Row by Row Road Trip

That's what I took yesterday along with three quilting friends.  Only three shops on our 'schedule', - The Stitchery in Howell, The Quilt Shop in Brighton and The Quilter's Garden in Fenton.
Three of us met up at 9 am and rode in my car to pick up quilter #4 on our way to Howell.  Traffic wasn't bad and within an hour, we arrived.  It was the first time any of us had visited The Stitchery - very nice shop.  Despite my resolve, I bought fabric ... just one yard each of two different fabrics; both are for aprons I'm making as Christmas gifts, and I ordered one of their Row by Row license plates which will be mailed to me once the new supply comes in.  And I found a cute frog quilt pattern, but didn't see the book that it's in ( I ordered it via Amazon.com once I got back home).... it's going to make a cute gift for youngest daughter :).
Next stop on the schedule was The Quilt Shop in Brighton, but we took a side trip over to Jennifer's in Pinckney.  A very small shop packed to the gills with beautiful fabrics... I found fabrics I just 'had' to have there, too.  Three yards of a beautiful blue for skies and 1.5 yards for water in my Row by Row quilt.
On to Brighton... that wasn't quite as easy as I had thought it would be.  The Quilt Shop had moved since the last time I was there.... but it was so worth it.  The previous shop was somewhat small; this new location is at least twice the size of the previous one... I found some beautiful fabric for the sky in my Mackinaw Bridge quilt ( to be done SOMEDAY).
I was disappointed that none of the stores had any license plates left.  The Quilt Shop offered to mail theirs to me once they came in, but I decided that I'd pass.  I wanted them to use in making traveling wristlets for gifts.  I'll wait and see if the two shops  here in  town have any left...if so, then I'll buy theirs... if they don't, I guess I won't be making more than one.
We had to wait for our free row by row pattern from The Quilt Shop to be printed. It's the Love Michigan pattern and I can  imagine it's been very popular.  Luckily, they are able to print them up right there in the store.
After The Quilt Shop, it was lunchtime.  When I had visited The Quilt Shop last time, my friend, Barb, wanted to take me to The Breakfast Club for lunch... and I liked it enough to want to take these friends there, too.  It took a bit of searching, but we found it.. and it was worth it.
Then it was on to Fenton... getting there wasn't too  bad.  Finding  The Quilter's Garden was a little harder... three of us had been there on one of last year's Row by Row road trips.  Nice big shop.  Again, I found fabric that I just couldn't leave without.... AFTER I made sure that I bought the row by row kits that two of my cousins requested.  The fabric I found was a Detroit Tigers (baseball team) print and a solid orange to go with it.  I thought it would be GREAT for the tote bag that my step daughter requested that I make for her ( she's a BIG Tiger fan).
This shop also had a printed out list of all the Michigan shops participating in this year's Row by Row so I perused through it looking for the shop that has a lighthouse that my friend, Marnie, is looking for.  She was living on the army base in the U.P. when her son was born and wants to include a lighthouse (and the Mackinaw bridge) on the quilt she plans on making for him.  I found it!... it's in  Bay City... too far for us to add to our trip yesterday, although maybe we were closer than we thought by the time we got lost lol. ( I was able to get ahold of a somewhat relative who lives in that area and she's going to try to get the pattern  for me on Monday).
Yes, we got lost... after leaving The Quilter's Garden, we went through McD's so that Vicki could get a drink.  I asked the gal in the window how to get to the freeway ... she gave us what sounded like simple directions... they weren't.  We ended up going through several small towns/villages, including Argentine.... ones we'd never heard of.  Out in the middle of 'cow country', we finally stopped again and asked a man for directions.  ( Needless to say, my phone's GPS was NOT working well yesterday).  The man was able to get us back to a free way... it took about 10 miles or so, but we made it.
Once back onto a freeway, it was straight back home with only one stop at a rest area until we got to Lansing... traffic was backed up on 496 right past the Jolly Rd. exit, so I got off on  Jolly Rd and took that into Lansing and showing my friends where my hubby lived and then where I was living when we met.
Nine hours and almost $200 (for me) later, we dropped off one friend at her home and I took the other two back to their vehicles at the Share a Ride where we had met up earlier that day.
The weather was good..not too hot, not too cold, the company was GREAT and LOTS of laughing made it a trip that was so worth it.
I left a message on Facebook for my two cousins telling them that they owe me BIG time and to contact me regarding 'ransom' for their kits - lol.
Today, I plan on  getting the charity quilt that's on Moe quilted and off the frame so that I can put #2 charity quilt on.  Ideally, I would like to get all four charity quilts done by Monday ( last day of August).  We'll see ....