2009 Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop

actually started the "hop" on thursday when brenda picked me up from work and we headed to newnan-great store there AND they told us about a new yarn shop that was opening on the 28th, so when we were done we headed over there and even though they weren't officially opened they let us browse around and see what they had already begun to put on the shelves- great place. we want to go back to the quilt store, the yarn store, and the antique stores, so plans are made to have a saturday excursion to newnan maybe in june.

we had an absolute blast yesterday despite the rain, headed out at 8 am to pick up kathy, joyce then brenda. took us a while to get to jonesboro, and quilts and fixins was our first stop-here i met my saturday morning cartoon favorite scooby doo. we were really feeling the excitement by the time we left our second stop (photo below is from a scarlett thread) in mcdonough.
never managed to get a shot of all of us together, but we had a lot of laughs, went to shops none of us had ever been to, and made promises to return. each shop had something that we liked, and there wasn't one that we totally preferred over another. it helped that many of them had fabrics that the others didn't. despite a misunderstanding on the hov lane, we were able to get brenda back on time, so by 4:45 we were back at her house, and then did a reverse drop off before i headed back to my house to top the pizzas for dinner before kathy came back to get me so we could do the shops in marietta! yes, we headed back out again, and managed to get to tiny stitches our last stop at 6:50, lingered here a bit longer since we were inside before closing time. made it back home by 8, am glad i had partially done the pizzas on thursday as it made dinner much easier. now i just need to take photos of my latest purchases-am real excited about my finds, and we got lots of coupons, fabric squares, patterns, etc in our goodie bags, now if only i'd win that new machine, or the basket of fat quarters, or the $900 shopping spree, or a door price (there were some good ones!) we'll see. am pretty sure we'll be doing this again next year.

reconsidered.

you can't always believe what your hear and see, and based on this photostream i found while checking info on tender buttons-i'm definately going to purl (at least for the yarn) and tender buttons-if nothing else the route to get there should be enjoyable. i also had a quick look at the other nyc photos that were taken-can NOT wait to see ny in the spring.

catching up

had a wonderful meal at goldfish, with Dustin, Kecia and Charles. steve joined us as well, and helped with the photos. was nice catching up with kecia as we haven't seen each other since september. she'll be having surgery in august, so plans were made to help out during her recovery. will give us a chance to do more catching up on sisterly stuff-i'm sure there will be some knitting, quilting and cooking in there, as we are so much alike when it comes to domestic stuff. we also saw usher-yes the singer-he was at the table next to ours. charles shook his hand on his way out, but it was his night off so no photo op, but cool anyway- great food and wine and time together-these are times to be cherished.

don't refreeze

enjoyed thawing out in miami, but now i'm back to being a popscicle. wish that applied to people and food! had a lovely sight when i got home--crocuses, daffodils, and hyacinths in bloom, hopefully a photo this weekend. uploaded several photos from the conference onto flickr. got tons of knitting done, socks and the back of the "hey teach". since i'm caught up with all the things i didn't do through the week, and no soccer today, i'll get to spend more time knitting and quilting today before it's time to start the dinners for the week. i had a few emails when i returned. hope to have something interesting to photography this week. stay warm and hopefully we'll remember to be thankful for the rain!

gourmet yummies

the march gourmet was loaded with recipes to try, so here's what i've done so far. . .
garlicky black peper shrimp with blackeyed peas::beyond yummy-thought it would be good to add mussels or clams next time

roasted chicken with pan gravy (leftover gravy+chicken+rice=lunch for a week!)-delish will make this again for sure.

cheesy chicken and mushroom lasagna- can't seem to find a link for this on the website. I subsituted the 3 cups of whole milk (didn't have any) with 1 cup heavy cream and 2 cups of skim milk-and used swiss instead of gruyere--really like the results-this dish was awesome-would be great for a dinner party.

chicken stock-might as well do this since the kitchen was already a mess- and i'd have really fresh stock for soup in a couple weeks. should be good~~ loaded down with onions, garlic, carrots and celery.

coming up soon:

key lime mousse

key lime chicken curry

new additions + discounts=happy face

there's nothing better than making additions to your crafty bits or library AND getting a discount in the process. quilt fabric stash enhancement- 33% off at red hen on saturday
who knew there were fabrics inspired by rowan and anne geddes. will be looking out for more in the future. am thinking about a log cabin [block style] quilt with the rowan fabric-and incorporating white or cream with the print as the center fabric. karen's suggestion of a purple and blue quilt inspires the fabric for the makings of a quilt for jillian.
joann's had knitting and quilting books 40% off-they were cleaned out by the time i stumbled upon this deal probably a good thing! extra discount at barnes and noble, and i added this cupcake cookbook- probably did need it, but who can resist those coupons!



other happy face moments- extra yummy receipes from gourmet that were tried over the weekend, and finishing the february lady sweater last night- photos and review of both to come!