And the Luggage Saga Continues ---

Rain and luggage do NOT mix when traveling. In fact, I’ve thought about investing in hard-sided luggage when my suitcases give way. Even though I’ve scotch-guarded the outside of them every so often, especially during the winter rainy/snowy/wet months –if a soft sided suitcase or traveling quilt duffel bag sits on a wet belt or luggage truck when being transferred plane to plane, or from plane to baggage claim, water can still seep in.

I knew the bags were damp on the bottom when we loaded them into Carol’s car --- but luckily the quilts are packed INSIDE the large duffels with “extra tuff lawn and leaf bags” in pillow case fashion! One bag on one end, another bag at the other end, overlapping somewhere in the middle hoping to keep damp out!

And look.,…TSA left me another “Happy travels, we are so glad to see you” Notice! LOL! What do you think made them suspicious? Is it the clear acrylic rulers this time? or the fact that I had an ott type light with a cord, a travel iron with a cord, and all the other quilters paraphernalia that goes with going off for a retreat weekend? Never fear, this little TSA card will find itself being repurposed into more hexagon papers….

Nothing in the big suitcase was wet…but the duffels needed to be unloaded and dried over night! Where was I going to hang them??

How about the coat rack on the laundry room wall!?

I had to laugh as I came back in from dinner. This reminds me of some scene from “return of the body snatchers” and their pods! LOL!

But what’s worse is what the bag wrapped quilts looked like laying about on the sitting room floor!

I can hear it now! “Body #1 was found behind the recliner just past the front entrance, Sarge!”

“As for body #2? Hard to explain why it was right up against the entertainment center partly obscuring a bunch of quilt books, magazines and quilting games.”

Identities yet to be found, but all seem to be scrappy in nature!

All in all though…though I’ve thought and thought and searched about how to better transport these quilts, this just seems to be the best way I’ve found. I’ve seen some quilters using golf club cases..but those weigh so much. It would mean less quilts for the trunk show. To me a trunk show with 6 quilts is not MUCH of a trunk show! In this case, more IS better! As for the card golf travel cases -even though they have wheels, ((Which would be nice!)) you can’t get 50 lbs of quilts in one bag. And they charge you extra $$ for over sized luggage in some cases.

I can fly with 3 checked bags and no baggage fees if I keep going the way I keep going. So I’ll stick with this until something better comes along!

Threads Galore & Quilt Inn!

I’m in love!

I’m in love with this whole area and the adorable quilt shop and retreat house that Carol and Dan have so lovingly and painstakingly put together in this idyllic setting in the mountains of Maine.

Who says that a little town of 1200 is too small for a fabulous quilt shop?

The picture to the left is what you see when you drive up this picturesque tree-lined street just dotted with vintage homes spilling over with New England charm!

Carol and Dan’s shop is part of their home. And Homey is the perfect adjective to describe it. But don’t let the “small town” part fool you! This is a very well stocked quilt shop with gorgeous fabrics, lots of notions, and OH the sample quilts!

We pulled in a bit after 5pm, and Carol explained to me that I would be staying next door at Quilt Inn, the retreat house!

A whole retreat house to myself?! Whoopie!

Carol’s house and this house were both built in the 1890s. Carol’s hubby is quite the talented contractor, and fully gutted and remodeled the retreat house into the perfect Quilting getaway for groups up to 9 people.

My first glimpse upon entering via the back porch….quilts and a treadle! I’m in heaven!

Here’s my pile of luggage in the cozy sitting room! More quilts everywhere, comfy furnishings.

Last night at dinner, Dan told the story of how the previous owner’s daughter remembers her dad collecting each stone that went into the fireplace chimney.

Off the sitting rom is a large cozy kitchen….fully loaded with everything you’d need to make yourself at home with your group! I love the tall windows and plaid curtains!

Another view shows the nice counter area for preparing group meals and taking turns at doing the dishes! This is a kitchen I would LOVE to have in my own home!

But wait until you see the sewing area!

Walls were knocked out and moved to include what was the former front porch to add to the size of the sewing room! Isn’t this awesome?! Lots of windows and great light fixtures over head mean that everyone has a perfect spot for retreating! There are lots of design walls every where for laying stuff out.

Another view. These shots were taken in the evening after dinner, so if they look grainy that is why. Isn’t this awesome? I also love the wood floors throughout the entire house, many of them original to the structure.

More design wall space, and a wonderful new cutting island..THIS I want too!

But the real cozy charm comes from the 4 bedrooms up stairs!

Staircase with original bannister --- up we go!

Quilts at every turn! This cute little vignette is at the top landing of the stairs. Love it!

I adore upstairs rooms with slanting ceilings! This is the room I chose to stay in. The blue walls are so calming! Love the bear paw quilts on the beds!

This larger room sleeps 3….and the beds are covered with Log Cabin quilts in different layouts!

Love the tall boy dresser with the round mirror --- everything is just SO inviting! Can you imagine the late night giggles as 3 quilt friends whisper late into the wee small hours in here? This is a place where fun Quilters memories are made, that’s for sure!

Yet another room with a Flying Geese theme…..Sweet dreams to be had in here!

Lovely oak dresser!

Lovely pastel 30’s quilts in the 4th bedroom for the girly girl in you! Wouldn’t you love to come “Quilt Inn” with 8 of your closest quilting buds? I’m sure Carol and Dan will take good care of all of your needs!

Yesterday around 11am we left this little perfect getaway for ANOTHER perfect getaway! Quilt Camp is held up at the lodge, and there are 20 of us spending the weekend! We’ve got two classes running, Star Struck and Texas braid, as well as a full fledged lecture and trunk show happening after lunch on one of the days while here. Knowing that quilters love to sew into the evening hours while on retreat, we are doing the trunk show mid day so we can take advantage of the natural light from the windows and leave the evenings free for sewing.

That means that *I* get to sew in the evenings too! YAY!

Maine-ly Speaking!

Hello from Maine!

I arrived in Portland yesterday morning and was met at the airport by Carol who owns Threads Galore Quilt Shop in Rangeley! Carol puts on this Quilt Camp every year, and it is she who is responsible for contacting me a couple of years ago and seeing if I wouldn’t like to come up and enjoy Maine in the height of fall color and teach at Quilt Camp!

I’ve never been to Maine before, but if I was going to come at all, I knew that this was the PERFECT time of year to do so.

Rangeley is a few hours drive from the airport, up in the mountains ---and Carol had planned a little scenic route for us to take so I could see a bit of the coast as well as inland.

Our first stop?? The LL Bean Flagship Stores in Freeport! FUN! I had to take a photo op with the world’s biggest LL Bean Boot :cD

From here we drove our way along some country roads that looked very much like this:

All the way til we couldn’t drive much farther….and we stopped here for lunch:

Isn’t this cute? Look at those pumpkins! This is Cook’s Lobster House on Bailey Island –and you know you can’t come to Maine without having LOBSTAH of some sort!

If you look at the map on the left of the place mat, you can see the red star marking where we were! There is water on ALL SIDES of these narrow islands that are linked together by bridges.

And this, my friends, is a Maine Lobster Roll! MMMMMMMM! ((Yes, this should have come with a foodie post warning, at least to get Amy to avert her eyes because she doesn’t LIKE seafood at all! LOL!!)) Sorry—can’t help myself!

Me, by the dock, complete with lobster traps just sitting there. Carol was very indulgent in helping me find places to get good pics! I suspect you’ll be seeing lots of them over the next few days!

I love this shot of the rocky coast line! It was “ALMOST” wanting to be sunny…just not quite…but almost!

As we drove our way inland and up toward the mountains, this was the kind of scenery that beckoned us to stop:

Oh, how I love mirror image photos with still water! The trees really are much more vibrant that this…we are just lacking some sunshine and blue sky to really bring out their color.

My internet connection is precariously iffy. Sometimes I can get a phone signal if I go outside and watch my phone until it goes from No Service to Searching to showing that I have 2 bars. And if the wind changes, I lose signal completely.

The wifi where I am right now seems to be much the same way, so I’m hoping I can even upload this post!

And that goes for any future posts I try to send while I’m here…will they go or not? It remains to be seen! Wish me luck! I'll keep you updated as much as I can!

Hike to the Beach!

Monday was a bit of a reprieve with some time to do some sight seeing and some sewing during the day hours as I didn’t have to meet up with the guild board until 4:45 so we could grab a bite to eat and run on over to set up before the evening guild meeting started.

Almost a WHOLE day for ME!!

I woke up, spent a few hours cutting, kitting and sewing, and around 11am found that my mind was wandering --- it was GORGEOUS outside and the trails were beckoning!

My hostess, Julia, had explained to me that if I go right back out through their back yard, take a left..follow the pipeline area….it joins to the trails of Calvert Cliffs State Park!

A State Park right in your back yard?! WONDERFUL! And the trails in this park go all the way to the Chesapeake Bay! EVEN BETTER!

I pulled on shorts and a tshirt and my running shoes. Julia followed me out onto the back deck and sprayed me down heavily ((cough cough!!)) with bug spray, and pointed my way through the trees, being sure to tell me which landmarks to look for so I could find my way back to the house.

I set out on the trail, my ear buds plugged into my ears and my ipod playing something peppy to quicken my step and get my heart rate elevated. ((Yes, the previous night’s feast of crab and everything-else-under-the-sun-deep-fried was telling me I need to BURN some calories!)) Isn’t the sun dappled forest floor so pretty?

And look! My first VISUAL clue that Autumn is REALLY here. From the rest of the trees you really can’t see it yet…..but look at those reds! BEAUTIFUL!

I found myself following trails up and down hills, over little wooden bridges and walkways, crossing streams and rivulets, just listening to the birds and the sounds of small “plops” from frogs jumping into the water as I passed. This pond was FULL of lily pads!

A wooden board walk took me past the really mushy marshy area…..this must mean I am getting closer to the beach! I can “ALMOST” smell that sea air!

And there it is….I can see water just over the crest of the trail ahead! I’d reached it! It was close to 2 miles from Julia’s house at this point….

And there it is! The beautiful Chesapeake Bay! Hurricane Irene had quite an impact on this area, causing lots of downed and uprooted trees and severe land erosion.

This was as close as I could get to the Calvert Cliffs --- they are all taped off as a danger zone, lots of roots from trees are visible along the top ledge, the land from waves just washed right out from under them….click the photo to enlarge to see better.

I wasn’t the only one enjoying the beautiful October day! As I walke3d farther down the beach I turned to take this picture of folks just enjoying the day also. Love those horse tail clouds in the background! Can you feel the sunshine? It just might be the LAST of Indian Summer we get around here!

I love to watch the waves lap at the shore!

There was a family with young sons just a digging away in the rocks and shells at the edge of the waves, and they were whooping after finding some “treasure.” I had to be nosey and go see what all the fuss was about!

The father and sons had been digging for sharks teeth --- and they found some! What an awesome treasure hunt to be on with the day so beautiful. Get AWAY from the TV and computer games and enjoy some nature….they’ll go home with quite a tale to tell!

I still had another 2 miles to hike back to Julia’s house, but I was reluctant to turn my back on this beautiful remote little beach and walk away from it. I just wanted to stay there and stop time. I hope I get a chance to make this hike again!

On my way back, I caught a glimpse of a tree root in a sunny spot on the trail…..but wait! That is no root! It started moving! It was a fairly LONG black snake ---I’m not crazy about snakes, but this one was harmless…and headed AWAY from me ((Which was a good thing.)) It was off and into the brush before I could even get my camera out of my pocket. Just as well, little snake! I’m sure it was enjoying the last hint of warm weather before it hibernates under ground too!

This little jaunt took less than 2 hours of my time. It took my joy meter from empty to full, just that fast! Next time you have some time….get out there. Visit a park, a stream, a beach, a pond, ANYWHERE. Get out and notice changes in your own neighborhood…what a beautiful world we live in!

As this posts, I’m on a plane to Portland, Maine! I’m teaching at a retreat in Rangeley, and I have no idea what my connectivity will be while there. I’ll try to keep you updated, but if this blog is quiet for a few days, you’ll know why!

Evening Edition! Free Kindle Book!

I just arrived home a while ago. Sadie was ecstatic…and so was I!

It was also raining, so I opened the garage door to pull Shamu the Van into the garage, and…ooops. There is STUFF in the way on the floor, so I had to unload the car from the driveway in the sprinkles. That’s okay. It wasn’t a cold windy downpour, just a gentle October rain, and it smelled so good!

I drove up to Maryland on Friday….and I was a bit disappointed in the fact that there really wasn’t any color yet! But OH…in a matter of 4 days MY have things changed! The only thing missing was a bit of sunshine and a blue sky to contrast all the golds and yellows and reds, but you can’t have it all, can you?

The FALL COLORS are HERE!

While my laundry is running ----so that I can pack it all back up in my suitcase again and head off for Maine in the morning…I’m going through emails and google reader and catching up on things and I found THIS!

Penumbra, by Carolyn Haines, is free on Kindle. This standalone novel was named one of the best Mysteries of 2006 by Library Journal.

Book Description
Jade Dupree is a beautician and an undertaker’s assistant with a gift for smoothing the ravages of death from the faces of her clientele. But her strange talent isn’t the only thing that sets her apart from the townspeople of tiny Drexel, Mississippi. Jade is half-black and the unacknowledged bastard daughter of Drexel’s “first lady,” the imperious Lucille Longier. J

Jade’s half sister, the pale, fragile, and legitimate Marlena, is married to Lucas Bramlett, the wealthiest man in the region. While the entire town knows of the blood bond between the two women, no one dares speak the truth out loud. Though her talents as a hairdresser are highly sought after by Drexel’s elite, Jade accepts that she’ll never truly be part of the town and lives her life the best she can.

But on one hot summer day in 1952, Jade’s world is turned inside out when Marlena, on a tryst with her lover, is savagely beaten and her young daughter kidnapped. Determined to find her niece before it’s too late, Jade accepts help from a white sheriff’s deputy, Frank Kimble. The forbidden attraction that ignites between them threatens to add to the violence already brewing in town.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

It was STILL free on Amazon, I just checked. The other links for Nook and Sony may show that it isn’t free anymore, but since I don’t use those products, this is the best I can do!

Besides…I’ve got more packing to do!

Maryland Crab Feed!

Yes, I know, it’s another foodie post!

What can I say --- I love food, and if you haven’t experienced a Maryland Crab Pickin’ there is nothing like it!

It’s MESSY!

And as Carol told us, when she treated us to this delectable feast, “The dirtier your hands get, the better the crab tastes!”

The reason being is that the crabs are steamed, and then sprinkled heavily on the outside with Old Bay seasoning, so all the flavoring bits are on the shell. If you don’t dig in there and get the seasoning on your fingers, you won’t get any on the crab meat itself!

One dozen crabs ready to be shared by the 6 of us! Tables covered with brown paper, and plenty of napkins near by!

Other required equipment? A Bucket-O’-Mallets, and some little sharp knives!

Carol showed us how to hold the crab so we could pop off the “top” of the shell and clean out the parts we didn’t want…..she made such quick work of it! And boy are those little morsels of meat tasty!

Here I am, ready to give it a go! And crab picking is such a social thing….since to get enough meat to fill you, you could sit there for hours picking at little bits of meat from the legs and the claws. It’s a perfect time for great conversation and lots of laughter! And as we learned, not ONLY are you sure to get some flying bits on yourself….but on your neighbor as well!

I had to laugh at the sounds of hammering mallets coming from every corner of the restaurant….tap tap tap…POUND POUND POUND!! :cD Don’t expect a quiet meal if you are going crab picking!

By the time we were done, this was all that was left! What a feast! We also shared orders of oysters, clams and shrimp. But never fear, we DID have some green vegetables too..

However, I must confess that since the green beans were breaded and fried, I'm really not sure that they count as a "good for you" green thing anymore!

I think I’m going to have to do lots of hiking this next weekend in Maine ((Weather and time permitting)) to work some of this crab fest OFF!

I'm on my way home this morning....it's a 7 hour drive! My plans are to throw everything in the laundry, pack it all up again, have dinner, get a good night's sleep and off I go to Maine early Wednesday morning!