Visiting A Few Shops

     Flew into Tampa late yesterday, escaping the cold and snow that was falling in NJ.  It was so nice to disembark the plane to 70 degree weather.  Of course, we deplaned just before business traffic time on Rt. 19 so what should have taken 1 hour, took 3....YES, I said 3 hours!   I was a lunatic by the time we reached our hotel.....   We met up with hubby's brother and went for a delicious dinner so in the end a nice meal, a stop in Dunkin Donuts for a hot chocolate, some relaxing time reading and a good night's sleep helped view today in a better manner :)

      We had a light breakfast here at the hotel and then I had a game plan.  I'd wanted to visit a local quilt shop last time I was here but it happened that it was closed and they were moving the shop to a new location and enlarging it.  I checked online to be sure they'd finished the move and were up and running so with hubby behind the wheel and me manning Mapquest, we were off.

        First stop...."Happy Apple Quilts" in Tampa.  Can I just say "AWESOME"

The shop was spotless and the staff was sooooo helpful!  

I've been seeing those tuffets as so many shops and on a lot of blogs/instagram.  I sooooo want to make one but i'm a little intimidated to start one on my own, I want to take a class!  Well, they're offering one on April 2 & 3rd, but I won't be back down till the 22nd so I'll just bide my time.

There were customers in the shop commenting on my "Fabric Hoarder" tee shirt so I got to chatting with one in particular and I think I hooked her up with both Patchwork Threads and Statelytpe so she can order her own shirts.

Afterwards, it was too early for lunch so we Mapquested "Rainbow's End Quilt Shop" in Dunedin.

That shop is not to be believed....they have multiple rooms and each one is a theme!  Christmas, Halloween, Flannel etc.   This was my 2nd trip to this shop since January.  I could spend HOURS there but alas, with hubby following me around that doesn't happen.  

I got to chatting there as well with a woman that was sitting outside the shop....again, asking about my tee shirt :)

I did leave a few dollars behind at these shops......

The first picture are some low volume prints I picked up at Rainbow's End.  The second picture is from Happy Apple.  I want to make the Missouri Star QS's "Crosswalk" quilt so I was on a search for a jelly roll with a coordinating print for the outer border and came away from that shop with both plus some black and white stripe for bindings, some CUTE St. Patricks Day fabric, needles and a free postcard size pattern.  All in all, an awesome haul!

Right around the corner from Rainbow's End we saw people lining up outside "Eli's Bar B Que" and knew immediately that was the place for lunch....no stinkin chain restaurant for us!  So, we stopped. OMG, talk about good barbecue!!!  YUMMO!  

Afterwards we came back to the hotel where we sat out at the pool.  I took out my counted cross stitch project and worked on that for a while before heading out to The Lucky Dill for dinner before hubby and his brother took off for The Moody Blues Concert.   I grabbed dessert.....

and I'm spending some time updating the blog and looking at Patchwork Threads for a new shirt for the next time I'm out quilt shop hopping :)

I have some pictures of the NJ Quiltfest I attending on Thursday with my friend Robin but I have to upload the pictures first.

Happy Saturday Night Everyone!