The Best Day

Hi Everyone,

In yesterday's post I mentioned that it was going to be a fun day, and it was!  This blogging world that we "live in" and participate in is such a great way to meet people we would perhaps never encounter in our lives otherwise and friendships are forged.  Leaving comments leads to following other blogs, and more comments lead to emails and before you know it, you feel like you have friends that you have never met.  And occasionally, rarely perhaps, the chance comes to actually meet and in my experience, the results have always been genuine friends.  The first blog friend that I ever met was Linda at The Quilted Pineapple.  She is every bit as nice as her quilting is stunning.  Next, my husband and I met Michele, from Island Life Quilts, and her family while we lived in Hawaii.  Even our husbands got on great, since they both have military histories (and wives who quilt).  Just back in October, I met Judy from Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.  It turns out that she lives just up the road in Williamsburg.

Yesterday I got the chance to get together with Wendy, from  It Is What It Is!  I first got to know her blog because she is another participant in the Schnibbles group.  Her husband recently retired and they have been going on some incredible trips, so it is always fun to read her posts and see where she is and what she is doing and quilting.  When she is at home, she is often quilting with her wonderful friend, Sue.  They both usually make the Schnibbles and Wendy posts both of the pictures.  Well a while back, Wendy wrote about some upcoming travels and mentioned that they were going to be in Williamsburg for a week in December.  I immediately wrote and said that I live 20 minutes from there, so we decided to get together.  Yesterday was the day!

I drove over to their vacation condo and we met.  I will say that I think there was a little bit of anxiety on both sides.  Will this real person measure up to the expectations of a "virtual friend?"   So far, I have never been let down.  And yesterday was certainly no exception!  Wendy is absolutely genuine and totally nice, and I must say, has the most beautiful voice!  In no time at all, we were chatting away and having a great time.  She was braver than I because she immediately got into my car as we headed out to the backwoods of Virginia to go to the Millstone Quilt Shop.

We spent the morning visiting the shop.  We were the only two customers in there the entire time, and since I've only gone on crowded sale days, it was a nice change.  We browsed and visited, and visited and browsed.  You can learn way more about another quilter in a quilt shop than any other way!  We like a lot of the same things, too, which was fun.

Because of that similar taste, it was a really good thing that the shop had two of these lovely bundles of  Minick and Simpson's Midwinter Red wovens!   

That wasn't all we found.  By the end of the visit, we each had a nice little pile.   I had no idea I needed anything from the shop, either!  But that is the way it always works, right?

While there wasn't a big sale, Regina (the shop owner) has a cute little Christmas celebration going.  She filled this advent calendar with slips of paper with a certain prize written on it.  

If you purchase more than $50 in merchandise, you get to choose one.  I don't want to betray any confidences here about how much either of us spent, but we did each get to choose a slip!  I picked number 5 and was thrilled to get 20% off my total!  Then the fun began.  Regina told Wendy that she could either choose my 20% discount, or she could choose another pocket.  There was a chance of a 30% discount in there, but there were also some smaller prizes.  It was just like Let's Make a Deal!  Wendy decided to go with what was behind curtain number 2.  Actually, she picked pocket number 25.  And what was in it?  She won a nice prize--a Sidewinder!  (If you don't know what it is, it is a small machine that winds bobbins.)  

Here we are outside the shop!  

Part two of the day involved sewing together!  If you don't learn everything from a fellow quilter while in a quilt shop, you will learn it from her while sewing together.  What Wendy now knows about me is that I'm a bit scatter-brained, to say the least.  But then you probably know that, too!  As I was unpacking my sewing machine, I realized that when I was getting it ready I had removed my zig-zag foot because I had been doing some blanket stitching with my machine.  I planned to put the quarter inch foot on, but neglected to do so.  It was at home, with nearly all of the rest of my feet!  I had a couple seldom-used feet that were in the container of extra needles and bobbins that I had brought.  Only one proved to be functional--this Bernina 32.  It is a 7-groove pintuck foot!  I spent a few minutes figuring out how to get an accurate quarter inch seam.

Meanwhile, Wendy was heating up a delicious pot of soup for our lunch.  We ate and then set about sewing, but actually we spent most of the time talking.  Between my "bum foot" and the visiting, I miraculously got a couple of quilt blocks done.  Wendy was working on some adorable tea bag wallets.  It turns out that one of them was for me!

Here is is folded up.  

When you open it, there are pockets for tea bags, sweetener, etc.  Isn't it cool?  I'll tuck it into my purse or my bag of things for quilt bee, so I can enjoy a nice cup of tea anytime!

I tucked it into a pocket of this lovely goody bag which she and Sue put together for me!   I don't think I mentioned that they live in New Brunswick, Canada, did I?

See the wonderful log cabin key chain that Wendy made?

These are the treasures that I found inside!  There is a pin from their quilt guild on the bag still, which is a great touch!  Then there is some patriotic fabric,(they know me so well!) a ruler from a quilt shop in Tucson (when Wendy was in Arizona last year, I told her about some shops that I used to visit when I lived in Arizona), yummy maple syrup from Canada, a wonderful woolen pincushion, some old spools that Wendy got in France(!!!), and then, maybe best of all, is a wooden point turner/wooden iron.  Wendy's husband, Georges made it out of mahogany!  One of the things I love most in the world, other than cotton fabric/quilts, etc., is carved wooden objects.  It is a little work of art.  

In the afternoon, we stopped sewing for a bit for a "tea break."  Along with a cup of tea, we had a piece of Wendy's homemade fruitcake.  It was delicious!  I guess my only experience with fruitcake is the stuff one buys here in the US made with dubious fruit, dry, and just plain yucky.  Wendy's was moist, full of delicious fruit and crunchy nuts, and just spectacular.  I'm still thinking of the bite I got that had the most wonderful cherry in it.  

Unfortunately the afternoon flew by and before I knew it, it was getting dark.  I packed up with a little reluctance and got ready to go.  I think it says a lot when your part company with someone and are truly sad.  It was a really great day.

So I drove home, thinking about the fun day, what to make for dinner, and what I would write about the day.  When I got home, I discovered two packages on my step.  One was our Christmas box from my parents and one was from Moda Fabrics!  The day got even better!  But, I'll share that in a later post!  I'm off for my Bee's Christmas party.

Have a great day!

JoAnne