As I mentioned last week, the So Cal Quilt Run is coming up.  Sounds like the mother/daughter duo of Hobbies up to Here Podcast might be going too.  Hopefully they are able to go and experience the fun of visiting new to them shops.  Going to all the different shops allows me to see what other shops are like as well as appreciate my LQS even more.  The official dates are the last 2 Thur-Sun Weekends of June.  That means the first weekend is Father’s Day weekend.  If the stars line up – meaning the hubby is cool with us going and my huge project for work is on schedule – We (as in me) plan to hit the Southern part of the quilt run (Areas 3 and 4) the first weekend beginning Thursday and just stay at motels wherever we find ourselves each evening.  The kids (DD 13, DS 10) love it because its like a mini-adventure for them.  We take back roads to get from one shop to the next and stop for ice cream and meals along the way at wherever takes our fancy.  We’ll hit Area 1 (our area) the following Thur-Friday after work as I’ve got some work scheduled things that I cannot change.  Since it’s our local area, we can do half the shops Thursday evening and the other half Friday evening.  That reminds me, I should find out when the shops close on those nights. We’ll stop by the shops in Area 2 on Saturday/Sunday.  Since that’s relatively close, we’ll probably just go home or stay at a friends house Saturday night.

In terms of what’s on my shopping list… I plan to look at what the shops have in terms of notions.  I love notions and gadgets and I like to look at what the quilt shops have.  I hear about a lot of different stuff from podcasts and blogs and am intrigued.  I’m not intrigued enough to buy online apparently but I like to find things at shops and support them locally.  Obviously if there is something I want and can’t get at my LQS I’ll buy online but I shop locally first.  Anyway, that’s on my radar and in looking at my stash, my first goal is to not buy fabric.  But – if I really have the urge or itch to buy – I need to focus and prioritize darks and neutrals.  I have a ton of medium fabric in my stash and when I’m picking fabric for a quilt, I usually need to buy darks or neutrals first.

Note: we went on our first run in 2012 and I STILL have the blocks and kits that I accumulated for all 4 areas untouched in my bin of projects and kits.  It’s technically not a UFO since I haven’t even opened them up but they are on my list of projects I want to complete one day… This year I’m focused on UFOs.  Next year, maybe I’ll be able to actually start on the kits in that bin! ;0