Last week during our “midweek excursion” we did a variety of things in the Lancaster area.

1. I purchased a new pair of winter boots at Boscov’s (Park City Shopping Center). I would have been embarrassed to wear my old ones to church, a restaurant, or store during a snowy day. I buy lots of things from Amazon, but I like to try on boots and shoes and Boscov’s is my to-go-place for those items.
2. Went to Penn Dot Photo License Center (Brimmer location) to have a photo taken to renew my driver’s license. We love this small center because it is usually a quick way to get the needed photo. I didn’t even have to pull a number or wait. When I got to the car with the new license in hand, Cerwin said, “Are you finished already.”
3. Went to Michael’s Craft Store to pick up my framed Impala. I stitched it from a photo I took when we were in South Africa in 2018. I think I took this photo in Krueger National Park.

This was the first time I used Michael’s. They did a fabulous job. Previously I used A.C. Moore, but after they closed in our area, I had to find a new place for the framing.

Ian, since you shot an impala when we were in Africa, this will someday be yours. 🙂 Your name is on the back of the stitched photo.

This is the photo I sent to Busy “B” Crafts in South Barre, Massachusetts, where they transferred it to a pattern for stitching by counted cross-stitch.

4. Our fourth stop was Costco where we picked up a prescription for Cerwin.

5. Went to Outback where we shared a filet mignon and lobster entree. We looked for something expensive so we could use the entire amount on the gift card that Roy and Deb gave us for Christmas. 🙂 We also shared a butter cake for dessert and still had a bit more than $3.00 left on the card. We asked the waitress if we could use that as part of her tip. She said we could.

6. Our last stop was Weis Grocery Store where we bought a few items for the weekend.

The pattern for my next stitching project arrived a day or two later.

Since I have stitched photos of each of our 17 grandchildren (including Elijah who died when he was 5 months old), I offered to stitch a few of Roy and Deb’s animals. They care for animals, but don’t have children. They chose this picture of Bear, which was taken a few years ago.

I usually work on stitching for a few hours after supper. I usually ask Busy “B” Crafts to remove the background, so I can choose my own background. (I couldn’t do that with the impala because its feet are in the grass.) This time I chose DMC grey (3024) because I had a lot on hand. A few years ago, I purchased a lady’s DMC thread and for some reason she had a lot of this color. (She was losing her eyesight and her son located me through a friend who owns a craft store. He wanted a buyer for her large collection of DMC thread.)

I also had some of my own #3024. Because the thread is not all the same color lot, I use thread from a variety of skeins. That way it creates its own pattern as you can see in the background part I have stitched. I stitch the background in “blobs” so the design looks like I intended it to be that way. 🙂 It is easy to see the difference in the shades as one skein must be a bit lighter than the rest. I kind of like it that way.

I always pay a bit extra for a large pattern which makes it easier for stitching. They put it on 4 pieces of paper. As you can see, I am stitching the upper left part of this pattern.