Refunds Are Great!

I was supposed to go to a Jenny Haskins seminar about 2 weeks ago in Hendersonville, but I had to cancel because my doctor had put me on ice and excercise therapy 6 times a day for my shoulder. And that just wasn't going to work out well in a weekend class. What I told the owner of the shop was that instead of getting a refund, I would just take a store credit. And today was the day! I KNOW it's not free shopping but somehow it kind of felt like it. I spent about two hours there and certainly had a lot of fun--especially in the fabric department. I got a couple of feet for my machine and topstitch needles (not always the easiest to find), but it was mostly fabric --as you can see. And even better--when I checked out and everything was tallied up--I had a coupon for 25% off. That's almost as good as it gets in the quilt shop shopping life! On top of that, because of the discount, I still have some credit left. Now, what ELSE do I "need"?

We were going to go up to Wytheville, Va today to go to Batiks, Etc. to look for a better background for the Angel's Trumpet wallhanging I'm working on; however, I went through my stash here of batiks and hand dyes and came up with what I THINK is the perfect fabric. Time will tell, I guess. But I did make my husband a happy camper when I told him we didn't have to get back in the car at 6:oo a.m. this morning. Last evening, I had about 8 possible fabrics that I was auditioning and then called him in to give his opinion. Although the fabric I had chosen wasn't #1 on his list, it was #2 and his #1 was my #2. Pretty close, I'd say. (ALL of my batiks and hand dyed fabrics are going back to Charleston with me on Friday--I NEED them)

Coming up to Hendersonville, we decided to stop in the Riverbanks Arboretum in Columbia. We hadn't been in about five years and I wanted to see how it had matured. I was hoping for a lot of blooming plants and wasn't disppointed except for the roses. So we'll go back again soon--before it gets hot. We saw some interesting plants and I think I got an answer to one of my problems in my yard. This plant at the right is a mahonia. The leaves are prickly like a holly and it has beautiful purple berries. The plant I have has never bloomed and my mother-in-law had planted it in the shade. The one at the arboretum was in full sun and it was covered with beautiful berries. So . . .I guess I know what I need to do.

All of the plant life there is so lush I really have to wonder how much of the "Zoo Doo" goes on it.

Two "decorative" things that we especially enjoyed were the stone face laying in the woods and the gigantic hanging basket. This was so large that there was a blooming camellia growing in it. All in all, it was a great stop to make on our trek up the road.