Did Someone Say Retail Therapy??

On Thursday, I joined Terry along with Sheryll and Becky - all of Frankfort Girls group - for a trip across eastern Ohio to the little river town of Belpre. The sunshine was a welcome companion and temperatures were far above normal for early January.

The purpose for the trip was for Terry to pick up a quilt that had been custom quilted by a long-armer over in that area. We made a full day of the trip by visiting three quilt shops - two in Belpre and one on our way home in McArthur.

Neff's is a combination quilt shop and home decor shop. Owner Beverly attends lots of quilt shows and is pretty well known by many quilters here in central Ohio. After I wandered through the fabric several times, I meandered around the rest of the space, checking out decorating ideas. Her main "look" is farmhouse primitive/early American. My fabric stash did grow a bit here at Neff's, but I refrained from making any home dec purchases.

From Neff's, we drove over to Sew Happy Quilting Traditions, a small shop tucked away on a busy downtown Belpre street. Isn't that red and white Ohio Star a welcome sight? Believe me, I noticed it! (See previous post.) Owner Rachelle has a small shop, but she has it packed full of pretty, popular lines of fabric. I managed to find several pieces to come home with me. *wink*

We located a very nice local restaurant for lunch - The Bellaire. We had many options, made yummy selections, lingered and relaxed before heading back to Ross County.

Driving home on Rt. 50 we stopped at the McArthur Quilt Shop. This is the shop that I went to twice back in November while I was trying to get my long-arm going. I was happy to see Terry, the man who fixed things for me, and to tell him that I was getting along just great. And, believe it or not, I found some fabric here, as well, to bring home with me! Amazing.

So, my stash is enhanced. I found fabric for two baby quilts that will be needed in the next month or two. Mostly, I bought fabrics to go in quilts that I sorta' have planned in the near future.

And that makes me think that I have not really set my 2020 goals down on paper yet, so that is something I need to get cracking on. Focus, woman, focus!!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Road Trip!

Back in high school and college, when someone hollered "road trip" and now today, when a quilt group suggests "road trip" I find that I have the same excited reaction - "Come on, let's go!!" I rarely refuse an excuse to hit up some fabric shops, and on Friday we visited five. I left my house at 7am and returned a full 12 hours later - totally exhausted, but very satisfied with our outing.

I bought a little something in every shop - one has to boost local economy, right? Above you can see my haul. I was actually shopping for only a couple of things - those needles and the thread. All the fabric and the book were purely impulse purchases. *smh*

Here are the shops we visited. All are in southeastern Ohio with the exception of Bolts and Quarters, which is just across the Ohio River in West Virginia.

All seven of the Frankfort Girls made this day fun; we needed two cars for traveling and Terry and Jan were kind enough to take on that additional responsibility of chauffeuring us. I can't think of a more wonderful group with whom to shop and sew; we share so many ideas and learn so much from one another.

Now by the looks of things, I have a propensity for precuts, and I had best be ramping up my sewing this summer to make something of all these pretties!

Hope you have a great day!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Shopping In Ashland

Tuesday's big trip to Ashland for the quilt guild engagement allowed me an ideal chance to connect with Dee, a dear friend from my early teaching career. We very likely were hired as English teachers at the same board meeting in August of 1979. While my career kept me at the same school for my entire career, Dee's veered off into several other districts and even into another career path as a librarian.

Dee has recently retired and is getting more deeply into quilting, particularly baby quilts as, like me, friends of our children are having babies. Above Dee is pictured holding one of those babes on the receiving end of one of those quilts.

When this speaking engagement came up, Dee was more than willing to take on the task of entertaining me with fun places to shop and eat. Our lunch stop was a beautiful restaurant called Bella Bleu's, situated on a lovely lakeside property. We relaxed and talked nonstop, catching up with each other. We managed to cover lots of topics - books, quilts, travels, children.

Our shopping excursion took us to the nearby village of Shiloh, location of Country Fabrics. The area is heavily populated by Amish and Mennonite communities. The quilt shop is a renovated barn, moved from another location to this, massive in size, and filled with fabrics and a wide assortment of dry-goods and home-goods items. There was even a shelf of beautiful Polish Pottery for sale.

The photos above are just a random sampling of pictures taken while shopping at Country Fabrics. You can see the immensity of the barn in the top picture, which shows that magnificent ceiling. Displays and class quilts enticed shoppers and the staff was super helpful. Ruth is shown in the bottom picture cutting one of my selections the old-fashioned way - with sharp scissors.

And here is what I bought. The Charm Packs of Larkspur by 3 Sisters/Moda will join the small collection of Larkspur that I already have, so this will enhance. I found some solid yellow which I hope to use in finishing off my Village quilt. The Judy Rothermel fabric will be put to use on Lunch Box Social, a Kim Diehl pattern I plan to start soon. Those tiny calico prints just appealed to me in the moment. I have begun collecting similar pieces of late, so these three half-yard cuts will join those and await some future quilting inspiration.

Spending the day with Dee was absolutely delightful. All of us, I hope, have certain friends with whom, after months or years of infrequent contact, without missing a beat, can pick right back up as if no time at all has passed since last visiting. This is the nature of our friendship. We had hoped to include Sharon P. in the day's activities, but circumstances for her did not permit it. We do, however, plan to make that happen before the summer's end. A day similar to this would be perfection.

Hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

The Quilt Shoppe in Summersville, WVA

On Friday, a merry band of five quilters departed Ross Co., OH, for a distant quilt shop in central West Virginia. A couple of the girls had scoped it out for us as their guild had taken a bus trip there earlier in the year. It came quite highly recommended.

And I think I speak for the entire group when I say we were not disappointed! What a vast collection of fabrics - and some of it was older lines that I used to collect 10 or 15 years ago! Imagine seeing a bolt of Thimbleberries fabric from 1998 on the shelf next to some more current 3 Sisters or Kim Diehl. It was all good stuff, too!

So, if you ever have a chance to visit The Quilt Shoppe in downtown Summersville, I suggest you do it. The owner, Vickie, was just as pleasant as can be. Upon entering the shop, she asked where we were from. When she learned we'd been on the road three hours, she said, "The restroom is in the back, there's water in the fridge, and I'll put the coffee pot on, if you want." Just as if we were long lost friends who showed up out of nowhere, she was all about hospitality.

She didn't mind at all if I took pictures, so let me just show you around. Fabrics were organized by color for the most part. There were separate sections, however, for batiks, 30s prints, homespun plaids, and holidays.

Display case featuring old sewing notions and ephemera.

Upon entering the front door, this is the wall on the right.

The plaids and homespun.

A sitting area! And we appreciated it!
Sharon is perusing some patterns books.

The Halloween section.

The far back left corner;
black and white section next to the fat quarter cubbies.

I admired several of the samples displayed around the shop.

The back wall; this looked like a working area with tables and machines.

The batik section.

Another pretty display quilt;
the owner said she has a friend with an antique business
who helped her "stage" the shop. 

Headboards were often used to showcase the samples.

Now, let's get down to the good stuff - what did I buy? I came away with stash enhancers. No big yardage, but lots of fat quarters and fat eighths. I did attempt to exercise restraint, but perhaps I wasn't entirely successful. I don't think it's too excessive, though. Right??

Lately, I have been on a 30s kick, so the four half-yard cuts down front satisfy that desire. The four packs at the top are mostly of the repro or primitive variety. I think some of the quilts on my list for the coming year (when I'm no longer focusing so heavily on UFOs) will benefit from the variety.

Ah, it was a wonderful day spent talking quilts with the quilty friends in our Frankfort Girls group. It was great spending such quality time with a group of truly quality ladies.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Found It In Quilt Sampler Magazine

Last week when I made the trip to two Indiana quilt shops with a group of friends, I discovered that one of the shops - Back Door Quilts - had been featured in APQ's Quilt Sampler magazine. Such a distinction is a pretty big honor, and I wondered if I might have that particular issue in my collection of magazines. I did, and wanted you all to have a look.

First, I pulled out all the Quilt Samplers I have amassed. Very few things in my quilting room are neat, tidy and organized, but my magazines are lined up in chronological order, so this was an easy task.

Next, the browsing began. I began getting APQ magazine (and all the related magazines) in 1999. I searched into the 2005 issues before locating it. The cover shown above is from the spring/summer issue.

Here's the spread on Back Door. Very interesting to read about this store's background. For those of you unfamiliar with how each Sampler issue works, all the stores featured provide a unique-to-them pattern for a quilt. Let's see the one Back Door used.

Back Door Baskets looks fantastic! I have been finding myself more and more drawn to basket quilts lately, so perhaps I was meant to find this pattern. And who doesn't love a blue and white quilt?? This has potential written all over it.

You can click here to read about our visit to Back Door. Also that day we visited Pohlar's. And here's a link to what I bought.

Happy Quilting, Friends!