Last weekend we drove to Kansas City to celebrate my birthday. I received tickets to see a favorite artist at the Uptown Theater as an early birthday gift:
On the drive down I finished binding my Diet Quilt…
and stopped by Stewartsville to visit the home of Tula Pink:
She wasn’t there, but her mom, who owns the Quilt Shoppe, was, and she bought ten copies of our pattern to stock in the store! She was picking fabrics for a sample to kit up before I even left the store! I could not resist snapping a pic of these…too cute and too clever:
The shop is definitely worth the short detour off the interstate next time you are on I-35 in NW Missouri!
We spent some time shopping, eating at cute independent shops like The Upper Crust (a pie shop!) and Great Day Cafe (that we discovered on our Quilt Market trip in May–it’s directly across the street from a quilt shop–bonus!)
I’d recommend them both. This was on the sidewalk between the cafe and the bakery–wish I knew who the artist was:
I took A LOT of photos, I seemed to be seeing quilts in every building, retail display, and article of clothing I looked at. No wonder Kansas City has such a strong MQG–there is inspiration everywhere! I’ll do a separate post to show all the photos. In addition to the concert tickets, my sweetie gave me this:
Not just a copy of the magazine–a SUBSCRIPTION to my favorite quilt magazine which comes all the way from France! Woo-hoo!
On the drive home I sewed one of my Candied Hexagon blocks before I took over driving:
Today, my actual birthday, was a good one. Started off with a delivery to the office (a VERY rare occurrence)…
…as if the weekend wasn’t enough, Sweetie felt guilty about working out of town on my birthday, so I received a balloon and lovely yellow and white flowers in a cute little paint can container.
My Mom was meeting me after work to treat me to dinner (have I mentioned how wonderful it is to have her living locally?!?–it’s awesome, we moved her to the Des Moines metro area in early June!) but she had to come save me when my Beetle decided to quit working (I think she –the car– may have been protesting the heat wave–can’t blame her!) and I had to have her towed from the front of the Des Moines library:
Not fun–but I have to give the Beetle credit for getting me home from St. Cloud retreat last week (a 6 hour drive), and getting us home from Kansas City on Sunday (a 3 hour drive)!
It was still a great day, lots of wonderful birthday wishes from friends, phone calls, my sister called and sang to me… it’s all good! And, I’ve always said I was easily entertained and easy to please; was surprised to see this when I opened the internet at work this morning:
This is a pic up close:
and when I moved my mouse over it, it reads “Happy Birthday Doris!” How fun–make sure you visit Google on your birthday–definitely brightened my day. I’m going to go open the Google home page a few more times before midnight. And, I think I may continue to celebrate tomorrow.
What was your last road trip? Any exciting road trips planned?
Do you seek out the quilt shops along the way when you travel somewhere?
made by a brunnette 
Happy Birthday! Today was my babysister’s birthday too! My 10yo granddaughter and I are off to pick up the 11 yo grand to spend about 3 weeks! Playplayplay!! And quilting too and a couple quilt shops on the way! Hen and Chicks in Conrad is on the agenda. So glad you had fun for your birthday.
Oh–I’ve heard good things about Hens and Chicks–they have a cute retreat center I’d like to take advantage of! HAVE FUN, Dee!
Sad about the Beetle, but I too am happy that it made it back from St. Cloud last week. Glad you had a good Birthday including the trip to KC.
I consider myself EXTREMELY lucky to have not ended up stranded! It was the alternator, which oddly enough, we just replaced in our Jeep six weeks ago. It’s been a costly summer for us vehicle-wise. That is why I so admire your one-car lifestyle. One day soon…
Happy happy birthday! I’ve been thinking of you all day.
Heck yes, I visit quilt shops wherever I go! My last road trip was in Leavenworth, WA. it’s a cute little Bavarian tourist town. We spent the morning there and then drove to several towns within a 40-mile radius. I love road trips.
My favorite ones were my stops at Hancock’s in Paducah. I love to play in the bargain bin!
Looks like a fabulous weekend! Congrats on selling your first pattern! How fun to be in Tula Pink’s neighborhood. Bummer about your car. Hope it’s nothing major! Isn’t that fun to see Google customized for you on your birthday?
Wow, sounds like you had a nice weekend and birthday. I’ll never forget your birthday because it’s the same as my mom’s. : ) I’ll definitely have to make a trip to Stewartsville the next time I go to Kansas City. Looks like a really cool store. I saw your quilt pattern at Quilting Connection when I was there a couple of weeks ago. That’s so exciting! I felt so proud for you.
Wow, that’s awesome about the Google birthday wishes! I gotta try that 🙂
What a great birthday for you, Doris! Happy birthday! And you are how old….? What fun places for you to go, and things to see. Didn’t you get a new old sewing machine on your birthday too? Oh my, am I sorry to hear about your Bug! Do you know what was wrong with it? Thanks for sharing about the Google birthday thing. That’s pretty darned cool too! I’d say you had a super-wonderful birthday! Hope the DSMMQG meeting was a good one too. I miss you and the MQG gals.
You live in Des Moines?! Shoot, I am a hop, skip and a jump away from you in the Cedar Rapids area. =)
Happy belated birthday!
Hubby and I do several things on our travels to places. We search out the thrift stores, quilt stores and Harley stores. We are leaving this weekend to go to SE MN to see our granddaughter, we have our stops all programed in our Garmin. =) Our five hour trip will take much longer. 😉
Sounds like you had a great birthday! I love the Tula PInk parking signs…too cute 🙂 So excited that they are selling your pattern…way to go!!
Ok so now I finally figured out why I wasn’t seeing your posts. Duh for me! Happy Birthday! I lived in KC for 5 years and I miss is so. Glad you enjoyed your celebration.
Happy birthday, Doris! I am sorry I missed it. I am so busy and self absorbed lately. 😦 Looks like you had a wonderful time! I love Brandi Carlisle. How fun. And what I would give to visit that Tula Pink shop! How fun are those signs?! LOVE IT! Hope you had the best day ever!
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