Oh my ...!

Goodness, how time flies ... I've been a busy body, but certainly not in the quilting department. Subbing ... and ... we had company! Aunt Marge, our Floridian, decided to visit us in June ... So, up until last Tuesday, I've been entertaining!

I did attend Vermont Quilt Festival last Thursday with friends. We were shocked to learn that our yearly "Dinner Ritual" restaurant, Juniors,  suddenly closed a couple of days prior to the show. I was so set on my usual! Oh well, it always saddens me to learn that a business closed, especially after 25 years.

On the VQF front, the venue appeared smaller than last year. I didn't get a chance to take any photos of quilts. For one thing, no photos allowed of the reproduction collection. So, I shopped ... what else is a girl to do? lol My loot consisted mainly of a couple of pieces of wool backgrounds, nothing exciting. Oh, I did buy this cute kit ...

I can't wait to get started ... but not until I finish hand stitching the binding on Peace and Unity!

Perhaps tonight is the night I put on a good movie and stitch away!

Catch you all later!

And the beat goes on .....!

Wow, I cannot believe I haven't posted in a month. Where has time gone? I kid you not, yesterday I lost an hour somewhere. Has anyone seen it? I had plans to attend the local guild meeting at 6:00 p.m. Closed shop at what I thought was 5:00 p.m. Hopped in my car, drive out of the parking lot, checked the clock and it was 6:15 p.m. What the heck???? Pointless driving down, I'll miss half the meeting!

Anyway, last weekend I vended for the very first time. Never having done this before, I did not accurately calculate the amount of time it would take me to prep everything. There were many late evenings, attempting to look organized. Lesson learned!

We set up booth early Saturday morning, and this is what my booth looked like:

Other side:

I had no idea that my booth was going to be this large! What a fun experience it was for me, met some wonderful quilters.

On the quilting front, I machine quilted Fivrol 1 - Kindred by Bonnie & Camille.

Love how it turned out! This is such a happy quilt ... Hello Darling! such a happy fabric line!

I also finished this little quilt using Holly Taylor's latest line - Winter Song. The pattern is called OSO by Carrie Nelson.  I used one charm pack for the center blocks and yardage for the rest.

I call this quilt, Bear Tracks through the Woods. Carrie's instructions is to use two charm packs and create a scrappy border, but I chose to use yardage.

So, what have you been up to? Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

Battle of Plattsburgh - War of 1812

Every year, the city of Plattsburgh celebrates it's famous battle of 1812.  This year was their bicentennial!  For the whole weekend, the city is bustling with activities include re-enactments.

This year, in celebration of the bicentennial, a War of 1812 quilt exhibit was organized by Jean and Linda.  

Many of these quilts had personal family history related to the battle itself, and for those having no link to this historical even, quilts were created as a token of gratitude to America's past and present service men and women.  Allow me to share some of these beautiful quilts, many of which are Fibre Junction customers.

Kerry's quilt - The Banks of Champlain

This quilt is from Susan -  Stars and Stripes Forever.

Mary Lou - Memorial Quilt

Cathie (a Fibre staff) - The Kent Delord house during the War of 1812

Terry (the one and only male guild member) - Canterbury Revolution

Here are a few more for your enjoyment.

and more ....

Last but not least Jack's first quilt - Tribute to Commadore Macdonough

So there you have it ... 

Thank you for taking the time to visit my little corner in cyber space!  Cheers!

VQF continued...!

Boy time flies when you're having fun!  Time for a show and tell!

I must admit, I did not take as many pictures as last year.  You would think with my new toy I'd be clicking away, but it wasn't the case.  Sadly, there were not many quilts that moved me.

As I walked around I came upon this gorgeous quilt and thought, "geez that style looks familiar".  Looked at the description and .....

The quilt is made by Birgit Schueller of Germany.  This is the same designer of the Licorice and Lace quilt that I blogged about last year.

Another of my favourite is a reproduction of a quilt.

Pennsylvania Hearts and Hands - Kelly Cunningham - Stevensville, PA.

The descriptions states :This quilt is a reproduction made by Elsie Bott Loucks and others in her family. The pattern used is from the McCall's Quilting Vintage Series Hearts and Hands. The original quilt is owned by the York County Heritage Trust of York, PA and is in Quilts" The Fabric of Friendship. The blocks were constructed in the late 1800s, made into a quilt top in the 1920s and not quilted until 1939-1940.  Longarm machine quilted.

Stunning!

And... there was an "Instructors Showcase" exhibit!  I had the opportunity to view a quilt from Sue Spargo.  I had never seen one of her quilts in person!

So colourful!

Well, I hope you enjoyed a mini VQF!  I would have loved to share with you the antique collection entitled  "Quilts - A tradition of  Variations" - Antique Quilts from the Pilgrim/Roy Collection, but photographs were not allowed.

Gosh, they were stunning.  There's something about utilitarian quilts that I so enjoy viewing.

On a different subject, can someone explain to me why I seem to get "white highlighted" text?  It's driving me insane.  I have to go into the HTML, find it and delete it - taking me much longer to write a blog entry then it should.  Does anyone get that?  It just sort of appears!

Thanks for stopping by!

What a week ..... then VQF.....!

Yea, it's been busy.  I feel as thought I spend my week in Vermont.  Monday we were in Burlington most of the day to see the Surgeon.  Tuesday, in Burlington for the surgery, which by the way went well.  The only two tendons in his index finger are now attached and the one nerve that was severed has been re-attached.  What is left is for us is to be patient, as time does its healing!  Do I have an antsy dh?  Yea, to say the least!  lol

By Wednesday, it was time to head to Burlington, yet again, to pick-up my registration package.  Meet up with my friend Cathy and we had dinner at a great Italian restaurant Juniors!

Thursday was the Champagne & chocolate preview!  Would you believe that I did not get one piece of chocolate?  Plenty of champagne but no chocolate to be seen.  I could have compensated by drinking more champagne, but I was driving!  ;o)  Didn't come home with much, but did scope the vendors for what interested me for my next visit on Sunday.

Sunday, boy, do I have a story to tell you.  Met up with some friends after my class for lunch.  We split up and go our own ways, vendor hopping.  I get a phone call from my friend telling me that she is being detained on "suspicious activity".  What the heck does that mean?  We're at a quilt show for Pete's sake!

Well, would you believe someone reported her on "suspicion" of stealing a pattern?  So they took her in, plain view of everyone one, into a room. Took everything out of her bag, matched it with receipts.  Many of the items were in bags with the vendor's name on them.  Some cash register receipt did not have the name of the vendor on them, so they kept all the items from that. All and all, she left behind close to $300.00 worth of paid merchandise.  The only reason they did not "book" her was because no one saw her do it!  If she wants to get her money back, she has to go the police station with her visa statement and they will refund her.  Does that make sense to you?  I'm  still  baffled!

I just cannot believed this!  Scary!

Wanna see my small loot?

Fell in love with this wool kit!  And of course, I had to have the two new thread cards from Superior!

Not sure I will head back to VQF next year!  Wasn't that impressed!  Even less so with this recent incident! I'll have pictures of some of my favourite quilts soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vermont Quilt Festival - Some of my favourites......!

This has got to be one of my all time favourite! Of course, I'm just a push over for a hand applique quilt!  Stunning! The picture does not do it justice!

The Pride of Iowa Revisited made by Miki Peine of Saint Paul, MN

"This quilt was inspired by a picture I saw while visiting Marge Lydecker. Each night as I fell asleep I saw this picture of an antique quilt from Old Sturbridge Village. Hand quilted."

Vitamin C - Marion Perrault and Helena Scheffer (Beaconsfield, Quebec)

"Dozens of oranges were sacrificed in our quest for the perfect model for this quilt. The orange is composed of hundreds of fabrics collaged onto a flannel foundation. The pith is made of cotton batting painted, dyed and quilted. The background fabric was dyed and over dyed, then free motion quilted using 100 weight silk thread. Stationary machine quilted by Helena Scheffer."

Licorice and Lace - Birgit Schueller (Germany)

"After I pieced the top that is an original pattern, I thought the contrast between the licorice candy colored printed fabric in the triangle and dark brown background was too strong. Thus, I used my melon template set by Kim Brummer to design the very geometric quilting design. Contrasting thread and Swarovski crystals softened the contrast and added a filigree feeling like lace. Track machine quilted."

I did not re-size the photograph so that you could enjoy the details! What a gorgeous quilt! The machine quilting is phenomenal!

For those who enjoy looking at the machine quilting detail here are a few of my favourite:

These are just a few of my favourites. As with many quilt shows, there were so many beautiful quilts. 

Thank you for your patience. Keep well! Cheers!

Vermont Quilt Festival - Antique exhibit......!

Okay, it's been a while and I do want to apologize. It has been so insanely busy, I will spare you with the boring details. Today, I finally sat myself down and organized my photographs from the Vermont Quilt Festival, you know, the one I attended back in June! ;o)

The exhibit was entitled Patterns of History: Quilts from the Vermont Historical Society collection sponsored by Yankee Pride Quilt of Essex Junction, Vermont.

It should be noted that all these quilts are documented as being made in Vermont. The captions under each photographs were taken from the Vermont Quilt Festival program. If you want to view the quilts in greater detail, just click on the slide show.

Enjoy!

Quilting therapy....!

I've been spending the last couple of days in Vermont!   Doing what you might ask?  Visiting the Vermont Quilt Festival, walking the many quilt exhibit and doing just a bit of spending!

Bought Penelope a new set of wheels!

Yep, M & M wheels, "decrease friction and increase fluidity". She's getting a tire change as soon as they come in! I can't wait!

I'm off to organize my photos.  I have so much to show!

Thanks for stopping by!

Back from MQX....!

Firstly, I want to say thank you to all that commented on my little bragging. Your comments meant a lot to me. You gals/quilters are quite supportive and oh so inspirational! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

MQX was a great learning experience! My days were filled with classes!

Sadly, I don't have pictures to show you. I asked dd if I could borrow her camera, which she hesitantly said yes. This is an 11 year old we're talking about. Her camera is quite small and oh so convenient! Anyway, she couldn't find the connector to charge the camera. Sigh...! How typical! Have you seen her room lately....? lol

This year, as I mentioned in a previous post, I took classes from teachers who used an APQS machine. I didn't set out to be all APQS, but it turned out that way.

I took a class from Sue Patten and let me tell you, she's a hoot! The class was on borders and sashing! I have never seen someone quilt a design in such a small space. Amazing!

Kim Brunner is another teacher that I found knowledgeable and entertaining! I learned many tip bits about marking your quilts and designs to use.

Dawn Cavanaugh was one that I took many classes from. By the way, she was nominated teacher of the year! Yea Dawn! Her breakfast on Solving Tension Headaches was worth its weight in gold! Her class Quilting Feathers when you're a Chicken was perfect for me! Bawk bock, bock, bock....! ;o)

Friday night was the banquet with guest speaker Mark Lipinski. I haven't laughed like that since the Ricky Tims' Seminar! He's quite the funny story teller, he had me in stitches!

As you can just imagine, it was a great learning and fun experience for me. However, the most important piece of information, aside from all the new knowledge, that I came away with is "slap on some fabric and play!" That might be obvious for most of you but somehow it never occurred to me that I should be doing that. I think it was partly due to having so little guiltless time that I didn't want to spend it not being productive. Well.... school's out, let's shout.... it's time to play with Penelope!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Can I brag...?

Well, I think I'm back! Yes sir, it's been a rough few months, but it's all behind me now. I am just so excited to share with you the great news. Please..... allow me to do a bit of bragging.

I'm finished with school! You read correctly. I will be graduating with my Master... oh wait, let's use the fancy word, Magisteriate in Arts in the History and Philosophy of Religion.

In other words I'M GRADUATING!

I am just so full of emotions at the moment! Tears of joy!

Thank you for allowing me a bit of bragging!

I'll be leaving for MQX on Thursday! I am so looking forward to a vacation! Nothing on my mind but fun! Finally, I'll be able to read just for the sake of reading.... Wait, can handle reading for pleasure? Oh my gosh.....

Quilt without guilt here I come! WOOOO HOOOOO! Party time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rebel without a cause.....!

I decided to be a rebel once again and not post on diet Monday. I just didn't have anything to say on the subject and.... well...... I kind of like being a rebel! lol

I did say, on my last post, that I had a finish, more a flimsy, that I wanted to share with you. Well..... I do!

French Cottage Garden Quilt, a pattern by Crab Apple Hill Design.

I'm really pleased with the way it came out. If you recall, given that the pinwheel backgrounds were more off white, I was concerned about having used white fabric for the embroidery panels. It all worked out in the end!

I will be machine quilting this quilt when I get back from MQX.

Is anyone attending the Machine Quilter's Exposition in Manchester, NH? It takes place from April 13 to 18th. Just being curious here!

I'll be taking a few classes on custom quilting and techniques. This year I decided to take classes from teachers who are APQS users. Last year, I took many classes from Linda Taylor and some with Sally Terry, which I enjoyed tremendously. This year I've booked with Sue Patten, Dawn Cavanaugh and others. I did want to take a class with Karen McTavish, but it was closed! :o(

I'm really looking forward to attending MQX. This will be a good break from the quilt shop planning and executing. Let's just say that it's keeping me very busy, which, reminds me, I need to get off this computer and get ready for my exiting day! I just cannot wait to tell you all about it!

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

I've been back... just in a funk!

Thank you to those concerned for my lack of post. Life has been a whirlwind of possibilities. I'm having a difficult time keeping up with it all. And if that wasn't enough, school is starting for me. I have just been so tired as of late. Enough said....

I didn't take many pictures during my trip to Pennsylvania. I think mainly because I was there last year and had reported on my visit.

The show was nice. It wasn't busy at all compared to others I have experienced. I think it was mainly due to being a weekday. Bonus for me! Some of the gals from my guild did mention that compared to prior years, the show was smaller this year. Never having been, I cannot judge, I just know that I had a good time. I didn't see any quilts that jumped out at me, so no pictures.

My number one priority at the show was to meet up with Pepper Cory, which I did at the lunch line. ;o)

Unfortunately, I was not able to take a course with her due to time constraint, but I did want to buy a copy of her book Mastering Quilt Marking. It's out of print and I was hoping she would have some copies on hands.

As you see, it was my lucky day! She even offered to autograph it for me!

My second priority was to seek out the APQS booth, the dealer being David & Gretchen Adams from Afton, NY.

I needed to find out what I'm either doing right or wrong with my longarm. I wanted to get a good feel of things, if you know what I mean!

I did find out that my top and backing rollers are much too tight and so is my loaded quilt. I need to loosen up! She did give me some pointers in regards to my clamps getting in the way.

My third priority was to shop for items I do not have access too in my neck of the woods!

And... Ya know, that pretty much means everything! ;o)

Yes, more hand embroidery patterns! How could I resist! You all know whose fault it is!!!!!! lol

One of the patterns is from Sandy Gervais. A while back I received a wonderful surprise from a dear friend and the pattern will be perfect for the charm pack.

I just love those "This & That" patterns. They make such sweet gifts for friends!

Given that we were going shop hopping all day on Saturday, I did stay away from any fabric purchase. Well......

I just could not resist this kit. The colours are just oh so delicious!

I'm telling you, the Fig Tree look is my new fad! Well, it is a Moda you know and ......... I'm such a Moda girl!

So there you have it, my day at the show! I had a great time shopping at quilt store booths that I would not have the opportunity to visit.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I enjoy reading your comments!

Have a great day every one!

Reflections on quilting!

I want to share with you Ricky Tims' first quilt. You might wonder why I would want to share such a thing, I mean his quilts are so exquisite, why the first one? Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking since my return from the seminar. More so about how I view myself as a quilter. So allow me.....

This is his first quilt. I have not re-sized the picture because I want you to be able to view it up close.

Like most of us, he started with a sampler. It's not perfect by any means, but it certainly provides me with a sense of his humanness. Let's face it, the man is quite a prolific and successful quilter and yet, this quilt is part of his travelling collection. Why? I feel that this says a lot about who he is as a person. Despite his fame, he is willing to show the world where he started as a quilter. That my friends speaks volume!

At the Vermont Quilt Festival, they have a category for first time quilters called Adult Beginner. I've always been puzzled by this category. I understand this to be the very first quilt you make. However, the quilts were phenomenal! I mean, it was nothing like Ricky's first quilt nor mine.

I would peruse the collection of "first quilts" and felt absolutely crushed that my quilting, after so many years did not even remotely compare to their first quilt. It was more like "Wow, this is their first quilts?" Oh my gosh, let me go home and cry. Obviously I do not have the talent to enter a quilt in a show. You know, while writing this entry I came to the realization why at shows I always shop first and quickly look at the quilts before going home! Interesting! Hum.....

Now back to Ricky's first quilt; that to me resembles more a "first quilt". It certainly leads me to believe that the ones I have seen at VQF were not necessarily first time quilts. Hum.... people cheat?!! lol

I look at Ricky's beginning and where he is now and I feel that I too can do it! This is a very different feeling from VQF where I thought I could never be a good enough quilter. Perhaps that is why he brings his first quilt, and by the way speaks about it also. He wants everyone to understand that they don't have to be a genius or born with a "special" talent to be a good quilter! There is a common beginning and it's up to the individual to aspire to be the best quilter they can be.

Knowing this inspires me. It fills me with my own unique creative energy. Thank you Ricky Tims for sharing freely your creative process and for putting quilting into perspective. Perhaps it's time for me to think about entering a quilt in shows. ;o)

Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. I would enjoy reading your input on my reflections.

Have fun creating!

Ricky Tim Seminar - Part 1...!

I just spent 3 (three) intense days in Glens' Falls to attend the Ricky Tims Quilt Seminar and what a blast it was! What an energetic and invigorating seminar!

I left Thursday moonish to drive down to Glens' Falls, which is about a 2 (two) hour drive from my home. I stayed at The Manor Inn, about 1 mile away from the civic center where the seminar took place. I had the Garden Room! It was the first time I ever slept in a king size bed! Yea, I needed a map to get out of it the first morning! lol The stay was quite comfy and the breakfast, delicious! I did enjoy the walk to and from the seminar every day!

Strangely, I hadn't expected to meet many people. Members from my guild were going, but I didn't know who. Given that I'm still sort of a new member, it really wasn't my intention to meet up with anyone I knew. I left home with the idea that I'd be spending a quiet 3 (three) days to myself. As you can just imagine, that's not how it turned out!

Thursday, I am climbing up the stair in the civic center looking for a seat and I hear "Carole Meier". I'm looking around and a beautiful lady says to me, "You have a blog! Oh my gosh, I read your blog". Well, you can just imagine my surprise! I'm fascinated by the idea that someone actually recognized me! lol I just couldn't believe it! What a pleasant surprise to meet up with a reader. Gosh, I almost felt like a famous person! LOL

Meet Denise, she's a lurker! lol Doesn't she have the sweetest smile?

I'm trying really hard to have her come out of lurkdom! lol She is a hoot!

You cannot imagine how much she made my day! I mean, to actually recognize me! I guess my picture does reflects the true me! lol She did say that I look much skinnier in person. THANK YOU Denise! lol

Denise's friend took our picture in front of Bohemian Rhapsody quilt by Ricky Tims. Thank you Denise from making me feel special!

At the end of the first evening, I hooked up with 3 (three) fine ladies from my guild.

Meet, starting from the left, Cheryl, Kathy and Trudy! What a hoot they all are!

They all decided to yell "Yooooo Hoooo" for the picture, which was the expression we "the audience" used throughout the seminar to express our joy and excitement!

They invited me to join them for dinner Thursday evening. We ate at Fiddlehead's Gourmet Dining. It was delicious!

From then on, we stayed together as a group and would meet up in the morning. They were kind enough to save me a seat. I always seemed to arrive with a minute to spare!

It's my understanding that this seminar was the largest they had ever had. We were close to 800 people.

I do hope you enjoyed reading about my first day! Thank you so much for stopping by!

MQX ... the last day!

Saturday morning, I once again took classes all day. My last class ending at 3:00 p.m.

I do want to tell you about one of the classes I took with Sally Terry. What a wonderful teacher she is. The class was called Instant Fills and Meanders.

If you haven't picked up her book Pathways to Better Quilting, I strongly suggest that you do. It's a must in a machine quilter's library.

She breaks down machine quilting patterns into 5 shapes, and from these shapes you create the various designs that make up your filler or quilting pattern.

I was so ecstatic when I saw her class in the catalogue, I just had to take it. If I had to walk away with only one important piece of advice that came from her class (and they were many, she freely shares her knowledge and experience) it would be "work your mistakes in, make it look as though you planned it that way". That somehow took a load off my shoulders. It removed the fear of making a mistake and having to croak! lol

I suppose I should talk about my purchases. I mean, I cannot go to a show and not buy anything.

As you can see I didn't pick up much in terms of goodies. I tried to stay reasonable despite Superior Threads offering their products close to whole sale. I mean, not that I didn't want to buy anything related to quilting, it's just well, I think I felt self conscious financially.

You see, I did make a huge expense while at the show. I'd like to place the fault on Vicki and say "she made me do it", but I'd be fibbing. No, Vicki did not make me do anything, she was a great support.

I suppose I should get to the point! I did test drive many longarms. Yes, I was very impressed with the A-1 Quilting Machine, it's a smooth running machine. But, that's not the one I bought. I bought the APQS Millennium with extras including the hydraulic table! Oh, I CAN blame the hydraulic table on Vicki! lol

Now, can I blame the longarm purchase on Sue Patten? lol No, but she was a factor in my decision. She is an amazing woman, full of energy. You bet I'll be taking classes with her next year, if not sooner.

Some have asked me how I based my decision. For one, I did my research and without getting too spiritual, I based it on my feelings. APQS just felt right for me. Couple that with wonderful people at the booth, and it was a sell for me. Mark Caraher was tending the booth the whole time, he's a great person. I tell you the energy was wonderful. I tear when I think of my purchase experience. I know, I get emotional at times! lol

The next day I went to the booth to ask about something, you know how your mind sort of shuts down when you've made such a purchase. Questions come up the next day. The lady there was very supportive. I watched as the sales people interacted and it felt genuine.

So there you have it, my first longarm purchase! I am so excited, I can hardly stand it. Delivery date is around mid July!

Thank you for stopping by and sharing this new joy with me! I hope you have a wonderful day!

ps: Picture of Sue and I graciously provided by Vicki W. Thanks again Vicki!

MQX the fun continues...!

Friday I took a classes all day! What a day! I tell you I was exhausted by the end of my third class.

The first class was with Linda V. Taylor and Cheri Meineke-Johnson. They brought with them the quilt "don't worry, be happy" . What a magnificent quilt!

The class was called From Start to Finish. What a hoot Cheri is. She is hilarious!

She demonstrated her hand applique techniques. She has quite a repertoire of tools that she uses to assist her in her creative process and not all come from the quilting world.

She likes shopping at a hardware store for quilting gadgets and enjoys rummaging through her DH's tool box.

Did you know that she loves monkeys? She actually has a pet monkey!

Afterwards, Linda took over the lecture and demonstrated on the longarm her creative process for machine quilting. They used a smaller wall size version of the "Don't worry, be Happy" quilt. Linda makes it look so easy!

After the class they raffled the sampler. It's up to the winner to finish it off!

I was not the lucky recipient of the unfinished quilt but I did win this book by both Cheri and Linda. Works for me!

They were both quite generous with their prizes. There were a few Crystal sets and lots of other goodies. It made it exciting, waiting to see if your ticket won!

My next class was Is there Life after Stippling?, which I took with my friend Jennifer. We had a blast.

Linda worked on a project that was designed for a class on the website The Quilting School. She demonstrate how she goes about deciding what to machine quilt. I tell you she makes it look so easy.

Again, the sample was raffled and won by a lucky student. Jennifer won the DVD of the Artistic Freedom class. Lucky for me she has offered to let me borrow it.

My last class with Linda was called In the beginning. It was a basic class on longarm, how to set up a quilt etc.... It was quite informative. When I was trained at the Gammil dealer (Cowles) the individual had told me that I had to measure from center onward and both sided had to be even. You can just imagine how much time that can take to get it perfect. Add the $15.00 an hour to that and you're stressing to get it just right. Well, Linda doesn't do that. You square up your backing and batting, baste and add your top working in the "off" areas to make it square. I just learned so much!

I won this template/ruler in this lecture. I tell you the generosity was unbelievable. The repertoire of prizes/gifts were phenomenal.

I had an amazing time on Friday. Of course by the end of the day I was in a vegetative state! lol

Thank you so much for stopping by. Your comments mean a lot to me.

Have a great day everyone!

MQX ... what fun!

I decided pretty much at the last minute to head off to Machine Quilters eXposition in Manchester, New Hampshire. What started as a 1 (one) day trip ended up being a 3 (three day) affair. What a great show it was! I am definitely going back next year!

I drove to Manchester Thursday morning and quickly registered in. They give you a bag full of goodies and a name tag. Gotta love those name tags! You never have to worry about forgetting names, including your own! lol

I spent some time test driving various longarm. MQX is the place to be to learn about the available longarms/midarms on the market. I was quite impressed with A-1 longarm. It's a smooth running machine. Didn't seem fussy at all with threads. They had one model running on metallic thread. You should have seen that baby go! It preformed much better than my embroidery machine! lol

I met up with Vicki from Field Trips in Fiber . What a wonderful soul Vicki is. She graciously sent me pictures to share with you as I had forgotten my camera. Isn't she just the sweetest? I had such a great time.

We had lunch and pretty much shopped till we dropped. I tell you, that girl can shop! lol She reminds me of Sharon. lol But, I definitely spent more money than she did. ;o) But, I'm jumping ahead of myself...!

I met lots of wonderful people. I tell you Vicki is a social butterfly and a great person to shop with. She has so much knowledge and freely shares it!

She brought me a hand made gift, almond mango and a shea butter soap as well as lotion. Isn't it pretty! I just love the packaging. The items are sitting on top of a pile of thread. So original! Geezzzz, now I know what to do with my embroidery thread cut offs! lol

She makes her own soap and lotion. I tell you, that girl has more hobbies than anyone I know! So creative!

Thank you again Vicki for meeting with me and sharing your day! You are a sweetheart!

I'm wondering if I should share all of my purchase with you or just drag this topic till the end. Hum....... I've had so little to blog about as of late. LOL

I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

I'm alive .... I think... !

I just came back from a 3 (three) day trip to MQX! I have so much to tell you but I am too tired to write about my wonderful time at the moment, so it will have to wait. I did want to check in and let you know that I'm still here.

I will leave you with a tease. I spent a lot of money! I think my husband had a heart attack!ROFLOL

Keep well everyone!

The People's Place Quilt Museum - Partie IV !

This will post will conclude my recent travels to Amish Country, Pennsylvania. Sadly, I did not take notes on the quilts I photographed. They are gorgeous! The workwomanship is phenomenal.

The Museum is located on the second floor of The Old Country Store. The quilts on exhibit are made by Amish and or Mennonites women.

As you reach the top of the stairs you are greeted with yet another gift shop!





By now I'm pretty much all gift shopped out! There's really nothing else to say about the "gifty" part of this tour. So let's head out to the quilts!

Libby, I thought of you when I saw this one! Very small pieces! Oh so gorgeous! I just love the way the various beiges work so well together



Here you have your traditional Amish quilts. They are my favourite!



The colours on this quilt was just magnificent. So bright and cheerful! The picture really does not do it justice.



This is one of my favourite quilts!





That is a beauty! I stood there for a long amount of time admiring the workwomanship! I cannot imagine the hours that went into this quilt! The stitches are perfect! It took my breath away!

If anyone of you would like to make me a whole cloth for a special occasion, I will gladly accept it. Valentine's day is coming up! Oh and my birthday is on November 3, that should give you plenty of time to whip one up for me! ;o)

This concludes my trip. Again I apologize for not having taken down the names of the individuals who created these work of art. I would recommend going to the Old Country Store and viewing these treasures for yourself. Do plan on spending a day in Intercourse. There's really so much to see!

Thank you for visiting with me! Have a great day!