Vacation - Day 2, Shopping Day

Today was our shopping field trip day to Center Harbor and Meredith, NH. The day was brisk, but my traveling companions (my DIL and Mr. E) were dressed for the occasion.

On the way to Keepsake Quilting we decided to stop for coffee at McDonald's. Mr. E has learned to sit up and enjoys a high chair. This is one of the many silly looks he shared with us today.

Keepsake Quilting/Needle Arts was our first store of the day. I enjoy walking around Keepsake. It's inspiring to see how they choose fabric for their Medleys and Charm Squares. They have a wide range of fabrics and you can find nearly anything you want. My only negative comment about the store is their staff. I've been there several times and I have yet to have an experience with a clerk who is as friendly as the staff I meet in any other quilt store. Anyway, I did find a few goodies. In the Needle Arts store I found a Needle Book Sewing Case pattern. In Keepsake, I dug through the scrap bin and found three bug pieces.

And several bright scraps.

We went into PatternWorks, their yarn store. The selection of yarn is wide and since I'm still learning about yarn I am overwhelmed by all the choices. I found The Little Box of Crocheted Bags for $2.99, a true bargain price. The red yarn has bits of blue and yellow in it and will become a hat for Mr. E with it. The other six skeins of yarn came in a package as a baby afghan challenge. It's very soft and the colors are yummy together.
Just up the street from Keepsake is Bella' Beads. I have some ideas for using beads and wanted to get a few special ones. I took a scoop of beads out of one container and a selection of NYMO thread.
We took a different way home and happened to drive by a quilt shop, The Quilted Frog. Of course, I had to turn around to check it out. The store is small, but had a good variety of fabric, kits, quilting tools and yarn. I don't know if the woman who working was one of the owners, but she was friendly. I found three transportation-themed fabrics. I'm feeling a quilt coming on for Mr. E from these fabrics.

Mr. E was a trooper today. He rode in his Snugli. Smiled at everyone. Made lots of new friends. And learned that butternut squash was yummy. He was rewarded with his own Ty bear from The Christmas Loft.

After dinner and a bath, we dressed him in his Halloween pj's and hat. He played for about 5 minutes, drank a little milk and then fell sound asleep.

Tomorrow is another day with Mr. E. I'm hoping to get into the studio to play with fabric. That will be after Mr. E starts his day since he sleeps in my studio.

Sweet P