Saturday, March 22, 2008

I'm baaaaaaack!

Over 1000 miles of round trip driving later, I'm back home, with a stack of mail as big as me to weed through.

It includes the Windham Fabrics "A Little Bird Told Me" fat quarter collection I bought on Ebay and Lisa Boyer's package from her giveaway.

The hawaiian floral fabrics are gorgeous, but I'll have to introduce them carefully to my timid little mainland stash. All those Thimbleberries and Civil War repro fabrics might be startled!

I did some great shopping while out and about with my mom. I found Cotton Classics' Exclusively Quilters collection fabric for $2.oo a yard at, of all places, Walmart! Now, I don't normally buy fabrics at Walmart. I'm not a fabric snob, it's just that my local Walmarts don't carry very good quality yard goods and I have never found much that I wanted. But this was a treat! I got one yard lengths of nine fabrics - nine yards for just about what I would have paid for two yards at a fabric shop here at home. I have to add that the Walmart near where mom lives has always had more and better fabric than the ones in my city. Who knows why.

I also found two partitioned boxes with lids for storing thread in a single layer, at Lowe's. They're for holding hardware but the partitioned areas are just right for spools of all sizes laid on their sides so I can see all the colors at a glance.

And, on top of that, we went to an antiques mall and I found a Noritake Art Deco style sugar bowl and creamer in blue and gold to coordinate with a tea set of post-war Japanese porcelain that I display in my dining room. What luck!

Of course, mom and I had a good time visiting. I helped her with a few tasks around the yard and we did a lot of goofing off, driving around going to places neither of us had been to in years and years, and of course shopping. I gave the early birthday present quilt to my brother, who was bowled over and loved it. My sister-in-law gave me a watercolor of dragonflies she did in her art class, which I will hang proudly in my dining room (I have dragonfly tapestry on the dining table chair seats), and a cute hummingbird and dragonfly garden whirligig which is animated by the wind to flap the dragonfly's wings and dip the hummingbird's beak into a flower.

All in all, it was a good trip but I'm so glad to be home!

3 comments:

Joan J said...

Welcome home! Love the Noritake set (I'm a big Art Deco fan) and new fabrics. And what a great WalMart find! Our store has $1 and $2 a yard tables and always worth a look -- just a few months ago had Laurel Burch fabric for $2 a yard! You just never know so it is worth checking. Glad you had a safe trip and nice time with your Mom.

Rose said...

Just found your blog about the time you were going to be gone, so was waiting to tell you I sure appreciate the name of your blog!

Glad you had a good visit with your mom...

Linda said...

I'm glad you're back and had a safe trip. Ooh, lots of goodies to bring home and find when you got home too, what fun!

Sounds like you had a great time giving away some quilts. It's a real pleasure to give quilts to people that appreciate what you have done. It warms the heart, doesn't it? It's also nice to get gifts like your painting too...Good for you, I know you will enjoy that. Aren't you glad to be back home and back to blogland? I think I would go crazy without my computer. hugs, Linda