Old Town Fabric Shop

The Old Town Fabric Shop in Chillicothe, OH was once a canal warehouse. Ray was very interested in the building and talked quite a bit with the ladies that were working. I handed him my little point-and-shoot camera and asked him to take some photos.

The blue slider doors on the upper level (in photo below) were used  many years ago to access the second level. The doors still work!

When one walks in the doors, the checkout counter is on the right.

And to the left:

 

Behind those windows is the classroom:

And another view:

The checkout area and the classroom used to be office areas in the warehouse.

Some other shots of the shop:

Their longarm

A few of many bolts. Notice the open beam ceiling.

Ray was definitely more enthralled with the fixtures and the building layout... so we aren't showing you more of the fabric or the many quilts hanging around!

Some great antiques!

Bed with quilts displayed

Nice sitting area near Men's and Women's restrooms!

This old clock was behind the checkout counter. It still works fine and basically said it was time we got going because they would be closing soon.

I hope to return to this shop - I loved it!

And we journey on...

It’s been another great day of this journey!

We started the morning with cool temps and a little fog. We travelled across Indiana and into Ohio. The grass is not green here – it is brown and everything looks like fall. 

Before lunch, we stopped in Richmond, Indiana. I found Hayes Arboretum on the GPS. It wasn’t what we expected but it was a pleasant drive through a forested area. Just down the road, and I do mean just – it wasn’t even ¼ mile – was Glen Miller Park. It was a pretty park and a great place for a picnic. This was the view from our picnic table. Except we had a clear view!

A blurry (sorry) fountain.

We both wore jackets since it was about 60 degrees. We didn’t stop and smell any roses in the park but we did stop and take photos of the cannas!

 

On to Ohio…we decided to stop in Chillicothe for the night. We tried the Hampton Inn but it was full at three in the afternoon - wow! The nice desk clerk sent us to a local motel – the Christopher Inn. It is a little older but updated and clean. And – this is hard to believe – dinner on Tuesday night is included in the price! We had teriyaki chicken, fried rice, egg rolls, Asian salad, veggies, a fruit tray, mini cupcakes, and pop/beer! It really was good!

After we checked in, we went shopping – there are two quilt shops and one yarn shop here. 

Creations Sew Clever is in an old funeral home. We were there a number of years ago. This time I walked away with just stories – they are going to be part of the Ghost Walk because they have 3 resident ghosts!

 

Unwind a Bit is a yarn shop in Historic Downtown. It had a nice selection of yarn and a couple of really nice ladies working. I didn’t find the perfect yarn for my next sweater – maybe next time! They were getting food ready for their Tuesday night knit-in. We were even invited to stay. Wow – everyone wants to give us food!!!

Old Town Fabric Shop is in Historic Downtown. It just opened a couple of years ago. The ladies were super friendly. I did buy some Aurifil thread - they sell it at $8.95 a spool compared to $13.50 at home! Probably a good thing that they only had basic colors! I also bought a jelly roll - I found five that I loved but only walked away with one!

 

While in this shop, I gave Ray my camera and asked him to take some photos.  I will post his photos in the next post. 

Before heading back to the motel for dinner, we stopped at Yoctangee Park. It was a gorgeous city park and we enjoyed watching the swans.

On the road...

We are on the road again - Yay!!! We are on our way to visit our son and his family in North Carolina. We haven't seen them since January - way too long!

Note: Sorry I mostly forgot to take photos today - guess I'm really in vacation mode!

As we drove south through Illinois we saw fields being harvested and trees turning - sometimes more color in the trees than we have at home! The grass is still green but one can certainly tell it is fall.

We ate lunch in a city park in El Paso, Illinois. We sat at a picnic table in a shelter house. The area was surrounded by large, older homes - it was very quiet and peaceful. We decided that it was way too long since we'd been on a picnic. We hope to do it again soon!

We stopped in Crawfordsville, Indiana for the night, the same place we stayed last January. They have a complimentary evening meal Monday through Thursday evenings . We had no idea what the meal would be but thought we would check it out before heading out to a restaurant - roast pork loin with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, peaches, punch, and iced tea. Sounded good so we decided to eat, maybe a little too much! It was very good!

Then we decided to take a walk through a neighborhood near the motel. It was a pretty area and had nice shade trees - it was still above 80 degrees. The homes, all brick and probably built in the 70s, were all neat and well kept. Many had pretty flowers so we did stop and smell some roses.

 Gorgeous flowers on September 29!

Ray has been out photographing the sunset. I just finished binding off the body of my navy pullover sweater. I hope to work on one of the sleeves tomorrow - I can't read in the car but for some reason I can knit. I really need to show you my wheat-colored long cardigan that I finished a couple of weeks ago. But I need to take a photo of it and it is packed right now. 

We are enjoying our journey... it is so nice to be back on the road again!

A finish - actually it's a finish for two grandsons!

Today was the first day of our village's Pumpkin Fest. Well, technically it began last night but not much went on. Today was the parade, the craft fair, the food stands on the main street, and the carnival rides among other things. Our son, Brent,  and his family joined us and we all watched the parade together - most of the people in the parade throw candy to the spectators. What fun for the kids! 

It was a beautiful fall day with summer temperatures. Around 3 this afternoon, Ray and I decided to walk home - we'd had enough sun. We'd been home about 10 minutes when Brent's family joined us - they were ready for a break too! And the finish...

The two older grandsons, Mack and Griffin, wanted to sew so we finished the 'wild quilt' they've been making for Griffin. By their definition, a wild quilt is one where anything goes! They choose whatever they like from my scraps and/or orphan blocks. Griffin especially likes blue so this quilt has lots of blue fabric.

Griffin and his wild quilt.

The boys sewed a few blocks and they put borders on the other blocks. I did all of the rotary cutting and pressing along with appliquéing Griffin's name. After putting the blocks together, I sandwiched the quilt, did some straight line machine quilting and hand-sewed the binding. They each had to stitch two lines across the quilt today to finish the quilting.

Griffin and Mack, the quilt makers.

Griffin isn't tall enough to guide the fabric and use the foot pedal. Each time he sews, he decides which he wants to do. Most of the time he chooses the foot pedal and I get to guide the fabric. 

Griffin and me. Photo by Mack.

Griffin's wild quilt.

Griffin decided he wanted a soft back on his quilt - "like the back of a baby quilt". I knew he meant something like Minkee and I just happened to have a couple of scraps left from some baby quilts. To his delight, the color was blue.

The back of Griffin's quilt.

The quilt went home with them this evening but it won't be used for a while - we are enjoying summer weather although the trees are turning.

Enjoying fall weather and apples and cheese...

Lately, we have had cool, fall weather and that always makes us want to visit apple orchards.

Last week we were at Edwards Apple Orchard West. They had a few varieties of apples. We passed on the donuts but it took a lot of will power! After getting our apples -Zestar! and Ginger Gold- and some pretty mums, we wondered around the petting zoo. The goats were really cute.

These cuties were only a week old. I loved how the dog was keeping an eye on them!

This little one had the same markings as his mama.

Earlier this week we headed out to an Amish bulk food store, an Amish dent and bent store, the Decatur Dairy a fantastic cheese store, and Ten Eyck another apple orchard. We came home with a few treasures, LOTS of delicious cheese - Cheddar Swiss, Baby Swiss, Cheddar Bacon, Muenster, and a couple different kinds of curds - and more apples -Honey Crisp, Cortland, and Spartan. 

Last week I made applesauce and froze quite a bit. This week I froze apple slices and apple crisp of course, we ate some of the crisp too!

We still have quite a few apples and a lot of cheese in the fridge.  We both love apples. And we both love cheese. Life is good!

Quilt Camp and more...

I'm here, I just haven't been blogging cause we've been keeping very busy and enjoying each day!

We had a great time (except for the weather) at Shell Lake, in northern Wisconsin, with my brothers and their wives/girlfriend. OK, each of my three brothers has either a wife or a girlfriend - none have both!

Then it was on to ‘Quilt Camp’ - which was really a retreat this year. It was fun for the seven of us from Minnesota, Texas, and Illinois to be back together for a few days of sewing, visiting, and eating. We always enjoy some great evening meals out. We had a wonderful time reconnecting.

This year we sewed in the classroom instead of the barn. It was great - we had A/C and lots of room. Here are a few shots:

Susan (at the far end), Tina, and Polly. You can see one of Polly's blocks in the foreground.

Linda, Kathy, Sue, and my spot at the far end.

This was my spot.

Some of the completed or almost completed tops:

Sue's baby quilt

Linda's cute little quilt

Tina's neat lap size quilt

Linda's flag

Tina's great wall hanging

There were many WIPs (works in progress). I don't think Susan, Polly or I finished anything but we worked hard all week on large projects. I thought I had everyone's work but I missed Polly's blocks you can see one of her blocks in a picture above and my blocks you will see them later when I get the quilt together.

Kathy finished this top but I didn't get a picture. It was stunning.

One of Susan's many blocks

One of Kathy's disappearing pinwheel blocks 

Ray got in a couple of nice bicycle rides while I was sewing. He is doing great and enjoyed having a couple of nice days to ride.

Since Country Threads is closing, our little group hopes to meet somewhere else next summer. Wonder if we can find a place with great bike trails...