Travels and Stitching

Brianne
This weekend we'll be travelling to Oklahoma to meet this handsome couple and my sweet granddaughter! Of course we have to make a stop at The Silver Needle in Tulsa!

The first cross stitch I ever did was a stamped cross stitch baby sampler in 1982. I remember a lady at my table during coffee break was stitching this sampler and I liked it so much I found out where she bought it and I got myself one to stitch for my 2nd daughter who was born in March. I was immediately hooked and stitched a pair of Hummel children for my mom (also stamped). Eventually I bought a counted cross stitch kit from Current magazine. It was a small design with a coffeepot and some fruit and stitched on Aida with DMC floss--very basic. I still have the piece but have never framed it. We had one craft store in town that sold kits, patterns, fabrics and floss. A few years later I discovered we had a very nice cross stitch store in town and I started stiching with linen and using sampler threads. Unfortunately, this store closed its doors in the 1990s. We started traveling to Omaha for soccer tournaments and I found a store there dedicated to cross stitch. I made sure to visit this store whenever I was in the area (much to the soccer player's dismay). We either stopped before or after the game and I got to spend some time and money there. This store also closed before too long and I had to content myself with a yearly excursion to Des Moines for the cross stitch festivals that were held there in the 1990s. Luckily for me the internet became available and it opened up a whole new chance for stash building!

I love to visit cross stitch stores when I'm traveling and have been able to visit quite a few in Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado. I always check to see if teh shop is still open when I'm planning a trip. I'm always quite sad to hear that another shop has closed.