Twisty, Snaky, Dizzy

Hi Everyone,

Wasn't it a great long weekend?  I hope if you live in the US that you had a great one.  If you don't, I hope you had a great regular weekend.  Ours was a four day weekend, as the Army thinks it is a great idea to give an extra day off whenever there is a three-day weekend--this is to make up for the long hours normally worked.

My husband and I discussed a few possibilities of things to do.  One of which was to go to Philadelphia, but frankly, I couldn't stomach battling all the traffic, especially around DC, etc., so we stayed at home.  The next plan was to possibly go somewhere nearby for a day trip.  I suggested going across the James River and travelling about an hour to visit some antique shops that I had seen over a year ago.  Vague?  Yes, but we were game.

Thursday night, I got a wild hair to start a new quilting project.  I had the pattern to make the Uncle Sam twister quilt.  I proceeded to do all of the cutting and laid out all of the squares that were needed.

You can see that he doesn't even fit on my design wall--I had to halve him to get the squares up.   I thought it would be fun to work on a patriotic project for the holiday weekend.

 Friday morning, I woke up and got started sewing them together.  My husband asked if we were going on our outing and I was torn.  This always happens--we sort of plan on doing something and then never do, for whatever reason.  So I decided to go ahead an go. The sewing could wait.

And so we set off.  Before too long, we were on a rural highway.  Rural highways in Virginia mostly seem to be fairly narrow--with no real shoulders, and they wind around in curves and over hills and other rolling terrain.  I had forgotten that my husband really doesn't like to drive on those kinds of roads.  I rather enjoy it myself, but then, I'm not the one driving the car.  He kept complaining, asking how much further.  I had vague directions.  He remarked that he didn't like "snaky" roads.  Finally, though, we arrived at the area I had remembered.  We found two antique shops.  The first one was horrible, and the second one wasn't much better.  The first was dark, with no air circulation, and full of junky stuff--and not the good kind of junk, either--just the picked-over leftovers or something.  The second one had mostly furniture--some pieces were nice to look at, but nothing I wanted enough to pay the shockingly high prices for at any rate.

We decided to cut our losses, and head back towards home.  I knew of a few more antique shops in Smithfield, and I'd visited them before and they are pretty nice, so it was time to travel back on the same road that we already driven on.  The curvy one.  My husband started up grumbling and wondering if there was another road to take, etc.  Then we went around a curve and there it was!  In the middle of our lane of the highway!  A giant snake!  It was coiled up a bit and had its head lifted off the road.  There was nothing we could do to avoid hitting it, and so with the sensation of running over a coiled garden hose, the car ran it over.  Yuck!!!  I sort of feel bad about it, but really there was nothing to do that wouldn't have caused an accident.  Eew!  As I was getting over the shivers of the whole experience, my husband quips, "I told you these roads are snaky--and I don't like snaky roads!"

We made it to Smithfield without encountering any more wildlife and had a nice lunch and more browsing.  Getting ready to move, etc. severely curtails my desire to buy much, but I did find a vintage, blue, souvenir plate from Jamestown that came home with us.

We got home again and I resumed sewing some more. When I went to bed, everything seemed fine and then I turned my head to turn off the bedside lamp and the world spun out of control.  I guess I had vertigo or something--it was unusual and had never happened before.  I didn't immediately pass, either.  I finally fell asleep and when I woke up, I wasn't too dizzy, but it felt like I had a hang-over for most of the day.  This wasn't good, as I had plans to go to Richmond with a friend in order to visit The Quilter's Corner--a very nice quilt shop that I'd only been to one other time.  Luckily she called and asked if I minded if she drove!  I felt much better about that.  I was beginning to suspect that the vertigo was being caused by some sinus issues, and it sort of felt like I had a brick in my head, so I took decongestant and it did help.

We got to the shop and it was just as nice as I remembered.  I didn't take many pictures, which is really a shame, but I'll blame that on the fact that I wasn't quite a hundred percent.  I did get this one of a mini that was hung outside the door.

Once we browsed for a bit, I began to visit a bit with the employees.  You see, one of them has been a blog follower for quite some time.  I didn't quite want to blurt anything out and sound weird, so I was trying to be subtle.  However, Vicki was already suspecting that it might be me, but she wasn't quite sure.  So anyway, we "met" and hugged and visited for a while.  It was fun.  I always love finally getting to meet "virtual" friends.  They never disappoint me.  I hope I don't let them down in any way.  Now at least, we can be "real" friends, too. Even though we already were.

I did find a few things to buy.  As you know, the last thing I need is any more fabric right now, but there were some red fat quarters and a few other pieces that I had to bring home with me.  Mostly it was just fun looking. The shop has a great variety of lots of different things and the selections are really nice.  While we were getting our things cut, we asked where to eat.  It will come as no surprise by any of you, I'm sure, to know that quilters always know the best places to eat!  We went to one of the suggested places, the Brick House Diner, and it was delicious!  We got home in early afternoon and I resumed sewing.  By Saturday evening, I had all of the squares sewn together.

Hmmm, for some reason the picture wants to be sideways!  Grr.  Sorry about that.  Can you see, though, that his legs hang off the bottom of my design wall?  At this point, it was about 25" x 70."

As this post is getting pretty long, I'm going to end it here.  The Sam is still not done, though, he needs to be twisted.  Stay tuned!

Have a great day,
JoAnne