I’ve been home from Arizona for 6 days, and I am having climate confusion! Our high temp hasn’t even approached the lowest temp I experienced the whole 10 days I was gone. Brrr!
You remember my U-Haul trailer embroidery here? It started with the idea to embroider one square to represent each day of my daughter Becca’s and my trip. However, certain days of that trip are truly best left to fade into less emotional anecdotes, far far in the distant future. Now, my stitching will represent our highlights and fun memories, no matter what day they happened!
It seems to be coming along so slowly! But half the effort this takes can’t be shown in pictures: it’s in my head, deciding not only what to represent, how to stitch it, what colors and stitches to use, and how to make it fit into a 1 ½” square! Anyone who has done a similar project, like the 39 Squares, knows what I mean.
About these squares…
One of the most welcoming moments of our trip happened when we arrived, very late at night, at the home of one of Becca’s dear friends, Nicole and her family. We were exhausted from a highly stressful day of driving that just seemed endless, but we were greeted with open arms, tucked into comfy beds, and greeted in the morning with fresh bagels and fantastic coffee.
All this hospitality offered amidst their own jobs, vacations, and even a new grandbaby. I’ll be forever grateful, SuAnn, Jim, and Nicole!
They live in a town with a very surprising name – Bec is always making puns and jokes with it, you can’t seem to say its name without clowning a bit… their square is the [?! AZ] square – the town is actually named Surprise! Well, without the exclamation point, but it’s kinda hard not to throw it in there!
Once I had the flash of inspiration for the design of this square, I could not get it out of my head. Too many hours during 2000-2005 spent chatting and IMing. So no matter how silly it is, it had to be stitched, and stitched at wacky angles :)
We got Becca nicely settled into her very own apartment. On her key ring, she singles out her house key with a purple plastic key-identifier-thingy… I don’t know what they’re called! Anyway, the purple key represents her new adobe abode. That’s not an editing problem, her apartment is in an adobe building ;)
Guess where we spent our hours using free wifi? Never fear, they got their money out of us. Americanos may be an inexpensive espresso drink, but they are better with spendy treats!
I’m still trying to figure out what dimensional stitch to use for the saguaro cactus I want to include. They are so spectacular, and many were blooming in the desert summer while I was there.
Soon, this project will be finished and I can stop posting constantly about my Arizona trip and Becca and hot weather. Just occasionally.
Gail
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