Spent it with Jean from mid-afternoon on, in a very round road trip. She had plans to drive to A2 to pick up and transport one of her daughters to the airport, stopping - of course - to eat dinner and to deliver a few belongings along the way.
Kismit!
No sooner had I blogged that I was in desperate need of a certain material for the afore mentioned quilt contest, then Jean called to ask if I would be interested in a road trip. Of course! but I cast my bid to stop at any JAFs that might be in the area - if we had the time - and sure enough it became one of those items on the road trip.
Jean had found two in the general area of Ann Arbor, and had put them into her nav system (A.K.A. "Louise"), and off we went.
The first store was large and well-stocked, as far as quilting cottons and bundles, but for all that they had, they didn't have the one material I needed. Found a decent substitute, though, and settled on 3/4 of a yard, then scooted out knowing full well there was little chance on locating any more of the project material I desired. As we drove to the next (hard to find) JAF, I tried to warm myself to the resolution of having to use the sub material and work it in the best I could.
Once we located the small (last) JAF, we hustled in, short on time and patience. Quickly navigating to the calicos in the back of the store, we divided and conquered the area, not finding anything but flatfolded FQs and bolts of cotton. Out of desperation I asked a store clerk if they had any quilt bundle packs, and she walked us even further back, to a very well concealed few bins on a wall. I don't know how we missed that, but wheeeee!
In we dove, and Jean came up with the one and only matching quilt bundle about 45 seconds into our frantic dig.
Yea!
After looking through the remaining bundles, we ran to the register and paid for our finds (which were on sale...without use of a coupon!), then scurried to the car only to get back on the road and become wedged in horrible afternoon A2 traffic. Jean grabbed daughter Julie about 10 minutes later than she'd wanted to, and then we drove to a cute little restaurant somewhere in the city (Casey's Tavern on Depot Street - yummy turkey burger and steak fries). We took the chow to go as the Friday night dinner crowd and noise was a little much, plus Julie needed to pack. We ate dinner and chatted a bit, then got back on the road. All in all, an eventful day on the road, sprinkled with tons of laughs, good company and typical MI orange-barrel season frustrations. We capped the day by watching some Firefly (mmmeat, Canadian BF) and then nodding off to sleep.
:)
Anyhow, today I am happy....and busy - between the fortunate find and the work that now lies ahead of me (to meet the contest deadline), and the kitchen project that still requires a good deal of daylight hours to complete, I have my work cut out for me.
For now (today), I think it will be painting first and doing quilting stuff while the paint dries.
For a head's-up on the quilt progress, don't forget to check out the quilt blog www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com.
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