Summer Needlework Tour 2012!

There was awesomeness, there was excess, there was groupies (in the form of very patient boyfriend and children), there was even a mild hangover (but oh was it worth it!) We are back from our 10 day summer vacation, and it was wonderful. We went to Tennessee and Kentucky, and of course while there I had to check out all the local needlework shops. They were great. It is so fun getting to see new shop's displays and local offerings. Oh boy did I partake of all the goodies. First stop was Dixie Darling in Pigeon Forge TN (Dolly Parton's hometown and home of Dollywood). This shop had amazing stitched models up on the wall, as you came in it was a huge wall of beautiful samplers. I was amazed to find such a great shop in the middle of such a bustling tourist town. This next place was outside of Pigeon Forge down a country road, in a doublewide trailer. The shop owner was so nice, she helped me pick out the perfect peice of linen for my new project. She also has so many older charts and magazines, and an amazing selection by topic. This place we dropped into on the last day of our trip and I was so sad to find it was a needlework shop and had a very limited selection of actual cross stitch. Very nice stitched models of needlework in this shop though, and the owner was super helpful. And this was the last stop on our tour, and it truly was the grand finale. Do you know those filing cabinets that are 5ft tall and 3ft wide they have in big offices? This shop had dozens of those lining the walls filled with cross stitch patterns! It was like Christmas going through each drawer. The shop owner talked to us the whole time we were in there, and even gave my girls a cute embroidery pattern each to work on. And of course while we were there we had to stop at each little antique store on the side of the road. I found lots of awesome cross stitch too... This one looks pretty old, and the linen is so thin you can see the backside where they tied off the threads or crossed over. This one is huge (2ftx1ft) It wouldn't fit in my suitcase, so my groupie-ahem boyfriend had to help bubblewrap/duct-tape it and carry it into the airport. I am sure the security people were disappointed to cut through all that tape just to find some needlework. There is a cute little animal/design on each of the letters of "Home Sweet Home" which made me fall for it. I love the bunny with his carrot. And this one is about 4 feet long? I love the flowers on it. It is hanging on my wall already. And this one was a tiny little gold necklace. I love how small the stitches are. This last one is a stamped linen sampler. It says made exclusively for Ladies Home Journal, but unfortunately doesn't say what year. I would love to know how old this one is (I'm guessing 1960's era?) I will post again later this weekend. I have more stash pictures to show. I couldn't go to all those needlework shops without picking up a few new charts could I? I also started 1 new project while on vacation, and managed to finish one while on the plane.