Saturday with Linda and Travel Sunday...

Saturday was my final day with Linda on this leg of my trip.  We met at Daisy's for coffee, as usual.  The Linda and I headed to Salem, WI to visit a small quilt shop that we had seen at the quilt show the day before.  Linda lives close to the border of Wisconsin, so it was not a very, long drive.  It is called Buttons and Bolts, and was a delightful little shop that sold a little bit of everything,  Click on their name to visit their website.  I bought a really fun bag pattern that may be a Camp Parkesburg project or the fall trip next year.  I also picked up a Row by Row License Plate for their shop.  It has started a quest that I will go into later in my blog.

After visiting there, we each retreated to our houses and spent some quiet time... or in my case, gathering up my stuff to begin packing for the trip to Brian's house.
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They picked me up at 5:30 PM to go to a restaurant called Ad Lib.  It is fairly new, more high-end than I am used to and they are supposed to source their food from local farms.  Linda recommended the Lobster Broth for the first course as the best she has ever eaten.  My first thought was where locally in upstate Illinois would they be getting local lobster?  I then wanted the pork chop, only to be told they are already sold out.  So I ordered beef short ribs.  The Lobster Broth was delicious.  It was brought out as three pieces of lobster claw (not even a whole amount of claw meat in a slightly slanted bowl, followed by a decadent sauce poured from a mason jar.  It was wonderful, and filling and made me hungry for the next course.

The shirt ribs were served over garlic mashed potatoes (that Linda and I agreed were too thin) with some roasted/steamed fresh veggies on the side.  There were three, little chunks of boneless ribs, smothered in a lovely brown sauce.  The first few bites were a bit smokey, but then the flavors settled down nicely.  The ribs had some nice... but well cooked... veins of fat, but everything melted in my mouth.

I was full but for the prices charged, I would either want a bit more on the plate or better ambiance in the place.  It did not feel like grand dining, more industrial modern.  It was loud (like Victory Brewing) and we were perched on the end of a high counter that resided in the middle of the room.  I guess I am just too country and prefer comfort food to pretty food.  But I enjoyed the experience and thank Linda and Dave for sharing this place with me.

Around 10:30 PM or so, as I was finishing up gathering my stuff together and settling in for the night, I found myself still feeling overly full and realized that something I had eaten was not sitting well.  i tossed and turned all night, not the ting you wan tto do before a day of driving 8 or more hours.  But life does not always go the way you want.

I was awake and moving early, packing the car between bouts if heading to the bathroom quickly.  But by the time I reached Daisy's for coffee ( I had ice water instead) I felt better.  Said Goodbye's to Linda and Dave... and my nephew, Mike, and several of the regulars I have come to be acquainted with over the last several trips. and hit the road.

I was heading for Beaver Dam, WI where I was looking for the retail store, headquarters and warehouse for Nancy's Notions.  This place is the beginning and the gathering point for the Little Dresses for Africa project.  My church sewing group. Sew Much Love, has been making dresses for small girls that go to the poorer countries so the girls have dresses to wear.  I was delivering about 25 or so dresses and wanted to sit down with someone to find out, from the source, exactly what they needed to have us do.. or not do.

The trip was less than 2 hours from Linda's house and Beaver Dam is not a big place by any means.  But I found the place, tucked in an industrial mall and pulled in, walked the dogs and then went inside.

It was a cloudy day but perfect for driving.  The front is bright and colorful and inviting you to come inside.  So I walked the dogs, grabbed my wallet and the dresses and headed inside.  The first lady I met was Rita and I had talked to her the day before so someone would be aware that I was coming and needed to talk to someone about the Little Dresses.

Rita and I went into one of the very nice classrooms at the back.  We chatted, I asked my questions and got my answers and then I wandered around the shop for an hour.  It did not seem that large but had lots of fabric, sewing notions, patterns and sewing/quilting machines.  I once again found their Row by Row license plate along with a pattern to make little zipper bags from the small license rectangles, along with some cute fabic of license plates.  I did not take my camera inside, so these pics are from my phone.

They had some used BabyLock machines in a back room where they had a 50 inch TV that was showing the Minnesota/Green Bay football games for the hubbys that were dragged in by their wives.  They are having a sale on all of their demo machines.  So very tempting, but even at half price they were expensive.  So I left with a small bag.

The rest of the drive was OK.  Because I had not eaten properly I ran into a period when I thought I was going to fall asleep at the wheel.  When I finally realized I really just needed some food, I got off the road, gassed up and got some McDonalds food that I shared with the boys and the rest of the trip was just fine.  Got to Brian's just before 6:00 PM, he helped unload, we ate dinner and I died!!

The fun began bright and early on Monday.