A spring road trip

It's almost more like March than April—blustery, cold, and grey. But the daffodils are starting to peek through the leaf mold. Found this little crocus two weekends ago.

We spent last weekend in Kansas City. Drove down with a snowstorm imminent and arrived about a half hour after the roads got bad. It snowed all the rest of the day and into the evening and temps were down in the 20s. So much for going south for warmth! But it melted the next day and despite many large limbs pulled down by ice, most of the pear trees, redbuds, and tulips seemed to hold their blooms.

On the way home we stopped in Stewartsville, Mo, truly in the middle of nowhere, at a wonderful shop, Country Expressions. I got to chat with the owners, one of whom is the mom of Jenny McLean, aka Tula Pink, and Jenny herself, who was working in the shop. Jenny designs fabulous fabric for Moda. They somehow remind me of a painter who intrigued me in college: Giseuppe Archimboldo. Both share illusions of a sort, but his work is bizarre while hers is elegant. I'd hoped to score some blue/green Flutterby, which seems to be unavailable everywhere, and it was all sold out at Country Expressions, as well. But I'm very excited about the three fabrics I snagged from the Neptune collection to make another Birdie Sling.