Suds and Bugs

One of the top items on the agenda upon returning from the collegiate-marathon-move-in-week -

Head for the Cleantown Car Wash and suds away seven states worth of those bugs that smush

—some rather dramatically—

across the windshield

This is my favorite part of gliding along the track

through the car wash...

And need to get back to stitching!

Highways at Dawn

Another dawn, another highway

Wrapping up this collegiate-marathon-move-in week

and headed home...

...where it will be way too quiet...

but the laundry chute will be empty!

Hams and Jams

Just back from a Nashville TN road trip.

After a 10-hour drive down, then unpacking the car in a torrential thunderstorm, it was time to take in some of our favorite pig-out dining spots.

Always a must go-to place is the Loveless Café

Quote from their website:

The Loveless Cafe remains unchanged in the quaint country charm and good cooking that has made it a landmark in the South since its doors opened over half a century ago.


Nationally acclaimed and frequented by celebrities, world travelers and local appetites alike, the Loveless Cafe serves up award-winning country ham and red eye gravy, real Southern-fried chicken, and Nashville's favorite scratch biscuits with homemade preserves cooked right in the kitchen. The Loveless story has been told the world over, from Gourmet Magazine and Bon Appetit to U.S. News and World Report, CBS Television, and People Magazine.


I don’t even look at the menu anymore. I always go for the BLT—but this BLT is made with fried green tomatoes!

And their biscuits are out-of-this-world delicious!

I brought home a Butter My Biscuits! pack.

And if you have never tried the Fried Dill Pickles at BB King’s Blues Club,

you don’t know what you are missing!

 
                                        Fried dill pickles plus a pulled pork sandwich — 
                                                              pig-out dining goodness!

Added bonus—live blues band playing that night!

This little piggy sighed wee, wee, wee, all the way home through 10 more hours of driving.

Headed north next ……

 
 
 
 
 
 

School Zones

Sniff.  Time to send all my guys back to school. 

Pack up the car - multiple times.

Let the road trips begin...

There are probably only a handful of guys in college with their own monogrammed sheets.

But hey, it's what I do!

I only do what we call

Manly-Man Monograms

for my guys though.

My goal for this fall:

ditch the standard-monogrammed-catalog-tote I use,

and create a custom design for ME!

If you see us trucking through at least seven different states in the next week or so - wave hi!

My theme song:

"on the road again, just can't wait to get

on the road again..."

Book List

As I was passing by the bookstore I heard a

'Grande Non-Fat Iced Chai' calling my name.

 As I was zipping through the aisles of books to that chai with my name on it, I

was stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this book on an end cap display...

Pun in the title -- perfect!

"In this town stitching can be deadly."  A mystery - perfect!

"First in a new mystery series that will have readers stitching-and itching for more."

More to come - perfect!

This book jumped right into my hands and is now on the

top of my large stack of reading!

When you read a mystery --

do you read begining to end? 

or, do you peek at the last few pages first??

Outside the Box Monogram

Multiple choice time...

Classic Gold Leaf Box Monogram:

Outside-the-Box Monogram:

Box?  What Box?  Monogram:

Are you Classic Box?

Out-of-the Box?

or Box?  What Box?

Well-Versed

For the Well-Versed baby...

They should start this child's college fund NOW!

gregarious -- sociable

loquacious -- talkative

jocular -- playful

Truck Monogram

You know you are a monogram/font addict when…...

 

You are standing in the pouring rain trying to get a photo

of the furnace guy's company truck monogram.

And Daryl, the furnace guy who is restoring hot water to the house after 5 days of

everyone turning blue in the shower, is looking at you as if you are a total loon!

Truck monogram ---cool!

Hot water restored -- priceless!

Placemat Monogram

Good Morning Stitchfork.

Your mission should you decide to accept it:

Design a placemat monogram

Goal and target:

Use the items in this basket... black & tan placemats, clear glass tableware, black tablecloth. Monogram initials J-C-L

So often when a monogram is stitched in the center of a placemat it becomes hidden except when clearing away the plates.

These plates are clear and will create a plate-glass window
view for the monogram.

J-C-L is seen before dinner, then slowly reappears through the meal as the diners enjoy the food.

 

Bonus views for the ‘clean-plate-club’

Another successful mission concluded.

….I added the striped table runner from my stash for the pictures.

Think I may have lost it to J-C-L….

Flowers from the Farm

Before the supressive heat/humidity of the day gets stirred up again, it's nice to enjoy a cup of tea outside.  And the day cannot start out grumpily with this fresh cut batch of flowers from a local farm. 

No grumpiness allowed here!

Crowned Monogram

When the Queen is happy, there is peace in the kingdom

It’s Good to be King

King of the Hill...Burger King ...King Crab...King Kong

King Richard...King Henry

Richard Henry...King of his Castle

                                       Just another day...sacking, pillaging and stitching

Stitchfork note -- This style monogram taken from artwork originally produced in Europe from the 1920s and 1930s, uses letters with shading details. The small ring-shaped detail creates a very classic look that is just as interesting white-on-white.

Queen Bee

Queen for a Day...Drama Queen ...Queen of Hearts...Her Majesty the Queen...Beauty Queen...

Queen Bee

It’s Good to be Queen—Grand High Poobah of Everything

Anyone who maintains their calm in the midst of all this confusion simply does not understand the situation