Another Great Weekend - Aren't They All!!!!

Hello family and friends,
I had a tough start to the weekend on Friday but Saturday and Sunday more than made up for it!

I went to my favorite quilt shop, The Quilt Basket, in Downers Grove on Saturday with great expectations...unfortunately, as life can do sometimes, I was disappointed. I still like the shop in Northbrook, Quilter's Heaven, better even though they didn't give me great service because of their selection of fabric! Isn't that funny! Not great service at The Quilt Basket either. Oh well. I haven't been able to find the fabric for my special quilt yet....I'll keep looking!




I did manage to find some fabric at the Quilt Basket and made a 10 minute table runner! Here are two pictures. The fabric is a beautiful turquoise blue with gold in it. Very pretty and a very easy pattern to follow. I even found a YouTube video on it and followed that!

A very easy pattern indeed!

White Fabric

Pattern

Black Fabric

I also decided to look at some fabric for another quilt I'd like to make. It's the Black & White & Red All Around! Here is the pattern and fabric.

Red fabric and black binding

After leaving the quilt store, I had a nice lunch and then went to the knit shop in Downers Grove, Kniche, just down the block. Much to my disappointment, the shop was gone! I guess they went out of business. Oh well, I guess that's better for my wallet...saved $$$$!

I texted several of my knitting friends in the morning and asked them to come over to my house and  have dinner, knit a bit, drink some wine and watch "The Vow." Well, we did all of the above with the exception of the movie! Never got around to it but we did have a great time just the four of us! I did watch the movie today and it was very good. I cried, laughed and thoroughly enjoyed it. I love Rachel McAdams!

Another project I completed on Sunday, besides the 10 minute table runner was a Halloween table runner. I cut the fabric previously so it was just a matter of sewing and pressing it. I think it turned out great. Now I have to do the hard part, quilt it and put the binding on! At least the top is done!

Halloween table runner

And, last but not least, an update on the baby hat from the yarn I got last weekend. Just a bit completed but I wanted to try to show the pattern. It's called Moire. The part closest to my fingers is the top. The rolled end is the bottom. A very cute hat and I can't wait until I can start the little socks. I just hope I have enough yarn! Maybe I should go back to the knit shop and get some more? : )

All in all, another great weekend. My DH had a nice Father's Day and received cards and/or calls from his children. Now it's back to work! I wonder what I'll complete next weekend? Maybe the baby hat, maybe put the tassels on my scarf that I knit last year, maybe cut some fabric for another quilt...the sky's the limit!

A Great Saturday!

Good morning!
I had a great Saturday! I had my hair cut and colored - finally! My hairdresser canceled my appointment last weekend due to her son's graduation from Greek School. I totally understood but my hair didn't! It just kept on turning gray! Now I'm happy!

Afterwards, I gave myself a girls afternoon! (Even though it was by myself!) I took a trip to another quilt shop, Quilter's Heaven in Northbrook. This was the second shop on my Quilt Shop Hop. It's nice to go to these shops because they all give you a 15% discount and you get to see different shops! It was a nice ride on Waukegan Road on a beautiful day. The shop is an old house on Shermer Road. I walked in and was pleasantly surprised. They had SOOO much fabric. It was a typical old house with little rooms, etc., and an upstairs with little rooms. They even had a long arm quilting machine on the premises! I couldn't believe all the fabric they had. Everyone one was more beautiful than the next. They had tons of samples, patterns, books, etc. It was a feast for the quilter's eyes! The problem I had was that there were several sample quilt tops and table runners that I fell in love with and wanted to buy either a kit or the same material. Several times I mentioned how much I loved that pattern and would like to buy the material. One of the sales people told me I should go upstairs and look for the fabric. Another looked for the book with a pattern I liked and they didn't have it. I felt that they should have taken the time to help me find the material or similar material. The shop wasn't that busy and there were two salespeople. Oh well, I did find a few patterns that I liked and some Valentines material for a quilt I'm thinking of making - at some point. The photo above is one of patterns I bought at the shop. It's supposed to be very easy. We'll see....

This is the table runner I fell in love with. I almost bought the pattern but the fabric colors in the picture on the cover were terrible. I wanted these fabrics but they didn't really help me find them. I did take the pic for fabric colors in case I bought the pattern. This pic doesn't do the fabric justice. It was very vivid and beautiful. The name of the pattern was "Tuscany."

However, one good thing; I think I've found the perfect pattern for my special quilt. It's a bit difficult to see but I really like this pattern. Once I purchase the fabric, I'll put some pics on the blog.





I also stopped at a knit shop, Three Bags Full, while I was in Northbrook. It was just around the corner from the quilt shop so I had to stop there. (Didn't I?) This store was nice with a big selection of yarn (what else?) Unfortunately most of the yarn was very expensive. I did purchase some 40% off sock yarn - of course! and a pattern and yarn for a baby hat and socks pictured below:

Sock yarn - 40% off!





I'm going to take another trip to one of my favorite quilt shops on Saturday. It's the first quilt shop I ever visited and where I took my first class in quilt making; The Quilt Basket in Downer's Grove. I love that shop and one of the owners, Denise, is a great teacher and a nice person. The only minus is that they are not open on Sundays. : ( I plan to buy fabric for both of these quilts there. The shop is beautiful and located in quaint downtown Downer's Grove. If you have never been there, you should take a ride and see what I mean. There's even a knit shop across the street; Kniche. What more could you want! You also have to stop at the Barkery and buy some treats for your favorite doggie!

Well, so much for my adventurous Saturday. Sometimes you just need to venture out of your neighborhood comfort zone!

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