Shipshewana Travels

We also traveled to Shipshewana Indiana for the day. 

It is about a 3 hour drive for us. 

 It is lovely to go during the holidays as all the decorations are so beautiful. 

I loved seeing these horses made out of wood.

First stop was Jo Jo's Pretzels.  Man I love that place!  BEST pretzels ever! 

 Of course, Lolly's is right across from there so I had to go in and shop, right?  

I was looking for some solids for an upcoming planned quilt and

 knew I should be able to find them in the quilt shops here. 

 I was not disappointed.  I scored this at Lolly's. 

A little Swell Christmas may have hopped in my bag, 

as well as the cutest "Night Before Christmas" text print.  

Those stripes from Vintage Christmas were in the sale room...SCORE!

What they did not have were many of the Kona solids.  

So we went to Yoder's.  I was able to get the rest of the solids I needed for the top!! 

 I am excited for this quilt but it has to wait in line.  

Sad.

We went to E and S Sales too (well duh!) and there is a row of buggy parking. 

 I have this unnatural attraction for the horses and buggies.  

They make me absurdly happy for some reason.

If you know anything about by now you know how much I love cats.  

People used to make so much fun of me for that all through school!  

Now as an adult I just don't care.  

I love all animals but cats are my favorite (in case you didn't know, LOL).  

When Chris had me go into the Yoder's general store I was looking at axes, and bird feeders 

and such and when I rounded the corner I saw THIS!

Are you kidding me right now???  A GIANT Kit Cat clock in PINK???  YES Please!!  Haha, not really, I have no place for something like this but I really needed my picture by it don't you think?  I was not dressed for photos and just threw my hair in a pony tail but what the heck.  Who knows if it will be there next time we go, right?  I have a mint colored Kit Cat Clock that Chris got me for Christmas one year.  Our friend Maggie, who passed away, had an original black one and when we were helping her hubby clear out the house he let me have it to remember Maggie by.  You can see the actual size of the clocks all around the giant pink cat and me.  That orange tiger one was calling my name...

It was a super fun day and I can't wait to go back in the new year and visit again.  I just can NOT get enough of this place!  The only bad thing this trip is that there were no fry pies.  Mind, this was good for my weight loss but I missed having a cherry fry pie.

If you get a chance to go to Shipshewana you should!  It is so much fun!

~XOP~

Dicken's Festival 2018

We have been doing some traveling lately. 

This was our annual trip to Holly Michigan for the Dicken's Festival.  

It was not the usual frigid trip and we had a lot of fun!  

There were carriage rides, although we didn't go on one this time.

We love checking out the local antique shops. It is where I usually pick up a creepy elf or 2. 

 No luck this year though.  Maybe they are getting wise to me?

I did see these cute vintage toy sewing machines.

And this adorable puppy basket that was embroidered.  It needed to be finished so I left it. 

 I'm still thinking I should have bought it.  

It would have made an adorable pillow!

There was a guy walking around on stilts.  

I don't think I have ever seen that before IRL!  He was holding mistletoe over couples.

Look who I found as we were leaving.  Of course I needed a photo with him!

More travels tomorrow!

~XOP~

Second Thanksgiving

I know things have been a bit quiet around here of late. 

I seem to have been doing a lot of traveling in the most recent few weeks. 

 Last week we traveled to NC to visit our daughter and celebrate second Thanksgiving with them.  

We arrived on Wednesday and left for home very early on Sunday morning.  

It was a great trip and we had so much fun! 

 This was our welcoming committee.  

Nick and Kelsey.

Max

and Mitch

One day we went to Mebane, where she used to live and 

walked around, had lunch, then went to the outlet mall.  

So FUN!  

One of the shops had this stitchery.  

I thought it would be perfect for their home so I bought it. 

She asked me if I thought I could get it finished during our visit. 

 I just laughed and said I could probably finish it in an hour (and I did). 

 It still needed to be pressed and trimmed but at least you can see it finished.

One day we went to the place the rehersal dinner will be at, the Pit in Durham. 

 I took this video from the roof top.  

There are tables and chairs outside and inside too. 

 Really neat place. 

 It used to be a 7-Up bottling company!

We visited a really nice mall while we were there too.  

I think it was called South Point.  

We were shopping for a MOB dress.  

Isn't this fountain fantastic?

Kelsey and I went to spin class on Saturday morning.  

It as HARD and my butt bones HURT!

But...I did it.

We went home and showered and then we decided to go out and look at some of the hotel choices.  She wanted us to see three of the hotels that are not chains in downtown Durham.  

We went to Unscripted, 21c and the Durham.  

This is the lobby of the Durham. 

 It used to be a bank!  

All of the hotels were very unique. 

21c might not be kid friendly, so keep that in mind.  

The lobby is on the second floor and 

when we got there there were three gigantic photos of a completely nude man!  

21c has rotating art work throughout the hotel but still, 

if you had littles I would not choose that hotel. 

Anyway, back to the Durham.

This hotel has a rooftop bar so we went up there.  Pretty sweet.

 There is the sheltered part above and then there are tables out in the open.  

She wants to go here after the reception in her dress for a drink.  

Should be a lot of fun!

Finally home to cook "Thanksgiving dinner". 

Turkey, potatoes, mac and cheese and stuffing.  I was missing veggies but happy to stop cooking.

Marble cheesecake for desert.  YUM, one of my favorites!

They all seemed to like the cheesecake too.

It was a wonderful visit and can you believe it, not one single quilt shop!

I sure do miss this girl!

~XOP~

Ugly Sweater Mug Rug

I joined an ugly sweater mug rug swap. 

I know I know it is almost time for Christmas why join a swap right?  

Cuz, ugly sweaters ROCK!

The pattern is by Kid Kiddy and can be found here.  

I had the chance to meet Kerri at Glamp Stitchalot and see her original quilt.  

It was adorable and she was so sweet.

So, sign up I did.  I received my partner's name and preferences and sought out fabrics to use. 

I personally would have loved to make one from the first photo fabrics.

I thought this might be more to her taste.

But...cat snowmen were pretty cute too!

In the end I went with the second group of fabrics.  

I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  Matching (or trying to match) t

hat stripe on the sleeves was a pain, but so worth it in the end. 

Look at the cute fabric I found for the back too!

I HO HO Hope you are working on some fun Christmas things too.

~XOP~

Sew Beachy 2018

I was fortunate enough to attend the annual Sew Beachy quilt retreat again this year. 

 It is held at Saylor's Sand Castle on the beach in Ventura county California. 

 There is a large group of women that get together and hang out and sew.  

I brought a few smaller projects with me to work on in hopes that I would actually get something done while I was there this year 

(other than seeing my friends again).

Before we hit the beach I spent the night with my friend and her kids. 

It is always so nice to see them!

 My friend, Traci discovered Randy's Doughnuts.  

OM gosh it was Heaven!  

I have not eaten a doughnut in years, literally years.  

Then BAM, Randy's apple fritters appeared!

We arrived to the beach and this was the view to the left of the house,

and the right of the house.

So different from Michigan in November lol.  This is a view of the house, with my back to the ocean.

We also had the most gorgeous sunsets!

The one project I really wanted to get done was the make 4 first aid kits.  

I will fill them with first aid things and give them for Christmas to my kids to keep in their cars.  Believe it or not this took all day and all night 

(for me who is not a bag sewist).

 They turned out pretty cute but I am beyond happy to have them finished!

I also made thirty gazillion HST and trimmed them down.  

I managed to sew 9 blocks together from them too!

I was using the left overs from some other blocks that I made.  The pattern is called broken dishes.

I brought Jack and he was hanging out with my friends all weekend too.

He and Traci had a heart to heart.

He just loved working with Melanie.

Very chill with Jamie, (maybe she shared her rum punch with him?)

Michelle was sad to see us leave.  We were sad to leave too.

Paula gave him a cuddle.

I'm pretty sure the ladies in the hot tub loved having him around.  (Patti, Peggy Katie and Jamie)

Jack is a lover as Rachel found out!

This was the sunrise on our last day there.  So much fun!

I hope to be able to attend next year too.  Sew Beachy 2019 YASSSS!

~XOP~