Design Wall Monday

My second Kim Diehl project is now a flimsy. The designer calls this one Barndance, but I kept thinking Hurricane. It looked like wind swirling plus all of those little pieces kept wanting to escape my fleece design board.

I haven't decided yet how I want this quilted, so it will live on the design wall for awhile. 

Check out Design Wall Monday at:  http://www.patchworktimes.com 

Retail therapy

 

Old time general stores were known for having pretty much anything you might need or want under one roof. And that is a perfect description of The General Store of Minnetonka (Minnesota).  It was one of the fun stops on my road trip with Sylvia, Pam and Marilyn this past week.  Need some Paul Bunyan or Minnesota Vikings themed gifts? How about unusual kitchen gadgets or gourmet food items? Personalized Christmas ornaments? Educational or vintage toys for kids . . . or adults? Socks? Jewelry? Home décor? This store has it all in 2 floors of nooks and crannies with a surprise in every turn.

 

 

Another fun road trip stop was SR Harris, a discount designer fabric store in Burnsville. Floor to ceiling displays of every kind of fabric imaginable: bridal, wool, velvet, silk, fleece, home décor, outdoor . . . and a whole large room of quilting cottons. I had a plan to just add a few pieces for the upcoming Bonnie Hunter mystery but of course I found some other things too. The 3 yards of crocodile fabric is for pillowcases for all 3 grandsons. I did find some good additions for the mystery quilt, and picked up a couple of seasonal fat quarters.

 

I exercised only a little personal restraint on this shopping trip because after all, the reason for the trip was friends, food, and retail therapy. A success!!!

 



 

Road trippin'

2 days, 4 friends (including me), 600 miles, some great restaurants and LOTS of fun shopping stops - that was my road trip this week. Wednesday morning we took off and headed east toward Minneapolis, equipped with coffee, comfy shoes, and our credit cards.

 

One of our first stops was in St Peter MN where we had lunch and explored some shops on Main Street, including a shop called Contents.  They had gorgeous season décor and gift items, but also had a good sized section devoted to kids, with quite a few "retro" items and lots of educational toys and books. 

 

I picked these bike streamers up for my 4 oldest grandkids. Anyone remember having these as kids?  I sure do! I loved having my streamers fluttering from the handle bars of my bike. Some fun stocking stuffers to get my Christmas shopping started.

 

Our next stop was a discount fabric store called SR Harris as we reached the suburbs. And I did some stash enhancement there. More about that another time.  Our last stop before a late supper was the General Store of Minnetonka. OMG!!!  That was a fun stop. More on that another time too.

 

The whole trip was a fun, relaxing time - lots of good conversation, didn't watch the news or read the papers - just had some fun.

I couldn't help myself

I'm showing my true colors here - because I just had to fix this block.  My 6" version of Winter Star (Farm Girl Vintage) had the center section on every side reversed. It made a nice looking block, but every time I looked at it the thought popped up about it being WRONG. So while watching football on Sunday I took it apart. Today I put it back together the right way and I feel so much better. Just call me obsessive.  I can take it.

 

My other Sunday afternoon activity was cutting all of the pieces for my next Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots project.  Over my lunch break today I started sewing the 4 patch sections from 1.5" squares.   

Farm Girl Vintage progress

These are all of the miniature Farm Girl Vintage blocks (except for the cat) that I've made so far from both the book and online.  There are 41 total so far and I've made both the 6" and 12" version of each one. The cat block was laying on my coffee table because I was embroidering the face and I forgot to put it back in the group before taking the photo. 

In the second row from the bottom the blue and pink block has the middle side pieces all reversed - OOPS! The full sized version is correct but somehow I turned those pieces when I made the little one. I may - or may not - fix that. 

I still have a few to make, including a couple of the downloaded blocks like the cow.

My buddy for the day

This is Jack. He has a low fever today so he can't go to daycare. So grandma drove 70 miles to spend the day so mom and dad can go to work. My MIL did the same for me many years ago. Glad I can do it now. Too bad I don't live a little closer. 

Playing

Just had to play with some of the Christmas fabric in my stash.