The "Traveling Stitcher"
When daughter Brooke and I sat down to create my business cards I needed a title. That was easy, "traveling stitcher" summed up my dream job. I am totally an avid and dedicated Local Shop shopper. I also often find myself hours from a local shop. I like small islands and lake cottages and any type of boat .... all which happen to be far from civilization. I needed to create kits which have the same standards of quality I was used to, that could be fedexed anywhere in the world.
This photo was taken recently in the Philadelphia Airport on a layover. As you can see, daughter Brooke and I both travel with a LOT of needlepoint. A millennial daughter and a 52 year old mother do not always pick the same favorite canvases. I love that. I love that I can stitch a tropical monkey wearing an orange fez and daughter Brooke will stitch Tupac and Biggie Smalls. Although, I must confess, I am minutes away from choosing that Tupac canvas as well!
I carry all needlepoint with me in carry-on baggage. The black purse goes below the seat in front of me and contains my iPad, beloved Sony camera, wallet, two passports*, noise canceling headphones, and baggies of needlepoint. One of those baggies contains finished projects I wanted to have with me in Florida. I love to stitch on planes while listening to books on tape. For this flight I listened to The Knockoff. (Life hack. If you are a righty try to get a right side aisle seat or left side widow to avoid scaring your neighbor with your needle. Or sit next to your husband, he's used to that!)
The orange camo bag contains more projects for the trip. The other bags are Brooke's projects.
* about the passports....I travel with my passport and my husband's. Sadly, not for quick romantic get aways. Three years ago we were at the family cottage on Lake Michigan when we got a call our youngest son was being evacuated from Machu Picchu to have an emergency appendectomy in Cusco. He was 17 at the time. Our passports were safely locked up in Vermont, and thus we had no way to get to him. We currently have two children in Europe. One is studying and working there and the other is traveling. In fact, at this moment they are in a bar in Munich together! If any of our children are out of the country, you can be assured, I'm carrying my mother sanity device! :)
This one was stitched in an airport while waiting to hear whether our son Colin got his dream job in London. He did!!
PRO TIPS:
1. Bring extra needles. Put them in several spots incase you change out your bag and forget. My change part of my wallet has several. Purse pockets have needles and so does my cosmetic bag. Nothing worse than arriving at the perfect place to stitch with no needle!
2. You can bring scissors on the plane. Read the TSA guidelines. I travel with smaller blades and have never had them taken away in the United States. I did have to throw away a pair in the Nairobi airport.
3. Precut fibers before flying. You can accomplish a lot more when you aren't fussing with your skein on the plane!
4. Ornaments and belts are great in flight projects.
5. Audible is a travelers best friend. Download the app. Buy your favorite books and have a great pair of noise canceling headphones. Listen to wonderful books while stitching for a dreamy flight.