What happens in Vegas...

What's a stitcher to do when arriving in Las Vegas for the first time? Visit the LNS (Stitcher's Paradise) at the first opportunity, of course! My first (and only) opportunity was Wednesday afternoon when I arrived.

(If you want to hear the saga of how I found the LNS, read on. If you only want to hear about the LNS, go to the red stars ******** below.)

I rented a car, since I would have paid almost as much by taking a cab. Unfortunately, my directions were from the airport, not from the offsite car rental place! I asked for directions from a guy at the garage, but quickly lost track after the second turn. Good thing that my printout from Google maps was detailed enough that I didn't get too lost. I missed the highway completely, but found my way onto Dean Martin Drive. Unfortunately, it's not at all obvious how to turn left off of Dean Martin Drive onto one of the main streets. (They have all these side routes that act as exits off of DMD to the main streets, but they're not marked as such, so I kept driving under the streets I wanted to be on!) Anyway, I eventually turned left onto a street, any street!

From there, I kept going for a few miles until I hit Rainbow Blvd, on which (somewhere) was my destination. Hoping I wasn't too far north, I headed north, realizing that my headache was due to a lack of food, and a visit to a restroom was in order, too! I finally found one of the run-of-the-mill, found everywhere, fast-food joints, and pulled in. Not exactly what everyone goes to Vegas for, but I didn't care at that point! While I was there, I asked the manager which direction I needed to travel to get to Sahara (Rd? Blvd?). Sure enough, I was too far north! After a burger, etc., I headed back the way I came, and found the correct plaza.

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A name like Stitcher's Paradise sets some pretty big expectations! This shop did a pretty good job of living up to them: a huge wall of threads, with extra carousels and drawers of more threads, four large shelving units of fabrics, a good selection of painted canvases, and shelves and carousels of charts from the hottest designers. There was a small table up front where stitchers could gather, and another room in back that looked like it was for classes and storage of less-frequently requested items. (Unfortunately, this great shop does not have a website.)

The owner, Gina, was working with a customer when I came in, so I poked around a bit. I found some threads for the ornament canvas for my cousin's little girl, then visited the book racks. I looked through the higher-count linens; there were at least a dozen colors in 40 ct, and more of 34-36 ct! Gina helped me refine my thread selections, then she cut linen for me and helped me find a "Las Vegas" canvas.

Here's what came home with me:

• Las Vegas angel canvas from Painted Pony Designs
• Glory scissors from Gingher (I've been looking for these!)
• A fat half of R&R Flax Fields linen in 36 ct (tentatively for Mouline Rouge)
• A book full of pictures and histories of samplers titled Pioneer Memorial Museum Samplers. This was put together by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and the Swan Samplers Stitchers Guild.
• A nail file with a scene of the LV strip on one side and Stitcher's Paradise information on the other (because I needed a nail file!)
• Two cards of Mandarin Floss from Rainbow Gallery. This floss is made from bamboo, and is wonderful to work with!
• 1 skein of Vineyard Silk Shimmer, which is twisted like a pearl cotton, but has two strands of blending filament worked through it.
• 1 pack of Mill Hill beads (not in picture)
• A "Project Pak" box, which is a really neat little box that has four separate compartments for beads, needles, or other small stuff.
  

The rest of the trip was filled with more typical Vegas stuff: dinner at a Mexican restaurant; convention on Thursday followed by sightseeing on the strip (including the water show at the Bellagio and the live lions in the MGM Grand), dinner at a Japanese restaurant, and losing a bit of money on the slots. Friday morning I stopped by a bakery in Paris (the Paris hotel, that is) and enjoyed a croissant before heading off to the airport. All in all, a fun trip, though I really wish I had time for a massage at the spa!