September Lunch

SO fine a day, can there be any better than a breezy September afternoon?

And what better way to spend it than with your sister and a quilting friend enjoying a tasty lunch? The reason for this lunch was, of course, Jan's fabric finds from the auction house. The stacked bins in her garage, photo left, tell the story. Yards and yards and yards of all kinds of fabric. Four of which are now at my house.

Rose, a quilting friend and aquacise Mermaid, was my companion as we headed west on I-40+85 to explore Jan's house. Arriving just before noon, my sister had the back, screened-porch all set for lunch with festive cloths and a tasty salad, center photo. For the main course, a stir fry of turkey, wild rice, craisins and walnuts, with a side of steamed broccoli and carrots. And lastly, Jan's famous pound cake made with secret ingredients which I am forsworn NOT to reveal. Not today anyway. See Rose on the left, Jan right.

After a tour of her recently remolded house, a furniture-find update and lunch, next stop: the garage. Fabric bolts are heavy. Yes, I do a weight-resistance workout twice a week but this challenged my weight lifting. We selected fabrics for Jan's master bedroom (summer and winter schemes), fabric for the guest room and the bonus- room studio. Then started revealing our personal desires. Rose found a print with coordinating solid for a summery-y table cloth. I spotted a warp-dyed, irresistible fabric in just MY color. Using a black warp and a dark sienna weft, this fabric has an iridescence that changes color as it moves - very copper-y and very powerful fabric. PERFECT for a long dancing skirt with a black velvet top. And soon to be - the fabric awaits in my sewing studio now.

Should you be confused about warp and weft, here's an explanation you cannot forget. How does Donald Duck weave? First, as always, Donald strings the warp threads, top to bottom, on the loom. Next step: Donald weaves the weft threads from weft to wright. Best done with a lispy-duck accent, once you know weft=left, you will always know which thread is, or is not, weft.

Two more of my selections are red-printed crewel-patterned fabrics, both in reds. I brought them home to audition in the dining room. ONE of them will be my new holiday cloth for our seasonal entertaining. And I think the winner is:




There is just enough yardage to cover the table, needing at least a 4" solid banding around all sides. Will shop for that this coming week and the other bolt goes back to Jan. But FIRST I need to find and size the long-skirt pattern for the copper-y-shimmery fabric. This now supersedes ALL sewing projects [including scrappy jacket], as the skirt will be needed on the January dance cruise with the OLLI group. The ballroom class term is just super-fabulous, everyone picking up the steps in short-time and having fun doing it. Dancing news later. Back to our luncheon outing.

Once our chosen fabric bolts were in the car and the last of the photos snapped, we headed to Sheetz. West coast readers may know about SHEETZ, but few locations exist in North Carolina. I would know nothing about them were it not for my step-daughter-in-law, Jen. She first pointed them out to us two years ago in Charlottesville, VA.

The future of the gasoline-restaurant-convenience-car-wash business, all done with swipe card convenience. Just over the Alamance County line and built with state-of-the-art equipment [including re-cycled water for the car wash],SHEETZ has it all over the local gas retailers. AND they have clean rest-rooms, hot and cold foods plus my favorite: bins and bins of color-sorted m&ms! How bad is that? I make it a point when ever traveling to my sister's house to leave in time for a stop at Sheetz for gas and a car wash (my car needed it!).

Back home, recuperating before dinner and studying my fabrics I anticipate some heavy sewing days ahead. It was a very good day.
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