I was lucky enough to take an unplanned shop hop bus trip to quilt shops in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.  A friend of mine, Joan, was signed up for the trip, wasn’t feeling up to it, and gave me the opportunity to go.  We had a great time.  We spent an overnight in Ames, Iowa.  There were 40 women on the bus, so we really filled some of the smaller shops to capacity!  It was a lot of fun, and you always get some new ideas for quilts on these shop hops.  It’s nice to see what different shops are featuring and what they have made up for samples.

When we reached our motel, we had “show and tell” where a lot of us shared what we purchased and what we plan to do with it.  Even though there was a wide range of ages and personalities, the common interest in quilting “binds” us all together!

Well, we’ve been back in Minnesota for over a month, and I don’t know where the time has gone.  I’m trying something new here on my web site — writing a post.  Be patient with me while I try to figure this out.

 I finally got brother-in-law John’s quilt quilted, and I will get it bound and mailed to him this week (photo above).  I also have a couple of customer items to get done, but nothing huge.  I am working on a wedding quilt for a friend, as well as a couple of things I would like to put in the Minnesota State Fair.  I am also doing a semi-original wall hanging for a competition at the Minnesota Quilters quilt show in Rochester in June.  The theme is “quilted jewels”, so it should be interesting.

Enjoy this wonderful weather!  Before you know it, it will be 90 and humid.  Bummer…