Wrapping up Madison

 

My friend Susan drove up from Rockford, IL, to spend a day in Madison with me. We hadn't seen each other in a few years, but we picked up with our conversation as if we had never stopped. We went to Blue Bar Quilts and then had a delicious meal at Amber Indian Cuisine.

I love the fabrics at Blue Bar, and I always come away with good stuff, like this selection of fat quarters:

I love this house pattern by Persimon Dreams.

There was a nice selection of shot cottons. I knew that a shot cotton was woven with different colors in the warp and weft, but I didn't know why it was called "shot." Susan googled it and found out that it's because the technique gives you a "shot" of different colors.

I also loved this orange sewing machine, which reminds me of a Creamsicle.

I got in a few more hikes with my son and Rachel, including this one through native prairie and woods at Pheasant Branch Conservancy. It was overcast, but the rain held off.

This milkweed pod was covered with clusters of orange beetles:

And there was more orange at the pumpkin patch, where it was cold and windy so we got hot cider and warm cider donuts.

On my last day, Keith and I drove out to the Ice Age National Scenic Trail for a final hike, but a storm moved in just as we got there, so instead we went to Barnes & Noble and had coffee and read magazines in the cafe. It was that kind of morning.

I also got in a lot of puppy snuggles every day.

I did a little embroidery at night in my Airbnb, but mostly I was pretty tired and went to bed early. It was a good tired!

I had an evening flight back, with the sunset lighting up the desert as we approached Phoenix. From there it was a short hop to Tucson and back to my old routine.

Have a colorful day