My friend and future business partner (more on that another day!) Karen and I took a road trip last weekend. We did not travel that far from home, we left Maryland and only got as far south as Richmond, Virginia. Our plan was to travel the area hunting out artsy or crafty destinations.
We started in Purcelleville, VA at a great fabric store called
Webfabrics. They have a really wide selection of some great new fabrics. We bought a few really cool pieces to share (from
this collection) , Karen has custody, and I will get my portion soon!
Then on to Leesburg, VA. We had lunch there at a great deli, but did not find much in the way of craftiness.
We headed up the road, intending to go to Front Royal, which was our stopover for the first night. We decided to stop in Winchester, and wow, am I glad we did! They have a lovely section of town with great shops, where they have closed off the roads to cars. We found
The Potomac Bead Company, which is a huge bead store. They were having a trunk show of
Unicorne beads, and we both got a few items to try out.
The next day we went to the arboretum at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. We often feel really inspired by nature and the sights were really breathtaking. It was great to sit on a bench for a while and just watch and listen to the birds.
Then we went to Staunton, VA, and stopped back at
Sunspots Studios, which is a great glass gallery where you can also watch them blow glass. Then we went and attended Art in the Park. This was a juried show of artists who I believe were all fairly local. They had a nice mix of jewelry, glass artists, potters, photographers and others. I bought a pair of earrings featuring beautiful dichroic glass. The setting was a lovely city park, and there was a stage there with live music. We stayed in Staunton for the night.
The next day it was rainy. We planned to get up and go straight to the P Buckley Moss Museum. We took a wrong turn however, and ended up deciding to loop back on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a beautiful drive despite the rain. It started to pour just as we got to the scenic overlook. I felt especially bad for all the bicyclists and motorcyclists we saw on the parkway.
I really enjoyed the
P Buckley Moss museum. I had been there years ago, and at that time was enamored with her prints of the Amish people, but this time I enjoyed her landscapes and pictures of florals and animals much more.
From there, we went to Charlottesville, to an area called the
Downtown Mall. This area is old storefronts that have been revitilized and the street is closed off to traffic. Because it was Memorial Day, many stores were closed, but we peered in the windows and thoroughly enjoyed a few gallery type stores that were open for business. It is a great area, and we hope to return soon on a non-holiday.
Then we went to the Richmond, VA area. We went to a really nice mall to a cool and nicely eclectic jewelry store called Cocoanut Jewelry. I bought this bracelet stand:
I plan to use it for my displays at the Fabian House.
We had planned to hit Occoquan, VA and the Torpedo Factory in ALexandria, VA on the way home on Tuesday, but I was ill so those had to be left for another day. I know we stopped at other places as well, that I cannot even remember, because it was such a whirlwind of inspirational craftiness!
A longtime friend and I have been for many months now inspiring each other to stretch our creative wings in the fiber arts. Her name is Karen Campbell, and she is quite a wonderful quilter. Karen and I used to work together - her degree is in Cell Biology, mine in Biochemistry. She taught me a lot of what I know about the world of quilting.
