Day 3 – Girls’ Day Out

After a day of lounging around on the couch, reading and napping, I was very happy to hit the road with Julia the following day.

First – breakfast.  I’d made pancakes and bacon the previous morning.  This morning I cooked the rest of the bacon and made bacon and egg sandwiches for Bill and Julia, poured cereal for Alex, and I don’t remember what I ate.

Next, Julia and I dropped Bill and Alex off at Black Mountain.  Alex had an all-day lesson, and Bill was going to ski and check out the mountain, and then ski a few trails with Alex.  Julia and I were to pick them up around 3:30.

So by about 8:30 or so, Julia and I were on our way.  We headed south on route 16.  Our destination?  Center Harbor, which is right on the north end of Lake Winnipesaukee, midway between the harbors of Meredith and Moultonborough.  The trip took a little over an hour.

And why were we going to Center Harbor?

To buy fabric, of course!

Our destination was Keepsake Quilting’s retail store.  I’d been there once before, years and years ago, and I thought, now that Julia was interested in quilting, this would be a fun place for the two of us to go.

It was an overwhelming experience for both of us.

I’d told Julia she could pick out some fabric for herself, and she was looking forward to that – until we started walking around the store.

So. 

Much.

Fabric!

Not just bolts and bolts and bolts of it, sorted by designer and color scheme, but also Keepsake’s “Medley” collections – packages of anywhere from 7 – who knows how many selections of fabric, usually cut into fat quarters.  And individual fat quarters for sale.  And die-cut 10” squares…5” squares…other shapes for applique…wheels made up of huge assortments of colorful 2 1/2” wide strips of fabric…just so much to choose from.

How do you decide?

And that was the problem.  Julia couldn’t decide.  But she felt that she HAD to decide, and after looking and looking, she got to the point where she was near tears.  And I told her she didn’t have to decide anything right then.  We could keep looking.

And she didn’t have to just get fabric.  There were stuffed animals, soaps, and other gifty things scattered throughout the store as well.  I think that helped – she ended up choosing a very colorful plush owl, and after that it was somehow easier for her to select fabric.  Go figure.

So here’s what we got:

I know – it doesn’t look like a lot.  (And I didn’t include the owl in the picture.)

But it is.  Up top, there’s a set of 8 1930’s style prints in fat quarters.  (A fat quarter, by the way, is a quarter of a yard of fabric, but cut in almost a square shape, rather than a strip.

Here, I’ll show you:

There, I hope that was helpful.

Anyway, Julia picked that set of fat quarters and a pack of fifty assorted purple 5” squares.  I’d been overwhelmed, too, and I finally settled on two other 5” charm packs  - one with fifty “Heirloom” prints, and one with fifty 1930’s style prints.

Happy with our choices, we got back in the car and headed off to Meredith, in search of lunch.  After driving through the (small) town a bit, Julia chose a little family-owned place called “Sunshine and Pa’s.”  They serve breakfast all day, but we were in the mood for lunch, so we chose from that menu.  Julia chose the chicken fingers with potato chips, and I had a burger with bacon, sauteed onions and mushrooms, lettuce, and tomato, with a side of onion rings.  We shared a strawberry shortcake (made the right way – with biscuits!) for dessert.

Yum. 

It’s a small place – a converted house, actually.  But the food was very good and I need to go back there some day for breakfast.

The best thing about our jaunt?

Hanging out with Julia for the day.  We don’t get the chance to do that a lot, and she really loves the one-on-one time (with either parent).

After lunch it was time to head back north.  Julia fell asleep about halfway there. 

We met up with Bill at Black Mountain and he showed up the horses on the property while we waited for Alex’s class to finish.

There were four of them in all, I think, but the other two weren’t where I could get a good picture of them.

After patting soft, fuzzy horse noses, we tromped back through the slushy snow to watch for Alex.

From a distance they all look the same.  The kids in the class have those green vests on.

But this one is Alex:

Looks pretty good, doesn’t he?

To Alex’s great disappointment, plans had to change and he and Bill didn’t ski any more that day.  The lift to the summit had broken during the day, and there was only one lift working – and as a result, the line was huge.

So we went home, I reheated leftovers for dinner, and then we went to the game room/pool for an hour or so after that.

The next day would be our last, and it kind of felt a bit like a Sunday night, when everyone knows the next day is a school day.

Good vacations rush by so quickly!

Comments

[judith]

Oh how I remember the days spent in the fabric store with my mom. It was one on one with us two because my younger sister would refuse to go, she'd say "just get me something." She was always overwhelmed with all the choices as she still is today when we shop for fabric for curtains and such for her house. I always tell her like Mom would tell us, "narrow it down to your 3 favorites and then walk away and come back to look at them again."

[Bobs]

I am so jealous! Next time I'm coming fabric shopping with you two! I started a quilt a couple of months ago, but lost steam! Now I'll have to get it going again!