The Longest Day (Part II)

Leaving the cherry stand behind we started the loooong drive to Oakhurst.  It was beautiful country, but we were on a mission. It was already 1:30 and we still had 5 shops to go. Oakhurst is a gateway to Yosemite National Park with a woodsy feel and the Bear Paw Quilts shop front said it all.

Inside was full of fabric, models and displays, with the theme being evident.

When Linda saw their Shop Hop quilt setting, she thought that was the way she wanted to do hers. It was set on point with a scalloped border.

But they didn't have any patterns left. Oh well, we still have 4 more shops to find the perfect quilt setting.

Off to Fresno now....opps a few miles out of town and I discover I don't have my camera....back to Bear Paw Quilts to find it.....Yeah it's there.....we are further behind in our schedule.

We decide to stop for gas before we headed out again.

When was the last time someone came out to pump gas for you and wash your windshield.  Well at the Chevron in Oakhurst they do.

Linda went in to look up a name in the phone book of someone who she used to know in Oakhurst. While she was there, I looked across the street at this:

I commented to the "gas station guy" what a lovely cemetary and church it was and he said, "Yeah, the church used to be across the crick and they had moved it up on that hill and restored it. The rest of the trip, when we talked about Oakhurst, we called our gas station man Crick.

Yes, we drove up close to get a better picture...after all we had a church thing going here.

This told the story of the church and the restoration dates.

Isn't this so "cute" for lack of a better word. See the lamps

and the little wrought iron fence?

This memorial next to it had a flag flying from the pole.

I loved the detail of the wrought iron fence

Okay, off to Fresno and Clovis. It would have been closer to go to Fresno first, but we took a wrong turn and ended up in Clovis. (more delays to our time line)

I am familiar with Quilters Paradise and visit it at least once a year when our group goes to the street fair in October. But today it was all dressed up for company.

When we saw their quilt we knew this was the setting we wanted for ours,

except we will put the heart in the center. 

All the shops had a drawing for their basket and we entered them all.

The basked is huge and full of good sewing and quilting supplies.

With not much time to think about food, we were so excited to see this.

That bowl of ice was full of the best fruit cups with a cute little umbrella. We literally slurped them down. And cookies too.....what can I say? A girl cannot live on cherries alone.

Even though, we have a ways to go, this next pictures sums it up.

We left Clovis and headed to Cottage Quilts in Fresno.

It was a pleasant surprise. Cottage described it perfectly from the front door and throughout the store.

I loved this bench.

And this one too. What a great way to show off  fabric collections.

Theirs was a really whimsical quilt setting.

On the road again to Visalia. By now it is close to 7:00 so we called Thimble Town to ask directions and if they would still be open. Yes, they  were still open, but it was closing time.

They were out of blocks, but we got the pattern and took a picture of the quilt.

We were so disappointed we didn't get to the last store in Hanford, but felt a lot better after we found a place to have dinner and then headed home.

I had to babysit on Sunday, but my sweet friend went to Hanford the next day by herself and got the last block and the last stamp on our passport.

She took pictures, for my story here.

Here's the shop in Hanford.

and their quilt.

We have all of our blocks and tomorrow we go to Strawberry Patches to a Sit and Stitch class and start our quilt. I will show our progress. We are both commited to finishing our patriotic quilt.  Linda's grandsons have served in the armed forces and have been to Irac and Afghanistan. Her's will be a tribute to them. Here are the blocks we collected,

and all our goodie bags that contained lots of candy, fat quarters, kits, pen, bumper sticker, fan, ruler, hand sanitizer, and nail file. Even with all the goodies, the prizes, the blocks, the food, getting to see all those quilt stores, lots of California countryside, and so many sweet quilt store ladies, the best part of the whole experience  was time spent with a good friend.

Linda, I love you and treasure our friendship more than I can say.

Now we have to get busy and quilt.