Public Service Announcement

You know one thing I forgot to say about our trip to New Mexico was that my husband was hit while driving our rental car on I-25 by an uninsured motorist. He wasn't injured. But the car was undrivable.

It was definitely the other guy's fault. The other guy driving a 1991 Toyota pickup with no insurance.

The bill from Avis came today. 

I've left some phone messages Avis and my insurance company. We'll see who gets back to me first.

My public service announcement is this: 

Be certain you have uninsured motorist coverage on your auto policy. 

We do. But this still isn't going to be any fun. At all. 

I spent some time reading sob stories by people whose lives have been ruined by an uninsured motorist. Literally something like this could change the course of your entire life.

Did you know that in New Mexico 26% of the drivers are uninsured? 

As someone who has followed the rules her entire life, I'm appalled by stats like this. Ooh. They're poor and can't afford insurance. You know what? Then don't drive. Because all this does is drive the cost of insurance up for everyone. If everyone who was supposed to have auto insurance by law did, it would cost less. Because we wouldn't have to be paying for deadbeats. 

I once was poor, too, but I always paid my insurance bill. Because it's the right thing to do. 

Stash Enhancement

I have finally satisfied my desire for stash enhancement. Last Saturday morning I announced my desire to support Small Business Saturday - which prompted my husband to ask me if that was a euphimism for needlework shopping. 

See how well he knows me? I managed to get myself to one needlepoint shop and a fabric store. And then my phone rang and instead of going to other needlepoint shop, I joined a friend on a trip to a quilt store and an Amish market. 

On Monday I managed to get back to the other needlepoint shop where I found this cute little owl canvas.  

Which kind of continues the theme of what I bought on Saturday - this snowy white owl.

But really what I came here today to talk about is this magazine - Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly.

When this magazine was first published I was a charter subscriber. This totally fed my sampler addiction. I had the first three years. And then one day, after they stopped publishing it and I had kind of let go of my stitching addiction, I gave away all three years. In my defense, I wasn't using them. And we were getting ready to move (again) and I was cleaning out. 

Well, you all know what happens when you do that. 

One day, they started publishing it again. And I had to have all the issues. So off to the internet I went where I spent some money recreating the collection I once had. A few of my early issues are the black and white photocopies that SANQ themselves sold. But I have them all. And I wouldn't part them now for a significant sum of money. 

The cover of this issue in particular made me happy. I love these little purses. This one is by Kimberly Servello who is also the designer of the Peas and Pomegrant purse that I have half-completed. Kimberly is a charming teacher and a font of information on Elizabethan/Jacobean needlework. She's got a blog with some beautiful things here:  Baroque Embellishments.

Photogenic

I did a manage a few stitches on Wednesday evening. But mostly I was too exhausted. Must have been that Manhattan..

This is where I am at on my Pacific Coast Collage by Laura J. Perin. Right now this project is saving me from total loss of stitching mojo. Not too difficult, not too easy. Just right. Five out of the six boxes are done - except that one corner that I forgot on the waves. I've got more ribbon to do and the shells in the last box and then the border. I'' be sorry when I reach the end of this one because I've enjoyed it tremendously.

Have we all seen enough pictures of food? 
 

Defeated by Technology

I have been sitting here trying to take a photo and post it here. But my phone keeps turning my photo. And when I try to outwit by turning what I'm taking a photo of, it turns it yet again, so that now it's upside down. 

Sigh.

I promise to get out the big girl camera tomorrow and try to post a progress photo by Thanksgiving. 

I am finally feeling better. Still not 100%, but definitely an improvement. 

And this means the housework and laundry are calling. I finally washed the last of the clothes that went to New Mexico today! That's pretty bad. But it was the unusual stuff that I don't need that often so I could afford to let it slide. 

Meanwhile, there's all kinds of sheets and towels piling up. I am so glad I don't have to do any of this by hand. 

The past two nights we have been watching Ken Burns' documentary on the Dust Bowl. I have to say there wasn't much about this that wasn't depressing. But all I can think of today is dust and dirt everywhere and how awful that must have been living with the constant threat of dust storms. Anyway. My china hutch and sideboard are clean - all that glass - and I went and bought new lightbulbs so everyone can see the shiny stuff. The punishment for collecting bric-a-brac is that occasionally you have to clean it.

With renewed health, comes the energy to pick up a needle and thread. I've been working on my Pacific Coast Collage and that's what I wanted to show. There's nothing complicated about this piece and it's just the right speed for me now. Well, I say nothing complicated, but doing bullion knots with pearl cotton and a size 24 tapestry needle is quite interesting. I finished my starfish last week and need to start those scallop shells this week. Though I might put them off to the end and work on the border, etc. I've got some other things I've been working on, but nothing I can show here online. 

Tomorrow is the deadline for early registration at EGA Seminar 2013. I did sign up for my first four-day class. Ever. Four days. One teacher. I'm ready for it. 



 

Sampler Wall

I owe huge thanks to Barbara Hutson for telling me to look for the sampler wall at the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe. It's funny, but when I asked at the desk where I'd find this, the nice young lady did not really know what I was talking about. At first, I was afraid that these samplers were no longer on exhibit, but were hidden back in storage. And then I turned a corner and found them! An large free standing wall filled with samplers. 

There's an amazing lack of information about these samplers. So I can't really tell you much. But I can show you some of them. 

 I love this one with the two-headed eagle. Anyone have any ideas on country of origin?

 Is this a man with a hot-air balloon?

 The one with the weeping willow is the only sampler with American origins.

 Yikes. This one has some serious goldwork. But I just have to wonder what got cut out?

 Now remember. If you're ever in Santa Fe, you need to stop here. I wish I had got decent photos of all of them, but alas glass and lights sometimes interfere with cameras. In fact, the entire Girard collection is amazing. Everytime you turn a corner, you have no idea what you may see!

 

Macedonian Wedding Dresses

This is currently one of the main exhibits at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. I'm sorry that not all my photos came out - most of the ones with the close-up detail are blurry. Not used to taking detailed photos with my phone...

But I'm pretty sure you can get the idea from what I can show you.

 They have one of these dresses that you could try on. It weighs over 30 lbs.

Continuing Updates

I see no reason not to continue updating you on my New Mexico experiences. I'll continue with the fun I had before getting sick.

We stayed and played in Albuquerque along the historic Route 66. And we took the long way to Santa Fe along the Turquoise Trail. Stopped and saw some sights along the way. And our first stop in Santa Fe - Wal-Mart. Because I wanted to buy some tomato juice,chocolate, and nuts for snacking. And DH wanted a cable to connect his MP3 player to the car so we could listen to songs like Route 66 by Manhattan Transfer. LOL One thing I saw in that Wally World that I've never seen anywhere else - an end cap aisle display of 4 lb boxes of Sno Cap lard. That one stopped me in my tracks. Where I live I sometimes I have to hunt down the lard for making pie crusts. 

Our second stop in Santa Fe - the Museum of International Folk Art. Because Barbara Hutson of Queenstown Sampler Designs told me to go see the wall of samplers.

 The first thing we noticed right after handing over the money for our tickets was friends from North Carolina! We had a mini-reunion moment knowing we'd be seeing each other at Seminar.

We got lucky. There were two exhibits that had to do with textiles. These photos are from Life in the Andes. Weaving and embroidery and some other very cool things.

 I've got more photos from the Museum, but I'll save them for another day. 

The Buffalo Thunder Resort is a pretty impressive place. Lots of artwork just hanging around. When they told us to be prepared to walk, they weren't lying. It was a quarter mile from my room to my classrooms. For some people it was even further. 

On Sunday morning, I was good and got up and went to the gym to use the ellipitcal and treadmill. Even spent 10 minute soaking my feet in the hot tub. Ran back to my room to shower and grab my stuff for my first class.

And the first class was Ovals Rule! by Diane Clements. This is my first true reticello experience. The pre-work took a considerable amount of time for a such a small piece. I had the good fortune of sitting at a table with Lorie Whelker the outgoing EGA President. And she had brought some fantastic pieces of reticello with her. One piece in particular has given me some ideas. We'll see what happens. 

 Even though the piece doesn't look like much yet, I thoroughly enjoyed Diane's teaching. And her instructions for this piece are a book! Seriously. Great photographs of her step-by-step procedures. I'm not in love with my first oval and plan on removing it and trying again. My tension was definitely too tight. But that's what classes are for. Learning and improving. 

For anyone interested in attending EGA National Seminar next year in Louisville, KY, early registration is open to EGA members until November 21st. They've extended the deadline to accommandate those people without power due to Hurricaine Sandy. For those who are not members but might be interested in attending, I will highlight registration again in February when it opens for everyone. To see the classes offered, go here:  EGA National Seminar 2013.