Grand day out

Whitesboro is really not far away! Timewise, it's a bit closer than McKinney, and it's a lot, lot less stressful to drive to - take 75 to Sherman, then go west on 82, south on 377, and there you are. (Or you can take 56, which I did to go back to Sherman). Either road is relatively little-traveled and doesn't have the awful construction that always seems to be on 75 close to Dallas.

Whitesboro did not disappoint. They have BOTH a quilt shop (Kaleidoscope Quilts) and a yarn shop (Quixotic Fibers). They also have a shabby-chic type store, and a big antique shop called Butterfield Stage Stop. And a store that has some women's clothes, some gift items, some kitchen items, and some days of the week serves lunch (Not on Saturdays, so I wound up going back to Sherman and getting barbecue).

There's also a place called Old World Meat Market and they're supposed to serve burgers, but by the time I decided I wanted lunch I had sort of decided on barbecue and also felt disinclined to do the backtracking. I do plan to go back and check the meat market out - bring a cooler in case it looks like they have good things, and maybe even make sure I have freezer space cleared. (It's hard to find good meat around here).

Everyone in the stores was super friendly. I forget that, when often I wind up shopping at a big-box place where the employees don't have quite as much investment in the success of the store. (Then again: Brookshires is, I think, employee-owned and have noticed a higher level of cheer and friendliness there, as I have seen at the Hy-Vee in my parents' town).

Also, a nice thing: there was a volunteer group, mostly retired folks it looked like, who were going through and raking up leaves and readying the planters for the spring.  Often streetscapes around here get a little neglected and it's nice to see work being done on them.

Here's the first of the haul, these are things I think of as Birthday Gifts To Myself. (You can see I unwrapped my Coco Pommel):



The yarn is for mitts (the plain orange color - it's baby alpaca and is sort of a dk weight) and most likely socks. (The purplish one is a colorway called Raku - like the pottery glazing technique - and the orange and green one is called Humus - I had to buy that because I liked the colors but also because of the soils-related name.). The fabric is a novelty collection with a vaguely French theme, and some floral, and a pretty Kona cotton in butter yellow (for sashing on some future quilt). And the last piece I need for the typography-fabric Tabula Recta quilt I've been wanting to make for several years - I had to accumulate 26 unique pieces and I think I have them all now. (This may be the next quilt I make). The script is in German, which is also interesting given that I am currently trying to learn a little German.

I also got a lead on someone in Sherman who does longarm quilting as a business, so maybe I can still get some of the tops quilted some day. I have her card, I just have to call her and make the arrangements some time.

The mug is one of those "had to have" it things - it's all different colored and patterned sheep, and there is an "Irish sheep" (green, wearing a leprechaun hat) painted on the inside rim of the mug.)

As it turns out, I got another mug as a gift:



From Target, one of the knitting-patterned mugs they did a while back - this was part of the gift from my brother and his family. There you can also see a close up of the card my niece made for me.

Here's the whole gift. There are also teas and a dvd set of the first season of the (original 1970s) Muppet Show.



And more things - this next photo are the gifts my parents sent (a knitted blanket kit and a couple of new turtlenecks - both things I asked for - and a book from them). And also a book and a cd from one of my blogreaders, purchased off my Amazon giftlist!



I also got a bunch of cards, both paper and electronic, and that was good. And several ravelry friends bought patterns for me.

I also got a couple things at the antique shops. First of all:



The wall shelf thing is going to be Pony Storage! As soon as I can figure out the right place to hang it up (and get the right kind of hangers). It's very lightweight and the little pony figures don't weigh much, so I don't think having to anchor it in really tightly (like, find a stud to attach it to). I'm going to put some of the extra Pony figures I don't have in my Ponyville (like some of the glitterated ones) and put them up on this.

Also, another house teapot. I'm kind of running out of room for these but this one resembled Fluttershy's cottage enough (and it was a good price) so I wanted it.

And the last thing.....I guess it was a Pony day antiquing, because I bought it on the grounds of "If I ever decided to do an Applejack cosplay, this is the perfect accessory." It's an apple pendant. It's the most costumey of costume jewelry (very obviously plastic) but it's still cute and funny and it was a good price.

Or even not cosplaying - even just wearing with the right outfit on a regular day and feeling secretly happy because in my mind, I am doing cosplay just a little bit. (I also have a floaty yellow print dress I think of as my Fluttershy dress and it makes me happy when I wear it)

I tried to take a photo of myself doing my "best Applejack pose" but I fear I come across more as Rarity-like in posed photos....



Maybe I can get a webcam photo to work better:

You can at least see that it's an apple there.

And a close up of Coco, or "Miss Pommel," as they seem to want to call her. I think I need to make her a little collar to wear like she wears in the show; she looks kind of naked without it. Also her hair is different - she is drawn with a short (shoulder length) straight bob, and the stuffed version, the hair is maybe more Bardot than Coco. But still she is very cute.