AQS 2011 Quilt Show-Lancaster

March 18 - 20, 2011, Jackie and I road-tripped to Lancaster, PA for the American Quilters Society show, one of the BIG ones.  We stayed in the beautiful [highly recommended w/unbelievable restaurant and great bar area] Marriot at Penn Square attached to the convention center.  Any road trip with Jackie is a real treat and great mother/daughter time.

We had brunch on Saturday morning with Karen Kay Buckley.  She treated the brunch crowd to a video trunk show of her quilts showing a progression from her first quilt to her last major award-winner.  Her mantra, "How hard can it be?" encouraged all of us to push our perceived limits.

Jackie and I did lots of shopping at the show.  I found a great book, Cotton Theory 2, which I had heard about. While resting and waiting for Jackie, I talked with a lady seated next to me who had just purchased the book with a kit for getting started.  It was a great buy! So, of course, she gave me directions to the vendor and I went right over there to get one.  Quilting a quilt as you sew it is the technique featured.  I have done two quilts on my own trying to master various techniques, but I had heard that Cotton Theory was the technique to learn.  So now I am all set!

Some of the local shops were open late [until 8 p.m., the rest of PA closes at 5 or 6 on Saturdays :( ] so we drove East on Rt. 30 to Sylvia's.  Sylvia is really a stitch!  Her yard was filled with gorgeous quilts displayed on clotheslines.  Inside her shop, we found dozens more.  I will definitely come back.  I did buy a fat regional cookbook that has so many down-home recipes that I will be busy for months converting my favorites to lower the fat.

This morning I saw the winners of the show posted online.  This quilt was the $10,000 winner with the 1st. place ribbon.  And, this picture does not really do it justice.

It is great that AQS hosted this show for the 2nd. year.  I hope that it is a successful show for them and for the vendors because it is really nice to have a big show so close to home.  I am sure that every year it will get better and I look forward to future shows.

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


     If only these detectives had done the right thing rather than the legal thing 12 years ago.  Integrity sometimes has devastating consequences. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, private investigators, have changed over the years.  The significance of their decision 12 years ago has new meaning as they raise their own 4 year old daughter.
     Amanda McCready is missing again in this complex mystery.  Kenzie and Gennaro searched for 4 year old Amanda, found her and returned her to her mother at the request of her aunt 12 years ago.  Yet, they remain haunted because her mother's "care" was negligent and the home from which they rescued her was idyllic.
     This story is fast-paced, complicated, and rough.  The ending provides a satisfying twist that almost rivals "Diggstown" and "The Usual Suspects" for surprise.  I cannot count the number of times I stayed in my car draining the battery to finish listening to one episode or another. 
     I recommend this story to mystery lovers.  However, you have to pay attention if you listen to the audio book or you will miss important details. And, every detail in this one is important.





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Page-turner Alert

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón




Last night I began to read this book borrowed from my friend Dianne.  She cautioned that it would be a page-turner. 



The "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" chapter which precedes chapter 1 reeled me in.  The premise so unique and beautifully written that I put the book aside to clear other projects from my list before giving it my full attention.  It is snowing today.  I have not been able to put it down. -Mom JoAnn 3/23/2011



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Sherlock, Sherlock

Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Sherlock, Sherlock, your hunt for Jack the Ripper has been admirably Doyled by Lyndsay Faye, a girl from New York.  It's all here - Watson, Mrs. Hudson, LeStrade, nineteenth-century London - portrayed so well in a debut novel that leaves me hoping that she will write another.

Good job Ms. Faye and bravo to Simon Vance, the reader of this tale,  winner of several Earphone Awards and an Audie.




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Like-Spring Weekend

Kathryn posted about her cleaning attack this week.  Strange how contagious that "virus" became :)  My sewing room was a disaster, cluttered, cramped and dated.  I had ordered a great indestructible new rug (smaller and designed for an outdoor patio), a buffet to serve as storage and ironing station, and a table-top ironing board to replace my giant board that was always "out," but had not really made a plan to do the work.  These items arrived very quickly!  I guess this weekend was destined to be the cleaning weekend.

Friday:  Finish the projects currently in progress and get them out of the way. 

Saturday:  Up at 5:30 a.m. to move all of the furniture out, put the old rug out for BC to haul to the dumpster for me, make a trip to the diner to relax and fuel up.  Back home to dust and wash every surface, object and tool, scrub the floor 3 x, knit in between drying periods, wax the floor, trim and lay the new rug pad, lay the new rug, put everything back.  To bed at 10:30 p.m.

Sunday:  Up at 7:30 a.m. to unpack the new buffet and get rid of the packing materials.  Then off to the diner to fuel up.  You have to love the Nutley Diner.  It is bustling at every hour.  I love to go there when I need to be out among people but don't want to go to the trouble of arranging a meal out with a friend or two.

Then back home to put the buffet together.  BC arrived just as I was running out of steam and finished it up for me.  He muscled it into place, cleaned up the mess and admired the new arrangement.  What a kid!

Wa la....the "new" sewing room! Now, a nap sounds pretty good.