Monday, March 9, 2015

Friendship Crossing - The Nashville Hoard

My Mom and I took a short road trip on Saturday traveling along rural 99W to Corvallis, Oregon. It is a bit more peaceful than I-5 and has views of the farmers' crops - mint and fescue and blueberries and hazelnuts. Plus there's a nice view of the Coast Range which runs along the west from the Columbia River for 200 miles to the south.  The hills in the coast range average about 1,500 feet tall and come close to qualifying as a rain forest. 

Mary's Peak, shown here, is the highest peak at 4,097 feet.  We are used to seeing snow on coast range during the winter - but not this year.

As we approached boundaries of the William J. Finley Wildlife Refuge, the sky was full of birds.  Look just above the darkest trees in the foreground - there are countless birds in flight.

And here we are at Corvallis where the Mary's River flows into the Willamette River.

Within a couple of minutes we'd arrived at Friendship Crossing. 

The walls of Friendship Crossing are covered with continually changing models. 

When I have the chance to see a stitched model, I often find myself thinking, "Gosh, I'd like to stitch that!" (I did stitch the violets!). I got to visit with one of the women who has several models featured.  She's also had some smalls finished by Vonna and Faye! Kim is practically a Cross Stitch Rock Star! 

Stitched models can be instructional too.
Look at how the quieter color pallet and frame on the bottom give this piece a very different look than the one above it.

Oh, oh, oh!  Where to begin?

Ann had all of her Nashville goodies clearly marked with yellow tags that shouted "New!"

Some day I've got to bring up a couple of my smaller stitches and see if I am up to framing them myself.

I brought a list of Nashville Show items that had caught my eye.  It was nice to have that as a reference.

And if I needed beads, or floss...

...or fabric. It was all available.

I realize I've not shown off any of my stash.  I will do that in a post later this week. But how about this charming little green cabinet?  I sorta' fell in love with it, though I did manage to walk away - such will power!

Thanks Ann for a most pleasant morning!

16 comments:

Margaret said...

What fun! Always wonderful to get out to the LNS! Yours looks great! Can't wait to see what you bought!

Vickie said...

What a nice day out for you and your mom.

Heather said...

What a fun day!

StitchinByTheLake said...

That cabinet would have taken my eye too! I didn't dare go to the market showing on Saturday. I've made two trips to the shop already this last month...time to slow down the buying and speed up the stitching. :) blessings, marlene

Melody said...

A road trip! How nice is that?? The scenery on the way to your destination is beautiful!! I also have a list of what I liked from Nashville as well.... I'm anxious to see what you bought. That's cool about all the birds you saw. Were they migrating?

The Inspired Stitcher said...

Ah, those are the best road trips! Loved seeing the shop. Maybe someday I'll get out there. Have a good week!

Mary said...

One of my regrets is I do not live anywhere near a needlework store. But then again I do enough damage buying on line, still it would be nice. The road trip with your mother sounds great.

carol fun said...

What a great shop! So many lovelies! I stitched that sampler with the C - hristmas motifs in a bright pallette (big surprise huh? LOL) Can't wait to see your haul. I ordered mine online and it hasn't arrived yet.. not sure of the total damage but think it is going to be steep - oh well -you can't take it with you! happy stitching!

Andrea said...

Thank you for showing us around. I love seeing all of the US shops, so many wonderful displays ... and great ideas!

Melissa said...

Oh, and I was just going to say "what a cute green cabinet!"

How nice to visit a real shop in person. That looked like a lovely drive too!

Looking forward to seeing your stash haul later this week!

Kristen said...

Ooh, nice shop! The models always get me, too!

Ann at Beadlework. said...

Looks like a great shop to visit, lovely drive too.

Frances said...

What fun--a road trip! AND a trip to a stitching store!!!
Your photos bring back memories of my recent shopping!!! Makes me want to go again!!!
Such fun!

Justine said...

What gorgeous scenery, in and out of the shop!

Pam in IL said...

Oh, I could spend a whole day just looking at the stitched models. Looks like a wonderful LNS to visit.

Melanie said...

What a lovely shop! Sooooooo much stuffffff. *drool*

For a short, glorious time, I had a LNS a block away from my house. I did model stitching for her for store credit and basically got my pick of anything. It was amazing. *sigh* I'm kind of glad there is nothing within 90 minutes of here now though because I would do serious damage in a shop like this and it's not as easy to justify when you are using cash for it. lol