Laume's Studio

Lisa was restless today, worried about things back home in San Diego (her house is safe, I mean worried about her friends and the situation in general), so we decided to take a drive up to the mountain town of Chester. It sports a lot of little tourist shops and both a quilt shop and a large craft and fabric store.

We had lunch at a favorite spot. This little stream runs just down from the restaurant.

I did a good job of talking Lisa out of buying too much fabric (I didn't want my son accusing me of being a bad influence), but I wasn't quite as successful at talking myself out of purchasing a fat quarter or two (or twenty or whatever, I didn't actually count them. And no, they weren't all fat quarters. There were a few half yard or full yard cuts too, depending on what I thought I would be using them for.)

I hadn't been up to these shops in ages, so there were a lot of new (to me) bolts. Apparently I was in a "OOooooh, SHINY!" mood as all the prints above (except the red and gold batik) have a metallic glitter. And the white polka dot is more of a pearlescent than metallic shiny.


Oh, more glitter on the red one in the middle left side. And can you read the cute words on the two in the bottom righthand corner? It looks black in the photo but the one in the bottom left corner is actually a dark green.

The harlequin (even more shiny) and the red print on the top are my two favorites. More black and reds as I have a collection of them going.

Here are the Halloween prints I found. I really like the batik dancing skeletons. And the polka dots , which I thought were some that Jaye bought and showed on her blog that I'd admired, but it turns out that they're different prints.

Jaye is sort of obsessed with polka dot prints and although she's got me beat, I still love me a polka dot. And a stripe. I really liked these and bought enough for a whole lap quilt if the spirit moves me. The black and blue cobweb print matches but I'm not sure if I'll use it with the other prints or not.


Along with fabric I went crazy with these sheer and double sided ribbons. Turns out, expensive ribbons. But they were SOOO CUTE! That's reason enough, yes? I bought the polka dot ones to match the polka dot tulle I bought for fairy costumes, the large yellow one has bees on it, which matches some bee fabric I have plans for, and the two double sided ribbons for Halloween projects. I also bought a box of brass fasteners because I thought they'd be fun to play with, and some tiny candles. The black and verdigris "chain" candleholders I found for a $1 at the thrift store before we left town. I thought I'd paint them black for my "Poe" mantel display next year but I think I like them the way they are.


We stopped at the thrift store because I saw this outside their sorting area as we drove by and I made Lisa turn around and go back. A way cool, fold-up, orange and black, rolling shelf. $2. The orange paint on the top of shelves is in bad shape but I can scrape and repaint it with a fresh coat of glossy orange. Do you like how Joli is practicing her Vanna White skills?

If shopping and beautiful scenery and new fabric and a cute grandbaby wasn't ENOUGH for one day, I also got two goodies. I got "Boo'ed". Last night the doorbell rang and as a car sped off in the dark, I opened the door to a bag of Boo goodies (popcorn balls and candy) on my front step. It's sort of like a May Basket - you leave it anonymously, although unlike a May Basket, you're supposed to then go Boo someone else. I'll have to gather up a few fun Halloween items and Boo someone I know will enoy it. I got Boo'ed and turned around and Boo'ed a couple other people a few years back and it was fun.

This evening when I came back from Chester I found a swap bottle in my mailbox. I joined a Halloween bottle swap with some friends. For those of you who haven't done a bottle swap, you buy (and drink the contents of) a plastic beverage bottle, cut a "door" in the side, fill it with goodies, tape it back up, slap a label on it, and mail it. The post office women always get a kick out of them when I bring one in to mail and look forward to delivering my bottle in turn. They turn it around and try to see all the candies and other goodies inside it.

Usually we use large two liter bottles but this time we decided to use small "water bottles". I can't believe how much my swap partner Marilyn was able to fit into it!


There was this cute green witch wind sock and an even cuter metal witch on a spring. She'll be a perfect addition to the other witches hanging above my kitchen sink. There's a little ceramic potion bottle (that arrived intact, amazingly!), a spooky sucker, and a container of Halloween Kissables. Kissables are one of my favorite candies and I didn't know they made Halloween ones! I'm so hiding these so I don't have to share them.


Here's the actual bottle, filled with a generous supply of pumpkin confetti. I spilled it twice before I remembered not to turn the bottle over with the open side down. Duh. She included two cute Halloween fabrics that I've never seen before - that's an amazing feat!



And the most awesome goodie of all - an ADORABLE little wallhanging that she MADE FOR ME! Is that cool or WHAT! This is staying up all year long. I'm going to get a wooden dowel and make it into a little broom and hang the wallhanging by the broom. I'd have been thrilled if the bottle contained nothing but this one cute homemade goodie. Okay, maybe this and the Kissables. Hehe. Thank you Marilyn!

If you'd prefer a spookier post, I've finally added a new holiday photo post at Beach Treasure - perfect timing to share spooky Greyfriars Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland.