Christi's Creative Corner: World's Longest Spring Break Ends!

I spent 5 days in St. Louis with Sarah as she is finally starting her new job. Yes, it was the longest spring break ever............she came home for spring break in March and never went back to college due to Covid. It's hard to believe that she was interviewing for this job a year ago. We had made a couple of trips prior to this one to take care of the major furniture and things, so this time it was just her and I with 2 cars loaded down............and Dory, her cat. Dory is settling in slowly. I think she cried most of the way there.........she had enjoyed the long spring break with no travel. She slowly explored the 4th floor apartment. Her favorite spot is either on Sarah's bed, or in one of the low window sills gazing down on the street below.

We spent a lot of time with my nephew, Jacob, who is attending Concordia Seminary there. We also made it into Trader Joe's!

We only purchased a couple of things. Sarah tried some fresh pasta and I bought some brown Basmati rice to bring home. This was only one of the 6 times I was in a grocery store while in St. Louis. Sarah and I shopped at Walmart and Menards............yes, Menards. It's a huge 2-story store with EVERYTHING! This is where we did the majority of her shopping for groceries. Then I was with Jacob and we stopped at a Schnucks to get some food for one of his friends who was in quarantine. Then, Jacob wanted to cook supper in Sarah's apartment, so he and I went to the Schnucks close to Sarah's apartment to get what he wanted, and then Sarah thought chicken parmesan sounded good on Sunday and would make good leftovers, so she and I went to Schnucks AGAIN!

Sarah had gotten reservations for the zoo for Saturday morning for the 3 of us.

The penguins were out and waving to us!

And my favorite was the polar bear. He was enjoying playing with his snow.

Jacob and Sarah............ Sarah was leading us through the things she was most interested in, so of course, we saw lots of cats............Big ones!

Obviously, it was getting close to lunch time as this guy was licking his lips! So we left, lest we become his dinner and headed to a pizza place Jacob said was good.

Delicious!

Then, I finally convinced them to take me to a fabric store..........Jackman's Fabrics. I told them it would have a large variety of fabrics. Sarah was groaning inside, I'm sure, but since Jacob was driving, she had to go along. Jacob had been talking to me about the robes and stuff he would need when he finishes his seminary and how expense they are, and maybe we (me) could make them. He had taken me to the Catholic Supply Store to see some and they were very pricey. Even the fabric and patterns were pricey. I introduced him to pinterest and we had looked there and he explained the types of things he liked. I learned new words like chasuble and I taught Jacob terminology like pieced vs. applique and paper or foundation piecing.

Well, Jackman's was the Jackpot! Sarah found backing fabric that she liked (finally!) for her BB-8 quilt, which we will go back for later as I didn't know how much we needed, and Jacob found liturgical fabric that he liked that was more reasonably priced. He even got them to give him swatches that they attached to little cards for him.

They had all sorts of machines, everything from embroidery to long arms. We were looking at the long arms and a lady came over and turned one on for us to try. Jacob was impressed with my long arm skill.

And of course, there were amazing displays of quilts and fabrics!

I would have bought the pattern for the bat quilt, but they were out. And Sarah hates spiders, so she put the kabash on my purchasing this pattern. So, I left without any purchases. But, we will return!

It was definitely nice to return home on Monday. I think my pets missed me. Cici showed her displeasure at my absence by terrorizing the rosemary plant on the counter.