Travel Gives Me Room to Stitch

Photo from Death to the Stock Photography

More than a couple of people told me they can't get stitching done when they are on a trip (in reference to my recent vacation). But I look forward to vacation for a handful of reasons, chief among them more stitching time.

When I'm on vacation, I don't have to cook; I don't have to clean; I don't have to walk the dog. These don't take up a lot of time every evening, but they do take up some of it. I walk the dog in the evenings (the dude's on morning shift) and that can eat up an hour easily, after I've cooked dinner. I don't do a lot of cleaning (we have a housekeeper) but the laundry, the inside of the refrigerator, making sure things are where they belong...these things eat up time, and even worse, mental energy.

I don't have any other to-dos on the list. The volunteering, the meetings, the random appointments vanish. Instead, I have stitching time. When we travel, we rarely make many plans for events that happen after dinner. We're like reverse vampires: the sun goes down and we need to be hiding in our rooms!

I can stitch on a plane. I know there are a lot of people who don't like to stitch on planes which are dirty and cramped and ill-lit. I have no problem stitching any project on a plane. I try not to worry about dirt I can't see. I sit with the dude, who has spent 24 years on the other end of the couch from my stitching. He knows needles sometimes fly at him. (I've never hit him. Not once.)

I can stitch in the car. This is a bit of a gift. I know a lot of people find doing things in the car queasy-making, but I was the kid who could read in the car (and did). Whether we're in for a seven hour journey (to Maine) or just shooting over to Sissy's house (45 minutes) I take advantage of this time.

So you can see that travel does give me extra stitching time. And since vacation is supposed to be about relaxation, there's got to be stitching.

What I'm still no good at is estimating how long any project will take me. 

These Days

What I'm doing instead of stitching:
Gardening

Reading

Scrapbooking/Journaling

Card making

Hearts and Bones

I have been stitching a bit lately (since I got the finger turban) but mostly I've been reading. The action's been going on over here. I recently finished a historical mystery novel. Not my usual thing. I'm not going to consult the OED over this, but I am pretty sure calling someone a dumb-ass in the late eighteenth century may be historically inaccurate. And that sort of thing is why I don't normally read historical fiction of any subgenre. However, I read this one and I enjoyed it in the way one enjoys gummi candy.

If you've ever read Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers," this novel will seem familiar. (There's even the obligatory dead caged bird.)

In Hearts and Bones, the midwife-detective, Hannah Trevor, has access to evidence that the men don't. But the best part is the needlework is the most important evidence in solving the crime! Take that Monica Ferris! Margaret Lawrence has thought about embroidery in ways I can respect. At one point someone asks the midwife Hannah if she finds embroidery useless. Hannah defends it by saying when men do useless things it's called art. And the interlocutor responds, "I perceive you do some needlework yourself, Mrs. Trevor. You defend it very well." She does; she's a quilter and the title of the book refers to the quilt pattern she is currently working.

Later, Hannah writes in her diary, "Here I draw out in part the pattern of briar roses from [spoiler prevention: a person's] crewelwork, which I saw on the pocket in Mrs. Emory's room. It is a woman's kind of proof, but proof it is, and no man would think to record it." Okay, okay, it takes Glaspell's short story and beats the dead horse. Still the pattern is kind of cool, and if I didn't have WIPs out the ying I'd stitch it up as a little rememberance of a mystery that really uses needlework as the solution.

Nancy Pearl recommended this book because it is set in Maine. Maybe I just don't know Maine all that well, or 18th century Maine, but I thought this could have been set anywhere where it snows a lot.

Lot's of Work, Little Stitching

I was flat out this weekend. On Friday, I started cleaning and by Sunday, I had

• thoroughly cleaned the downstairs
• hung the clock in the kitchen
• purchased and set up a printer
• printed 20 photos for the big picture frame (35 photos)
• hung the bpf in the dining room
• hung other pictures in the dining room, hallway, and guest room
• had my cousin her family over to hang the chandelier in the dining room and the light fixture in the downstairs bath, and eat dinner (which I fixed)

I think we may be almost ready for the dude's friend to arrive from England. I just have to clean the upstairs, do the laundry, and buy a duvet at IKEA. Now that I write it, it doesn't seem like a lot, but I was going full tilt until I dropped into bed every night. Maybe you had to see the unbelievable mess two people who don't pick up after themselves can make...

I can't believe it's almost time to review my goals for the month...and I haven't even picked up the marquoir!