Well, we’ve logged another successful road trip back to Flagstaff for the winter! With everything packed up by noon on Thursday we hit the road spending our first night in Nebraska City, our second night west of Oklahoma City and our third night in Albuquerque. The trip is about 1600 miles so we try to log 400 miles or at least 6 hours of driving a day which is all Paul’s backside can take. We could make the trip in three days instead of four, especially if he would let me drive, but we are never in a hurry so tend to take our time. We had good weather but there were an inordinate numbers of semi-trucks on the road hopefully working down our supply chain backlog before the holidays.
Although I don’t need a third serious hobby beyond weaving and stained glass/mosaics, I seem to be dancing a little too close to the quilt culture and have learned these cult members routinely visit quilt stores in cities they visit or pass through. Their intent, they say, is to enjoy the fabric eye candy along with getting new ideas and inspiration for future projects. In the process they somehow end up buying new fabric to add to what they refer to as “their stash,” essential for any real quilter. That’s right; they travel around the country buying new fabric to pile higher and deeper on their already overflowing closet shelves or stuff in their already full plastic bins often with no particular plan for any of it. They justify this by saying they might not be able to find a particular pattern or color they have come upon again or that they might need it for an upcoming project but I think they are all just fabric addicts.
Now I am more prone to use things up rather than continually buy more things but as the miles flew by on our road trip I got to thinking…..what if there is something in a quilt store in the next city we pass through that would be perfect for my next quilt retreat which is just two short years away and I do need a project for the quilt tutorial I am planning next summer with a new friend from this year’s quilt retreat. As such, and under the guise of needing a stretch break, I convinced Paul to stop at one such store on our way through Oklahoma City. Oh my was it nice and with the ladies all so helpful I walked out an hour later with three new projects ready to go.
For curious readers, one is a lap quilt kit with colorful elephants which will be perfect for a nursery that one of my nieces and nephews is bound to have in the coming years. Another includes four Christmas themed charm packs for a holiday lap quilt with a pattern yet to be determined. Finally, the third is a calendar themed applique pattern yielding 12 blocks to sew together into a quilt or to display individually each month as wall art. I hate to admit it but just so happen to have a bin full of multicolored fabric just waiting to be used for the calendar quilt. Keeping in mind the need to pace myself, I think I will wait until the new year to start the calendar quilt and sew just one block a month so by the end of the year they are all finished without my having confronted a meltdown. I’m also thinking I need to head down to the local quilt store to say hello to my sewing teacher and just take a peek at what’s new since last spring. Oh geez, my name is probably already on the master quilt cult roster and I am just the last to know!