Quilting Shop and Hop

My friend Susan and I recently took on the daunting task of the largest Quilt Shop and Hop either of us has ever been on.  Twenty-two stores took us 3 days which we combined into 2 trips as we stayed overnight once.  It was a blast and you know, it actually had it's exhausting moments.  We traveled from Galena all the way East to Arlington Heights together, stopping along the way....Gotta Have A Dream To Make A Dream Come True!

What treasures we found!  And so many quilt stores we never would have known of.  They were so excellent I am going to share the list here!  It's a three month shop and hop ending September 30, 2011.  You can still do it!

http://www.northernillinoisqiltfest.com/

We are both hoping we win a prize from one of the stores.  What a moment when we realized that IF we do win something we have to drive back to the store to pick it up.  Yikes!

No problem though.  Susan told me about a fiber store in St. Charles called "A Fine Line".  They were closed when we were in town but it sounds fascinating.  Check out http://www.afineline.org/.  Sounds like they have a very interesting Holiday program.

Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop - Fox River Grove
Quilt in Joy, Huntley
Sewing concepts, Woodstock
Hopscotch Square, Woodstock
Material Girl Fabric Shop, Crystal Lake
Sunshine & Shadow Quilt Shoppe, McHenry
Acorn Quilts, Rockford
Lucky 2B Quilting, Rockford
It's for Quilting, Rockford
Quilter's General Store, Rockford
Quilter's Haven, Rockford
Phat Quarters, Galena
Quilter's Destination, Arlington Heights
Prairie Shop Quilts, Batavia
Sewwing Concepts, Carpentersville
Basketcases Unlimited, Clare
Judy's Quilt N Sew, Hampshire
Leaf River Quilt Company, Leaf River
Thimbles, Lockport
Prairie Stitches Quilt Shoppe, Oswego
Harvest House Quilting, Plainfield
Sew Generously, St. Charles
Sawdust & Stitches, Elkhorn, WI

Just received dresses for my granddaughters from my friend Tanya.  Want to check out more?  Google "Palmo Originals".  Great fabrics and reversible!!!!!!

 20 Months old now!  What a charmer.
Standing in front of the Zinnia Garden that is beautiful this year.

Fiber Day With Liliana

Look what we did at Fiber Day.  Poor little Liliana, my new granddaughter.  I just couldn't wait to get there and set her inside Sherryl's basket of yarns.  I'm thrilled that my grandkids will know what a spinning wheel is.  Wonder if they'll ever be interested in knitting, spinning, crocheting....

We'll see!

And I have to enter an updated pic of Cara!  She is just as sweet as pie.  They are both very calm and happy children...so far.

We recently had 15" of rain in less than 12 hours in Galena.  I've included some flood pics as well. We just had a little water in the restaurant and about 2" in the movie room.  Nothing compared to the rest of Galena.  Desoto Hotel had over 4' of water in their kitchen.

Made a lemon cake from scratch for the guests.  I think the box mixes are better than a scratch cake.  Or I'm doing something wrong. 

By the way...those online hotel finder sites - everyone that has used it to book at the Stillman inn has paid more than what we charge.  Think twice before using them. 

Fun, Fun, Fun

This has been the best summer here at the Stillman Inn so far! 

Creativity is flowing everywhere you look!

I bought this at the local Wild Bird Feed Store downtown.  It is filled with nesting material and you can see the birds love it.  You can also fill it with peanuts for the squirrels.  It's a great place to stuff my extra wool after spinning!



Here is the lovely "Fairy Garden" I splurged on this  year.  Purchased at Valley Perennials in Galena.  You can just sit and dream all day long looking at this beautiful mix.








 


And what can beat watching my sweet Grandbaby out in the cement mixing tray?  Yes, a turtle swimming pool is on the list to buy but she really loves playing around in our small ponds.  So for now, it works.









Currently working on "romantisizing" our little well in the back yard.  We have a turtle spitter in it, some plastic "chandeleir" mini lights with rose garland around the roof and we're growing a potatoe vine plant and parsley in front of the little pond.  There were marigolds too but my baby squirrels ate them up.  There are also morning glories sprouting.  That should be terrific.





Ahhh, the square foot gardens.  Love, love, love talking to the guests about them.  Many of the guests know right away the type of garden it is!  What fun to hear their gardening stories!

I've had my struggles with it, baby squirrels, hot weather, but mostly it is going just great.  Glad to be gardening again!  Already had sandwiches with homegrown lettuce.  Toooooo coooool!  Hope you are also enjoying this summer!

Surrounded by Love

049, originally uploaded by bernadinedave.

Happy 2nd day of 2011! Nothing can calm me down more than seeing my grandaughter surrounded by soft cozy pillows and bears I've been working on. They all have similar eyes!

The small bear was knit with store bought alpaca. The big bear is "Great Grandpa Paul Bear" named after Cara's great grandpa because this bear wears a bow tie like Grandpa used to. It's knitted from handspun cotton. Clothes are knitted from store bought wool. He has suspenders, a hankie and a pocket watch.