A Hop on a Motorcycle!

I know there are several of you out there wondering - but nope, no grandbaby news yet! Poor J is very anxious, as we all are. I guess the little one is just too comfy where he is. As I told her, it may feel like you've been pregnant forever, but I don't think anyone has been! Don't worry, I will be sure to keep you all "posted"!

In the meantime a few random things from my week. Sharon at Red Geranium Cottage posted photos of her "flora and fauna". There's no comparison to her California garden but here's a look at some of my "flora" I've got a gerber daisy that has become a freak of nature. Looks like siamese twin flowers! I didn't put out many flowers this summer and some of what I put out front aren't even doing very well. Some good rich dirt is needed in my front flower bed but that won't happen this year. But my daisies are looking pretty.
This weekend was the Jingle Bell Shop Hop for some of the local quilt shops. I have never actually been to an organized shop hop, so off I went. On Friday, I took myself to the two shops on the Indiana side that were participating. First stop, the Quilting Bee in Edwardsville. A nice shop with nice helpful ladies. I made a couple of purchases here and they seemed to be very busy with "hoppers".
Next stop, Patch As Patch Can, in New Albany. A small shop with a big dog as their mascot! It was pretty crowded in here, so I entered my name in their door prize drawing and went on. Looks like they have quite a few thirties type prints though.
The rest of the shops were over in Kentucky. I didn't have to twist D's arm too much to get him to take a motorcycle ride Saturday morning to a couple of them. Of course, we took the back roads! We went to Madison to cross the Ohio River bridge then down some twisty, country roads along the river. There were lots of deer playing in the fields. Don't know if you can see these two (sorry, should have zoomed a little!). We startled them as we came down the road and at first they started running toward us then took off in a safe direction! Sometimes I wonder about the roads D takes us on but we always somehow find our way to our destination. At least we don't encounter much traffic. But I don't like when we are out of cell phone service! What a cute shop this was in La Grange, KY. It is called the Gathering Room Quilt Shoppe. Several rooms of nice fabrics, especially cival war prints. More nice ladies working here. D wasn't the only guy browsing around but we were the only customers to come (at least at that time!) on a motorcycle. I found a really cute purse but they were out of the patterns. This might require a trip back ;) But other purchases were made!
The last shop of the day was Three Pines Designs Quilts and Crafts in Buckner, KY. This is a pretty small shop too, but boy have they got some pretty stuff! I saw several Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler fabrics. I will definitely be back. (B - you've got to go here with me!) There were three other shops on the Shop Hop. We didn't get to them but they were Among Friends Quilt Shop (which I frequent quite regularly!), Forget Me Knot Quilt Shop and Happy Heart Quilt Shop (I couldn't find links for those two) all in Louisville.

We made a short detour for a late lunch at the Westport General Store. Hard to imagine finding such a nice meal in such a location but we've been here before and have always had plans to come back someday. We were just about the only customers, but it was late in the afternoon. They were very, very busy the night we were here a couple of years ago.


They use a lot of locally grown produce. These heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella were wonderful. We should have stopped there but D tried the bison burger and I had the baby hot brown. What is a hot brown you say? Check out the history of this area favorite at this hotel website. Rich, but yummy.
The afternoon heat had been turned up so we headed homeward shortly after lunch. Here are my shop hop purchases. Christmas fabric was 20% off at all of the shops but I only bought one selection at the first shop along with the charm pack of Pumpkins Gone Wild. At the Gathering Room, I purchased a kit for a "stack and whack" type table runner. I've never done any of those so it will be interesting. Looks easy if I can just stay organized! I'm thinking I might try to make a Kaffe Fasset style quilt one of these days so I bought his book at our last stop. Also the Amy Butler pattern - because I need another purse pattern! So, time will tell if I get any of these projects completed! Seems too early to be thinking about Christmas! I'm working on something using Fresh Squeezed fabrics right now. It is very summery so it will be hard to change directions. Maybe a pic of that next time! Unless I have something or someone more exciting to photograph! Have a great week everyone!