Weekend

 PH and I just returned from a four day weekend in Stratford on Avon in Ontario, Canada.  We love this trip and have gone several times.  Stratford devotes itself to the theater and May through October professional talent shines on the stages.  We see three plays, this time the excellent musical Guys and Dolls, Shakespeare's The Tempest and one we came away with mixed feelings called Saturday, Sunday, Monday. In that one the acting was excellent, but it was sold as a comedy but it surely wasn't.  That was the only negative we could give it, though. 

When we go we revisit our favorite shops and restaurants and also find something new to add to the list. The list is getting long.  The city knows how to treat their guests.   

For four days we ran away from what we are enduring here in the US and it was wonderful. We almost felt like the world was normal for a bit.  

The weather has been October perfect.  You just couldn't write up an order for October perfect weather any better than what we are having now. 

When we told our kids we were coming home via a night in Port Huron our daughter told us about this place.  We were going to be there right about evening time and would have not eaten since breakfast so we thought we could add a new adventure.

The place is very small, I think maybe ten tables on the main floor and on Sunday night the upstairs is given over to trivia night so we couldn't go up there (but we could hear the questions and between us and a couple of texts to the kids we answered them all.) 

The decor is completely dark, eerie, Edgar Allen Poe raven-ish. Most definitely eye candy and sensory overload.  We are So glad we made the stop here and added a new something to our list. 

This is the most quaint and fun thing I've ever heard of.  Those books?  Please, they say, settle down with your coffee and take one off the shelf to enjoy.  But you can't buy it or take it with you or trade one of your own.  Read it while you are there, put a bookmark in and put it back on the shelf till you come back again.  How fun is that??

I'm not sewing much, I'm working on quilting Adelaide's quilt and that needs priority.  But I am also purging closets and corners and in the mood to get rid of things.

I've shown this bolt before (if it's on a roll is it a bolt??)  It's horse blanket fabric and when I bought it at an antique shop years ago, it was such a nice plaid I couldn't leave it behind.  I didn't pay much.  This roll is very heavy and so is the fabric and it ravels at the cut ends.  But I got some black two inch cotton twill tape for the cut ends and made a table covering for us, for our son and his family and two big cuts for our daughter that we taped together with carpet tape and is now a rug in her house.

  

And still there is more.

I asked the kids if there is anything more they want from it and twice they said no.  So. I was willing to donate it.  I asked one more time, "going, going, gone....does anyone want anything from this?"

DIL said she did, but didn't have the time or expertise.  Twelve placemats, a Christmas tree skirt and two pillows for the front porch.  I am happy to do that for her and use even more of this up.  Maybe I can get it to the point it can be more easily stored. 

Before we left I cut the placemats, the twill came in the mail and I got some of them ready to sew. Yes, I chose black.  It blends in with the fabric and red or green would stand out too much.  The Christmas tree skirt is that folded piece laying on top of the roll.  

Now we are home and refreshed I can get these finished.  The pillows will wait till I have more time.  It won't be porch time in Michigan for months.