Awesome quilt shop! (with disclaimer)

This is the end of the summer vacation, folks. The Husband and I have been off most of the week and we took this opportunity to go to Columbus to visit some friends & see the Star Wars exhibit at COSI. We had a great time meeting up with the friends, and the kids really enjoyed COSI though they didn't think much of the Star Wars exhibit. I'll try to post some pictures of it tomorrow. The Husband thought it was "all right".

Also, I decided it is time I branch out and visit other (possibly more wordly?) quilt shops. So before we left I got directions to The Glass Thimble and set out to see it during naptime one day. It was...how can I say it? Awesome. It had room after room after room of fabric. Every time I turned a corner I was sure I'd come to the end, and I hadn't! I found this awesome bundle of fat quarters by Amy Butler called Charms. I have admired it online before but I was always leery of the price. But I found it on SALE!!! So, I picked up the bundle along with two green prints for The Boy's quilt, which I am still collecting a few greens for.

Then...on to check out. What is it with me and quilt shops? First, I couldn't find the checkout. It wasn't by the door I entered from. I finally noticed it in a room with some books. Someone was helping a customer pick fabrics for a quilt class so I lingered. And lingered. And lingered. Then the phone rang. The clerk (who turned out to be the owner, which pains me) went to answer. She proceeded to talk for an extended period...and during this time, she chit chatted casually and loudly about a customer that she had caught shoplifting. At first she said she wouldn't name the customer. And then she did. Ouch. So I waited some more, several times floating real close to the cash register, trying to casually imply that I was ready to check out. She ignored me. I finally gave up and went to find another clerk. She thankfully sprang into action and took me back to the cash register where the owner was still carrying on about something on the phone. About midway through the transaction she hung up and walked away without acknowledging that she had kept me waiting for her gossip to come to a conclusion. (Which I think it was pretty obvious that she had kept me waiting, since I brought someone from the other side of the store to check me out while she gabbed.) The clerk then mentioned that the shop is for sale and that they think they have a buyer. I hope the new shopkeeper a) keeps it open, b) expands their selection back to 9000 bolts (7000 bolts is their current inventory, which I know is nothing to sneeze at because it certainly impressed me) and c) has some tact. Perhaps the impending sale has er, stunted the owner's own sense of tact.

Post-Columbus, we headed to Mount Vernon for a family reunion. It was nice but anticlimactic. Next year we know our summer vacation should start with the reunion, not end with it.

Hoping to post some pictures soon!