speaker-0: You're listening to O Stitch, the podcast where needlepoint, creativity, and real conversation come together. I'm Natasha Sewell.
speaker-1: And I'm Alansa Riddle. You don't have to be a needle pointer to be here, but you might leave as one.
speaker-0: Hello and welcome back to O Stitch. We thought today we would do a little catch up episode and just kind of talk about fall and what we've been up to and all of the things. No total agenda, but just some fun stuff.
speaker-1: We're basically just gonna have a conversation. And you get to join in. Lucky you. Aren't you Yeah. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not.
speaker-0: You lucky. We'll see how it goes. Made us some lovely London fogs. We're together at Georgie and Lottie headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. And yeah, we're just gonna kind of fill you guys in. This fall we have some fun things coming up. Alonsa's been really busy designing and doing some painting because we are going to be vendors at the hobby holiday retreat at the Greenbriar, and we're very excited about this. And so well, who isn't excited for the green
speaker-1: Excited for the green briar. Because an excuse to go to the green briar is always welcome, but also excited because it is Needlepoint and Mahjong, which I did not know how to play until very recently. I went to Palm Springs with some of my friends. We stayed at my sister's house. She was there, which was really fun. Yeah. And ⁓ two of my friends knew how to play, so they taught the other two of us and so I learned it's super fun, a little bit hard, some parts are confusing, but
speaker-0: You do really well though. You do better than I mean, I think I only played maybe five times before they came out, maybe six. And very infrequently, like over a year. Okay. So and so I did play with them one night and I needed a major refresher because it's the Charleston and like all the stuff in the beginning they get super comp Yeah. I'm also not great at choosing
speaker-1: Couple A really messed up. It's confusing. It's a little confusing.
speaker-0: My line. Like I leave myself too wide open. So that's kind of the problem. But anyway, we're gonna share with you. I'm gonna share with you something that I've stitched recently, a whip. And I've shared this on social media, but I'm gonna share it here. It's a joker that Alansa designed. And the amazing thing about this joker is that it's a topiary, which if you know us, you know we love a topiary. It's like our super signature thing. So Alansa designed this darling joker. I did.
speaker-1: Which for those of you who don't play Mahjong, the Joker tile is like a free tile. So it's like very sought after in the Mahjong game.
speaker-0: For sure. And it's in this beautiful blue pot. And I used some French knots on you can't really see that. But I use French knots on the flowers. And then maybe this is the Parisian stitch, but don't hold me to that. But it was a really easy, fun stitch to do for the background. So yeah. And I have a few more rows, which Alonsa pointed out to me I forgot on the bottom. A little lopsided. So I have a few more rows to add on the bottom, which I will do.
speaker-1: background.
speaker-0: And then I think it's gonna be a bag tag, maybe an ornament. It's kind of a big bag tag. I'm thinking it's a little too big for a bag, but I think yeah, I think it's an ornament. I think it's an ornament. So that's one of the designs. Alansa has specifically designed some Mahjong canvases that will be going with us to Hobby Holiday. And so this is one. And then
speaker-1: You do. These will be released first at this retreat, hopefully down the road. You it'll be we'll have the canvases open.
speaker-0: Have ordered them. I think we've ordered pretty much every design.
speaker-1: But you know, the paint house takes a while, so ⁓ but we have another one that is a floral tile that's really cute. And this one is on thirteen. It's kind of small. That one would be a cute bag charm.
speaker-0: We don't know where we'll get them. Yeah. This one by the way was on eighteen, my Joker.
speaker-1: ⁓ And then there's one that is a boat and tote that has a mahjong tile on it as like a little decoration on the front of it. And this one is an 18 mesh. We also have two ⁓ that could be framed or pillows or I don't know, whatever you want to do with them. They're a little bigger. One says Maj On.
speaker-0: Really cute black letters, by the way.
speaker-1: With fun colors and the other one, which I kind of am obsessed with, I just painted this, hence I'm looking really special today. It says friends, don't let friends miss Mahjong. And it's really cute. So anyway, those are sort of some of the canvases that we will be bringing to the Green Briar, but also hopefully in the near future have on our
speaker-0: They've been ordered, so we will have them on the website. So if you are a mahjong person and would like to and do needlepoint, you are in luck. We we're gonna be able to hook you up. But there's also something that Alonsa Design and has ordered that we don't have yet to show that is going that we will hit our website probably before we have the canvases. Do you wanna share what that is?
speaker-1: ⁓ we are gonna get a new needle minder that looks a little bit like the Joker Topiary. Yeah. It's very cute. And that one we should have for the retreat, which means that right after the retreat, hopefully it will hit our website.
speaker-0: It's very similar to a tile. Yeah. So yeah. So look at That'll be super, super, super fun. ⁓ so we you just thought we'd talk talk all fall and of course along with fall back to school.
speaker-1: Yes, back to school. So right now we're in Richmond at my house and it is full of boxes because my son, we move back to college next week. He is going to be a sophomore and he is moving into an apartment that is unfurnished. I went to school. I don't know. All the apartments I feel like were furnished. Now they were crappy furniture. Yes, it was like that
speaker-0: Always a fun thing when they're Were yours all furnished? Cargo. Cargo like wood
speaker-1: Whatever. It wasn't nice furniture, but ⁓ we didn't have to furnish.
speaker-0: Well when I moved into my I went to Miami of Ohio and and I say that because everyone every time I say I went to Miami University, everybody goes, ⁓ did you like Miami? And I'm like, no, it wasn't in Florida. It's in Oxford, Ohio. So I always say Miami of Ohio to clarify for people that don't know. But my little townhouse thing we lived in. ⁓ I remember that. You remember that? It was not furnished. And we had some real random furniture.
speaker-1: Well, we have a lot of boxes that are furniture that needs to be put together. How likes doing that? Did you have so one of his roommates families ⁓ wants a new basement? ⁓ good. ⁓ sectional. So that sectional is going to Boone, North Carolina. which is great. So we didn't have to buy that. But an I mean thank goodness for a mattress in a box.
speaker-0: Have a sofa? No joke. If you have not experienced You know, we in our DC condo, all of our mattresses were mattress in a box. I mean w it's such a great idea. You can have ⁓ shipped right to your door. It's lightweight. It's easy to transport. I will say having had kids that have since bought some to transport them after they've been out of the box is not that easy. It's like transporting a normal mattress, but they are great. They're really good.
speaker-1: A great idea. So next weekend I will be just putting furniture together for I don't even know how many hours. I actually am one of those weird people though who enjoy it's like a puzzle to me. I like you know how people are always like, ⁓ Ikea. I'm like, ⁓ I love an IKEA furniture piece. I love to put it together. So I'm kind of weird like that. So I'm going to be doing that next weekend. Exciting.
speaker-0: It's exciting. It's very, very, very exciting. Now So Alonsa used to do this really fun tradition with her kids before the first day of school. Will you do it before he goes to college or do you kind of not do it anymore?
speaker-1: Excited. Yeah. Already started. This is the this is the kicker when they get older. It's a little harder. So I will explain a little bit what we did. Our tradition was the night before school started, we had a back to school dinner. And the kids would pick what they wanted. It would usually be something I would cook, but their favorite food. So I mean sometimes it was like pizza and mac and cheese, and everybody picked their thing. So it didn't always go together. But we would have a back to school dinner, we would Talk about our intentions for the school year. Everybody had a special back to school placemat. On the back of that placemat, I have everybody's school year and their teacher for that year, which is really sweet. and it was just a great everybody looked forward to it. So I I don't know when we're gonna do it because my youngest, ⁓ although hasn't started school yet, he is starting already started soccer, which is
speaker-0: Huge.
speaker-1: Tua days and also he has club soccer and I don't know when we'll have dinner, but maybe we'll maybe lunch. Maybe we'll fit it in.
speaker-0: Or pivot and do a lunch or breakfast. You could do breakfast. ⁓ two a days. Yeah. Two a days doesn't work with breakfast. So when my kids were younger, my kids are all out of college. So, you know, there's that. I'm not dealing with back to school really so much anymore. But when they were in school, we would do a thing where the d weekday before school started. So
speaker-1: No, because he has two a day.
speaker-0: If they started on a Monday, we do it on the Friday. If they started on a Wednesday, we do it on the Tuesday. You get the idea. I we would do a dry school run. So I would wake them up at normal wake up time. They would get dressed. They would eat breakfast. And then we would get in the car and we go to our favorite local coffee shop and get hot chocolate. So in the middle of the summer.
speaker-1: Because also great now when they were little probably not as big a deal, but when they get older, that early morning wake up is a something after summer. They do not
speaker-0: I feel like even for elementary school, they don't like getting up that early for school. They just don't i it's it's a task. So it was kind of a good and we would, you know, chat about the upc coming school year and what they were excited about and all of that stuff. But it was sort of we d I mean, we did it all the way through all of their senior until they were graduated, basically. And then when they were in college, I would send them a Starbucks gift card for their first day or I'd leave it with them when we dropped them off for their first day of school so they could go get their own. I love that. ⁓ that was just sort of our little tradition.
speaker-1: If you ask I wonder I haven't a talked to my boys, like I wonder how they feel about those traditions now. Like do they look back fondly?
speaker-0: I don't know. I actually my middle child's girlfriend is in law school and I sent her a gift card last year before her first day of law school class. So I think I will do that again, although you know they've closed a lot of Starbucks every like in a lot of cities. And really? Yes. DC had a whole bunch of clothes. She's in Boston. Her closest Starbucks has closed. So maybe I will have to find a cute local coffee shop, which is actually better. I agree. So I think I'm gonna do a local coffee shop. I will I will I'll ask him what her favorite place is. She's actually really a tea drinker, but she I don't know if she's tried a London fog. That's a really good, really good thing. But anyway, I will f I will find out and I will do that again. It's just a cute tradition. to keep up. So I plan on
speaker-1: Yeah, she tried the London Fox.
speaker-0: Continuing that for sure. And then so I don't deal with back to school. No. I do have a birthday. That's exciting.
speaker-1: Okay. Yes and tell us what you're doing.
speaker-0: I am going to Palm Springs. Shocking. I know. We'll be in Palm Springs for my birthday. And I don't know. I don't know.
speaker-1: Do you have plans? ⁓ you don't What would be your dream day in Palm Springs?
speaker-0: I mean just hanging out. Actually I have to say last year Mark had booked a ho was it last year or the year before? I think it was last year. He booked ⁓ our favorite resort in Palm Springs for two nights. I remember that. And then I woke up the morning we were supposed to go to the resort and I didn't want to leave our house.
speaker-1: I mean the house is pretty awesome. But what restaurant would you go to?
speaker-0: And it just seemed like a chore. We could ⁓ that's a really good question. So the problem is my birthday falls near Labor Day. And so in Palm Springs seasonally a lot of the restaurants shut down. So a lot of stuff isn't open. Probably Bar Cecil. Bar Cecil. Although I really do like Mr. Parker's too. Mm-hmm. We usually do that for anniversary though, so I think I'll save that as an anniversary tradition. So yeah, so no no big birthday plans. ⁓
speaker-1: Yeah, your faith.
speaker-0: Yeah, then we have the retreat, the end of September. So we've been a l busy ordering all the things for setting up a retreat or with like a vendor table. And so No, we're winging this. We're winging this. But you can see those of you that are watching, you can see behind us we have some lovely displays that Alonsa ordered and has put together and they're darling.
speaker-1: Which neither of us have ever done before. Cute.
speaker-0: We've ordered lots of like printed things. We, you know, thought about doing sort of business cardy type things and then we pivoted, but we're not gonna share what we're what we're doing. But it's just something fun that people can pick up and enjoy and use or not use, but it's fun. And so yeah, so we're kind of figuring all of that out. It's hard when you just have a table too, because we're trying to get height on the table and also I know
speaker-1: A tricky setup. And we don't know the setup really. Like we just have a table, so we don't know where we will be in the room.
speaker-0: Also need to have usable table space because of course we're gonna be checking people out and wrapping things probably. And so there's that too. So we'll just we're gonna see how it goes. Thankfully it's a smaller retreat, which is lovely. And so that I think will help greatly for the first one. It kind of ease us ease us into it, right? It's gonna go great. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be really fun.
speaker-1: Right, it's gonna go. All right, favorite things. We're gonna talk about some favorite things that we've been loving recently.
speaker-0: What do you want to start? Start.
speaker-1: So recently I've been making this, it's called the Hillstone Crisp Martini. If anybody's heard about it. I think Hillstone is a restaurant in Texas. Anyone from Texas out there can verify? Verify that. But they have something called a crisp martini. It is not like your typical martini with the olives, which I also love, but this one is very lemony. It's like fresh lemon juice, gin, some elder flower, liqueur, and then
speaker-0: Fair.
speaker-1: Randomly some Sauvignon Blanc, ⁓ which sounds weird. It all sounds super weird. When I first read it, I was like, I don't know about that. It's delicious. And I can batch it, put it in a big jar and keep it in my refrigerator.
speaker-0: Okay, you didn't share that with me. That's nice.
speaker-1: So then you just want a little one, you can just pour a little bit in a glass. It's lovely, it's refreshing. It's the elderflower is like super sweet, but that lemon cuts it so it's not sweet at all. Yeah. Crisp is like the perfect term. That crisp. It's like very
speaker-0: It also sounds very refreshing. Which I feel like in the summer you want something that's crisp because real hot.
speaker-1: It's good. It's it's really yummy. So I've been loving that.
speaker-0: Okay, so we'll share that recipe and certainly on the blog. So check out we do a blog post for every single episode. So if you want sort of a deeper dive into some things, check out the blog post. But we will make sure we put that recipe in there so you guys can check it out. And maybe we'll share it with our newsletter list too. So if you're not on our newsletter list, you need to you need to do that because we do share recipes and random things occasionally that are fun and people seem to enjoy. ⁓ I was going to share a book. that I recently finished. I do not actually read.
speaker-1: I don't know. I feel like I just saw a thing about can you like the debate between audiobook versus reading a book and is it still reading a book?
speaker-0: It is still reading a book. I mean I still but I just mean I don't physically read a book. Right. And let me tell you why I like an audiobook. I like an audiobook because I can listen to it very easily on a plane while I needlepoint. I can listen to it by the pool while I needlepoint. In the car while I'm a passenger, let's clarify, and needlepoint, or while I'm driving and obviously driving and not needlepoint.
speaker-1: Favorite time when I'm painting canvas. Yes. Speeds up makes it feel so much faster when I'm listening to an audio.
speaker-0: ⁓ and also I probably listen to a book at 1.5 speed, which means people sort of sound like chipmunks a little bit. But I I listen to podcasts that w way too. I just like hearing it faster. I do too. ⁓ and this book happened to be a very long book. So listening to it at 1.5 made it shorter because it was a long listen, a long listen. It was the Calamity Club. By Catherine, is it Stockhart? I think it's Stockhart. It's she also wrote The Help, if you have ever read The Help or seen the movie. ⁓ it is also about women in the Deep South. It takes place during the Depression and Prohibition and all of those things. And it is just there are amazing characters in it. It's a really great story. The main characters are just amazing. I also really enjoyed listening to it because there were so many different female characters. Yeah. Whoever was reading it, I think there were two people that read it, but they did such a good job with all of the voices. So I loved the fact that there were all of these different voices. So I knew immediately who the character was that was speaking. And there was a lot of dialogue in this book, too. ⁓ and also. different characters point of view. So one chapter was about one character and the next chapter was another one. Kind of went back and forth between two main characters. But so the different voices helped a lot with that. But it is just a really, really, really great story. And even though it was eighteen hours of listening, it was
speaker-1: But it wasn't eighteen hours at one point five, was it?
speaker-0: I mean, maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe it was a little shorter. It wasn't much shorter. It's a very long book. ⁓ but it was excellent. So I highly recommend the Calamity Club if you are looking for a book. Because and I recommend the audiobook. I don't always love an audiobook. Occasionally I'll put an audiobook on and I will not like the person reading it twice. So I occasionally cannot I will
speaker-1: Make a huge difference whoever's reading it.
speaker-0: I will read books, physically read them when it's a it's a vo voice that's just like super bor they're just some that are boring. I'm like, how did you pick this person to read your book? Well, and that's really well it's they're for it. And I feel like if they're autobiographies, sometimes they're amazing when the actual people do them. But anyway, just a fun, fun read. So yeah. And then you had something else you wonder. What else did you want?
speaker-1: Sometimes the author reads it and then ⁓ Sometimes it's great. Perfect. No, shows. I ⁓ yeah. Love a good show or series or movie, all those things. From home. I'm not really a movie goer.
speaker-0: I actually haven't been to ⁓ a movie in the theater in a very long time. We were with people last night who had seen the Odyssey or one person had. I super long. There's no way. I there's just no way. First of all, that book was torture for me to read in high school and ⁓
speaker-1: Also, yeah, they said super violent.
speaker-0: Yeah, I can we can't do a gorgeous
speaker-1: But I really like to be at home or, you know I did watch part of this what I'm gonna talk about in an airplane, but also 'cause I can needlepoint or, you know, do other things. But you can also
speaker-0: Pause it and go to the bathroom. You can get a snack. You have all of your I I pref I I honestly agree. Unless it's a movie that needs to be watched on a big screen. Because there are those movies there are some movies that really the scenery's gorgeous or the then it deserves but okay, go on. Sorry. I guess so. We digress.
speaker-1: Also like a homebody. I yeah, anyway. But Imperfect Women, I think that's what's called. ⁓ very good. It was such a good cast. Really, really great cast. I love a little mystery and that was it was a little bit of suspense, a little bit of mystery.
speaker-0: Yeah, that's what it's called. Well, and really kept you guessing till the end. Like there were lots of twists and turns, I feel like, in that one. Don't you think? There were.
speaker-1: Mm. Well everything has that. ⁓ so anyway, it did a button.
speaker-0: Really strong female characters, great actresses.
speaker-1: Occupied my attention. It was good.
speaker-0: Good. Yeah, Carrie Washington, Elizabeth Moss and Kate Mara, who we actually have seen in person.
speaker-1: But she looked kinda different, but I guess that was so long ago.
speaker-0: Gosh, how long? I don't know. So we were in New York City on a sister trip. We we used to do these sister weekends. I mean, we still do, but we tend to I just come to Richmond to Georgie and Lottie headquarters for our sister. We just were
speaker-1: So funny.
speaker-0: we we had we we went to a comedy show last night come on we do some fun things that was fun okay so we were in New York City for a sister weekend I have no idea what year this was so cabaret we got tickets to cabaret which was with Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams who it was and it was at studio fifty four and we were able to get seats we had a tape we had a cocktail table
speaker-1: ⁓ my gosh, it was really a long time ago. Totally that's
speaker-0: The floor it wasn't called it, what did they call those? I don't know. It was like a we were at a little cocktail table. Yeah, on the floor, cocktail table, the two of us. We had some fun drinks. But Michelle Williams had been in Broke Back Mountain. So whenever Broke Back, this was around probably a year or two years after Broke Back Back Mountain is my guess. But she had been in Broke Back Mountain with Kate Mara. And so Kate Mara came to see her on Broadway that particular night.
speaker-1: We're gonna call it on the floor. We
speaker-0: So to be honest, and this is when House of Cards, if you ever watch that, was really big. So Kate Mara was fairly well known. And very
speaker-1: close to us. But to be honest, I had no idea who she was.
speaker-0: Well, 'cause you did you had really little kids, I think. Zero idea.
speaker-1: I did not watch any of those things. I don't think I still don't think I've seen Broke Back Matten. I'd never watched. Anyway, she was like, Look who it is, look who it is. And I was like, I don't know who that
speaker-0: Yeah. So I spent most of the time not watching Alan Cumming, who I adore, and Michelle Williams, but watching Kate Mara on Digital. I know. Yeah, there was someone else there, but I don't remember. That was a celebrity visit. We saw We saw a lot of celebrity. We saw Hoda Cotby. We saw Vanessa Williams' husband. Well, ex husband. He was a basketball player, maybe, and and maybe some big coaches.
speaker-1: Somebody left. Somebody else. The tall tall.
speaker-0: Really off topic. It was a big coach from the Knicks. I mean, it was we ran into people where we went. Okay, we digress.
speaker-1: Anyway, that show was good. So if you need a show to watch
speaker-0: There you go. Okay, I have one more thing to share too. So I have had melanoma before. I'm a melanoma survivor, although it was like barely stage one. So you know, but I only needed to have Because I have a big scar on my collarbone.
speaker-1: Drew went, yeah. But the best part is, and I will say this until I'm blue in the face, you know what? She's the one who was like, Hey, what about this spot right here? Which I had to do. I had something on my cheek. It wasn't melanoma, but I did the same thing. So speak up.
speaker-0: Yes, speak up and get your skin checked and wear sunscreen. So I am a big proponent, obviously, of sunscreen and hats, and I even have rash guards and all of the things. But I also look better with a little tan, as we all do. Everybody knows. So there is a t it's called tan luxe water. I will I will put it in the show. We'll have it in the show notes. It'll be in the blog post. It is a spray. And it is a spray that does not, it is clear, it does not stain clothing. It does still have a little bit of that self-tanner smell to it, I will say. But I can do I will do full makeup for the day. And I don't wear a ton of makeup, but you know, my SPF for sure and all the things. And then I will spray some of this Tan Lux water. And by the end of the day, I have some color and it lasts. I probably do it maybe twice a week in the summer. In the winter, I don't do it nearly as much. But it's great. I highly, highly, highly recommend it, especially if you are like me and try to protect your skin as much as possible, especially your face.
speaker-1: And Eve I have tried hers. I have a different one, but they're all good. But as you can see I I am way white, pale, paler than her. And it does not make me look orangey or like weird.
speaker-0: No, it doesn't come out as a weird orange color, which I have used a lot of self tanners that let's be honest. I look like Bozo the Clown.
speaker-1: Just makes you look a little bit I don't know, our mom would say healthier
speaker-0: Looks so healthy. Yeah, like our mom who used to always tell us, why don't you go put some blush on? You look very pale. I got some color healthy. So thank you guys for being part of this fun like random episode. And last this long? I don't know, but we had fun chatting and you know, we just w every once in a while we're gonna do these catch up episodes, so and just kind of fill you in on what's going on.
speaker-1: Are you looking at If you lasted this long. ⁓
speaker-0: If you enjoyed this episode and if you're enjoying O Stitch, would you do us a huge favor and leave us a review? Reviews really help push the podcast out to this amazing needlepoint community and we would be ever so grateful.
speaker-1: And if you have the itch to do some needlepoint or learn more, ⁓ visit georgianlottie.com for more info. See ya next time.
speaker-0: Thanks so much for listening to O Stitch, the podcast where needlepoint meets real life.
speaker-1: This podcast is brought to you by Georgie and Lottie. Whether you're looking for your next canvas, stitching, inspiration, or a community that loves Needlepoint as much as we do, we'd love to have you join us.
speaker-0: You can explore canvases, products, and more at Georgie and Lottie Data.
speaker-1: Until next time, happy stitching!
speaker-1: And I'm Alansa Riddle. You don't have to be a needle pointer to be here, but you might leave as one.
speaker-0: Hello and welcome back to O Stitch. We thought today we would do a little catch up episode and just kind of talk about fall and what we've been up to and all of the things. No total agenda, but just some fun stuff.
speaker-1: We're basically just gonna have a conversation. And you get to join in. Lucky you. Aren't you Yeah. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not.
speaker-0: You lucky. We'll see how it goes. Made us some lovely London fogs. We're together at Georgie and Lottie headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. And yeah, we're just gonna kind of fill you guys in. This fall we have some fun things coming up. Alonsa's been really busy designing and doing some painting because we are going to be vendors at the hobby holiday retreat at the Greenbriar, and we're very excited about this. And so well, who isn't excited for the green
speaker-1: Excited for the green briar. Because an excuse to go to the green briar is always welcome, but also excited because it is Needlepoint and Mahjong, which I did not know how to play until very recently. I went to Palm Springs with some of my friends. We stayed at my sister's house. She was there, which was really fun. Yeah. And ⁓ two of my friends knew how to play, so they taught the other two of us and so I learned it's super fun, a little bit hard, some parts are confusing, but
speaker-0: You do really well though. You do better than I mean, I think I only played maybe five times before they came out, maybe six. And very infrequently, like over a year. Okay. So and so I did play with them one night and I needed a major refresher because it's the Charleston and like all the stuff in the beginning they get super comp Yeah. I'm also not great at choosing
speaker-1: Couple A really messed up. It's confusing. It's a little confusing.
speaker-0: My line. Like I leave myself too wide open. So that's kind of the problem. But anyway, we're gonna share with you. I'm gonna share with you something that I've stitched recently, a whip. And I've shared this on social media, but I'm gonna share it here. It's a joker that Alansa designed. And the amazing thing about this joker is that it's a topiary, which if you know us, you know we love a topiary. It's like our super signature thing. So Alansa designed this darling joker. I did.
speaker-1: Which for those of you who don't play Mahjong, the Joker tile is like a free tile. So it's like very sought after in the Mahjong game.
speaker-0: For sure. And it's in this beautiful blue pot. And I used some French knots on you can't really see that. But I use French knots on the flowers. And then maybe this is the Parisian stitch, but don't hold me to that. But it was a really easy, fun stitch to do for the background. So yeah. And I have a few more rows, which Alonsa pointed out to me I forgot on the bottom. A little lopsided. So I have a few more rows to add on the bottom, which I will do.
speaker-1: background.
speaker-0: And then I think it's gonna be a bag tag, maybe an ornament. It's kind of a big bag tag. I'm thinking it's a little too big for a bag, but I think yeah, I think it's an ornament. I think it's an ornament. So that's one of the designs. Alansa has specifically designed some Mahjong canvases that will be going with us to Hobby Holiday. And so this is one. And then
speaker-1: You do. These will be released first at this retreat, hopefully down the road. You it'll be we'll have the canvases open.
speaker-0: Have ordered them. I think we've ordered pretty much every design.
speaker-1: But you know, the paint house takes a while, so ⁓ but we have another one that is a floral tile that's really cute. And this one is on thirteen. It's kind of small. That one would be a cute bag charm.
speaker-0: We don't know where we'll get them. Yeah. This one by the way was on eighteen, my Joker.
speaker-1: ⁓ And then there's one that is a boat and tote that has a mahjong tile on it as like a little decoration on the front of it. And this one is an 18 mesh. We also have two ⁓ that could be framed or pillows or I don't know, whatever you want to do with them. They're a little bigger. One says Maj On.
speaker-0: Really cute black letters, by the way.
speaker-1: With fun colors and the other one, which I kind of am obsessed with, I just painted this, hence I'm looking really special today. It says friends, don't let friends miss Mahjong. And it's really cute. So anyway, those are sort of some of the canvases that we will be bringing to the Green Briar, but also hopefully in the near future have on our
speaker-0: They've been ordered, so we will have them on the website. So if you are a mahjong person and would like to and do needlepoint, you are in luck. We we're gonna be able to hook you up. But there's also something that Alonsa Design and has ordered that we don't have yet to show that is going that we will hit our website probably before we have the canvases. Do you wanna share what that is?
speaker-1: ⁓ we are gonna get a new needle minder that looks a little bit like the Joker Topiary. Yeah. It's very cute. And that one we should have for the retreat, which means that right after the retreat, hopefully it will hit our website.
speaker-0: It's very similar to a tile. Yeah. So yeah. So look at That'll be super, super, super fun. ⁓ so we you just thought we'd talk talk all fall and of course along with fall back to school.
speaker-1: Yes, back to school. So right now we're in Richmond at my house and it is full of boxes because my son, we move back to college next week. He is going to be a sophomore and he is moving into an apartment that is unfurnished. I went to school. I don't know. All the apartments I feel like were furnished. Now they were crappy furniture. Yes, it was like that
speaker-0: Always a fun thing when they're Were yours all furnished? Cargo. Cargo like wood
speaker-1: Whatever. It wasn't nice furniture, but ⁓ we didn't have to furnish.
speaker-0: Well when I moved into my I went to Miami of Ohio and and I say that because everyone every time I say I went to Miami University, everybody goes, ⁓ did you like Miami? And I'm like, no, it wasn't in Florida. It's in Oxford, Ohio. So I always say Miami of Ohio to clarify for people that don't know. But my little townhouse thing we lived in. ⁓ I remember that. You remember that? It was not furnished. And we had some real random furniture.
speaker-1: Well, we have a lot of boxes that are furniture that needs to be put together. How likes doing that? Did you have so one of his roommates families ⁓ wants a new basement? ⁓ good. ⁓ sectional. So that sectional is going to Boone, North Carolina. which is great. So we didn't have to buy that. But an I mean thank goodness for a mattress in a box.
speaker-0: Have a sofa? No joke. If you have not experienced You know, we in our DC condo, all of our mattresses were mattress in a box. I mean w it's such a great idea. You can have ⁓ shipped right to your door. It's lightweight. It's easy to transport. I will say having had kids that have since bought some to transport them after they've been out of the box is not that easy. It's like transporting a normal mattress, but they are great. They're really good.
speaker-1: A great idea. So next weekend I will be just putting furniture together for I don't even know how many hours. I actually am one of those weird people though who enjoy it's like a puzzle to me. I like you know how people are always like, ⁓ Ikea. I'm like, ⁓ I love an IKEA furniture piece. I love to put it together. So I'm kind of weird like that. So I'm going to be doing that next weekend. Exciting.
speaker-0: It's exciting. It's very, very, very exciting. Now So Alonsa used to do this really fun tradition with her kids before the first day of school. Will you do it before he goes to college or do you kind of not do it anymore?
speaker-1: Excited. Yeah. Already started. This is the this is the kicker when they get older. It's a little harder. So I will explain a little bit what we did. Our tradition was the night before school started, we had a back to school dinner. And the kids would pick what they wanted. It would usually be something I would cook, but their favorite food. So I mean sometimes it was like pizza and mac and cheese, and everybody picked their thing. So it didn't always go together. But we would have a back to school dinner, we would Talk about our intentions for the school year. Everybody had a special back to school placemat. On the back of that placemat, I have everybody's school year and their teacher for that year, which is really sweet. and it was just a great everybody looked forward to it. So I I don't know when we're gonna do it because my youngest, ⁓ although hasn't started school yet, he is starting already started soccer, which is
speaker-0: Huge.
speaker-1: Tua days and also he has club soccer and I don't know when we'll have dinner, but maybe we'll maybe lunch. Maybe we'll fit it in.
speaker-0: Or pivot and do a lunch or breakfast. You could do breakfast. ⁓ two a days. Yeah. Two a days doesn't work with breakfast. So when my kids were younger, my kids are all out of college. So, you know, there's that. I'm not dealing with back to school really so much anymore. But when they were in school, we would do a thing where the d weekday before school started. So
speaker-1: No, because he has two a day.
speaker-0: If they started on a Monday, we do it on the Friday. If they started on a Wednesday, we do it on the Tuesday. You get the idea. I we would do a dry school run. So I would wake them up at normal wake up time. They would get dressed. They would eat breakfast. And then we would get in the car and we go to our favorite local coffee shop and get hot chocolate. So in the middle of the summer.
speaker-1: Because also great now when they were little probably not as big a deal, but when they get older, that early morning wake up is a something after summer. They do not
speaker-0: I feel like even for elementary school, they don't like getting up that early for school. They just don't i it's it's a task. So it was kind of a good and we would, you know, chat about the upc coming school year and what they were excited about and all of that stuff. But it was sort of we d I mean, we did it all the way through all of their senior until they were graduated, basically. And then when they were in college, I would send them a Starbucks gift card for their first day or I'd leave it with them when we dropped them off for their first day of school so they could go get their own. I love that. ⁓ that was just sort of our little tradition.
speaker-1: If you ask I wonder I haven't a talked to my boys, like I wonder how they feel about those traditions now. Like do they look back fondly?
speaker-0: I don't know. I actually my middle child's girlfriend is in law school and I sent her a gift card last year before her first day of law school class. So I think I will do that again, although you know they've closed a lot of Starbucks every like in a lot of cities. And really? Yes. DC had a whole bunch of clothes. She's in Boston. Her closest Starbucks has closed. So maybe I will have to find a cute local coffee shop, which is actually better. I agree. So I think I'm gonna do a local coffee shop. I will I will I'll ask him what her favorite place is. She's actually really a tea drinker, but she I don't know if she's tried a London fog. That's a really good, really good thing. But anyway, I will f I will find out and I will do that again. It's just a cute tradition. to keep up. So I plan on
speaker-1: Yeah, she tried the London Fox.
speaker-0: Continuing that for sure. And then so I don't deal with back to school. No. I do have a birthday. That's exciting.
speaker-1: Okay. Yes and tell us what you're doing.
speaker-0: I am going to Palm Springs. Shocking. I know. We'll be in Palm Springs for my birthday. And I don't know. I don't know.
speaker-1: Do you have plans? ⁓ you don't What would be your dream day in Palm Springs?
speaker-0: I mean just hanging out. Actually I have to say last year Mark had booked a ho was it last year or the year before? I think it was last year. He booked ⁓ our favorite resort in Palm Springs for two nights. I remember that. And then I woke up the morning we were supposed to go to the resort and I didn't want to leave our house.
speaker-1: I mean the house is pretty awesome. But what restaurant would you go to?
speaker-0: And it just seemed like a chore. We could ⁓ that's a really good question. So the problem is my birthday falls near Labor Day. And so in Palm Springs seasonally a lot of the restaurants shut down. So a lot of stuff isn't open. Probably Bar Cecil. Bar Cecil. Although I really do like Mr. Parker's too. Mm-hmm. We usually do that for anniversary though, so I think I'll save that as an anniversary tradition. So yeah, so no no big birthday plans. ⁓
speaker-1: Yeah, your faith.
speaker-0: Yeah, then we have the retreat, the end of September. So we've been a l busy ordering all the things for setting up a retreat or with like a vendor table. And so No, we're winging this. We're winging this. But you can see those of you that are watching, you can see behind us we have some lovely displays that Alonsa ordered and has put together and they're darling.
speaker-1: Which neither of us have ever done before. Cute.
speaker-0: We've ordered lots of like printed things. We, you know, thought about doing sort of business cardy type things and then we pivoted, but we're not gonna share what we're what we're doing. But it's just something fun that people can pick up and enjoy and use or not use, but it's fun. And so yeah, so we're kind of figuring all of that out. It's hard when you just have a table too, because we're trying to get height on the table and also I know
speaker-1: A tricky setup. And we don't know the setup really. Like we just have a table, so we don't know where we will be in the room.
speaker-0: Also need to have usable table space because of course we're gonna be checking people out and wrapping things probably. And so there's that too. So we'll just we're gonna see how it goes. Thankfully it's a smaller retreat, which is lovely. And so that I think will help greatly for the first one. It kind of ease us ease us into it, right? It's gonna go great. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be really fun.
speaker-1: Right, it's gonna go. All right, favorite things. We're gonna talk about some favorite things that we've been loving recently.
speaker-0: What do you want to start? Start.
speaker-1: So recently I've been making this, it's called the Hillstone Crisp Martini. If anybody's heard about it. I think Hillstone is a restaurant in Texas. Anyone from Texas out there can verify? Verify that. But they have something called a crisp martini. It is not like your typical martini with the olives, which I also love, but this one is very lemony. It's like fresh lemon juice, gin, some elder flower, liqueur, and then
speaker-0: Fair.
speaker-1: Randomly some Sauvignon Blanc, ⁓ which sounds weird. It all sounds super weird. When I first read it, I was like, I don't know about that. It's delicious. And I can batch it, put it in a big jar and keep it in my refrigerator.
speaker-0: Okay, you didn't share that with me. That's nice.
speaker-1: So then you just want a little one, you can just pour a little bit in a glass. It's lovely, it's refreshing. It's the elderflower is like super sweet, but that lemon cuts it so it's not sweet at all. Yeah. Crisp is like the perfect term. That crisp. It's like very
speaker-0: It also sounds very refreshing. Which I feel like in the summer you want something that's crisp because real hot.
speaker-1: It's good. It's it's really yummy. So I've been loving that.
speaker-0: Okay, so we'll share that recipe and certainly on the blog. So check out we do a blog post for every single episode. So if you want sort of a deeper dive into some things, check out the blog post. But we will make sure we put that recipe in there so you guys can check it out. And maybe we'll share it with our newsletter list too. So if you're not on our newsletter list, you need to you need to do that because we do share recipes and random things occasionally that are fun and people seem to enjoy. ⁓ I was going to share a book. that I recently finished. I do not actually read.
speaker-1: I don't know. I feel like I just saw a thing about can you like the debate between audiobook versus reading a book and is it still reading a book?
speaker-0: It is still reading a book. I mean I still but I just mean I don't physically read a book. Right. And let me tell you why I like an audiobook. I like an audiobook because I can listen to it very easily on a plane while I needlepoint. I can listen to it by the pool while I needlepoint. In the car while I'm a passenger, let's clarify, and needlepoint, or while I'm driving and obviously driving and not needlepoint.
speaker-1: Favorite time when I'm painting canvas. Yes. Speeds up makes it feel so much faster when I'm listening to an audio.
speaker-0: ⁓ and also I probably listen to a book at 1.5 speed, which means people sort of sound like chipmunks a little bit. But I I listen to podcasts that w way too. I just like hearing it faster. I do too. ⁓ and this book happened to be a very long book. So listening to it at 1.5 made it shorter because it was a long listen, a long listen. It was the Calamity Club. By Catherine, is it Stockhart? I think it's Stockhart. It's she also wrote The Help, if you have ever read The Help or seen the movie. ⁓ it is also about women in the Deep South. It takes place during the Depression and Prohibition and all of those things. And it is just there are amazing characters in it. It's a really great story. The main characters are just amazing. I also really enjoyed listening to it because there were so many different female characters. Yeah. Whoever was reading it, I think there were two people that read it, but they did such a good job with all of the voices. So I loved the fact that there were all of these different voices. So I knew immediately who the character was that was speaking. And there was a lot of dialogue in this book, too. ⁓ and also. different characters point of view. So one chapter was about one character and the next chapter was another one. Kind of went back and forth between two main characters. But so the different voices helped a lot with that. But it is just a really, really, really great story. And even though it was eighteen hours of listening, it was
speaker-1: But it wasn't eighteen hours at one point five, was it?
speaker-0: I mean, maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe it was a little shorter. It wasn't much shorter. It's a very long book. ⁓ but it was excellent. So I highly recommend the Calamity Club if you are looking for a book. Because and I recommend the audiobook. I don't always love an audiobook. Occasionally I'll put an audiobook on and I will not like the person reading it twice. So I occasionally cannot I will
speaker-1: Make a huge difference whoever's reading it.
speaker-0: I will read books, physically read them when it's a it's a vo voice that's just like super bor they're just some that are boring. I'm like, how did you pick this person to read your book? Well, and that's really well it's they're for it. And I feel like if they're autobiographies, sometimes they're amazing when the actual people do them. But anyway, just a fun, fun read. So yeah. And then you had something else you wonder. What else did you want?
speaker-1: Sometimes the author reads it and then ⁓ Sometimes it's great. Perfect. No, shows. I ⁓ yeah. Love a good show or series or movie, all those things. From home. I'm not really a movie goer.
speaker-0: I actually haven't been to ⁓ a movie in the theater in a very long time. We were with people last night who had seen the Odyssey or one person had. I super long. There's no way. I there's just no way. First of all, that book was torture for me to read in high school and ⁓
speaker-1: Also, yeah, they said super violent.
speaker-0: Yeah, I can we can't do a gorgeous
speaker-1: But I really like to be at home or, you know I did watch part of this what I'm gonna talk about in an airplane, but also 'cause I can needlepoint or, you know, do other things. But you can also
speaker-0: Pause it and go to the bathroom. You can get a snack. You have all of your I I pref I I honestly agree. Unless it's a movie that needs to be watched on a big screen. Because there are those movies there are some movies that really the scenery's gorgeous or the then it deserves but okay, go on. Sorry. I guess so. We digress.
speaker-1: Also like a homebody. I yeah, anyway. But Imperfect Women, I think that's what's called. ⁓ very good. It was such a good cast. Really, really great cast. I love a little mystery and that was it was a little bit of suspense, a little bit of mystery.
speaker-0: Yeah, that's what it's called. Well, and really kept you guessing till the end. Like there were lots of twists and turns, I feel like, in that one. Don't you think? There were.
speaker-1: Mm. Well everything has that. ⁓ so anyway, it did a button.
speaker-0: Really strong female characters, great actresses.
speaker-1: Occupied my attention. It was good.
speaker-0: Good. Yeah, Carrie Washington, Elizabeth Moss and Kate Mara, who we actually have seen in person.
speaker-1: But she looked kinda different, but I guess that was so long ago.
speaker-0: Gosh, how long? I don't know. So we were in New York City on a sister trip. We we used to do these sister weekends. I mean, we still do, but we tend to I just come to Richmond to Georgie and Lottie headquarters for our sister. We just were
speaker-1: So funny.
speaker-0: we we had we we went to a comedy show last night come on we do some fun things that was fun okay so we were in New York City for a sister weekend I have no idea what year this was so cabaret we got tickets to cabaret which was with Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams who it was and it was at studio fifty four and we were able to get seats we had a tape we had a cocktail table
speaker-1: ⁓ my gosh, it was really a long time ago. Totally that's
speaker-0: The floor it wasn't called it, what did they call those? I don't know. It was like a we were at a little cocktail table. Yeah, on the floor, cocktail table, the two of us. We had some fun drinks. But Michelle Williams had been in Broke Back Mountain. So whenever Broke Back, this was around probably a year or two years after Broke Back Back Mountain is my guess. But she had been in Broke Back Mountain with Kate Mara. And so Kate Mara came to see her on Broadway that particular night.
speaker-1: We're gonna call it on the floor. We
speaker-0: So to be honest, and this is when House of Cards, if you ever watch that, was really big. So Kate Mara was fairly well known. And very
speaker-1: close to us. But to be honest, I had no idea who she was.
speaker-0: Well, 'cause you did you had really little kids, I think. Zero idea.
speaker-1: I did not watch any of those things. I don't think I still don't think I've seen Broke Back Matten. I'd never watched. Anyway, she was like, Look who it is, look who it is. And I was like, I don't know who that
speaker-0: Yeah. So I spent most of the time not watching Alan Cumming, who I adore, and Michelle Williams, but watching Kate Mara on Digital. I know. Yeah, there was someone else there, but I don't remember. That was a celebrity visit. We saw We saw a lot of celebrity. We saw Hoda Cotby. We saw Vanessa Williams' husband. Well, ex husband. He was a basketball player, maybe, and and maybe some big coaches.
speaker-1: Somebody left. Somebody else. The tall tall.
speaker-0: Really off topic. It was a big coach from the Knicks. I mean, it was we ran into people where we went. Okay, we digress.
speaker-1: Anyway, that show was good. So if you need a show to watch
speaker-0: There you go. Okay, I have one more thing to share too. So I have had melanoma before. I'm a melanoma survivor, although it was like barely stage one. So you know, but I only needed to have Because I have a big scar on my collarbone.
speaker-1: Drew went, yeah. But the best part is, and I will say this until I'm blue in the face, you know what? She's the one who was like, Hey, what about this spot right here? Which I had to do. I had something on my cheek. It wasn't melanoma, but I did the same thing. So speak up.
speaker-0: Yes, speak up and get your skin checked and wear sunscreen. So I am a big proponent, obviously, of sunscreen and hats, and I even have rash guards and all of the things. But I also look better with a little tan, as we all do. Everybody knows. So there is a t it's called tan luxe water. I will I will put it in the show. We'll have it in the show notes. It'll be in the blog post. It is a spray. And it is a spray that does not, it is clear, it does not stain clothing. It does still have a little bit of that self-tanner smell to it, I will say. But I can do I will do full makeup for the day. And I don't wear a ton of makeup, but you know, my SPF for sure and all the things. And then I will spray some of this Tan Lux water. And by the end of the day, I have some color and it lasts. I probably do it maybe twice a week in the summer. In the winter, I don't do it nearly as much. But it's great. I highly, highly, highly recommend it, especially if you are like me and try to protect your skin as much as possible, especially your face.
speaker-1: And Eve I have tried hers. I have a different one, but they're all good. But as you can see I I am way white, pale, paler than her. And it does not make me look orangey or like weird.
speaker-0: No, it doesn't come out as a weird orange color, which I have used a lot of self tanners that let's be honest. I look like Bozo the Clown.
speaker-1: Just makes you look a little bit I don't know, our mom would say healthier
speaker-0: Looks so healthy. Yeah, like our mom who used to always tell us, why don't you go put some blush on? You look very pale. I got some color healthy. So thank you guys for being part of this fun like random episode. And last this long? I don't know, but we had fun chatting and you know, we just w every once in a while we're gonna do these catch up episodes, so and just kind of fill you in on what's going on.
speaker-1: Are you looking at If you lasted this long. ⁓
speaker-0: If you enjoyed this episode and if you're enjoying O Stitch, would you do us a huge favor and leave us a review? Reviews really help push the podcast out to this amazing needlepoint community and we would be ever so grateful.
speaker-1: And if you have the itch to do some needlepoint or learn more, ⁓ visit georgianlottie.com for more info. See ya next time.
speaker-0: Thanks so much for listening to O Stitch, the podcast where needlepoint meets real life.
speaker-1: This podcast is brought to you by Georgie and Lottie. Whether you're looking for your next canvas, stitching, inspiration, or a community that loves Needlepoint as much as we do, we'd love to have you join us.
speaker-0: You can explore canvases, products, and more at Georgie and Lottie Data.
speaker-1: Until next time, happy stitching!
