So what does a retired person do all day when they have no plan for what to do all day?
They go on a QUILT QUEST!
My mother-in-law told me about this thing called "Row by Row Experience." A friend of hers is an avid quilter and had ask my MIL to pick up a pattern from a few stores near where they live. As she was telling me about it, I decided to check out the site (www.rowbyrowexperience.com) to see what this was all about.
This is a national idea that started a few years ago where quilt stores all over the country can participate if they want as a way to get people into their stores. Each store creates ONE row of a quilt. Then people like me travel to their stores and pick up the pattern or the pattern & kit to make the row and then put them together to make a full quilt. Because everyone will go to different stores, the variety of ways to piece the rows together is endless. And, you get the experience of visiting stores you may not have heard about. The rules are simple - you must actually go to the store. You can't get these on line or by mail.
I looked up the Ohio stores and there are over 70 that are participating. I mapped out 11 stores south of me in the greater Cincinnati area and then another 10-11 in the Columbus area. According to Google Maps, my southern route would take about 3.5 hours (without stops). I started out about 9:15 with plans to get to the first store as soon as it opened. It was a delightful store called "Fiberge". Unfortunately for me, it was not only a quilt store but a yarn store too. The yarns were just beautiful and I just had to buy some. Although far away from home, still a place I would go back to - very friendly with great stuff. It was a lot of fun.
At one of the stores I visited, I noted some 'jelly rolls' for sale. I've been looking at getting a jelly roll as someone said it is an easy way to start - doing a 1600 quilt. A Jelly Roll is just a big roll of pre-cut strips of material. I loved the rolls they had for sale so I picked one up with beautiful colors. As I paid, the clerk said "Oh this in grunge - you'll love it." So I asked, "What is grunge?" So she took me back and showed me bolts of grunge material. OMG! This stuff is beautiful. I don't even know how to explain it but trust me - it is beautiful. I see a lot of grunge in my future!
The theme for 2017 is "On the Go" so each row had something to do with being on the go. I will have rows with roller skate, gym shoes, trains, planes, trucks, and even Mary Poppins. One store thought it through and decided to make a quilt row featuring two star blocks and the Ohio state emblem every summer - ORANGE BARRELS! Too cute. I did see one that I will visit soon - it's an outhouse with a person in there - ON THE GO! I love it.
I ended up visiting stores in Pleasant Ridge, College Hill, Blue Rock, Pleasant Run, Woodlawn, Sharonville, Loveland, and Goshen. I had intended to hit Wilmington, Trenton, and Miamisburg too but I was 6.5 hours into this already and I was exhausted. So I crossed Wilmington and Trenton my list (for now) but I did manage to go to Miamisburg on Wednesday. Glad I did - it's definitely a place I'll go back to.
My plans were to just get the patterns and not spend money but then common sense took over and I decided to purchase the kits. Most were around $20 but add on the yarn and jelly rolls that I purchased and all of a sudden, I'm at about $300 for the day! After looking at what I spent and how much I have to do, I've decided to not go on a quilt quest to Columbus - too far, too much money. But when we're on vacation next week, we may hit one or two if there are other things to do in the area.
What's ironic about this is that I DON'T QUILT!!! But now I have lots of kits to practice on and who knows, by next year's Row by Row experience, I'll be so good at quilting that I can enter the contest.
So that's what retired people do - at least this old girl!
