Annette's Acre

My dear husband bought me a new diamond ring:

I think it compliments my wedding band nicely.  You can see another picture here: Shane Site.  He’s been planning this for awhile, just waiting for a paycheck or two to act.  He’s already picked out matching diamond studs for Christmas (though I suspect I’ll have them a bit sooner).  I am one lucky woman 😀

Saturday we picked up K’s new (to her) car:

A 2001 Ford Focus.  Very good shape, low mileage (60K) and a great price (under $6,000).   Way nicer than my first car!

I had a whirlwind business trip this past week.  Found out on Monday afternoon and flew out oh-dark-thirty on Wednesday morning for meetings Wednesday and Thursday, returning home on Thursday afternoon.  I had a business dinner on Wednesday, so I knew there was going to be no time for visiting with friends while I was there.  I also wrote off any chance of searching out an LNS given it was mid-week and the dinner engagement.

However, fate smiled a little on my trip.  My colleague suggested dinner at a converted sawmill in a small set of shops about 10 minutes from my hotel.  I hate driving in new towns, so I left in *plenty* of time to be there at 6, which meant I arrived at 5:45 🙂  He called and said he was running late – could we meet at 6:30?  Sure.  I could walk around the shops…..

First, I found the needlework/quilt shop.  Oh my.

I tried to find a better picture of the quilt runner online, but no luck.  The fabric in the upper left is for the table runner.  It’s got applique and a little crewel work and great fabrics.  To the right is a Pine Mountain Halloween pillow and the upper right is four quarters of fabric.  The orange is my favorite:

Now to find something to stitch so I can use one of these great fabrics to finish!

There was also a yarn shop and I had just begun some serious browsing when my work cell rang and that conversation lasted until my colleague arrived for dinner 🙁  The shop was closed when we finished…… maybe that was a good thing.  I only had one small carryon bag with my laptop bag for the plane and there wasn’t much room once I added the fabric purchases LOL.

I have completed both of my Fair & Square sets and they are in transit to Ontario, Canada (two different recipients).  I’m working on my Halloween exchange for Hooked on Exchanging.  It’s a new finishing technique I’ve been wanting to try, so I’m taking pictures along the way and will publish a tutorial (haven’t seen one online in English).  So far, good progress on the September commitments!