A Work in Progress

Last weekend, I participated in a local Shop Hop for the first time. It was an event that I was greatly anticipating and my goal was to explore some new shops and do a bit of stash enhancement. I started out from work around 4:00 and pointed the car east to the first shop. It was one I had been to several times before and didn't expect to be wowed by the merchandise so I wasn't disappointed when I didn't find much there. I was a little discouraged at Shops 2 and 3 when I didn't see any "must have" fabrics in them either. I began to doubt my wisdom in embarking on the adventure especially since I was driving around at night in unfamiliar territory and had already gotten lost between both Shops 1 and 2 and Shops 2 and 3. But Shop 4 was a real gem since that's where I found these yummy Civil War fabrics that I'll use to make the blocks I collected at each establishment. I arrived at Shop 5, my LQS, about 10 minutes before closing. After a quick stop to p...

or maybe you just know you're crazy when go on a shop hop on Saturday morning and choose a pattern for a quilt, gather the fat quarters and fabric for border and background at one shop, purchase the backing at another, begin cutting immediately after completing another quilt and work on it until 11:00, get up at 6:30 and sew all day in your pajamas until 20 minutes before it's time to take said quilt to the LQS where you have an appointment with the longarm quilter so the quilt can be done in time to cover your oldest son on Christmas morning. I didn't stop to eat (and if you knew me in real life, you'd realize how obsessed I must have been) and only took time to brush my teeth, get dressed, comb my hair and put on a little mascara before heading to the shop. On the way there, I realized I had forgotten my camera so I don't even have a picture to show you until the quilt comes back to me. By the way, the other quilt I finished yesterday was for my daughter's Chr...

My readers of a certain age will remember the commercial that portrayed the long wait for (supposedly) rich, thick ketchup while the Carly Simon song "Anticipation" played. Well, that's sort of how I've felt this week. I'm anticipating my first shop hop beginning tomorrow afternoon. This is something I've wanted to do since I began quilting a few years ago but it wasn't possible while our daughter was still a high school student. My husband is going away for a conference this weekend and my time will truly be my own for the next few days. I'm planning my route, printing maps, looking at patterns, making lists of things to look for and just generally looking forward to the whole experience. My lesson plans are done for next week so I'll be able to walk out the door at 3:45 and be on my way to the first shop. Oh, the anticipation!