Get out of the way, Lady!

I am an avid cross stitcher. Some folks have even gone so far as to say I am obsessed with cross stitching. Whatever!! I say those people need to get a hobby. J

Cross stitching (and other needlework) is relaxing, makes me calm, and gives me something else to do while I watch movies at home – and all while I create something pretty from a piece of plain fabric and some thread. As cross stitchers say, “Stitching is cheaper than therapy.”  In my eyes, you just can’t beat all that with a stick.

There is a wonderful cross stitch shop in Tulsa: The Silver Needle. (It’s located at 6022 S. Sheridan; if you have even the slightest interest in cross stitch, Hardanger, punch needle, etc., and are ever near Tulsa, go there!) The Silver Needle puts on various different events every year. Some of my friends are also avid cross stitchers, and we sometimes attend Silver Needle events.

Ann, Christine, Lynn, and I went to The Silver Needle last week to meet the designers from Just Another Button Company and The Cross-Eyed Cricket, two fabulous companies we cross stitchers love. The four of us arrived in Tulsa Wednesday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed a lot of togetherness. We carpooled; we shared a table at the event and for all meals; we shared a hotel room. We are good friends and we had a blast!!

As one might imagine, we talk a lot while we are stitching. Since we don’t all see each other all the time, we have stories to share. Inevitably, we end up cannibalizing parts of each other’s stories and taking comments out of context to make each other laugh later. We laugh a LOT.

This trip, Ann told a story of her youngest son when he was two or three. He had learned (from his dad, of course) to say to errant drivers of other cars, “Get out of the way, Lady!” That was funny. Then one day when Ann had the child in the cart at the grocery store, they came upon a traffic jam in the aisle. Ann did not think it was funny when her adorable boy shouted, “Get out of the way, Lady!” to the other shoppers. Ann was horrified! She chastised her child. The other shoppers tried not to laugh. Everyone got out of the way.

"Get out of the way, Lady!” became our phrase of the week. We said it to each other (four women – one hotel room); we shouted it in unison to slow drivers in other cars. We laughed and laughed.

Last night when I went to the kitchen to fix supper, Lucy #1 went in there, too. She puttered around. I couldn’t get to the pots and pans. I left the kitchen. She left the kitchen. I went back in the kitchen. She went back in kitchen. I told her she was welcome to do whatever she wished in the kitchen, but the kitchen is too small for two people. I told her to let me know when she was done in there and then I would fix supper.

Then I sat down at the table and texted Ann.

Tonight when Lucy#1 joins me in the kitchen, I am going to tell her Ann’s story. Lucy#1 knows this child (who is now seven) and she will love this story. From then on, when Lucy#1 goes in the kitchen while I am trying to cook, I will say, “Get out of the way, Lady!”

 

I hope we will both laugh. I hope she will get out of the way.

(Below is a little heart I stitched for Lucy#1 while I was in Tulsa. Christine framed it for me, and I'll give it to Lucy#1 when I get home today! Yay!)

I also made her this little pin cushion, since she collects elephants. All I had to do was cut out the ears, and sew everything onto the pink felted ball. The quarter is there to show the elephant's size. It's not as well done as the heart, but hey! I'm a cross-stitcher, not a button-sewer. J