Stitching on the go

When I'm taking a trip, I always bring a stitching project along--and our recent junket to Kansas and Texas was no exception.  I was looking for something small that would pack handily in my carry-on bag, and my English Rose canvas fit the bill. It's only 7 x 9 inches, small enough to comfortably hold in my hand. This time I decided to change the colorway a little to coordinate with some other ornaments I'd stitched to decorate our dining room during the holidays.

Was I ever glad to have this project with me!  I read instead of stitching on the plane flight from Boston to Dallas (737s are too cramped).The trip from Dallas to Kansas, however,  turned out to be a six-hour drive each way, and with DH behind the wheel, I managed to get a lot of stitching done when not admiring the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma.  The flight home on a 757 was much more conducive to getting work done.

When mounting the canvas on stretcher bars before our departure, I added a small piece of scrap canvas to the corner of the frame to act as a "parking lot" for needles.  I don't own a magnet--I'd much rather spend the money on threads!  I slipped the canvas and the threads I'd pulled in a clear plastic bag, with my bright teal-colored Fiskars blunt-tipped scissors (purchased for $1.99 years ago just for this purpose) prominently on top.  I added this bag to the quart-sized plastic bag for liquids in a bin going through security and sailed through the screening process.