A Finish!

I finally finished my dishtowel.  It was a fun, easy stitch.  The stitchy part is 14 count Aida, and there were blocks of color, so it was a pretty easy stitch.  I love how it turned out.  I am going to have to include it in someone's Christmas gift package because it makes me hungry just looking at it. :)

So last weekend, we were at Trader Joe's.  The Monterey TJ's has their orchids just as you walk into the store.  I usually just give them a passing glance as I walk in at a high speed to do my grocery shopping.  I hate grocery shopping with a white hot passion, but I love me some Trader Joe's.  Go figure... Anyway, last week I went blazing by the orchids when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.  I came to a fast stop because I espied - Miltonia!

Miltonia is also known as a "Pansy Orchid".  As you can see the blossoms deeply resemble a pansy.  They smell divine.  Around here, you just do not see them very often.  In fact, this one was the only one they had.  At $14.99, I knew it had to be mine.  I have limited space so I just do not keep a lot of plants in the house.  The orchids that I have are pretty special and/or have been given to me as a gift.  I am really happy that I found this one to keep the other orchids company.

This week I have been stitching on Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street Samplers.  Autumn is my favorite season (bring on the pumpkin!), and I love the colors of this piece.  It is a fun stitch, too.  I have a few other fall pieces, but this one really spoke to me.

I will probably get to stitch quite a bit over the next week as we will be cozy cottage-bound. This week is going to be ca-razy on the Monterey Peninsula.  It is what locals call "Car Week".  It is the week of several high end car shows, bringing 40,000 people onto our very small peninsula. (As a comparison, the city of Monterey only has 29,000  people.) Included this week, is the Concours d' Elegance and Concourso Italiano and the historic car races.  Today, I was driving and had two Ferrari's ahead of me and a Lamborghini in the next lane.  While they are quite beautiful, they are nerve wracking to drive around.  Anyway, there will be non-stop gridlock, so locals tend to buy our groceries during the week, and will hunker down through Sunday like there is storm or something.  We don't leave our homes unless we walk.  My commute, which is normally 30 minutes can take up to 1 1/2 hours to get home.  Patience and recorded books are the name of the game this week!

Well, back to my stitching!  Have a blessed week!