A Little Detour in Tulsa, OK

If you’ve been reading the Route 66 blog, there is a strong focus on the historical aspects of Route 66. However, the other half of Top Down Rambling (me) has another interest, and that is a passion for needlework. I have been doing some form of hand stitching for about 50 years. I’ve done cross stitch, hardanger, Temari, punch needle, felting, pulled thread, and for the last 20 years, needlepoint. Now, if you’re not into this, that last sentence came out all “Greek”, and that’s OK. The specifics aren’t relevant to this blog. What is relevant is that because of this interest, I talked my DH (dear hubby) into taking a little detour while we were in Tulsa. When we travel long distances, I like to stop in specialty needlework stores to see what that region has to offer in techniques, designs, and accessories. Often, I will find items that aren’t available in our home area.

Well, we drove to the area store and DH patiently waited outside while I perused the store. Based on my erroneous research, I thought they would have needlepoint goods. But alas, that didn’t work out. For non-stitching people, that would be like going into a grocery store when you are looking for a hammer.

But, the trip was still fruitful. Walking around and looking into every corner for something that would appeal to me, I did find a Mill Hill kit design of an old-fashioned gasoline station with two gas pumps in the foreground. Mill Hit kits are a combination of cross-stitch and beading. It would be an easy item to stitch in the car or hotel room.

Since old gas stations are one of the things we look for on this trip, this was a great stitching project to represent our trip. The name on the gas station in the design is “Joe’s Garage”. To personalize the piece a little more, I’ll change the name to “Gay Parita”, the gas station and friendly people we visited in Missouri. When it’s complete, we’ll post the finished product on the blog!