Cobblestones, Brick and Lionheads

No sign of cooling temps, so I'm happy to be a slug indoors this weekend with my needlework. I didn't get much done during the week, but I've made some progress this weekend on Miriam Chilvers:


Audrey and I haven't ventured out to explore Richmond either. But I did scurry out to the local independent bookstore and to pick up some pizza for lunch. On the way, I took this shot of a cobblestoned alley. The street in this part of town--Shockoe Slip--is cobblestone too, but newer, and installed in a kind of clamshell-quilt pattern. These are the real deal, rounded and worn down with use.


I am not sure what has happened to Richmond's downtown area; it is pretty sparsely populated. I imagine the recession is responsible for some of it, but the downtown area becomes virtually deserted after 5:30. The good pizza place I visited closes at 5:00 p.m. Clearly workers don't hang around downtown after hours. Wouldn't this make a great knitting/needlework/quilt store? Those white shutters can be removed and the windows are floor to ceiling. (Probably not from an economic standpoint--but at least from an aesthetic one.) I love the old warehouse-y brick buildings with the old stenciled writing on them.


Malcolm Russell and his wife have gotten themselves a couple of baby lionhead rabbits. Go here to see them--they are just the cutest thing on the rabbit blogosphere. For a change, Elvis approves!

Happy week ahead!

Hot

It has been very hot here--in the upper 90s every day, as it is again today--so I haven't had a chance to explore Richmond with Audrey. I did walk down to the farmer's market at the train station on Thursday. None of my new co-workers had ever been, but they declined to trot 7 blocks in the heat; no doubt they have formed an interesting opinion of me ("you certainly do like to explore!" I do! I do!) So I set out on a 97-degree day to see what was on offer. I passed some interesting stuff: an old-time variety store, paint peeling and windows full of bright orange placards, selling "fried bologna steak sandwiches" and other curiosities. It has been a long time since I have had a good bologna sandwich--put a slice or two in a hot pan and cook until blistered and puffy, then slap on the yellow mustard and eat it between two slices of squishy white Hol-sum bread with a thick slice of tomato that soaks the bread. We get a lot of interesting food in Richmond, a city far more southern-feeling than the part of Virginia where I live, 65 miles north. We routinely have lunch at the Suntrust Bank cafeteria, which serves all manner of sandwiches and grilled items and good crunchy southern fried chicken wings. The sandwiches are served with piles of marinated red onions on them. The Arby's, which anywhere else is forgettable fast food, cooks breakfast sandwiches to order on big, fluffy homemade biscuits. Even the Wawa, the huge gas station where I stop on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to fill up (these days I'm spending on gas what I used to spend for a bus ticket), serves "shorti" sandwiches--fabulous breakfast sandwiches on ciabbata bread (or pick up a lunch sandwich to go) to be eaten in the parking lot next door. I don't mind dashboard dining, but I can't drive and eat with eggy bits falling into my lap. Also, I've been trying to cach up with the Boka Truk ("Takos for your Mouf") which advertises its food as being Mexican/Asian/American fusion.

For whatever reason, Richmond is a town at lunch of card-table vendors, where you can buy anything from bulgogi to a chicken salad sandwich to Thai noodles from a hand-made wooden plywood cart, or straight off a card table. I'll be sampling and reporting on what I eat. And taking pictures if it ever cools down to the 80s!

Anyway, here's the train station (photo borrowed from Wiki) as it was in 1971. It doesn't look very different now. There weren't many farmers--I was told there are many more on Friday night and Saturday--but I did get a nice bag of Hanover tomatoes, which are famously huge and juicy.



The heat has mostly convinced me to stay inside, stitching. This is Sous le Soleil:



With a close-up of the moon and stars done with Gloriana silk:


And here's a before picture of Catharine McNeal.


After.


Here's Pink, looking cool and snowy. Pink says, "it's best to stay inside when it's sunny and hot to keep from getting sun-burned ears."


Happy week ahead!

Where are We Going?

We were very fortunate this week to have won this tiger print, done by the wonderful Diana Moll, artist and bun-mom extraordinaire.

The packaging was too cute to throw away:


Thank you, Diana, for both the print and for the packaging!

Although I started my new job this week, and wasn't relaxed or cool enough (it was 103 degrees in Richmond) to take photos of my new, funky city, I am hoping to show Audrey around this week or next, depending on my workload and the temps. Stay tuned for that whereby we will visit Padow's for everything "pigging" out, where we will take a gander at the skyline, and where we will examine old cobblestones and iron front buildings and tobacco warehouses and contemplate how to turn a 19th century ship around after it has picked up a load of tobacco, and the farmers market. I am a bit directionally challenged, and I got lost in Richmond each and every day leaving the city, in spite of the navigation system in my car. I figured it out finally by Friday.

I was able to stitch a bit on Miriam Chilvers, seen here (AVAS on 40 ct Lakeside pearled barley), as well as more on Sous le Soleil (not enough to show).


Peaches wants to assure RG, who has a new kitty, that it's just a small matter to manage a cat. "It'll be ok, RG!"


Happy week ahead!

Stitching with Miriam and Audrey on the Fourth of July in a Peaceful Garden Under the Sun While the Band Played On

I thought that those of you who are interested in sampler-y houses might like to see this antique, true Cape Cod home. It was built in 1900 and it's for sale for $489,000 and is located in East Falmouth, on the Cape. You can see more pictures of it here (click on the 2nd page--the link doesn't take you there automatically). Its barn is even cuter than the main house.

We had a little fourth of July party today. It was extremely hot, so I had a nice opportunity to play with ice. This is from my new ice cube tray: the Titanic, complete with icebergs. Hilarious.

Audrey was our honored guest. She says those are not her beers. *hic*

We had these.

Here's my sister, demonstrating Watermelon Carving 101.

This is Gilbert, demonstrating Pyrotechnics 101 while Audrey watches.

Audrey: "ooooooh! aaaaaaaah!"

Yesterday I was sitting in the stitching chair when the phone rang. It was one of the nice women from In Stitches to tell me that Miriam Chilvers had arrived. I rushed off to pick up Miriam and then kitted her up. I'm stitching her on 40 count Lakeside (I'm forgetting what color) using AVAS. My favorite combination.

I felt the urge to stitch on Peaceful Garden (Stitching Parlor), so I took it out.

And I made some progress on Sous le Soleil:

Peaches, grooming Pink.

Tomorrow's agenda: stitch all day.

Happy Fourth of July, all!

Plimoth (and some Needlework)

I took this photo last night after a quick rainstorm. Red sky at night. See the little guy in the center of the frame? More about him in a moment.

We went to Plymouth today, but it was too hot to walk the historic area. Bummer. We were able to view some things from the car. I did a u-turn in the middle of the road to drive back to this house, which is marked with the year 1662.

Plymouth has a wonderful knitting shop called Knitting Treasures. I have set my knitting aside, where it will stay for a while, but I did buy a couple of crochet hooks, a how-to book and some nice yarn to teach myself to crochet.

Plymouth has a small needlework shop where I picked up this--Whimsey & Whit's Hope's Dwelling Place's Patty Bartlett Sessions.

Some more progress on SlS. Not a great picture because *whispering* I think my parents cornered the market on 40 watt bulbs. Plus the foliage from their old landscaping has grown up over the windows and it's DARK in here. And the smallish windows in this 60's-era house are covered with dark curtains. Gagh! I'm going blind!


Here's the little guy in the first photo.


He was somewhat unafraid and allowed me to get pretty close. I love his little legs.


And the way he hops. Elvis would groom him and I'd feed him up because he looks kind of scrawny. He and his buddies (there were about 5 of them) were feeding in the marshy grass along the tidal pond. Someone said that these rabbits look different than their outside wild bunnies. They're different than our wild bunnies too, which are lighter colored, rounder and not so rangey-looking.


Audrey and I are headed home tomorrow. See you Thursday!

Audrey Goes to the Beach

I'm not normally a huge beach-goer, but it was so hot and sticky today, that we went to the beach. I waded up to my knees--there's a storm kicking up off shore, so there was lots of seaweed in the greenish waves today. Audrey enjoyed herself and it cooled me off to stand in the water.



We had a seafood lunch out (cod sandwich).


And I did some more stitching on Sous le Soleil.


See you again soon!

We're Here!

Pink, Peaches and Elvis said their goodbyes to Audrey last night. Pink bowled her over and chewed her bandana, seeming to understand that she is Not-a-Bunny.

Little Elvis, who wears his heart on his sleeve for all bunny creatures, groomed her, licking her nose. He didn't seem to mind that she didn't reciprocate.

Pink: "Elvis is cute, but he isn't very smart."
Elvis: "I have cotton mouth."
Peaches: "Oh, brother."


Here we are at the approach to the GW Bridge. By now I have discovered that I should have stopped at the last rest stop on the NJ Turnpike because I have to pee. I have also realized that in spite of the radio's traffic report to use the bottom deck (local traffic) instead of the top deck (through traffic) because the upper deck delay is 15 minutes of jockeying into line rather than 5 minutes of cutting in and out, I have managed to get on the upper deck. I paid $8 for the dubious pleasure. Along with $9.05 for the NJ Turnpike, and about $8 for the Delaware Bridge and $6 for the Baltimore Tunnel and $4 for driving through Maryland without benefit of any particular structure. And $1.75 to someone for something.



So somehow I blundered onto the top deck. Here it is. Fabulous. Traffic was moving here. Not so on the other side, where my bladder and I spent a very long time on the Cross-Bronx Expressway and then the NY Thruway, creeping along and thinking about rest areas and trying to decide if I should risk getting off the highway (I could see big-box stores from the highway) in the Bronx or Co-Op City. I wasn't sure I could find the highway again if I took a random exit, so I stuck with 95 while Best Buys with bathrooms shimmered like impossible mirages--just out of reach.


But we made it finally--10.5 hours after I started out this morning. Audrey is admiring the view of Green Pond.


She's already made friends with one of the locals.


But she isn't sure about dinner, a stuffed quahog and corn on the cob.


We're off to bed now. Look for more adventures tomorrow night, and perhaps even some stitching.
Happy week ahead!

Delayed

I'm still here in VA, leaving tomorrow instead.

Rebecca asked about DC-area stitching shops. The closest one to DC is my happy haunt, In Stitches, in Alexandria, Virginia, about 14 miles south of DC on route one. Give them a call to get better directions than I can give you. If you have a car, they're a ride down Route 1 and not far from Routes 95 or 495 (the Beltway). If you don't have a car, they're a taxi ride from the last stop on either the blue line or the yellow line metro stations (I recommend driving though). Speaking of In Stitches, here they are! Note the "new chart" racks in the window.


I stopped by there yesterday to pick up my framed "July" by the Prairie Schooler. They did a wonderful job as always.


And I picked up this chart, which they'd ordered because I saw it somewhere on the web and decided I had to stitch it. This is "Sous le Soleil de la Lune," by Reflets de Soie. I love the colors and the motifs. In Stitches has more of these on one of those racks in the window.


So even though I should be packing for my trip, I started it. I'm working it on 40 count Lakeside in Maritime White using mostly AVAS, but with some Gloriana threads mixed in. The design is charted for Gloriana, AVAS or DMC. It's fairly large at 343x267 stitches, but manageable. Notice the rabbits on the lawn. You can click on the photo to get a better look at the detail.


I've been thinking about learning to do thread crochet. I have one of my grandmother's crocheted bedspreads, but beds were smaller then, and I need a king-size one or at least a queen size for the guest bedroom. I want to make it look a little more contemporary than this, but eliminating the fringe would probably accomplish that. I like the sunflower design and think it would look amazing in brilliant white or pale yellow. Since you do it one square at a time, it would make a nice "car" or "office" project. I'm going to see if I can find a class somewhere. I found this booklet (original price 29 cents back whenever--1950s? 1960s?) on ebay. There's no copyright date on the pattern booklet, but the furniture looks to be that vintage. I've looked around Michaels (they carry the thread) for patterns, but it seems to me so many of the designs now are either dumbed down for people who don't want to put the time into learning and practicing a craft, or perhaps to look at it a different way, simplified for crafters who are busier. One of the things I love about our cross stitch hobby is that the designers seem to be shooting for the moon now with respect to more complex designs, the use of various fibers and more elaborate stitches. You can do quick/small/simple and still feel as if you've accomplished a satisying project. And for those stitchers who want a big, spicy, challenging design--they're out there!


I didn't leave on Friday because I was too busy the last few days at work and couldn't manage to finish work, get clothes washed and packed, figure out why my right front tire was low, and decide what I was taking. Not to mention vacuuming up the cat litter in my trunk from the spill two? three? months ago. No sense leaving in the thick of tourist traffic today, and I'm hoping that Sunday a.m. traffic is a little better. Who knows--it's summer. On my way out the door to get my car gassed and washed and pick up treats for the car. Hopefully the traffic will move tomorrow though--inching along is the worst. I sat in a local traffic jam for a while yesterday, but it was moving so slowly (stopped, and every so often we'd move a car length), that I was actually able to take out my needlework and stitch a bit, so not a total waste. It's the 10 mph thing that drives me nuts.

Pink: "Are you leaving me because I chewed through another phone cord? I just thought you'd rather have a wireless phone!"

These deer visit my back yard in the evening. Creeps.

Deer 1: "Hey, let's go eat the lady's hostas."
Deer 2: "Nah, we finished them last night. Let's have some raspberries."
Deer 1: "Nope, the wild bunny got them yesterday."


See you on the Cape! (again)