Tuesday, March 21, 2006

March Stitchathon, or Ranting & Raving

I didn't have time to post over the weekend-- I was too busy stitching! :) It was the monthly stitchathon weekend, and I decided to work on Castle Sampler.

On Friday night, I ran out of DMC 3052, which meant a Saturday morning trip to the dreaded Michael's. I was running low on a few other colors as well and made a list of 10 or 12 colors that I needed. BF and I went out for breakfast and promptly headed to Mic-hell's. (Do you feel some ranting coming on? LOL) I went back to their pitiful needlework section and, much to my surprise, they had most of the colors. But OF COURSE, in typical Mic-hell's fashion, they were out of 3052-- the ONLY one I actually needed!!!

It would be one thing if this was an isolated incident, but it happens nearly every time I try to buy floss at that store. What was even more galling was the fact that they NEVER seem to restock. Weeks, even months, can go by and they are continually out of the same colors. Sadly, it seems to be the location nearest my home that is the worst offender. I've been to the same store in other places, and have never seen one quite as bad as the Reston location.

I spent most of my time in the store muttering like a raving lunatic. BF suggested that we make a mission that morning of finding an alternative craft store for future purchases. As we were setting out, I remembered that Red had mentioned in a comment on a previous post that there was another craft store not too far away. Unfortunately, I remembered "Hobby Lobby in Sterling," while it was actually AC Moore in Ashburn. Oh well... small technicality. LOL

After driving through Sterling, I saw AC Moore and suddenly remembered that was the place we were looking for. The store was quite nice, but quite crowded. It turned out that they were having some sort of "festival" and we had shown up just in time. There were assorted demonstrations going on, though I didn't pay too much attention. I was a woman on a mission. Their flosses were oh-so-neatly organized. None of those silly rotating contraptions that "the other store" has. And here's a shocker... they were FULLY STOCKED. What I didn't realize until I checked out was that they were on sale for .12 each.

Following the great success at AC Moore, I will not be going to that other place again. Oh, happy day!!!

Once we returned home, I settled in for a big weekend of stitching. I didn't keep track of my time, but it was enough that I had "stitcher's fanny" by Sunday night. LOL There were no frog visits, and I was quite pleased with my progress on Castle Sampler. Here's the Before & After:

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7 comments:

Kimmie said...

Glad you had luck finding a craft alternative. I'm happy to say that I've only been in Michael's 3 or 4 times in my whole life. LOL. I have to drive about 40 minutes to the nearest "big town" and Hobby Lobby is across the road from Michael's. It boggles my mind that there are no LNS near there.

Dawn T. said...

Wonderful progress on Castle Sampler! Great job!

Mylene said...

wow! you have done a great progress on the castle sampler!!

LivnLaf said...

Yay!!! So glad you found AC Moore...I was there too on Saturday...stocking up for the next 3 projects and ended up with over 30 DMC colors(found every one!) and got a new needlework frame and lap stand because of the 50% off coupon at check out...hope you found that as well. Of course I had to go back Sunday for one(!) color I manage to forget. My big purchase of 12 cents! I'm so spoiled because AC Moore always has the color I need. One of the girls who goes to the Stitch Night I go to works there so I think it helps. Glad I could help offer an alternative to Michaels...should I be so bad and offer to say the TJ Maxx Home store next store is quite nice as well ;-)

Von said...

The Michael's near me sounds like it's better than yours - but I still hate to go in! Glad you've found a great alternative with all the goods, lol!!
You did a great job during stitchathon weekend!

Crazy X-Stitcher Etc said...

Thank God, I found yous...I know I saw someone was stitching the Castle Sampler but couldn't recall where I had seen it.

I got my Cross Stitch Collection April issue and they had given TW designs as freebie (CS and Rapunzel) as I was reading thru it. It says that the border is done over one and to use only 1 strand of thread. I check the key, it clearly states to use 2 strands. Did you use 1 strand or 2 strands?

Thank you. Lovely progress!!

MysteryKnitter said...

Awww....What a mess with Michael's. I can not say anything about that because I do not know much of them. But nice to know that you found your floss....or yarn, as I always say...and were able to continue with the castle issue. Just keep stitching! Every stitch is one stitch closer to THD.