A Day of Stitching

There’s a little cross stitch shop in a little town in southwest Missouri. The shop is With Needle and Thread. They don’t have a tremendous amount of info on their website but it does have their hours, phone number, email and a few other things.

They’ve been open almost a year and I had never been there but a few weeks ago, they posted on Facebook about their monthly Saturday stitching day and I said “I’m going!” They were asking us to let them know if we were going so I did. Then, as always, as the time got closer to go, I started feeling apprehensive about going, leaving Vince and the pups home along for pretty much the entire day but I said . . I told them I was coming and I’m going.

First, I thought it was much farther away than it is. Chad and Nicole lived down in that area for a while and I thought it took about an hour to get there from here but it only took about 35 to 40 minutes and was a very easy drive.

I was pretty much shocked at the inventory. Granby, MO is a very small town and off the beaten path but they had what seemed to be as many charts as the only large shop I’ve ever been to. They had linen, Aida, floss . . pretty much everything a stitcher could want.

From what I gathered, there are two ladies who own the shop and they were both as nice and accommodating as they could possibly be. They share a building, that actually has a wall so the two shops are separate, with a quilt shop. The stitching shop has a small meeting room but the quilt shop side has a rather large (LARGE) room with lots of electrical outlines, nice, sturdy tables and comfy chairs. Because quite a few people had committed to being there yesterday, we met in the quilting room and it was perfect! There were at least 15 stitchers in there. Even though I didn’t know a single person, I felt at home and felt like I made some new friends.

The shop ladies had said there would be snacks. My goodness – we had a full meal! We had the little BBQ weenies, something like a buffalo chicken dip, a deli tray with meats and cheeses, chips, crackers, an ambrosia salad, a layered salad. There was a chocolate cake, several kinds of rolls. I’m sure I’m forgetting something but it was a delicious meal, with no charge to us.

I don’t think I realized, until I left, how much I needed that time away from home, just to sit and stitch without having any other responsibility. I can hardly wait to go back next month!

If any of you stitchers are ever passing through southwest Missouri, check the website or call to be sure they’re open. It’s worth driving a little ways to visit this shop.