Quit Odyssey @ Hershey, PA, July 26, 27, 28, 2012

I love road trips.  My sister Jackie and I met at Quilt Odyssey on Thursday for a few days of fun.

The Hershey Lodge was wonderful. I can imagine family gatherings here for kids to visit Hershey Park and grandmom and great aunt to enjoy the quilt show.  We would all do what we enjoy and meet for dinners to recap the days.

 Back to the quilt show, my favorite quilt was "America, Let It Shine" by Sherry Reynolds. It won the Best of Show Award here, the Best Machine Workmanship Award at the Lancaster show, and prizes at other shows in 2011-2012.  "Masterpiece" is the best word to describe it. It was featured on the cover of "Quilter's Newsletter" in June/July 2012.

We stopped at Burkholder's Fabrics on Saturday morning before driving home.  What a great store.  Jackie is now all set to create Christmas projects and I have the fabrics for Kyle's new quilt in his swim team colors.

Internation Quilt Festival, November 2-6, 2011, Houston, TX

It has taken me a while to get around to this post. There was so much to say about this fabulous show. And, it was a great trip with quilting friends Rosemary, Dale, Catherine and Regina. So, let me describe it chronologically.  From Wednesday through Saturday night, I stayed at the Embassy Suites Hotel three blocks from the George R. Brown Convention Center.

George R. is the largest convention center I have ever seen.  About three blocks long and three stories high, it was vast.  The vendors' booths were located on the first floor. Here is a view of about 1/3 of the vendor floor space.

The Houston skyline is spacious and new.  It seemed that everything in Houston was fairly new.

On Thursday, I took an all-day bus tour to see a bit of Texas.  We visited La Grange, Giddings, and Round Top. LaGrange was the most interesting.

It is the home of new Texas Quilt Museum.  The Museum opened just to give us a sneak preview that day.

We were not permitted to take photos inside the museum.  The quilts on display for the inaugural exhibit were all made by Texas women.  They were pretty amazing.  I liked the courthouse steps borders that were favored by many of the quilters and will definitely try my hand at creating them in one of my future projects.

The Museum is right on Courthouse Square in La Grange. Great care was taken to restore the building to its original condition.  It is about 100 years old.  We were treated to baked goods when we were settled back on the bus.  The area was settled by  German, Czech, and Moravian immigrants.  And their baking skills have survived and thrived here.  I would come back here just for the bread and pastries!

In Round Top, we spent some time at the Copper Shade Tree, an artists' boutique for quilts, jewelry and other handcrafts.  This shop was Texas outside and 5th Avenue inside! The hand-crafted jewelry was really pretty. I dropped a bundle of money for Christmas gifts here :)

Did I mention that all of the items were crafted by men? Yes, indeed, there were no women allowed.  This is a men's art collective.





On Friday, I spent the day in a class taught by Charlotte Angotti of Quiltmaker's Studio. What a hoot!  This talented lady should be a stand-up comic.  In one day of instruction and non-stop sewing, she walked us through an almost complete construction of one of her latest designs, "Amber Waves of Grain."  I just got mine back from Janice Jamison (great long-arm quilter, jjam061454@aol.com) and will tell you more about it after I get the binding on and take some pictures.

Saturday was a time to spend viewing the festival quilts, meeting Alex Anderson, and ending the day by enjoying the concert performed by Ricky Tims.

At home, I want to find a couple of the fabrics featured: Robert Kaufman's "Florentine" and "Jewel & Earth" as well as "Etchings" by Moda.

I purchased a CD with professional pictures of all of the winning quilts.  There are restrictions on posting the quilt pictures on a website. So, if you would like to see the quilts, I would be happy to lend you the CD.

It was a great trip.  I can cross "Attend the largest international quilt show" off of my to-do list :)

World Quilt Festival, a Road Trip with Jackie to New Hampshire

August 18-22, 2010, Jackie and I drove to NH for the World Quilt Festival.  On Thursday, we participated in an all-day class taught by Barbara Barber from the UK.  BB is famous for her circular piecing techniques and her book "Really Sharp Piecing."  This is the block that I began in her class and just finished today at home. Clovis, my quilting companion, was very curious about this block.  She had never seen me quilt anything in a circle.  I was pretty pleased with the result.  It took some trial and error to get this one right. Now, I think I could do another easily.

On Friday, we devised our own "shop hop" and visited four shops on our way up to Center Harbor, the home of Keepsake Quilting which Jackie dubbed "mecca for quilters."  Our first stop at The Quilt Patch in Bedford set the playful tone of the whole day.  The proprietor, Sue Trask, had just opened the store and watered her garden as we arrived.  We spent a ton of money, laughed, consulted, pondered, drove, criticized the GPS and even had a wilderness adventure that will go down in family lore. ;-) Getting to Keepsake Quilting was so much fun.

Jackie entering Peggy Anne's Quilting & Sewing Co. in Concord. Found great SALES

Cute country shop in Andover.  All quilts in the shop go on sale at half price after Thanksgiving, and they were beautiful.  Good place to get holiday gifts.

After our "off road" adventure, we arrived at The Quilting Corner.

Finally we arrived at Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, a beautiful resort town.

Packing

It's done and it only weighs 40 lbs. 2 oz., well under the 50 lb limit.  I have an entire day to second guess what I packed before going to the airport on Tuesday morning.  This is going to be a great trip.

New Year

Wow! I have neglected this blog for almost a year. Time for an update:

• I retired on October 1, 2009.
• I bought a new Honda CR-V in June 2009.
• I went on my first cruise in July 2009. (To Bermuda, it was very nice.)
  

New Adventure in the Works

Well, Jackie Gould has talked me into an ocean adventure, so, today I explored the Royal Caribbean web site to get my feet wet. We will be cruising to Bermuda next July aboard the "Explorer of the Seas."

Searching the web site to learn more about the documents required, what to pack, how to make reservations for excursions, etc., I lingered on the spa and fitness facilities. Perhaps this will also be a good time to take advantage of a facial and a massage. While captive on this floating resort, I might as well do everything that my pocket book and physical condition will allow! http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do;jsessionid=0000mE7vvKsF5pRqEzXtzbZtdBz:12hbiocak?br=R&shipClassCode=VY&shipCode=EX

I will also have to check out Bayonne, NJ in the near future. It is accessible, parking is reasonable at Cape Liberty and the city seems to be in the midst of a makeover. I recall purchasing our first family artificial Christmas tree at a recommended store in Bayonne. (That was the tree that I decided needed to be freshened up after a couple of years. Showering it with the hose in the back yard, I discovered that the trunk was made of cardboard. What was I thinking?) http://www.cruiseliberty.com/

Every now and then, I think about moving to a manageable city. "Manageable" is the key word here. Park-like city blocks, reliable elevators, interesting cultural activities, a good library system, nearby groceries, hospital, office store and movie theater, secure parking, access to the airport, parkway and turnpike - I don't want much. Thinking about it, do I have that here? http://www.bayonnenj.org/

BBQ Spring 2008

The Spring and Fall Bed, Breakfast and Quilts have me hooked. The anchors for my year, I sign up for the next one before I leave the previous. This year, "Raggedy Circles" was my class choice. In soft, rose and green florals and checks, I realize that I have a preferred color palette. Perhaps I should experiment more. This project is easy, quick and refreshing - no squares and triangles, no points to match. Another one is cut out in my sewing room. Organized before traveling to Wildwood Crest's Adventurer Inn this year, it is a combination of two juvenile flannels featuring baby animals. Hoping that it will be Grace's "drag around" blanket, I plan to finish it for Christmas and make a matching flannel rabbit to go with it.
On a lark, Merry May's basket applique project occupied my time on Sunday. Entirely from mill samples found on the giveaway table, Merry cut enough fabrics for me to attempt this little piece. It is adorable! Now, will it be a pillow or wall hanging? Will it be quilted by Linda Hahn or will I attempt to quilt it by hand? Decisions, decisions....