Travels in the Northeast

We've been off on a vacation. Since the plan is to retire to CA next year, DH and I figure we'd better see everything we want to see on the east coast while we can. This summer's plan has been a trip up through Maine, into Canada to Prince Edward Island and back through Maine, VT, and NY to the Adirondacks. We're currently in Augusta, ME on the way to VT. DH wanted a stop at the Maine State Archives and Library to do genealogy research. Thus.....I am able to access my computer with their free WiFi.

The trip has been truly wonderful. We had a great two nights on the island of Vinalhaven in Maine, where our dear friends own a house. Here's a picture of a typical scene when boating through the islands of Maine.

We traveled up to Bar Harbor and spent a glorious day at Acadia National Park. We stayed at the greatest B&B called the Birches. It was in Southwest Harbor. Our hosts Dick and Rocky Homer were delightful. The view from our bedroom window was the bay. Here is a scene from Bar Harbor.

And then it was off to Canada. We took the CAT ferry to Yarmouth, NS, Canada. Unfortunately, I found out I was not a seasoned boater. I had to stay put and look at the horizon in order to avoid being sick. We drove up the eastern shore of NS to Truro where we spent the night. In the morning, we boarded the ferry for PEI.

PEI is a beautiful place, full of lighthouses, bays, farms, and gentle rolling hills. We stayed at Anglo Rustico at another B&B on the water. Our hosts were a lovely Acadian couple who reccommended a side trip to Greenwich Dunes. It was well worth the drive despite the horrendous heat and humidity......PEI was having an unusual heat spell. On Saturday, we attended the "Anne of Green Gables" musical in Charlottetown. PEI is the setting for the classic L.M. Montgomery stories. Here are some pictures from PEI.

Now we are back in the U.S. having stayed one night in New Brunswick where we saw the Reversing Falls and the Hopewell Rocks. Here is a picture of the interesting rock formations at Hopewell Rocks. When the tide goes out, you can walk out to them. You can really see the effects of the wind and see on the red sandstone.

So now we are in Maine (one of my very favorite states) and my story ends for now. It's been a great trip. I feel so truly blessed to be able to travel and see so many lovely places.

Back to Normalacy - Whatever That Is

Just finished substitute teaching in second grade. The pregnant teacher delivered early, so what was supposed to be 4 weeks became 5 weeks. Life as I had generally known it in retirement came to a halt. Waking up early and lesson plans came back in to focus. All in all, it wasn't hard at all. How can I complain about a class that only had 11 students? The teacher even did her own report cards. The way I figure it, I now have a little extra money for those trips to California to visit the darling grand-daughters. And here they are:

Now it's time to get back to quilting and other sewing projects. The current top of the priority list is curtains for Makayla's room. Today I finished the tabs for the top. Tomorrow, I'm going to work full day and see if I can't finish them. So here is the basic idea:

Scraps Progressing

The Mr. B Scrappy quilt is coming along. The main section is now half finished. I'm having such a good time just picking up squares and sewing them together without worrying about color. It's truly turning out to be scrappy.....just the look I wanted.

Our local quilt guild show is this weekend. I think I will be basically living at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds Thursday through Sunday. I'm helping with set-up on Thursday. Then I have two classes on Friday and Saturday. Sunday I'll be doing my white glove stint after church. Even my husband will be helping out. He got talked into doing a security stint. Friendship Star quilters put on a great show. They've got lots of talented quilters who turn out gorgeous quilts both traditional and art.

To Finish is Divine

Wahoo! I just finished sewing down my binding for my quilt show quilt. I took a pattern called "Bugs in Jars" and made them into flower jars instead. Then I tried out some free motion quilting and made bugs in the flowers. Nothing fancy but it was fun. Turn in for our quilt show is Saturday. All I need is a label and a sleeve. I'm thinking of also adding a bit more quilting. One thing I learned when doing this quilt is that I don't like doing hand sewing on black. It really tired my eyes.

Good Friends, Good Times

How fortunate we have been to have good friends in our lives. We've had visitors over the last few days. They came all the way from Idaho via a side trip to CO to see their grand-daughter. What a joy to visit, reminisce, and catch up with each other's lives. We've known each other since our boys were pre-schoolers. We've been through many of life's adventures together when we lived in CA.........including the Northridge Earthquake in January 1994. We've watched our children struggle to grow-up, finish college, get married, and just recently become parents. Surely God has blessed us with the friends in our lives.

While they were here we visited Hillwood House, a little known gem in Washington, D.C. It was the home of Marjorie Merriweather Post and it houses her collection of Russian art. The gardens were lovely though we are not quite at the height of springtime in the Mid-Atlantic. We also went out to Harper's Ferry, WVA and had coffee and lunch at a great little cafe in Brunswick, MD called Beans in the Belfry.


Today it is windy and blustery following two days of rain. Our friends are traveling south to visit other friends in Asheville, NC. But they'll be back here for one night before heading home to Idaho.

A Quilt Out of The Bag

Sometimes I like to ponder "What if......." when considering ideas for quilts. Problem is that I seldom get brave enough to try anything very new. I'm hesitant on color choices and I question my design capabilities. So.........I decided to try something safe but fun. I had been getting 4" squares from Mr. B's Fabric Club (Benatrex) for awhile. They always send along ideas for a small quilt but nothing ever hit me. So the squares kept piling up. Until one day.........I decided to throw them in a bag and start pulling them out randomly and put them together. I did this off and on for awhile. But what was I going to do for a setting? Plain old 9 patch seemed too boring. Along comes a friend who is doing a scrappy 30's quilt and she shows me her setting from a magazine idea. Perfect! That's what I will use for my scrappy quilt. This project has been going on for awhile as I just work on it off and on. I did come up with a plan using my EQ6. The picture that follows is where I am so far. So..........What if I randomly select fabric squares and sew them together?:


I'm kind of liking this. It's been fun to work on and it will be a great quilt for practicing my machine quilting on.

But it's got to go on hold for now. Tomorrow I fly out to CA to visit the darling grand-daughters.

Just a note......It's going to be in the 80's today. Spring really is here. Yeah!

Sewing Machine Woes

I have two lovely Bernina Sewing Machines and both of them have been visiting the Bernina Techs lately. In fact, the newest one, the 440QE is still there. I went to my first "get-acquainted class" for the 440QE and discovered that the tension was all funky. The instructor told the Bernina sales folks that they had better take my machine and get it in working order before I take the class that teaches me about the BSR. That's not too fun since they are telling me the turn-around is possibly two weeks! I can't even sign up for my next class until the machine is back and in good running order.

Then there is the 150QE which I need to sell. But the alphabet progran was all out of whack and it needed a regular tune-up so in to a different tech it went. To the tune of $300.00, it was ready by the afternoon. I took an applique class while it was being fixed over in VA at the Quilt Patch. I sure hope I can sell it for a decent price to make up for the cost of fixing it.

The applique class was alot of fun. We practiced several techniques for doing applique. I've never been one for much hand-work. I'd like to get in to it so I have something to work on that can go along with me.

I've also been taking a color class for quilters. Haven't worked that hard in ages. We had to use zillions of little 2 inch fabric samples to make a color wheel with tints, shades, etc. Then we had to make charts of analogous, complimentary, etc. colors. Lastly, we hit the fabric department and had to pick a fabric palette that matched a picture we brought in. It was intense.

Last Friday, we had snow again. Jim and I went out that evening to see the Irish Tenors at the Music Center at Strathmore. What a lovely event that was! The acoustics in that auditorium are fantastic. We had great seats and we enjoyed the program of Irish tunes and melodies.