Shopping day!

Today was a shopping day, we were out of dog food, it couldn’t be put off any longer.

I’ve been waiting to receive the April/May issue of Quilting Arts for some time now. It was originally sent on time for subscriptions, and then resent by customer service. When I hadn’t received the resend in 2 weeks, they resent again. I still haven’t received my issue in the mail so I’m thinking it’s a postal problem? But in the meantime I decided to just go purchase this issue to have it. That meant a trip to either Huntersville, or Hickory. I chose Hickory since I hadn’t been there in a while. Barnes & Noble held it for me until I got there and it was well worth the drive to purchase it.

Of course, while I was in Hickory, I had to go to the Lee’s Sewing Center and look around. Besides, I needed needles and bobbin thread for this piece:

It’s only approx 16″ square, and when I drew out this butterfly pattern, I didn’t realize how small all the details would be in fabric. So, my plan is to thread paint the details in, thus the bobbin thread. And as I haven’t decided whether to put in the greenery in paint or sheers, I also grabbed some very small needles in case I chose to work in sheers.

Then it was a trip to A.C. Moore, another store we don’t have here locally. Although I went in to purchase a 2B graphite pencil (I’ve almost used mine totally up!) I had to browse. I’ve been wanting a portable watercolor something for quite a while now. I’ve got tubes of wc, but they aren’t really for just carrying around, even though they’re in a nice box. And I’ve got wc pencils, but it’s not quite the same as direct painting.
Today when I was out shopping, I found this:

Inside are 12 half pans of basic colors from Winsor & Newton with the cutest little brush, it unfolds and looks like then when open:

Folded up it measures only 2-1/2 inches by 5 inches!!!! The perfect size to stick in a tote or my purse with a wc sketchbook and carry with me!  I’d really like to rip these open right now and see what they mix like, but unfortunately, duty calls.  I have to go feed the dogs!