2 Days, 7 Quilt Shops and Many New Friends

Last year during the packing frenzy to move I took a two day bus trip.. I started in Giddings at All Around the Block Quilt shop with my friend Carol. We traveled to 6 shops in 2 day plus the shop where we caught the bus which make 7 shops to spend money at. What could be better? You are chauffered around, fed lunch and all you have to do is have fun and shop. It’s a quilters dream.  

Well this year started off with water surrounding our house that you can read about in the previous post. That was fun. Not!. The 19 acre lake we live on decided to flood after 14" of rain. I forgot to mention in my last post there were a few houses across the lake on the lower side that did get water in their homes. My heart goes out to them. I can’t even imagine.

When 6am Saturday arrived I was in the car driving out of our very soggy neighborhood toward Bryan/College Station to catch a bus at Lone Star Quiltworks shop.

There are 7 shops that participate in this bus tour and a bus leaves each location at 8:15am Saturday to head to their first stop. We are given 1 hour and 30 minutes to browse and purchase. Timing is everything. Remember that statement. ;o)
Last years bus was loads of fun with our Mr. Bus Mom Harvey and I wasn't disappointed this year on the Lone Star Bus. I decided to leave out of Bryan/College Station instead of Giddings for a couple of reasons. First off it’s closer so I could just drive up the morning of and not get a hotel and best of all that's where my daughter works and lives now. Can't pass up a chance to see my daughter now can I? Of course not!  And she talked me into buying her dinner when the bus got back Sunday close to the time she got off work. Do you see how that worked? Perfect timing. ;o)

So my friend Carol ditched me this year so she could go to Wyoming to see a new grandbaby. Can you imagine the nerve? LOL.  I saw pictures of the new grandbaby and she's a cutie pie. I did found a new roomie though but at the last minute Donna couldn’t go because of family illness. I totally understood her situation. In fact she’s still dealing with it. As of Friday it had been 20 days and they finally figured out what her college son had and provided him some relief. Hoping today if she's at work she'll tell me her son is doing great. I called several folks to see if anyone would be interested but it was at literally the very last minute. While I had several "love to" they followed with but "I can't". I gave up and decided to go on my own. Guess what, I did just fine.

So I boarded the bus at Lone Star Quiltworks ready for an adventure. The shop owner Terry was our Bus Mom. She called roll and asked that we keep track of our buddies but wait I didn't have one. I raised my hand and she said “oh” you’re the one whose buddy couldn’t make it. Well the two gals to my left leaned over and said  "Don't worry Carla we'll make sure you're on the bus before it takes off" and we all laugh. I just made My first 2 new friends Judith and Robin R from Huntsville. Then the gals in front of me said that I could join them at dinner. Oh how exciting I have 2 more  friends Amy and Diana. Amy is from College Station and Diana her Aunt is from Deer Park.  I'm already having fun. It’s 8:15 and the bus takes off for our first stop Tomorrow's Quilts in Waco. I think I’ll read but my motion sickness kicks in so I have to wait.
DAY 1

Tomorrow’s Quilt shop is a really neat little shop. It’s located in Baylor Bear country.. Waco, Tx. They have a corner of batiks to a corner of novelty prints and everything in between. So much to see and touch. This shop was loaded with goodies. The ladies were ready and waiting when we walked in the door. As you walk around the shop you notice big numbers taped to the floor. Mmmm I wonder. Soon someone hollers out to find a number and stand on it. Oh and only one person to a number please. This could start a fight... Maybe a little pushing and shoving among quilters since there were more quilters than numbers but nope. These quilters are a refined group and acted like fine southern women. If the shop called out the number you were standing on then you won a door prize. Oh goodie. Fun but alas I wasn't a winner. Oh well it was still fun. Imagine this I did find some fabric for some baby quilts I need to be making. These girls are having babies faster than I can decide on a pattern and fabric let alone cut, piece and quilt. Time to move on to the next shop.

Next stop is Poppies Quilt n Sew in Georgetown. They had just moved their shop to this bigger space a week ago so things might not be situated. They had the most important item out, fabric. One gal was on a mission for black and white and red. In no time she had 10+ bolts at the cutting table. She was a happy camper.

Poppies Quilt n Sew fed us lunch of deli sandwiches from HEB but by the time I went back to the classroom there were no more sandwichs and she had to order pizza for the last 10 or so people who didn’t get a sandwich. I wasn’t complaining because I liked the pizza. At the table I met 3 more friends, Sharin, another Robin and or fudge I forgot the other friends name. I’ve got the faces down but not the names so much. Oh well Yippee. This is fun. Times up. Head’em up and move’em out and we’re off to the next and final shop of the day.

At some point during the bus ride I did get to read a few pages before getting motion sickness and that’s when the gal behind me reaches between the seats and taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and say “hi” and she asks me “Are you reading Fifty Shades of Grey? I laugh and say yes.  We get to talking about the book and she says she’s already read all 3. I’m reading the 3^rd one now.  Oh my I’ve just made another new friend over a book(s). Her name was Sandy, She is from College Station.

I wanna say it was about now when Terry pulls out her notes and starts by reading some jokes. She told the bus driver O’Neil to bear with us because of the subject which was kinda bashing men.

Terry informed us that she loves jokes but can never remember the punch lines or the basis of the joke so she wrote some down so she could share.
She had a couple of good ones. Now guess who can’t remember the jokes to share…..Me.

 As we drove down the road I snapped this picture just before crossing the Lake Travis dam. I've never seen the lake this low. 

Our last stop of the day is Cotton Cupboard in Lakeway. The shop owner Jessica came out to greet the bus. Your senses are overwhelmed with all the eye candy. Quilts, patterns, fabric, notions, color, frogs. Uh wait did I say frogs. Yep I did. The seem to like those little hopping critters. They have frog prints and patterns and some are in 3-D.  Very few left the shop empty handed. Some had bigger bags than others but it looked like everyone enjoyed the shop. Jessica even stopped cutting long enough for me to take this picture.

Our options for dinner back at the hotel was Luby's, an Indian restaraunt that by the way was closed up and I think a Denny's. Well Terry wasn't too impressed with the options either so she had made prior arrangements with O'Neil the bus driver take us out to the Oasis on Lake Travis to have dinner. What a treat. The view of the lake and the sunsets are great.

They also have music in the club along with dancing. My husband I tend to get here at least once a year. We honeymooned on Lake Travis at the Lakeway Hotel. Looks a lot different 33 1/2 years later.     

                  

This is Amy another new friend from the bus who said I could join her and her aunt at dinner at the beginning of our tour. Amy was our table banker. She had  her handy calculator and separated the bill so we all paid our fair share. She also didn't want her picture taken but I got one.

I'm gonna be in trouble with this one since I'm not sure I'm spelling her name correctly but I think it's Sharin. She posed willing for a picture. We had our hands full but I had written out my info and was able to drop it in her bag when we got back to Bryan. Hopefully she'll get a chance and email me. She doesn't live that far from the house and I hope we can get together one day.

I snapped a couple of pictures of some of the group outside the Oasis. Our tummies were full and we're ready to stretch out.  So we hop on the bus and head to the hotel.   One of the gals named Shiryn needed a roomie so Terry matched us up.

 Shiryn and I were tired and just wanted to stretch out and then I think we must have talked for the next 2 or so hours.  It was great meeting another new friend.

This was the friendliest bus ever.

Day 2

Next morning we're up and at'em. Ready for another day of shopping and fun. We're off to The Quilt Haus in New Braunfels. Another great shop. Lots of stimulation with all the colors, designs, quilts and choices.

 Didn't take long for some of the gals to find something they couldn't live without. Cute purse patterns and samples already made up.. Look at all the pretty colors .

This is my roomie from last night. Her name is Shiryn. She tried to get away but I gave her my sad puppy dog face and said come on please  and she let me take the picture. Thanks Shiryn.

Time flies when you're having fun. Our time is up

and we're off to the next shop in Victoria.

We're about 15 minutes out of Victoria when Terry gets word that the bus from Waco wouldn't start that morning so all those gals are still at the shop and asked if we could hold off for another 15 minutes until the replacement bus got there to pick those gals up. Remember timing is everything... Okay so we pull into a gas station to waste some time. We all go in the station for a stretch, potty break and find a snack. 

Well when we get on the bus I notice my friends Robin and Judith in the seat across from me brought  something to drink. They were ready to party. LOL. I grabbed my
camera and snapped their picture
and then I warned them it would be on my blog.  Cheers girls.
Everyone started laughing.

When we arrive at The Quilters Patch in Victoria the Waco replacement bus hadn't shown up yet. So the shop owner brought our lunches out and we ate on the bus. It was hot so once we finished eating and got off the bus Terry offered all the Waco girls to sit on our cool bus until their bus arrives. The shop isn't big enough for 2 bus loads of women which totals about 80 altogether.

I snapped this picture of the shop owner and another shop worker. They need to be commended for being able to still smile with crowds and demands.. But they have experience in this matter. Last year Quilters Patch bus broke down and didn't pick up their group until 10:30am and the bus from Giddings arrived at 10. Talk about Deja veoux.  Sorry I didn't get their names. Hey I'm not a journalist. I forget things alright. Bad Carla Bad.

So the Waco replacement bus finally arrives and we continue to shop and give them time to get down the road to the next shop. The same one we'll be going to when we're done here. 

We're on the bus and off to the Giddings shop in hopes that we've given the other bus time to get down the road. While riding down the road Sandy and I get to talking books again. And of course we have to talk some more about 50 Shades. She said Bobbie was sitting in the shop reading it on her e-reader. Oh this Bobbie I'm talking about, found out she works with my daughter. Well they work at the same hospital and Bobbie's a director but vaguely remembers the name Pamela from orientation. Small world. Anyway by now our talk about 50 Shades has got Robin and Judith's attention. So we have to tell them about the book. At one point the girls looked at me and said "We have one question...Did you try out any of the techniques from the book?". We all cracked up and I said NO. No Way no how.

Our conversation was interrupted when we heard that the Waco bus was behind us! WHAT?! No way, how did that happen? Oh boy the Giddings shop is gonna get really crowded. To top it off the Waco Gals haven't had lunch yet because it's waiting on them at the Giddings shop. We pull into Giddings and O'Neil slows down just long enough to make sure he turns on the right street when the Waco bus zooms past us. Now I know the gals on the Waco bus weren't laughing but we were. It was like a race of who could get in the shop first.

So both buses arrive at All Around the Block at the same time. This shop looks small but it's slightly deceiving but every inch of it is packed with lots and lots of fabric choices and just enough room for us ladies to squeeze by each other to make our choices.

 

There's Sharin posing for me again. She's a lot of fun.






 

Shop owner and helper are busy ringing up purchases and bagging. They hardly have time to breathe but they're doing a great job and they can still smile. It got a little crowded for a while but I don't believe anyone walked away empty handed. Another great shop.

We're still shopping when the Waco bus pulls out and heads to Terry's shop Lone Star Quiltworks in Bryan. 

By the time we get back to Lone Star Quiltworks  the Waco group are still  shopping away. We unload our bags off the bus, bid O'Neal a good bye and a Thank you and stick our bags in our cars before we go in. Me and some of my new friends exchanged info to stay in touch. 

While standing in line to check out my phone starts ringing the Aggie War Hymm. Great ring tone for Aggieland but not so great when you're in Austin. ;o) Mmm it's the daughter telling me she's off work and hungry. LOL  I finish checking out and go met her for a bite of dinner at BJ's and then head down the road for home.

So ends my two day fun filled saga of 7 quilt shops in 2 days.

I need to rest but I'll be ready for the 3rd Annual Quilter Quest Bus Tour next year.   

Hope you enjoyed my tour as much as I did.

Thanks to all the shops for putting this on and Thanks to our Bus Mom Terry! She did a great job!

So until next blog....... I love sewing and have plenty of material witnesses.

PS: I've tried 3 times to post this darn thing it each time it has changed the font of various paragraphs and move some paragraphs after the ribbon here. Grrr. 4th time is the charm. I hope.