Nearly wordless week away

Heading north, I made a stop at Buc-cee's. They have beavers!

I was reminded why I don't have fond memories of snow.

The meals at the nursing home are not always appetizing.

 
After almost a week in one shop or another, I finally got my car back. (Special shout-out to my MIL -- you're the BEST!)

The bedside clock said 4:30 -- stupid daylight savings time, I lost an hour!

Two states down, one really big state to go.

Travel & Retail Therapy

I am a week home from my last trip to MoKan. That 14 hour drive home is tough and it takes me a while to get back into my usual routine.



On this drive though, I still had the warm glow from a trip to Lawrence, Kansas and to Sarah's Fabrics. My Mother-in-law learned I hadn't been to Lawrence, much less Sarah's in years, so she thought a short car trip was in order.
Shug wasn't born in Lawrence but he grew up there and got his bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas -- that's were we met! My Mother-in-law probably lived there nearly 30 years and it still feels like home to her. But the point of the trip, besides a little tripping down memory lane, was to go Sarah's. Sarah's was there when I was in school back in the early 1980s. I was already dabbling at quilting & sewing and Sarah's was a favorite place to go. I am pretty sure that I got my Folkwear prairie dress pattern there along with the calico I used to make it. It was always a fun store, though a bit outside my college girl budget.

Well.
Now it is twice the size. They have not only quilting cottons, but linens, woolens, rayons -- LOTS and LOTS of fabric! I was a bit over-whelmed.









Let's all say "polka dots" the way Homer Simpson says "dough nuts".
polka dots....drool drool drool



All I managed to focus on was a big bunch of fat quarters -- I think a spider web string quilt may be in order -- and half yards of a couple of Echino prints -- a bag maybe?

 

Home again

Shug and I are back at home after our car trip to the midlands to see our Moms. We are getting back to the normal routine and getting a little rested.

I haven't driven through Kansas in years. Now before any of you say anything, let me just say that I Love Kansas! My soul lives in Kansas. Many think that Kansas is flat and boring. Yes, it is pretty flat, but it is not at all boring. The winter wheat was ripening and being combined. (The furrowed fields gave me ideas for my next quilting project.) I looked and looked at those miles and miles of wheat and tried to describe the color; it is kind of a reddish amber, sort of the color of a deer's coat. Then we drove through the Flint Hills. Earlier in the year and earlier in the day would have shown the rolling prairie off to better advantage, but it was still just beautiful.



We brought home quite a bit of stuff from my Mom's house. Her old Kenmore sewing machine, for one. I learned to sew on this machine; it was my first machine as a young bird just out of the nest. I haven't yet tried to see if will sew--it looks like it needs quite a bit of attention (I hope that rusty place will clean up.) But I am glad to have it here. I also got some bobbins and buttons and old irons.





And I brought home a stack each of my Dad's shirts and my Mom's shirts. Dad's shirts are mostly polyester and I don't look forward to sewing with them, but I saw a project on flickr that used linen with polyester fabrics. I am hoping that the addition of a some rich linens will give some stability and depth to his old shirts. There is quite a bit of polyester in Mom's stack as well, though hers are slightly more "cotton rich". The prints are pretty loud. I may add some solids, but then again, maybe not. It will be a real heart-tug to work with them but I am looking forward to quite a few projects from these shirts.