On June 5th I took a car group to Eau Claire to shop at
Hancock Fabrics and
Mill End Textiles. We had a great time and found some great deals. The trip started at Northern Advantage where I picked up Candy and Kathy Chester at 8am. We then headed to Wausau where we switched vehicles and picked up Peg, my trusty side kick. Peg has a lovely van which seats 7 and has oodles of room for fabric purchases. After making a brief stop for road trip snacks/coffee we headed west to Eau Claire. It was a nice day for a drive, clear freeway driving and of course much discussion about what we hoped to find at our destination. The ladies came well prepared with their patterns, fabric swatches and list of needed notions. We arrived at Mill End at 10:30 where Candy found cotton prints to make skirts from and knits for camisoles. I found some patterns I had my eye on for awhile, and Kathy spotted some new fleece prints as well as some wool possibilities. A little overwhelmed by the choices we decided it was time to break for lunch. So off we headed to the
Taverna Grill where we were treated to flat bread pizza's, wings, sweet potato fries, and an eggplant Parmesan panini...Yum. Oh yes and more coffee for Lynne. All fueled up and refreshed we headed to Hancock's to pick up some coordinates for Candy, Bottom weights for Peg and then the find of the day, thanks to Kathy....this fun and wonderful quilted print from McCalls which you see above. We all seemed to want some but were unsure of what we would use it for. I ended up purchasing 2.5 yards to make a garment bag with, but I am hoping to have enough left over to make a sewing machine cover, or tote. The reverse side of this quilted fabric is pink and shows the pattern layouts for all the dresses. How nostalgic. I am afraid the ladies at Hancock's thought we were all a little over excited, but they were all very gracious to us as we ran about the store squealing....a bit...in delight. I'm quite sure at the very least we gave them something to talk about. Now it was back to Mill End to pick up more fabric that we had been vacillating about. Kathy picked up her wool, 2 pieces, a beautiful boucle to make a cape coat from and a pink wool flannel for a simple jacket. Then we spotted the perfect compliment to the pink wool, a pink and aqua large print poly georgette to make a self lined skirt from. Peg also picked up an additional piece of rayon batik for a top, something she needed to go with a Hawaiian print skirt she likes to wear to church. We managed to leave the store before they closed which put us on the road at just before 5pm, after another quick road snacks/coffee stop. Upon arriving in Wausau we dined at 2510 our heads filled with future projects and prioritizing. After dinner it was onto Rhinelander where we broke up into our separate cars and then no doubt straight to bed for us all. Kathy's first words to me on Sunday morning were "Aren't you just exhausted?" , we both smiled broadly.
We hope that you will be able to join us next time, when we go this fall.
Lynne
