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Saturday, March 17, 2018

Of Midwest Towns & Antique Malls!

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Yesterday I had the opportunity to trundle on up to La Salle and do some quilt shop wandering, have a delicious lunch out at the Up Town Grille, and hit a couple of antique malls with Sarah, my designated driver while I’m here with the Illinois Valley Quilters.

We made a stop at Quilting in the Valley!

Isn’t it wonderful how you can enter certain shops and be made to feel completely welcome and at home – even when you’ve never been there before?

The shop was busy with a flurry of customers, and we were soon chatting of all things quilty – from mystery quilts to quilt-cam to “I’ll see you tonight, I’m in tomorrow’s class” and beyond.

It never ceases to bring a smile when someone says “How’s Sadie?”  I felt instantly like part of this group!



Last night at dinner before heading over to the meeting location, it was mentioned that it had been 5 years since my last visit.  And then I remembered when we scheduled this upon my last time here – that at that time the ONLY place I could pencil them in was 5 years out.  Now nuts is that?

This is why I currently only book a certain amount of time ahead.  NO ONE knows what life will be throwing at them 5 years down the road.


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Yes, this is the bathroom at the shop! LOL!

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This is the wall you see while…well, you know!

Let’s just say that you can’t miss the $2.00 Fat quarters while in there, and they came back up to the cash register with me! LOL! Click to play for scenes OUTSIDE of the bathroom.  LOL



Antique Mall Wandering is a great way to get some steps in and  see what there is to discover.  The Antique Mall in Peru, IL is HUGE – very clean, and aisles are fairly compact so we had a hard time layout out quilts for photography, but we persevered.

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No wiggle room at all!

But I love seeing a sweet hexie quilt.

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Turkey Tracks in Indigo.

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A very art deco fan!

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Pink Shoo Flies on point.

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A glorious lone star!

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Bright and happy, 1950s style!

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String quilt happiness!

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More happy green and yellow.

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A very scrappy lone star with appliqued “satellite” stars

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This one is screaming “COME ON SPRING!” to me!

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The flowers are just appliqued circles.  So cute!

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Driving along the Illinois River.

When Sarah asked what else I’d like to do, I said – photo ops!  I want to see something off the interstate, and she told me about Starved Rock State Park.  We headed right over.

I filmed this on our drive across the river and around the bend.  Click to play:



It was the perfect way to settle our day before heading over to the meeting location – the Boy Scout Museum – to set up for the evening’s activities.  The meeting was packed with excitement – 51 guests joined the ranks of members and we packed the house full. 

Today is a Cathedral Stars workshop day, pattern from the free patterns tab.   We’ll be focusing on those scrappy four-patches, half square triangles cut with specialty rulers like the Essential Triangle Tool, and adding in some Tri-Recs star point fun to make it all come together.

And as it’s St Patrick’s Day – I suppose I’ll be seeing a lot of green going on!  The plan after the workshop is to catch dinner at an Irish pub to celebrate.

In other news.  The Quiltville Store is still down.  My webhost is working on some issues that occurred with the new SSL certificate. I’m getting the “24 to 48 hours” message and I’m trying to just let all frustration over things I can’t control go.

I’ll let you know when it is up and running again, and I apologize for any inconvenience to you.

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Quiltville Quote of the Day!

I'm feeling lucky today, how about you ? Happy Saint Patrick's day!



10 comments:

  1. Enjoyed the video going over the bridge. However, when you then said about going to "catch" dinner... I immediately thought of fishing for it. LOL.

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  2. That bridge looks really scary! Without a solid coat of paint it's just rusting away.

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  3. I loved that quilt shop. I could get into a lot of trouble there!! And the bathroom!I love it. If I put fabric in my bathroom my husband would know for sure that I am truly nuts!LOL

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  4. I loved the quilt store too! Aqua must be their icon colour, outside walls painted aqua & a wall of aqua fabrics, would love to see them up close. The idea of fabric shopping at the loo is just a brilliant idea but I bet ladies have to queue longer for a sit down. LOL

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  5. It amazes me how many quilts you find in antique malls in America, I guess Australia's closest equivalent would be our Op (opportunity) shops, which I love to peruse but I have never seen one patchwork quilt in one. I really liked the pink shooflies but discovered a lopsided triangle on closer inspection, did anyone else spot it....not that it spoiled the overall look too much but I think I wouldhave had to fix it 🤣

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  6. Fugitive green dye in the first hexie quilt?

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    1. Not the one I saw, it's on the Pink Shoo Flies on point

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  7. Love there shop, such friendly staff and there is always something new happening there. They showcase your books also, Yea!

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  8. It has been a long time since I have been to Starved Rock. Looks like a great tour. Amazing little quilt shop. Especially the bathroom. :)

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  9. My husband and I went to The Uptown Grille for dinner and a concert a couple of years ago. The food was delicious and the concert was fantastic. What a great venue! The food was so good we went back the next night for dinner too. We stayed at the Starved Rock State Park Lodge. What interesting history that place has. We found many wonderful restaurants in the Peru/LaSalle area. We plan to go back some day. I'll have to look up the quilt shop and antique mall next time.

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