Pack A Quilter

My Loving Spouse and I figured out a vital truth on our trip to Cannon Beach last week.  Travel is better, if you pack a quilter.  Seriously, my need for fabric took us to places we would have never gone to otherwise.

I will be making a quilt for one of our graduating seniors this year and she likes purple.  I therefore need purple fabric.  Our fabric resources are low in Ellensburg.  Luckily, I have a patient husband, who is happy to drive to fabric stores.

‘Want to take a drive up the coast?’  

“Can we go to the quilt store?”

‘Of course!’

Going to quilt stores gets us off the beaten path and into the heart of the town.  Our first stop was Homespun Quilts in Astoria, Oregon.I found my first set of purples……and we asked where we should have lunch.

The Wet Dog…we were told.It was charming and I did have the Ale sample platter and yes, that is the Bad Ass Stout bratwurst you see…It was very yummy.  I had a Shandy, which is a beer with some soda, in other words, it is like a beer with training wheels.  My Loving Spouse had something darker, long past the training wheel stage.Quite possibly the Poop Deck Port…We had a great time and I recommend both the quilt store and the Wet Dog.

The next day, he wanted to drive down the coast.

“Can we go to the quilt store?”

‘Of course!’

Which is how we found ourselves at Jane’s in Tillamook, Ore.Jane’s took some time, because it was a little house transformed into a quilt store.  Fabric in every room!  (Even the bathroom!)  Oh, be still my heart!  I set My Loving Spouse in the back room, chatting with a couple of old gals and instructions to get lunch recommendations, while I adjusted the budget for fabric purchases, careful to only buy what I needed!

This picture is not all I needed…it is just some of what I bought.With the ‘old gals’ recommendation we set off for our lunch.  We would never have wandered down the pier without explicit instructions we received to turn left at the huge pile of oyster shells, we did find The Fish Peddler.  My Loving Spouse had the best clam chowder he ever ate and we both watched enthralled at the process of oyster harvesting.It was something!  Watching the shuckers get the oyster meat, they were fast and efficient.  They work on commission and as we tried to count how many oysters they shucked in a minute, we figure they shuck thousands in a day!  Makes my hands hurt just thinking about it.We left after a great time, with full bellies, a jar of oysters….and some fabric.

The morning we were leaving Cannon Beach, My Loving Spouse agreed to let me into one more quilt store, because I knew I still needed some more purple…We were packed up and ready to go…except the store wasn’t open yet.  This was a great stroke of luck, because instead of high tailing it out of town, we went where we hadn’t been yet, The Insomnia Coffee Co.It was delightful!They had art I understand….It was a delightful way to slowly spend our morning before heading for the farm.

The gal at the fabric store was equally lovely and what can I say….We cannot wait to go back…

You should travel with a quilter, if you need one, let me know.