All good things must come to an end...

And so it was with our little mini vacation. We returned home today. We had such a fabulous time. I did not want to come home. My parents went with us, and we really had such a great trip. I would have liked to have stayed for one more day, but with my husband's football practice schedule, it wasn't feasible.

I spent a lot of time browsing around a nice little needlework shop called "Dixie Darlin'." I came home with quite a bit of stash from there....

a design from the Knoxville EGA called Swan Pond Sampler (I have been admiring this model on their wall for years), Rosewood Manor's Quaker Diamonds, Midsummer Night Designs' Liberty, Blackbird Designs Bittersweet Moon

Notforgotten Farms' My Samplar House, With Thy Needle and Thread's Flag Day, Little House Needleworks' The Library, Bent Creek's Home

Lots of fabric and threads....some for the designs I purchased, mostly for designs I already have.

I went back and forth to this shop several times. They are so nice there. They were very helpful with all of my questions and even ordered a chart to mail me that they did not have in stock. It is so nice to get to shop in an actual needlework shop sometimes. I order a lot online because there are no shops remotely close to me anymore.

While on vacation, I started Bent Creek's Home. It is a cute little sampler that is stitching up so fast. I expect I will have this finished either tonight or tomorrow.

I have a little mini finish to show...

Before the end of September, I actually managed to finish block 2 of SoHRH. I was quite excited to finish it before the month's end. However, I haven't started block 3 yet, and with so many new things (and more coming in the mail), I don't know if I will get to it. I don't tend to stress over this kind of thing though. That would completely sap the fun out of it for me. If I get to it, I do... If I don't, that's okay too.

While we were in Pigeon Forge, my mom and I found this little shop called The Pattern Mart. We could have spent all day in there. She had very little cross-stitch, but she had tons of other things... all kinds of quilting, applique, wood, embroidery, etc. I really loved the punchneedle designs. The owner was so nice. She gave Mom and I a lesson in punchneedle and we enjoyed watching her work on a design there in the shop. We resisted temptation (for now), but I know it is only a matter of time before I get into that as well. It was so pretty, and after talking with the shop owner and seeing her demonstration, I think I could pick it up pretty quickly. She had a lot of neat gadgets (like this double hoop stand) that made it seem like it would be a breeze. Mom and I agreed that had we stayed another day, we would both have been back at that shop buying all the necessary supplies and setting up shop in the hotel room, punching the day away. :) Have any of you tried punchneedle? Do you enjoy it?

The one positive about being home is that I have the rest of the week off and no specific plans, other than to stitch as much as humanly possible. It is a cold rainy afternoon here (perfect stitching weather for me). Michael (hubby) is at football practice, Jake is visiting with his other set of grandparents... so I plan to spend the next couple of hours with my DVR and Bent Creek.

Have a good one!!

Kellie