A shoppin' we will go

Today Heart to Heart Quilt Shop in Trussville (AL) was having an anniversary sale.  Jane had offered to drive and could take 5 including herself.  We had agreed to meet at 9:30 at our usual spot and took off.

All was going well till we got hung up on Chalkville Mtn. Road near downtown Trussville but a train stopped on the tracks.  Finally when almost all the cars ahead of us had done a three point turnaround and went back around we figured that the locals must know another route.  Sure enough----the next street down had an overpass OVER the stopped train.  (That stinkin' train was STILL stopped in the same position when we were coming back home!!)  That detour told us that the Chocolate Biscuit was probably not open as we did not see a single car in the lot at 11 a.m.  We went to Applebee's for lunch near the quilt shop instead  before we even went shopping. Crossing Chalkville Mtn. Road or turn left onto it can be a real nightmare as there is too much traffic on a far too narrow road.    We immediately ran into a bunch of quilters we knew from Calhoun County too.

The shop had everything marked down at least 30%----so that meant the fat quarters I got were 30% off.  Then there were a few shelves of 50% off with minimum 1 yard cuts and table with 75% off as well as a spot where you could stuff everything you wanted into a small bag ( the size they use for patterns) for 5 bucks as long as you could close the seal.

So what are you looking at here? Above,  Popsicle Sticks ammunition.  I pulled the fabric bin of teals out last night.   I had a pretty good idea that I needed to concentrate on some lighter fabrics for the strips set stratas on our run today.  Darks and mediums are pretty well covered.  I can pull the purples, pinks and green bins out but basically I was going with the colors in that Amelia by Me & My Sister  I had gotten as part of my Christmas present from DJ.   The thumbnails on the link will show most of the included fabrics in the jelly roll.  Once I took the tie off I can't get it rolled back up like they had it , LOL.

You will also see my over stuffed pattern bag above as well, next to the jelly roll.  Here is what I had
stuffed in it.  The pale green is quilt cut aways as I was allowed to remove the batting that was sewn to it.  Turquoise gingham---about a fat's worth.  A few pieces of lime green that might work for some short strips. The pinkish piece and the blue print yardage are about a half yard wide!!  Score.

A closeup of my purchases.  Fats in the first row and yards in the 2nd.    On sale, more bang for my Christmas spending money----THX DJ!

Since I had to buy more than I really needed for this project and obviously I have stuff in my stash to use as well I have a feeling that this will move on to other alternate quilts.   I have Ring Around pattern  from Four Paws Quilting that would be a good choice---scroll down the page a bit.

On the way home we had a choice about which route to take.  Both would end up at the same spot in the middle of Ragland on AL 144.  I don't think anyone was on a  "deadline" to get home so that helped too.  One of the gals is in the process of making two commissioned baby quilts for a woman with twin daughters.  She apparently needs to arrange for someone to machine stipple them in "pink variegated thread" according to the mama.  We had talked about the reasonable machine quilting prices at Ashville House Quilt Shop.   When we left Trussville traveling through the back roads, we said we could go thru Ashville on the way home.   Two of the girls had not been there before and would know their way over, should they decide to have Pat quilt them for her.

At first we were not sure they were open as they were doing some roofing and repair work outside.  It being Friday she normally would be open but we are talking about a holiday weekend.  But the workmen assured us that the shop was open.  We just needed to use a different entrance into the house/shop. The stop actually turned out to be good idea as Lois had been looking for horse fabric for another sort of commissioned piece---and Pat had some, while Heart to Heart did not.  I picked up that pink piece on top with the needle and thread on it and the light purple fat quarters at Ashville House.

Once I got home I finished putting the Christmas decorations back up with DJ pitching in to help haul the boxes in and out from the shed.  It is amazing how quickly that stuff can get packed up when it takes a good part of the day to put it out!  So we are now in the snowman decorating phase for a couple of months, LOL.

Tomorrow I am back to quilting----personal project this time and a small one at that.  Closer to one last finish for 2011??  I'm pokey with binding so I am guessing not but an early finish for 2012 may be more possible!

I wish all the best for you in 2012--------