Hi All Had a great day doing some looking at quilts and checking out the vendors market at the Block Party Quilt Show in Issaquah Washington today. Managed to get there just after 1100 this morning. Left home shortly after 0800 with two friends. Got to the border with only one car ahead of us, so very brief stop there. Next we stopped in at Mt. Vernon at 0930, only to find that the shop didn't open till 1000. Back in the car and off to find the community centre. Thanks Donna Dean for such great directions, in fact, shortly after arriving I spotted Donna at the guild booth looking for some goodies. She was there with our friend Adele. Brief introductions to my friends Ethel and Tricia and we were off looking at the show. There were about 200 quilts there, some very nice quilts, took a few pictures. They had a great vendors market. They had 20 vendors including their boutique. As I recall one of the vendors was from California, one from Oregon and one from Idaho! Nice job, I enjoyed seeing BJ's Fabrics and Quilts from Cloverdale Oregon. It's one of my favourite shops on the Oregon coast. Located in the bottom of a private home down a country lane leading into the forest. Unfortunately Barbara the owner wasn't there, she was busy at home. Her booth was lovely and had a few Bali Batiks that had to come home with me. After the show we went to Pacific Fabrics to use the 20% coupon that they were handing out. [Unfortunately I just read they had a 25% coupon in the show brochure! At least it's good till July 31st, so I just might have to try and get down before it expires...except I just checked and I won't be able to get there :-{. ] We grabbed a quick lunch at a Mexican restaurant and decided to head back north to the Quilt Museum in La Connor. Well, that was the idea, but the reality was Friday afternoon traffic on the
405 and I-5 that made it impossible. So we dropped in to Aunt Mary's quilt shop in Smokey Point and then farther up we went to Cotton Pickin's in Stanwood. By then it was 5 p.m. so we headed up to Joann Fabrics in Bellingham. Found a few goodies there and off to the border we went. That took about 1/2 hour to get through but fortunately the customs agent just waved us through and wished us a good evening. No trips in this time Hurrah! We dropped into White Rock and had a quick dinner and hit the Save-On Foods for a few groceries before heading back home. By the time I dropped Ethel and Tricia off and got home it was 10 p.m. We all had a great day despite not getting to the show at La Connor. We all found a few special goodies and came home tired but happy. If you're in the Seattle area over the weekend, try and check out the show.-- Sandi in New Westminster B.C.