AMANDA'S BASKETS: Four Stores and Counting...

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Four Stores and Counting...

PICTURE OF THE DAY:

A beautiful bed of yellow...I just couldn't resist taking a picture. Question. Did you ever put a dandelion under your chin to see if you liked butter? (Hint: If your chin turned yellow you did!!!)

THE TRIP TO FOUR MORE QUILT STORES:

I decided to go on Friday because it was supposed to rain on and off all day Thursday. Well, we had one storm come rolling through with one rumble of thunder, one cloud to cloud bit of lightening and enough rain to wet the road, almost.

Guess what. There were more showers on Friday than on Thursday. It didn't rain so much that it was hard to drive, but I had to dodge raindrops when I went into the quilt stores. But the rain didn't deter me...nor, unfortunately, my pocketbook!!!

I did discover a few things.

First of all, quilt shopkeepers have to be the friendliest folks around even when several customers need their attention. It was a joy to watch each and every one of them.

Next, I've never visited a quilt store that I didn't fall in love with...how do they do it? The stores were all so warm and welcoming but not a one was like the others.

Finally, they all allowed me to take some pictures, so the following pictures are with permission. But in order to do each store justice, I would have had to post dozens of pictures, these are just appetizers. You need to visit them in person to see how wonderful they all were...

Mariner's Compass:

This sign is never a good thing for my pocketbook in a quilt store!!!

Maine-ly Sewing

This beautiful stained glass window was above their check out area!

Country Creations

There was certainly an abundance of creativity here!!

Alewives Fabric

The one time I resisted purchasing something. But don't worry, I can order it online!!!

Well, after several hours of driving around, getting lost a couple times, going right past one of the stores and having to backtrack, and having the road split with me going one way and the quilt store on the other way, it was time to stop and eat at another favorite restaurant...

Seafood again, but hey, I live in Maine, what else do you expect?

As the saying goes, a great time was had by all...me...except my pocketbook, but I'll leave that for the next post. Until then, you can just imagine all the beautiful fabrics I purchased...

Thanks for visiting...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?