Saturday, April 17, 2010

It's Kismet--Is this the College for Us?

So, my husband and I are trooping around the north country of NYS with our daughter visiting a couple of colleges this weekend. She's debating environmental sciences, biology, and anthropology. At the moment, she wants to be a park ranger or wants to be in school for the rest of her life (she tosses off references to grad school and PhDs and doesn't notice my husband and I clutching our chests and dropping to the floor over the thought of decades of tuition ahead).

In any case, we visited Paul Smith College today--gorgeous campus and does seem to fit her outdoorsy-personality. But was it perhaps kismet when we stopped in the college bookstore and there--almost immediately catching my eye--stacked amidst the rock music and computer magazines--were two quilt books?!?

I nabbed them and spoke with the clerk (a woman of a "certain age") about my surprise that there were quilt books in a college bookstore. Turns out that, until very recently, there was a quilt conference that used to be there each summer. I'm bummed I missed them! The quilt books are "northwoodsy" style--lots of moose, bear, and pinecones. But nice patterns and lots of applique templates I'll be able to repurpose into other projects if I choose not to decorate my house like a log cabin.

Kismet aside...

After the tour, we moved on to Lake Placid and spent the afternoon...in the snow...in April...poking around the shops in the village. And I stumbled across a small fabric shop tucked away in a little walk-in mall (a collection of about 6 shops in an alcove off the main street). It was very small, but she had a nice collection. I picked up several half-yards of some fabric appropriate for landscape quilts--something I eventually want to get into doing. Plus she had some great fabric on sale for 50% off, so I got a yard of that one (the floral), then she had a line of gorgeous muted tone-on-tones that I couldn't resist (the brown, sage green, and sort of steel blue that looks more intense in the photo than it is). Unfortunately not on sale, dang it. And a couple of other nice stash-fabrics.

So here's my souvenir of our trip...

I'll be giving a shout-out to the fabric store on my podcast and posting the link to the store's website in my show notes: http://quilter.podbean.com/.

Another day in Lake Placid tomorrow--trying to hike despite the falling snow--then on to Clarkson tomorrow. I don't know--if they don't have quilt books in their college bookstore, I may have to talk my daughter into removing them from her list. :-)