Barb's Birthday Road Trip

My band of merry (stitching/quilting) women seem to have established a pattern of going on road trips for various reasons. Today, to celebrate Barb's birthday, we ventured to the Kawarthas to explore quilting shops and one knitting shop.

These days involve some planning - first to pick a day when most of us can attend. Then the itinerary must be determined. Jen1 has become quite skilled at getting feedback from us about where we want to go. She drew up a comprehensive list of relevant shops, knowing we'd only be able to cover a few of them in our day. She also had goodie bags for each of us.

First we went to The Quilter's Bolt in Millbrook. It was a new shop for all of us, except for Shelley who met up with us for coffee and a snack afterwards. Then we drove west to Bethany and From The Heart Quilt Shop.  Then up to Lindsay for lunch

Marilyn, Jeanette, Shelley, Barb (birthday girl), Jen1, Poppy, Geri (me)

and a visit to Appleseed Quiltworks and Aberdeen's Wool Company. We then headed to Bolts and Bobbins in the greater Woodville area.

Some of my haul included:

a wool felt mat pattern,

Valdani perle cotton #12,

'The Gang's All Here' Peanuts fabric,

Valais sheep batik fabric and its companion fabric,

a woven fabric basket kit. I really only wanted the pattern but the whole kit was drastically reduced in price and cost only a bit more than the individual pattern would have.

I can see making a bunch of these with some of my jelly rolls or fat quarters from my stash.

Fabrics that came with the kit.

All in all, it was a very fun trip. We had mixed weather - snow flurries, rain, and fog but Jen1 was a very capable driver. We were glad to be in a vehicle with snow tires.

I've decided not to take my sewing machine to Texas but will be making lists of all the stuff I'll want to sew when I get home. Instead, I'm taking stuff to knit and most stuff to stitch. And besides, if I run out of things to do, the stitchery shop in Harlingen is only 45 minutes away.

I'm going to miss my stitching peeps so much while I'm away but hopefully we can keep in touch and Facetime or Skype a few times during my absence. Thanks, Jen1, for all your organizing and Happy Birthday, Barb! Next time I see these wonderful women will be MY birthday on the first day of our guild's spring stitching retreat.