Eat your heart out, Willie Nelson...

"On the road again...just can't wait to get on the road again...(sing it, Willie...).  It seems to be my summer to put thousands of miles on the car.  But I made a little detour about 10 days ago...

(ssshhh...don't tell Ola and Mary J where I stopped...)  I mean really, I was just passing through.  I left at 6:15 AM from Ann Arbor to take Riley to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp on the OTHER side of the state.  From there, I headed south to Alabama for the second time in a month.  I decided to take a new route, south through Indiana to meet up with my normal path in Louisville, KY.

I just HAD to go through Shipshewana, in the heart of Indiana Amish country, to get to I-69 south...REALLY...

But I forgot that it was Wednesday, which is Flea Market Day...on Wednesdays the town is filled to bursting with locals and visitors.  Buggy AND car gridlock...

As I inched through the traffic in town, I soon realized that a stop in town at Lolly's was out of the question.  Parking was impossible.  I decided that a quick spin through Yoder's was the best that I could hope for.

I was overjoyed to discover that THEY ARE EXPANDING THE ENTIRE BUILDING !!!!  The picture above is the expanded center hall, and the one below shows the HUGE new expansion of the quilting part of the department store (the tools are still set up, as they are finishing the expansion across the hall from the department store.  I'm not sure if they are expanding the grocery store, the hardware store, or BOTH.

It is well-lit, spacious and so enticing!

They had only been in the new part for 2 weeks...just in time for the big show they had a couple of weeks ago. 

This is the expansion across the hall...still working on that...

They are still moving things around and putting out new fabric and displays.  I want to go back soon and see the finished product!

 

OK...enough of lurking in the hall...let's so SHOP!

Out of my way, sweetie...I just gotta get in there...

Wow...can you believe THIS is Yoder's??  I remember when the fabric was just a few displays between the straw hats and the suspenders!

 

Anne Sutton fabric is featured nicely...

 

Nice, wide rick-rack above a nice selection of 30's fabrics...

 

Part of the color wall...

Reproduction fabrics...

Thimbleberries and Kansas Troubles...

 

More color wall...

MORE Kansas Troubles (YOU could get in trouble here, Mary J...!)...

 

I kept being drawn back to the color wall...

 Halloween into fall into Christmas...oh my!

NICE, comfy area with leather chairs for browsing books and magazines...

Minnick and Simpson for Moda, etc...

What is WRONG with me?  I've been here 20 minutes and there is NOTHING in my basket??

More color wall...

 

Lovely samples were EVERYWHERE...

 

Notions, notions, notions...

And don't think that just because it is "Yoder's" that they aren't up-to-date with the newest items...just look at the GO! display...

 

Our favorite magazines from Australia and New Zealand...

 

And all the rest of my favorites...

 

Halloween...

Now...THAT is more like it...

 

Lot's of lovely 30's...

This huge cutting table accommodated 4 nice ladies cutting for customers...no waiting in line...even on a Wednesday...

 

For everyone loving wool and a more primitive look...

 

Lovely wool...

Then I drove like a maniac the rest of the day and well into the night, bumping into a deer at the Tennessee-Alabama border at 1:00 AM (thank God I was alert enough to slam on the brakes and slow down to only 10 MPH...we BOTH survived...and I didn't wet my pants...the deer might have, though...) and rolling into my northwest Alabama destination at 2:20 EST (one thousand miles later...).  I got home to Michigan late last night, and now we are off tomorrow morning for 2 days of entertainment at Riley's camp and to bring her home.

I wish I could say that the summer road trips were over...

Happy trails...wherever they lead you...

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Catch as catch can...

I'm having one of THOSE summers...disjointed, complicated, on the road, life changing...it causes my inner troll to be unhappy about not having enough creative time in the quilt cave.  My cave-anchored projects are on hold and I can only work on things that travel, catch as catch can, when I have a few minutes.

I talked about one of my favorite shops to visit while on the road between Michigan and Alabama in my last post, The Quilt Box of Dry Ridge, Kentucky, without sharing my purchases...bad, bad blogger!

Blacks, browns and blues...oh, my goodness!  The blacks are from the "Inkwell" collection by Marcus.  It is so hard to find repro blacks, and these are gorgeous!  I bought a few things with which to pepper my repro stash and enough to share with my buddies.

I am a "bag lady" at The Quilt Box, which means I faithfully return with my bag as I pass through the area and enjoy 20% of my purchases.  I've been a bag lady so long that I've forgotten what I did to earn the bag...I think I had to spend $75-$100...that wan't a problem.  Then, every time you spend $100, they stamp your bag.  After a certain number of stamps you get free stuff...I can't remember how much.  I'm always excited about the 20% off.  There is nothing more tempting than 20% off...I just leave the tote bag in the back of the car so I don't forget it!

I dare anyone to visit this shop and not be tempted by all the shirtings she carries!

My buddy Ola visited this shop for the first time a few weeks earlier and brought me THIS lovely bundle.

I
 

Fat 1/8s of pure joy...pink and brown repro fabrics.

The variety carried by this shop is amazing.  I spread them out below to see them in all their glory...

...then I opened them up to wash them and just wallowed in them for a while.  I also received the lovely new tote bag and my daughter/photographer suggested  me put it on my head to get it in the picture.  Since I am a silly cave troll, and a little camera shy...why not?!?

Since I need portable projects for the next month, I am hard at work on my Blackbird Design applique baskets.  I started these in 2010 and have about 60 done now.

When I have some prepped, they are the perfect thing to work on while away from the quilt cave.

I carry the prepped blocks around in one of my "magic boxes," a small box containing everything I need to sew away from home...silk thread, needles, beeswax, scissors, thimble, and prepped blocks.

While doing laundry last night, I prepped a few more baskets using the gluestick method (freezer paper pattern adhered to the right/front side of the fabric, turn under allowances glued to the wrong side) and a few of my new fabrics.

I have a stack that have been appliqued and are ready to soak and trim to size.  I started out making brown, cheddar, gold and black ones thinking it would be more like the quilt in the Blackbird Designs book.  But now I'm thinking color and have decided to expand the color pallet to include red, green, blue, purple and pink...all repro.  And I am using a ton of different shirtings for backgrounds.  I love scrappy...it keeps me from having to make fabric decisions.

I also managed to cut a stack of shirting fabrics 6 1/2 inches square on which to glue-baste these lovely baskets.  

After the applique is done, I will soak the blocks to remove the glue, press and cut to the 5 1/2 inch block size that I need to make the quilt.

Don't get me wrong, it is a good summer...time spent with my 14-yr-old daughter and husband and time spent in the sunny south visiting/helping my extended family is always wonderful.  Then there are the necessary lifestyle changes that come with losing almost 40 pounds since the second week in May...yippee for me!  My inner quilt troll will get back into the quilt cave in a few weeks and go nuts with my sad, neglected, lonely stash.  At that time, I need to spend some sewing time with my sad, neglected, lonely quilting buddies.  Until then, I am happy to make some progress on hand projects, maybe get to visit more quilt stores on my journeys, and work on some original quilt design projects.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Carside Critique:You'll LOVE this place!

I just got back from a week plus down in the sunny south with my daughter where my favorite aunt had shoulder surgery.  On the way to Alabama from Michigan, I had another chance to visit one of my FAVORITE quilt shops, The Quilt Box of Dry Ridge, Kentucky.

This shop is perfectly located 4 hours south of my home in southeast (Ypsilanti) lower Michigan.  If you are traveling south on I-75 through Ohio, it is just south of Cincinnati in northern Kentucky, just off the highway at exit 159 (Dry Ridge).  As I-75 winds southeast toward Atlanta, GA, I-71 splits off to the southwest towards Louisville, KY, which is the way I usually go as I motor towards Alabama.  But it is super easy to continue south on I-75 for a few miles, get off at the Dry Ridge Exit, go to this charming shop, then travel a little west through the scenic countryside until I meet up with I-71 south.
Owner Natalie Lahner buys what she likes to fill her beautiful shop, and I LOVE what she likes!

This shop on Walnut Springs Farm started out as a log cabin, which was enlarged to make the shop.  The grounds are INCREDIBLE!

You can see the "log and chink" construction on the left side of the store.

As you meander down the long, gravel driveway, you pass Natalie's log cabin home and continue on, following the signs, to the shop on the scenic hilltop.

My family always packs a picnic lunch to eat under the tree while gazing at the rolling hills and pond.  Riley and my husband like to wander around while I enjoy browsing and shopping.

 This shop has been open almost 30 years and was featured many years ago in Quilt Sampler.

The shop carries mostly reproduction and batik fabrics, along with a few 30's.  What is so fabulous about Natalie is that she carries more obscure lines in addition to the favorites you look for everywhere.  I love her fabric eye, and load up on things that just aren't available anywhere else.

Just look at all these shirtings (and this is not all of them)!

 

Yummy chocolate browns and hard-to-find black and grays.

Just some of her many green bolts...

 

Reds, with blues and batiks peeking through from behind...

 

New, featured lines are placed in the "cabin," in front of the hearth.

 My favorites, the blues...

The shop is sprinkled with inviting samples, patterns, magazines, books, quilting tools and supplies.  They have a nice selection of wide backings, as well.

If you are traveling south on I-75, take exit 159 at Dry Ridge.  Then right off the ramp, then turn right on KY 467 at the next light.  Go 2.6 miles, passing a barn with the Little Mermaid painted on the side, then turn left at the sign on the mailbox onto a gravel driveway.  After a short meander through the woods, and passing the first log cabin home, drive on to this fabulous shop.  Well worth the drive!!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)