Traveling and Row by Row

Spent the last 3 weeks traveling, visiting quilt shops along the way for Row by Row and touring at other times.  Have plans for two small RbyR Experience quilts for friends as a result along with a couple of  travel quilts for the trips.

The first part of our trips was to Albuquerque, NM for a CTCI convention.  Decided to visit Roswell quilt stores along the way to.  Worth the trip just for their RbyR plates which had UFO logos:  "UFO Stash" and "UFO's do Exist."  The last one came in handy for our later trip to the Badlands of South Dakota.

 Also went to 5 shops in the Albuquerque area and picked up more patterns and license plates..  Btw, the license plates are fabric so they can be sewn into or appliqued to a quilt or jacket.  The plates might still be available at some shops if you're interested in them.  Just give the participating shops a call to see if they still have any on hand.

Just a day after returning from Albuquerque,  went up to Ardmore, OK to a couple of quilt shops there as they weren't going to be open (too early in the day) when we passed thru the next day on our way to Wisconsin.  Picked up their license plates and patterns and decided they were both close enough to add to my guild's Quilt Shop list.

The next day we took off for Wisconsin, via Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, and then into Wisconsin to visit some friends.  Of course, along the way, visited numerous quilt shops.  The further north we went, I noticed that some of the shops got bigger than those I was used to.  I could have spent hours in them but my time was limited and I didn't want to make my spouse unhappy as he was quite willing to take me to the shops. Many of the shops were out of plates but had them on order so I was able to order them.  Luckily I was still able to pick up a plate for each state.  Now is just the wait for the ordered plates to arrive in the mail.

While in Wisconsin, the one quilt shop that I needed the pattern for, also had their plate.  It's perfect for the little quilt I plan to make for our friends which will be called "Cabin Up North" and feature several of the rows I have picked up that remind me of their place.  These friends have one of our kittens from Goldie, "Silver," only now they call him Bowdy as Silver reminded Larry of "Silver Bow" a honey supplier that was in Snohomish WA at one time.  That morphed Silver's name to Silver Bow to Bowdy.  I took numerous photos of Bowdy while there along with other pics.  Bowdy is almost as good at curving his tail as Gypsum is.

After our 3 day visit there we left for South Dakota Black Hills and the Badlands to hook up with our retrobird friends for 4 days of touring Mt Rushmore, the Badlands, Custer State Park (plenty of bison there), Safari jeep tour,The Needles (and Eye of the Needle tunnel), Crazy Horse Memorial, Rochford, AND a large quilt show in Hill City.  Cruising these places with 46 cars that "look alike" is a blast! especially with friends you only get to meet once or twice a year.

Below we're on Safari Tour to view the Bison at 

Custer State Park.  Just part of the herd.

This also meant that we stopped at a couple more quilt shops in South Dakota before meeting our friends in Mitchell, SD.  Alas, didn't get to pick up any plates from them but do have one on order. The SD plate's background features the Mt Rushmore heads so really wanted that one to commemorate the tours.

 However, at the Quilt Show, one of their vendors, Nuts and Bolts Fabric Shop from Edgemont, SD, who was participating in the Row by Row and still had some plates left over but had not brought them to the show.  They promised to bring them the next day which was the day we were leaving so we just delayed our departure a little bit and stopped by.  I now have a South Dakota plate AND it has the logo: "Nuts Abt Bolts" - kind of fitting for the tour. Alas, will not be able to get their row until Nov 1 due to RbyR rules.

 I did see on line that one shop quit selling their plates on line or by phone so that traveling visitors could get one if they wanted one but that was back in June. A few shops had run out before the end(Sept 8) and decided not to reorder since it was so close to the end of the RbyR Experience.  One shop had to reorder their plates 4 times over the course of the 3 months this shop hop was running so it's a popular shop hop for quilters.

I appreciate what this Row by Row Experience has been for me.  It's rekindled some of that fire to make quilts that I had lost over the past 10 years.  I enjoy the challenge that each row brings as each hones in on different piecing and applique skills that I haven't used.in awhile.  and I think that spouse would like me to make some table runners or even a bed runner from some of the row patterns I've picked up.