and before long, I'd convinced my friend Sandy to help me.

What happened to the idea of prepping a couple more applique blocks and calling it done?

Well, when I got home and looked for the embroidery pattern I had in mind, I didn't find it. In fact, I think I never actually BOUGHT it. So tomorrow--my last day before vacation--I'll spend my lunch hour making a run to one of the local quilt shops to see if they might have the pattern I've been thinking of. If not, maybe I can find it on my travels, because now I have just about every color floss one can imagine, all neat and tidy in a magical storage organizer and I don't want it to go to waste.

In looking for the embroidery pattern, I DID find two other patterns I wanted to make, though. Both are wool. All I need to do now is comb through my wool supplies, looking for what I need, and I'm good to go--at least as far as wool projects are concerned.

Okay, so here's the thing. Up until now, I've been the voice of reason for my little vacation-bound group. Whenever they see me, they know they'll hear me say something like "Don't bring too much stuff!" Or remind them, "There's not enough room!" "You'll never use half of what you bring!"

Yeah, right. At this rate, if the Big One hits (that mythical, oft-predicted earthquake that's expected to drop California into the Pacific Ocean) while we're on vacation and Pismo Beach turns into Pismo Island, I know I'll have enough crafts to keep me busy until rescue arrives to relocate the survivors to dry land.

I wonder if we're going to need a U-Haul for this vacation?

9 comments:

Jacqueline said...

LOL

I hope you find your pattern and I envy you your upcoming trip. Enjoy.

dianne said...

you know, i've never understood those little floss-wrap-organizer thingies - what do you do with your little bits that will stitch an inch or four, but won't fit on the dohickey? and when you're only using two or three strands, what do you do with the other strands that you've cut? does the floss get used to being wrapped and then knot more?

or do they really work?

anywho, i hope you have a great break - Getting Away is a Great Accomplishment, in and of itself - it doesn't much matter if you get anything Done, does it?

Anonymous said...

You're a girl after my own heart. You can never take too much stuff!!!!

Carol said...

You forgot to tell us something very important, what is the name of the quilt pattern? When I used to do cross stitch I was so much better about winding my floss around the bobbins but lately I've been lazy and just use it as is.

Anonymous said...

I got a kick out of your blog today, more so than most days. It just hit home when you mentioned you bought supplies and didn't have the pattern. Sometimes I like a pattern/book so much, I have that I have a couple of copies. And other times I realize that I don't have the pattern for the project that I wanted to work on. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful trip.
cindy

Janet said...

Please tell us the name of the pattern you were looking for :) Your trip sounds like it will be a good time. Hope you have fun!

Judy in Michigan said...

How many weeks will you be gone?

Deb Silva said...

Had to laugh at your packing/prep comments. To funny and so right on the mark.

Hey did you hear about the whales in Avila Beach not far from Pismo Beach?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFFfyVJ0cj0

Really awesome!

Miss Jean said...

When my quilt group in California would go to our twice yearly retreats, my bff and I would go up in my van. No one else was invited - ever - to ride with us. We would FILL the van with all sorts of "necessities". You just never know what you might need!