I love Asheville

Had a great day yesterday. There is a new quilt shop in Asheville called Tipsy Star Quilts.  It's in a neat location right across from the Grove Arcade, in a beautiful building. I just had to go visit, but when we got there, it was not open yet, so we just HAD to walk around downtown.

Asheville has such a vibrant downtown.

There were lots of people walking around even before 9am. We stopped and had a cup of coffee and sat outside in the pleasant weather (finally) and leisurely read a USA Today while we drank our coffee. Then we continued towards the center of town. I was walking past this clothing store I always liked, Ad Lib, but was never able to shop there because nothing ever fit me, when this lady came out with a really nice linen outfit and saying how cool it felt. So, since I have recently lost 38 pounds (Thank you Weight Watchers!!!), I thought I would go in. Well, I came out with a really neato outfit. Pants size medium!!! WooHoo.

Stopped in at a store with crafty stuff and bought a piece of real felt. I want to make some of the citrus coasters I saw on SLIKstitches. They are so cute.

The  we walked on farther, and went to Mast General Store, where Dave found a really nice shirt on sale and I found a really strange little measuring thingy. That store is so fun, and it has big barrels of old fashioned candies, which I just look at and drool, lol.

Then we headed back towards the quilt shop. It was lunch time then and all of the restaurants were busy and all of the sidewalk seating was full. About every block was a street musician to entertain you. So fun!!!

The quilt shop is really nice, has a lot of Moda fabrics, and they have a top of the line Gammill on which they do quilting for others. I bought a few things, a Moda Christmas charm pack (I love the non-traditional Christmas colors in the fabrics), and 2 half yard pieces that just struck my eye, or should I say, Dave's eye, lol. The girl who was working there was so friendly and talkative and excited about the new business. It was refreshing!! I will definitely go back there.

We had our hearts set on some gelato (which we had for the first time in California), and had found a place from an internet search in West Asheville. It's called Pizzeria Ritrovo. It had wonderful gelato, and the atmosphere there was so nice. We checked out the menu, which was awesome. They bake their own bread, so we had to buy a loaf of Ciabatta. It was freshly made, and was so soft and smelled wonderful. We had that for supper. The waitress there was so nice, even though we only had the gelato, and answered all of our questions about the menu. We plan on going there next week for supper, and I will get to wear my new clothes, lol.

I really do love Asheville. It is so progressive and liberal and full of granola-type people. Sometimes I want to move, but then, where could we go that even comes close to here?

I also made a few things, but that will be another post.

Later,
WilmaNC