A Long Day and a Quilt Shop

It was a dismal day of weather for my drive north yesterday, but that was the only black mark on the day. The rest was delightful. We're currently in a weather pattern that has been described by weather people as an "atmospheric river," and it's easy to see why. It has rained, and rained, and rained. It rained all the way up and all the way back on my drive yesterday, and some areas were foggy as well. And, as you might guess, it was dark too. Definitely a headlights-on day.

Fortunately, traffic wasn't too bad, and I didn't get into any traffic jams from pile-ups...always a bright spot on a dark day. My first stop was at the most delightful quilt shop in Kelso, Washington. I visited the Paisley Duck. I had to swipe this first picture off the internet. I'll tell you why in a minute. Obviously, this photo was taken on a better day of weather.

So I stood approximately where this photographer was standing to take my picture...only I was quick because I was getting wet. When I got home and scanned through my pictures, this is what I had:

Okay...well that was the one misstep of the day. The rest was perfect...except for the grocery shopping part when the cashier's computer died just as he was finishing up checking me through. Yeah. We had to load all my groceries back into the cart and head to a different register and do it all again. There were people behind me in line who had to do the same. It was a minor inconvenience, but not the way I hoped my grocery shopping trip would end. But, I digress...again...let's get back to the quilt shop, shall we?

Walking in the door, that's Sue the owner there. Just look at that friendly face. And she was a very friendly person. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here, and chatting with her as I strolled through her beautiful store.

My initial reaction as I walked through the door was that it was small...but was I ever wrong. Oh my goodness, the store went on and on and on. As I walked past the desk where Sue is sitting, I stopped at a threshold. In the image below, you can see there is a room at the end of that hallway, and also one to the right.

Looking left, there is another big roomful of fabric. Oh boy...this was going to be fun!

So I started at the very back of the store. On the way, I passed these pretty displays of quilt blocks. There were completed quilts for sale...you can see them in the lower left hand corner of the image below.

The cats were well represented here. There were lots of panels.

Lots of cat prints.

More panels with coordinating fabrics.

Look how cute this little kitty is. I looked for a pattern, but Sue told me she'd purchased these at a Dollar Store.

Semper Fi was on my mind, and so I was drawn to these patriotic fabrics.

Lots of pretty calicoes.

Fabulous florals.

Beautiful batiks.

These were right at the front door. Man, oh, man. I was so tempted by these. By the way, that's not my car outside there...mine is across the street, the Jeep parked beyond the one right in front of the store. I made sure to position myself so you couldn't see all the mud and road grime. Oy.

Behind me were some Kaffe Fasset fabrics. I loved the displays in the store. Sue said she likes to decorate, and it shows.

They had a selection of these Little Quilts Monthly Table Toppers. These were very cute.

Here's the cat.

You can find the web presence for this designer, The Wooden Bear, right here. Here's another of their patterns, and there were others of these Tea Towel Patternlets. I took the picture below for the pig. My friend Sue (not the store owner) loves pigs, and so I always take pictures of any pigs I see and text them to her right away. As I tell Sue, whenever I see pigs, I think of her. (Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.)

There was a section for wool quilts too. Sue, the shop owner, told me they'd done these as a series of blocks of the month in their store. Indeed, there was a very large classroom in the back. Kelso, Washington, is a small town, surrounded by some other small towns. It's near Mt. St. Helens, and a relatively sparsely populated area. Still, Sue said there were three quilt shops within a ten mile radius. Listening to her describe the classes available in the shop, I realized this is an enthusiastic quilting community.

Below that display were a number of kits for making wool quilts. I have one of these I've dragged around for years, and I still haven't made it. Maybe I'll do it during out next trip south. Kits are nice for traveling since everything is included.

I loved these little patterns for Christmas ornaments.

Here they are made up...

and there was a "Warm Hands" variety too.

More cats.

Juvenile and novelty prints.

I loved this next section. Toward the back of the store was a library of used books.

Are you getting that this was a wonderful store? I loved everything about it, especially the charming displays.

Since I've been collecting sparkly floss and beads for the Snowflakes project, these caught my eye...sort of a sparkly ribbon thread. It won't work in my project, but I looked closely at it just the same.

There were fun button displays and lots of antique knick knacks.

And here was something I hadn't seen before: a section of mystery kits for crazy quilting.

Also, vintage hankies and other embellishments for crazy quilts.

I always like a good supply of neutrals because I'm always searching for embroidery backgrounds.

They had a nice supply of notions.

This shop might win the prize for the friendliest shop I've ever visited.

I loved this free motion quilting design.

Here's the rest of the quilt.

There's another pig for my friend Sue.

So, I chose the items I wanted to purchase and then stepped into the restroom while she cut my fabric. This is the "Paisley Duck," and the ducks were as well represented as the cats.

With purchase, one can choose a rubber duckie as a free gift. I chose the "May" duck since May is my birth month. When I got home, Sue had put the Thanksgiving duck into my bag as well.

So, here's what I ended up with...these chickens were 40% off. I might use them as a back for the Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs quilt.

And since I was delivering Semper Fi to Andy on this day, I chose this one for my second Shop Hop quilt. Those stars are about the size of a quarter.

Also, I was looking to sweeten the pot a little for my giveaway with these little snowman scissors.

They'll fit perfectly in the scissors keeper and needle minder currently up for grabs.

If you missed my giveaway post, go right here to leave a comment and enter the giveaway. To be clear, you must go to the giveaway post to leave your comment. Also, I'll say right here that an awful lot of you who have entered are no-reply. If you didn't receive a response from me to your comment, that should be your clue. You might want to go back and leave me an email address. No way to contact you = no chance to win.

So, I thoroughly enjoyed this quilt shop. It's definitely worth a stop in if you find yourself passing through Kelso, Washington. They do not have a web page (at least none that I could find), but you can find their Facebook page right here.

And back here at the ranch, I finished up block #5 for Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs. This one is called "Waiting for Winter."

It was a wonderful day having lunch with my friend Andy and catching up on many years of life since high school. Andy texted me this image of his quilt on their guest room bed at home. Perfect fit!

Today we're packing up for a trip to the Oregon coast for the weekend. You might remember that Mike returned to work for the past year or so to help pay for our new RV. Today is his re-retirement day, and we're heading over to the coast for a quiet celebration. We'll be having dinner at a favorite restaurant there. I haven't decided yet if I'm blogging or not while we're gone. I guess you and I will find out together. Probably I'll want to tell you about the food, if nothing else. Otherwise, I'll be right back here on Monday to tell you all about it. And for now...I need to get packing.