Sewing, Road Trip and Shopping

Hello Dear Readers
 A lot has been happening since I last posted so thought I would give you a quick update.  This Sunburst Dresden Table Topper is made from my new pattern.  This is a quilt as you go table topper, and it goes together quickly.  This is my go to pattern for gifts, and I have one for every holiday that I use on my table.  The Dresden plate is made using the Easy Dresden ruler.  

Last week, I drove south to Kentucky to stay with my friend, Michele.  She, Barb, Meredith, and I were planning to head out on an adventure on Wednesday morning.  We had mapped out 6 or 7 quilt shops that we wanted to visit down in Tennessee, and were going on a road trip/shop hop.  Before the big road trip Tuesday afternoon, Michele, Barb and I drove up to the north part of Cincinnati to a shop called Home Grown, Home Sewn.  Diane has a cute shop, and I bought the Farm Fun animal panels to sew.  There are 4 different animals with 2 babies each.  The Handmade charm pack is called a treat and measures 3 1/2".  This is the first time I've seen this size.  It was a nice shop, and I plan to return next time I'm in the Cincinnati area.

The trip moved to IKEA.  We don't have an IKEA in Indianapolis yet, so Michele always takes me there to get my fix and buy some goodies.  I bought another cart to put "stuff" in.

We started out bright and early Wednesday morning headed for Greenback, Tennessee.  That's about 30 miles south of Knoxville.  The first shop on our list was Mountain Creek Quilts.  Michele and I both had been to Teri's shop before at different times, and we didn't want to miss a chance to get to stop there again.  Here are photos from the shop.

If you look closely, you can see my pillow pattern hanging there on the side of the thread display.

Here's the display of Sue Spargo thread.  I had stopped at Mountain Creek quilts when we were in Tennessee on vacation last May.  I bought just one spool of the thread then to see what it was like to embroider with it.  Well, it was really nice, and I couldn't wait to get back to buy more thread.  (I know you can buy it on line, but there is something fun about going to the mountains to buy thread.)

The wool was just beautiful, and I think each of us came home with a nice little bundle or two.

This is the Christmas room.  Mountain Creek has lots of fabric including lots of Moda lines.

Here is what I bought.  I bought Sue Spargo wool and thread and a few other things.

We were headed for shop number 2 over toward Pigeon Forge when a car pulled out from a side street, and we couldn't avoid hitting it.  Michele was driving and did a great job of defensive driving because we all walked away from the accident.  The other car had four 20 something year olds.  The girl that was driving and one of her three male passengers were taken away in handcuffs.  She was arrested for DUI....drugs.  She couldn't walk the center line of the road or even touch her finger to her nose when the State Trooper asked.  Passersby saw her run from the car and throw a bag into the weeds, and they were kind enough to stop to wait to talk to the police.  Several officers and a K9 unit were called.  It was a long wait to get it all straightened out and get someone to bring a rental car to the scene, but we were lucky even though Michele's car was totaled.  

Meanwhile, I had some sort of raised places on the side of my face that looked like bites before I left home.  It was either go to the doctor to get it looked at or go on the road trip.  Of course, I chose the road trip.  I've never had anything that looked like this before, but most things like this have gone away on their own.  I got to the Dr. as soon as I got home, and I have cellulitis.  It is pretty painful, and there is still swelling in my head and neck.  I feel a bit better and spent today cleaning up my sewing room a bit so I can get back to doing some stitching soon.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!