Girls only adventure day...shopping, art and food!

I decided I needed a "girls only" day, so V and her friend D and I headed south to Salt Lake for the day. Some many fun things to do....so little time....and money! We went to Gardner Village, which is a group of relocated older homes turned into a little shops. Of course, one of the first stops was the needlework/quilting/fabric store called Pine Needles. I only spent about $8 on a quilt pattern. I could have done alot more damage to my budget, but was a good girl! The pattern has to be ordered and then they will mail it to me. It's a simple pieced/applique sampler wallhanging. Three of the blocks are made of solid fabric with buttons attached to the top of each block. You make 3 monthly or seasonal blocks to attach to the buttons so it can be changed regularly. They have alot more shops then when I was there 10-12 years ago. We also enjoyed the knitting shop, doll shop, jewelry shop and Sweet Aftons Candy store....good fudge!

The village is all decorated for Christmas. I also purchased a small tree made out of grapevines to go on the shelf in my kitchen. Gardner Village is built around a old flour mill, that has been turned into a restaurant.

Gardners was extremely crowded to find somewhere to eat, so we drove north/eastern towards downtown Salt Lake and parked just off of Main street. We went to Lamb's restaurant, which V and D had never been to before. It's a small place that does alot of business with the downtown bankers and workers. We ate way too much food and I still fit in a bowl of rice pudding for dessert!

We walked a block south and went to the Gallivan Center where it was advertised the city was having an authentic European Christmas Market, complete with artist and food vender's in wooden stalls. Ah...no! It was about 5 artists and a few food people in lean to buildings....waste of time!

On to Sam Weller Bookstore, my favorite bookstore in the World! Three floors of new and used books on nearly every subject you can imagine. I think I overwhelmed V and D with all the possibilities. V finally decided on just one book....D did not purchase anything. I couldn't limit myself to fewer than about 10 quilting/art/vintage sewing selections, so I practised some amazing restraint and didn't buy anything.

Finally, we went to the Finch Art Gallery in the Art Barn to see an exhibit. One of the artists was my teacher, Anne Munoz, from my fabric dyeing class last September. Her work is absolutely amazing! She had a quilt of the sun shining down that I could very easily see in the livingroom! The other artist was my cousin, Mark England, who is a landscape painter. He does the type of work where you need to observe the painting for a longer time, then you find out you still missed something.

Today was a wonderful day! Thanks V and D for going on my adventure!

In closing:You have a day all to yourself....what do you do? Share, Please!