A Friday Trip to Missoula

Deana and I went to Missoula yesterday. The weather was stellar and we hit only a moderate amount of tourist traffic. Our first stop was Swanky Sisters, a quilt store in Ronan. Up until a couple of months ago, this store was in a tiny space next to True Value in a strip mall on the other side of Highway 93. They moved to a much larger space and it is a joy to shop there now. They carry Tim Holtz fabric. Amazingly, I found a bolt of fabric from his Memoranda line, which I think came out in 2017(?). I have some of this in a different colorway; I don’t remember seeing it in this teal version. Of course, I bought some to add to the stash.

We continued on to Missoula. I reversed my usual route so that we would be downtown mid-morning and assured of getting a parking spot. Our destination was The Confident Stitch. Deana has been purchasing mostly one-yard cuts and fat quarters of quilting cottons she likes. I bought—boring alert—two yards of a white cotton lawn to make myself a top. Sometimes what I need is a plain white cotton tee or top and I never seem to have the right one.

After leaving downtown, we headed to Vicky’s Quilts Down Under. This is such an unassuming store but so much fun to visit. It’s in the basement of an office building. I like to check here when I need an out-of-print fabric because looking through her inventory is like going on an archeological dig. She’s got fabric lines from years back. And she somehow knows where everything is. I am on a Marcia Derse kick now and bought yardage from the Marble Run line.

I got enough to make a dress, because the substrate they used for this line has a gorgeous hand even though it’s technically a quilt cotton.

White tops notwithstanding, I still prefer to dress like a parrot.

We left Vicky’s and headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Deana is a good Southern girl and knew all about Cracker Barrel but I have never eaten there (that I can remember). I had grilled catfish—I love catfish—with a side of fried apples. It was yummy.

The last stop in Missoula was A Clean Stitch, which is the Bernina dealer where I sometimes teach. I bought some decorative thread for one of the serger projects in the queue. The owners were at BU and we were in some of the same classes, so we did a brief recap of our experience. They also asked me to call them next week to schedule a serger mastery class soon.

Of course, no trip to Missoula would be complete without a stop at the Amish store for ice cream on the way home. I had Strawberry Cheesecake and Deana chose Huckleberry. We sat in some rocking chairs on the front porch and enjoyed the beautiful day.

The Remy Raglan is on the docket for today. By hook or by crook—even if I have to stop answering the phone or e-mails—I am going to spend the next two weeks doing what I want to do. I only have a short window of time before I have to start harvesting and canning, and I also want to enjoy spending time with Robert and Deana.