Friday--Ikea review

Hi Everyone,

Goodness, it has been a busy week!  I'm glad it is Friday.  Tuesday night at quilt guild we had the most incredible program.  I'm going to share about it next week.  Wednesday was the day we went up to the DC area to go to Ikea--more about that in a minute--and yesterday was a whirlwind of board meeting, grocery shopping, and an appointment.  To round out the week, it skipped Spring and went right to summer.  It got hot!  When I got home from being gone to DC all day on Wednesday, the house was 82 degrees.  I finally broke down and turned on the air conditioning.  I was not happy because we had the heat on just a few days before!  Luckily a bit of a cold front is moving through so it will cool off for a few days again.  All the nice weather is encouraging me to be outside and think about gardening--so that is taking up some time, as well. 

Now, about the trip...   My friend picked me up at 8 in the morning.  She said it would be about 2.5 hours to get up there.  We ran into some traffic as we got closer to the Washington, DC area.  This is not surprising at all!  Ikea is set up along the freeway, so we passed it and then exited at the next exit but it was sort of complicated to find our way back to Ikea, but we parked and it was around 10:35, so the 2.5 hour estimate was almost on the dot!  I didn't get a picture of the store because we parked underneath.  I have no idea if this store is like any others but we went up about three floors and then spiraled down through all the showrooms.  I had a friend warn me that it could be tricky finding your way out and she even sent tips to make a visit quick--the best one is to go into the exit.  However, we wanted to see everything so we started at the beginning. 

I have browsed the website quite a bit in the past so it was fun to see everything in reality!  I saw this pillow which reminded me of a zentangle.

It would be fun to color it in with markers, too.  But it stayed in the store.

Then I pretty much forgot about the camera, I was having too much fun looking.  What was on my list?  Well, the first thing I wanted was "the light," which I will describe in a bit, and then I wanted to look at storage options for fabric--but only investigate, not buy. 

Meanwhile, a really good quilting friend of mine who I haven't seen in 12 years lives in the area, and I had contacted her and she came to the store and met us!  It was so great to see her!  She found us in office chairs.  I wasn't in the market for one but I tried one out and really liked it.  And it came in red!  However, I decided to show restraint and so I didn't get it.  Maybe next time.

As we traveled, I found a few things in the kitchen department.  I got some cupcake dishtowels and apron for my daughter (the cake decorator) and I got myself a whisk and some dishtowels.  Finally we got to the lighting section.

 

This is the light that I wanted.  When my friend was here for the quilt show, she brought hers and I fell in love with it.  When I asked for "must haves" from Ikea, more than one of you mentioned it!  It is the best little light and is only 10 dollars!  I got three.  One for me and two for gifts.  I also saw that for $30 you can get a standing lamp version. 

 

 

I also got a roll of doodle paper from the kid's section to use in practicing quilting patterns.  I'm trying to learn feathers and just can't see them in my head yet, so I need to do lots of drawing.  Oh, and three chocolate bars may have joined my pile, as well, but I can't confirm or deny that fact.  I can add that the day was so warm that it would have been impossible to eat any chocolate on the way home, if we had purchased any.

 

We were out of the store just before one, I think, and we went for lunch.  We had a great lunch visiting--I mean have you ever heard of three quilters who (even if two have never met before) can't find something to talk about?  When you factor in that we are all military wives, too, we sure had plenty to talk about.  We asked my local friend if there were any quilt shops in the area--because it was still early, after all.  She recommended one in Manassas, so after lunch we said goodbye to her and then we set out for the shop.  It was only 17 miles, according to the GPS, but in traffic, it took a bit longer.  We made it and discovered this:

 



The outside really didn't look too impressive, but then we went in.  Again, I forgot all about taking pictures.  This shop has only been open since January if I remember correctly.  She had lots of the modern Moda collections like Fig Tree, Kate Spain, etc.  There were a few reproductions, a nice assortment of oriental fabrics, and all of Amy Butler's new stuff, etc.  But by far the most impressive was the huge wall of batiks.  I wish I had taken a picture.  It was the most batiks I think I have ever seen in one shop!  And she hasn't been open that long!  She also had great patterns and notions.  We were very impressed!  Then the shop owner told us about all the other fabric that she is getting in!  We really want to go back to this shop.  Maybe our bee will be interested in a road trip soon.  I put away everything that I got, but I will share that I spent more here than I did at Ikea.

We left the shop around 3:30--just in time for big traffic.  It took us lots longer to get home than it did to get there.  We finally decided to get off the freeway, since traffic was crawling, and we took a more scenic way home.  It was a nice drive and again, there was no shortage of topics to discuss!  It was such a fun day!

I think I learned one thing.  If I'm ever to go back to Ikea, I'm almost positive that I don't want to do so on a weekend.  I would hate to be in there when it is crowded!

This morning is the day chapter of our quilt guild, so I have to get ready and go out.  It's raining, too!

Have a great weekend, everyone!
JoAnne