I drove down to the Flatwoods Outlets in Sutton, W.Va., to meet up with my California quilting buddy Sandy and her daughter Deb. Sandy and Deb are staying in Charleston, W.Va., with Sandy’s friend Joyce.
I got to Flatwoods at about 11 am. We shopped the Bulk Foods and I found lots of fun things to bring home. We then moved on to the Fiesta outlet. A whole room of “seconds” and 50% off discontinued colors outside. Sandy and Deb have primarily Fiesta plates to punch up their black and white kitchen in their Monrovia, Calif., bungalow.
They went a little kooky in the store, but it still makes sense … they were able to buy single open-stock pieces to fill out their stuff pretty economically.
We then paused for lunch back at Bulk Foods. The only bummer of the day? My California friends bought out all the pepperoni rolls, so there weren’t any left for me to bring home. Oh well! As I said to them, it’s a “special-er” treat for them than for me. If Joyce is willing to share her Fairmont, W.Va., knowledge, it’s relatively easy for me to pick up a stash, since that’s just over an hour away.
We also stopped at the Fenton Glass outlet, where I got a truly awesome snowman suncatcher and several ornaments for our first-ever Christmas Tree, which will go up at chez DPUTiger in just over a month.
A very sad recent piece of “local” news is that Fenton Glass is going to close down after 102 years of producing truly amazing pieces of art glass.
These photos were taken just outside of the Fenton Glass store at Flatwoods. It rained my whole drive down (150 miles each way, 5 total hours of driving on the day) and didn’t stop until I was back in Pennsylvania.
I bought a few (VERY few, compared to my compadres) pieces of Fiesta, all at least 50% off, and only purchased at Fenton, Fiesta and Bulk Foods. I don’t really give a crap about my purchases, though. They're cool, but that wasn't the point of the trip. My friends were the point.
Now, everybody gets their undies in a bundle about the foliage in New England. But I’m sorry
I find it hard to believe that it can be any better than the hills in the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia.
Sandy had a goody bag for me from California. Two projects for our mini-group, and a bag of the world’s best (dark) chocolate covered pretzels from Trader Joe’s. I’m going to have to hide these away so I can savor them for a long time.
Damn, it was a great day. It reminded me what amazing friends I left behind in California, but in a “damn, am I ever lucky” way instead of a “crap, I don’t know anyone here” way. Oh, and it made me ache to get downstairs and sew. I guess that means that I need to start kicking ass on this house thing so I can go down there guilt-free. Wish me luck!
(WiPs tomorrow!)
7 comments:
Your first Christmas tree! I love Christmas trees! I'm assuming you're going to get a real one? If you've never had one before, I'm assuming you wouldn't go the artificial route. I'm super excited for you, can you tell?
I'm shocked that Fenton is closing! Wow. I love their stuff. It sounds like you had a great trip and a great day. So happy you got to see your friends! Also glad to see that RT is back out and about. :)
Sounds like a fun day! Did you even give a thought to me sitting here...working away? Fentonless? Fiestaless? Heavy sigh! LOL. Great foliage pic!!!
Great day! I admit I am a little curious about the fiesta ware... and what they looked like.
Is that strange? Tee hee.
I had no idea about that Fiesta outlet! My aunt and uncle actually collect Fiestaware (which means my brother and I will probably inherit their collection someday) -- I wonder if they know about this place?
Many deep sighs--although I get to see Sandy a little more often! I would love to visit Fenton before they close--my husband collected Depression glass and had several books about Fenton. And Fiesta, too. I have lots of "new" Fiesta which is safer to eat on than the old (which can leach lead into the food from certain colors) and is a nice sturdy kind of dishware.
Your foliage is lovely, and I was not aware till recently that the Appalachians actually stretch all the way to Canada. So your foliage and the New England foliage is all Appalachian!
And it's all better than the current crop here, which is fire, smoke, dust, and dryness. I really envy you being able to make the move to the place where you really want to be!
Cute pictures of you and Sandy and Deb. Wish we all could have been there.
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