On the Road: Independence and Oelwein

A great little shop in Independence
and a Quilt shop in Oelwein - a relaxing day

In Independence:

Headed out north up I-380 from Robins Iowa.  Very soon (approx. 16 miles) we were at exit 43 headed north (on IA-150) to Independence in Benton County.   First Street is the main street in Independence so it was a quick turn left, a couple of blocks down the street, and we were in front of The Little Red School House (1300 1st St W  Independence, IA 50644; phone 319-334-7199).

The Little Red School House is pure county, woven table runners, candles, charming chairs, tables, vases.  One of my favorites was this glazed rope pot with the alphabet embedded into the glazed finish.

Right next to the Little Red SchoolHouse is another distinctly different shopping - a very contemporary shop features larger scale furniture, pillows, artistic wall decor and even some elegant jewelry.

 The building next door is spacious and inviting -- but as contemporary as it's companion store is country.  Visit the Little Red SchoolHouse online.  After choosing a couple of small items, but feasting our eyes on many more -- and gleaning some wonderful ideas for future projects we got back in our car and headed east of 1st street to connect up again to IA-150 and headed north to Oelwein. 

On to Oelwein:

In Oelwein, we found LouAnn's Quilt Garden (21 E Charles St. 50662, phone 319-283-5165).  A fine selection of fabrics for quilters.  Not as much novelty fabric as I would have liked.  There was a wonderful jungle animal collage fabric made into a baby quilt -- loved it.  Sadly they were out of the jungle material but the backing was a very very soft plush fabric and I could not resist.  I purchased pink and green -- and will find a project for it soon.

 We ended the day with lunch at Leo's Restaurant a block or two over from the Quilt shop.  My shredded beef sandwich - shredded beef piled high (I opted to have it sans onions and tomatoes) on a hoagie bun, was excellent but almost too much for lunch.  Very tasty though.  Cheryl's lunch was equally delicious.  A nice interlude in a small town.

 A nice day overall.