As promised, here's a report on my road trip to see Mary D and deliver her hug.
My DH went with me, and we left Fri about 2:30. Stopped at a small mall about 1.5 hr later, as DH had forgotten his pillow, and wanted to get one for napping, etc. Walked into the Target, and wh-lah!! Major sale - no fabric, but new clothing for both me and DH. And about 2 hrs later, we got the pillow we stopped for. LOL (I'm very lucky, my DH likes to shop!!)
Arrived in the small town where Mary D lives about 9-ish that night. Checked in and got the car unloaded, and there's a knock on the door. There is Mary, full of hugs and smiles, for a total stranger. What a sweetheart!! She took us down to a local restaurant, so we could get some dinner, and drew me a little map of how to get to her house. Later, after dinner, we met her DH, who also works at the hotel where we were staying!! Awesome people, both of them.
Next morning, Mary shows up with a map, with the LQS marked on it, as she had to work until noon. My silly car won't start, so Mary drives her car over to give it a jump start, and I go buy a new battery. Sheesh!! By now, I'm getting very anxious to deliver the hug, but I have to wait. So, to ease my anxiety, of course I go fabric shopping. The LQS is about 20 min away, in a small mall. It's called "Something to Crow About", and carried more chicken fabrics than I 've ever seen in one place before, in addition to tons of other things. I got some unique patriotic cuts, the wildest yellow/green you've ever seen, and several other nice prints, "just because". Then I realize, "now just where has my DH got to?" Oh, there he is over in the flannels and books. With his arms full!! A beautiful eagle print (DH loves eagles), and some coordinating flannel batik-type prints. "What are you making?" I ask. "Oh, I don't know, I'll just buy a couple yards of each and we'll see" he says. It's rather like listening to yourself talk. ;-) He's not made a quilt before, but I see no reason why he shouldn't. He also picked up a book on Oragami quilting which has some neat things in it. Too fussy for me, but he's fascinated by it. Works for me.
Now, on to the hug delivery and meet-up. We drive to Mary's house, and I carry in a box or two, some to show and tell, and of course her hug. After I had shown her a couple of the things I've got in progress, I then handed her the box with the hug in it and said I'd brought something that she'd really like. The look on her face was priceless when she realized what was in the box. I hope the pictures capture the delight and wonder.!! We had a great show and tell, I got to see lots of Mary's beautiful work, (she's very prolific!) **and** she gave me a paper-piecing lesson!! How cool is that?! We visited for a bit, but as Mary already said, not long enough. The drive home was uneventful, thankfully. I will have to run down there more often!!
I promise, I will send the pics to TerBear for the gallery - but I had to can pears yesterday.