Samples in Ladyfingers Sewing Studio

                                                         PA Quilt Shops

  Hello everyone! Bet you thought I got lost! Not lost, just visiting family in Pennsylvania. We went back for my great nephew’s high school graduation. It was wonderful trip- so wonderful, in fact, that I am dividing this vacation story into a few different blogs.

   This first one is to share with you the quilt shops that I was fortunate enough to visit while I was there. My nephew and his lovely wife indulged us at every opportunity and took us anywhere we wanted to go- and the quilt shops were on the top of my list! Shocking, I know! I didn’t even have to ask twice- gotta  love my family!

   The first shop I visited was Ladyfingers Sewing Studio in Oley, Pa. It is owned by Gail Kessler, a fellow Craftsy instructor, fabric designer for Andover Fabrics and pattern designer.  (Check out several of Gail's Craftsy classes at the bottom of this blog story.)

https://ladyfingerssewing.com/shopping_cart/index.php

  We drove up and were greeted by these chickens- what a welcome! The kids ended up feeding them them their leftover lunch- after they ran out of the leftover biscuits,they fed them – chicken fingers! And the chickens loved them! Damn cannibals!

My niece Missy with a Ladyfinger chicken.

 

 Ladyfingers Sewing Studio is centrally located in the beautiful, historic Oley Valley between Pottstown and Reading, PA. The store is in the former Griesemersville Hotel. Built in 1860, this stagecoach stop served travelers on their way from Reading to Philadelphia with over 40 rooms, a saloon, post office, and general store.

  I walked in and the angels sang! Lots and lots of bright fabrics, beautiful displays, notions, patterns- everything a gal could want!  I found some Mr. Chillingsworth fabrics and bought some yardage of a few of those.

 

  I have been eyeing this quilt up in blog land, and they actually had the pattern so I had to buy it-

                                                        

  The sweet gal checking me out was lovely, and she was training another staff member- who I believed said he was the tech (they sell Bernina Sewing Machines as well). We had a great time chatting while checking out, and to make sure he got trained properly I picked out several other items to purchase so he could practice checking customers out. It was all for him, I swear! They were very gracious when I asked to take pictures for this blog- so I went out to the van and grabbed my phone to get these pics for you.

 

 

 

 

 



  Gail, I had a most wonderful visit to your shop- I am sorry we didn’t get to meet you- maybe next time!

  The second shop I got to visit is Wooden Bridge Drygoods, located in beautiful Kutztown, Pa. On the way down the road we ran into a horse and buggy- my first one of the trip! (no, we didn’t actually run into it, it was coming towards us LOL)

http://www.woodenbridgedrygoods.com/

  I was expecting reproductions, as I was told this is what they were known for. Well, this gal was pleasantly surprised when I walked in. I was greeted by over 10,000 bolts of fabric! Yes, they had reproductions but they had plenty of other goodies for me as well. I am planning a quilt for my son out of snack food fabrics, and they had approx. 100 bolts of those alone!  He picked out these 2 for his quilt-

 

  As I walked around the shop and started gathering bolts of fabric, my son held out his arms and so I started piling fabric up! He is trained well HAHA.  I found some of these pretty Christmas fabrics- and I could not resist. I love chickadees!

 

I also found a few dog fabrics as well- my niece and nephew have pugs, and I found one with pugs and dachshunds on it- how great is that? Now I need to make us all pillows out of these-

 

    The gals checking me out were very sweet as well-we chatted about where I was from, etc.  It was a lovely shop as well. I did not feel comfortable taking pictures in there, as the women were Mennonites. I should have asked- I am sure pics of the shop would have been fine, but I didn’t ask. I am not sure how they feel about pictures and if they are as strict as the Amish regarding photos, so I wanted to be respectful.

   Well that is the quilt part of my PA adventure- stay tuned to get more details from the big trip!

 

CRAFTSY ONLINE CLASSES BY GAIL:

 

                                       http://www.craftsy.com/ext/CourtenayHughes_4931_CP

 

http://www.craftsy.com/ext/CourtenayHughes_478_CP

 

 

 

                      

 

 

 

 

                                      My love affair with the F Word

  (DISCLAIMER- if you are offended by this word DO NOT read this post)

    Well, we might as well talk about my love of that word. It is terrible, I know, but I have had a fondness for it for a long time. I did rein it in when I had the kids, but now that they are in their 20’s it has come back. With a vengeance.

   It all started in high school. I was making plans with my friends (yes I had friends back then) and we were going to this wonderful event called Little League Night. It was kind of like a carnival- rides, fireworks, nasty food, etc. There were hundreds of phone calls involved in plotting who was going with who, times of arrivals, etc. Then, it started to rain! WTH(F)? So, another 100 phone calls later every plan was cancelled and I was settled in for the night, pissed off, but settled in. And what happens? It quits raining! Really? In Pennsylvania sometimes it rains for days. Oh no- not this time. So, my brother and I are hanging out in the living room. My dad pops his head in and says to me “I thought you were going to Little League Night? So I replied- “Well, I was but it started to rain. And now look at it – there is not a fucking cloud in the sky”. He just looks at me, said ok and leaves. Brooke looks at me and says (yells actually) “DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST SAID?” No- what? Then he proceeds to tell me that I said fuck in front of dad. REALLY? OMG- life is over as I know it. It was a good life, short at 16 but it was good one. Nice to know all of you- my dad is going to freaking (fucking) kill me now.

  I decide I better head to my bedroom- when he kills me it will be easier to hide the blood upstairs on my floor than in the middle of the living room floor. A few hours go by and there is a knock at my door. Holy shit- this is it. I say “Come in”.  My dad opens the door….. and asked me if I was ok. WHAT?? “Yeah, I am fine. Just hanging out.” He replies- “Ok- I was just worried because you have been up here a while”. And he closes the door. I just got my second life! No yelling, no punishment, nada. Is he cool, or what? I eventually asked my brother how my dad has never slipped a cuss word in front of us and he told me because he has had many more years of practice. Whew- I made it out alive! To this day this is one of Brookes’ favorite stories. And he still cannot believe I said that in front of my dad.

  A few years later I was at the shore, and found an awesome shirt. It had the F word all over it.  I bought it, but never wore it. EVER. I think I just thought it was so cool I could even buy it. If I ever make a T-shirt quilt for me one day it is going in it- I will just have to hide it when the grandkids come over. (If I ever have any)

  Fast forward 30 years (please don’t do the math) to a few weeks ago. One Saturday, Bob and I went and grabbed a quick lunch. We were sitting near a little girl that was quite chatty. She did not stop talking- and I thought I was bad- and it was all in Spanish. The chattiness of course did not bother us at all- she was very cute and it was a very busy fast food place. It was very noisy. I proceed to dump my lidded (thank God) cup on the table, and what do I blurt out? FUCK. Yes, the F- word. Now, I did not think I said it very loudly, but that shut the little girl right up. Even though she was speaking only Spanish it amused me that she knew that bad word. Of course I must admit the only Spanish words I know are naughty- but I am OLD. (Thank you Sean, for teaching those words to me- I should have known Bruja was a bad word as he called me that often. I thought it meant PRETTY.)  I proceeded to say oh darn, etc. but the little girl kept staring at me. (Or so I am told. I could not look at her or her mother). They finally left, thank goodness, and we did as well with my head hung low.

  Now, after that incident, I am going to try to behave when out in public. I thought I was pretty good with my language when out of the house and in a public area.  (Bars and quilt retreats do not count). But evidently that is not the case.

  It may be a lost cause, however as I just took one of those nutty quizzes on Facebook. This one was “Which cuss word are you”? And guess what I got- yep. The F word.

  So, I am going to take my potty mouth, give it a quick rinse with a bottle of wine, and we shall see how I do.

Thanks for reading, my friends!