On Friday, we celebrated my friend Mary’s birthday and my birthday with a trip to our favorite quilt shop – Creations. It is located about an hour north of us in a town in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

We had a perfect day for it. The sky was clear blue, the sun was shining and the temperature was in the 70’s. We had planned this day weeks ago and were all looking forward to a Girls Day Out!! Mary and Terri arrived at my house at about nine that morning to pick up Mom and me. We then drove to a little town just about twenty minutes from here to meet Abby. Then it was on to the Quilt Shop.

The shop itself is an old house. It has the sweetest front porch with all the gingerbread and room after room of the most gorgeous fabric you’ve ever laid eyes on. I had called ahead to tell them we were coming because they do something special for you when it is your birthday. When you arrive, you and your friends go to the back room where they have all of these wonderful hats hanging on the wall. Everyone picks a hat, and then we go have our picture taken wearing our magnificent chapeaux.

The next order of business is cappuccinos for everyone – on the house! Then, cappuccino in hand, we begin the serious business of SHOPPING! They have so much besides fabric. All kinds of notions and gadgets and pretty accessories, books, buttons, thread, patterns, decorative pieces – just everything you can imagine. We all managed to find something we just couldn’t live without. The other bonus for coming on your birthday is the thirty percent discount they give the birthday person and then a fifteen percent discount for all of her friends. We had a great time. I bought a little packet of precut squares called “Bound to the Prairie”. They are just beautiful muted colors – all different patterns and designs.

After everyone had paid for their goodies, we headed out for lunch. There is an old converted train depot they told us about in the quilt shop. We had never eaten there before, so we decided to give it a try. It was a charming little restaurant, and the food was really good. We ordered paninis (delicious) – and then we each ordered a different desert. It was such fun to just sit and eat and talk. We simply don’t have the opportunity to be together like this very often. We vowed we would do it again before too many months go by.

The ride home was so pleasant – beautiful scenery and more good conversation. Friends (and I count my Mom as my best friend) are such a blessing. These women are the ones I call when I am in desperate need of prayer and encouragement. They are the ones I share my joys with too. Our friendship began in a small group Bible Study. The Lord just knit our hearts together, and in spite of the fact that we don’t get to see one another as often as we’d like, we are very close.

Thank You Father – for my wonderful friends and for the new friends I am getting to know through blogging. They all bless me more than I can say.

Blessings,
Linda

In the front row are Terri and my Mom. back row - Abby, Mary, Me