What a Fun Day!

I had one of my rare girls days out yesterday. I have a small quilting bee that meets at my house once a month. It used to have more people in it, but things change. Left are two wonderful women. One is my 'surrogate' mom and I also see her one other day during the month.

Yesterday we met for lunch and to go to a couple of quilt shops. We went to Crumpet's Tea Room for lunch, which was a lovely little place with a lot of antiques and delicious (albeit expensive!) food.

If you're ever near Hampshire, Illinois you must visit Judy's Quilt Shop. It's one of the nicest shops I think I've ever been in. It's in a renovated old house and it's so spacious. They have lots of merchandise but you never feel crowded. They have oodles of samples on the walls and everything is just laid out so nice. The staff is so friendly and on any given day you can find both Judy and her husband in the shop.

These little items caught my eye right away. They are hard to see because of the glare, but they are yo yo makers. One makes smaller ones, one makes larger ones, one makes heart shaped and the other flower shaped. I have all kinds of applique vines in mind with these little gems. Judy said that she has been making loads of them and can't keep the makers in her shop, they are so much fun and easy to use that word of mouth is selling them all out. There is a larger heart and a very small yo yo both available and I have in mind to get both someday if I like it doing it as much as she does! I also bought this cute little stencil. I'm always watching for stencils as I love them and any space 5 inches or over I usually put a motif in rather than just outline. The other items is a magnet closure for a purse. I'd never seen them for sale before and am so glad that I have now as I love making bags, but there are many I'd like to have some kind of closure on...I can't go back and add these, but at least now I know they are available. I have in mind to make a mini bag, like the carpet bag I made, to use as a purse and will be glad to have a closure on it.

I also bought these two patterns. One if for the cutest little bag. You can make 3 sizes and they will be just wonderful to put things in for gifts or keep sewing items separated in a larger bag. I'll quilt my own fabric, you can also use prequilted or heavy enough that it doesn't need quilting, and once that part is done there are four seams to sew and that's it. It looks so easy, I can hardly wait to try one.

The other pattern was actually found by my friend. It was in a basket with some made up ones..of course the ones she picked up to show me would fit my 3 year old daughter....who absolutely LOVES shoes of any kind. She's right now walking around the house in her brother's Spiderman flip flops. This pattern also looks quite easy to make and wouldn't it be cute embellished with yo yo's ?? I have in mind to make Ruthie a basket full of little slippers in different colors so she can change shoes as often as she likes without losing the ones we need to go out!

I got home to a sink full of dishes and a rush to get dinner on the table, but that still wasn't enough to dampen my mood. I also found out when I got home that the financing was complete for my daughter's schooling, she starts cosmetology school next week and is so excited (and nervous!) All in all, a wonderful day!

Today is a work day here...as much as I work in a day anyway. I'm baking cookings and cheesecake and doing some housecleaning so the next two days can be spend just enjoying the beautiful weather. My husband works until dinner time today, but tomorrow and Monday has only one small job in the mornings...which is a close to 'off' for the day as he usually gets. We're going to have fires in the firepit, I'm going to read and hand sew outside and just enjoy...the last month has been horribly hot and humid or raining like crazy, it will be good to spend a couple of days outside!

And, of course, I'll be able to sneak some quilting between everything today. I'll probably work on the frame quilt as I have a chance, and maybe cut some fabrics to try out those yo yo makers when I sit outside later on today.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!