A little Needlin’ at Needles!

If you happen to pass through Wellsboro, PA – chances are that you will pass by on Main Street.

If you find yourself on Main Street --- you can’t miss seeing Needles Quilt Shop right there sandwiched between other historic buildings on the beautifully groomed avenue.

After setting up for last night’s trunk show ---three of us took a 5 block walk down the main street from the Cultural Center where the meeting was being held, toward the restaurant where we were having dinner.

We had about 15 minutes to spare – so we thought we’d drop into Needles and say hello!

These two lovely ladies were so very welcoming! Mary is on the right --- and on the left, Tracy!

No, this is not fabric – this is the wonderful tiled ceiling!

Needles is in a lovely old building…with tall, wonderful brick walls. My eyes did go immediately to the ceiling, I just can’t help myself.

Yes there are lots of hanging samples! Yes there are batiks!

There are beautiful samples hanging everywhere, and reproductions to whet your appetite!

There was even a nice selection of 50% off fabrics…..and yes, I did indulge! Remember, Neutrals are ALWAYS a legal purchase! They are my staple, my mainstay!

I go through more neutrals than anything else. They are the bread to my peanut butter ---the tortilla to my taco. Something like that! Whatever it is, they hold everything else together for me!

My time in Wellsboro is nearly over. Today’s class is done. Tonight I’ve got dinner out with the guild ladies, and my last evening at Falling Stars Farm. Will I sew? Maybe. Will I sit on the veranda and watch the sun go down and just enjoy the quiet and read? Maybe.

Wednesday finds me on the road to HERSHEY which will be a whole nuther kind of chaos ----the biggest question on my mind? How to teach an all day workshop on Friday –along with a lecture/trunkshow luncheon on the same day ---HOW will I get the trunk show set up and all the books where they need to be so it’s ready for the 12:15pm show….and will I get packed up and be done and back where I need to be when class resumes?

If there was ever a time I wished for a clone --- this is it!

iPhone-o-Gram! Wild in Wellsboro!!

My Blue Heaven is under way in Wellsboro, PA!

We are deep into working with the Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers!

If course I had to pet the vintage machines---

We send a cheery hello from all of us to all of you!

Hello from Falling Stars Farm!

Pennsylvania is a very big state! It’s big side to side. It’s big top to bottom. It’s really big if you are going diagonally from Bedford to Wellsboro!

But how often does one get a chance to admire the beautiful scenery of the Allegheny mountains? Not very often, and let me tell you, it’s breathtaking countryside…

So beautiful that you won’t even mind it when your phone goes from connection to --- searching-----to ----- NO SERVICE for miles and miles and miles of mountain roads.

"UNPLUGGED AND LOVING IT!!" is my new motto!

Oh, and now I would like someone to explain to me why the big expensive built in GPS in Shamu can NOT find remote places and tells me that “turn by turn guidance” will not be provided --- but the $99 TomTom I used to have, and the maps program on my PHONE can get me ANYWHERE.

What’s up with that? So here I am in the middle of nowhere, using the car GPS as far as it will go, and then switching to phone maps to get me the rest of the way. I just don’t get it.

So it’s a good thing that the place is so dang beautiful, or I’d be more flustered about it than I am!

((Yeah, and how stupid to have to have a SPARE GPS just in case the one built in won’t get you where you are going?!))

This is one of the other things I love about Pennsylvania --- BARNS! Round Barns, Red Barns, White Barns, Stone Barns --- love them all! I passed this one on the not-very-well-paved road where the GPS navigation ended, and had to pause for a picture. See those two birds on the wire? They are “On Line”. HA!

This is Falling Stars Farm B&B! I’m here for 2 nights----and it is so beautiful here! When I first arrived, the owners were in town getting supplies – I was early --- and so I got to wait on those lovely white chairs on the front porch, and wander a bit around the yard.

What do you think of when you see a tire swing?

I remembered all those long summer days swinging and singing and having childhood friends twist the rope until it was so tight --- and letting it go so it spun around and around and around!

And yes, this is me, at 50 years old – trying out the swing again for old time’s sake. Good thing I didn’t break my leg, and why did I ever think this thing was comfortable to sit on? LOL

The view from the house is spectacular…..and oh how I love Queen Anne’s Lace! It’s my favorite road-side wild flower….and I remember as a young girl going through the patches of Queen Anne’s Lace and trying to find the biggest one…..who could find the biggest one?

This one, I think! Isn’t it so pretty?

Back at the house and all checked in, I wandered out to the top deck with my laptop and phone to get a bit of work done before heading out to my lecture. Would you choose the porch swing at the far end, or the glider bench part way down? I wanted my feet on the ground ---especially after that visit with the tire swing….it was the glider bench for me!

My room is perfectly rustic and cozy!

The perfect place to dream of quilts, scheme of quilts ----plot and plan!

Today is a My Blue Heaven workshop with the Mountain Laurel Quilters. From what I’ve been told we’ll have 27 students raring to go and learn some new skills with the Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers! I’m so excited ----

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!

Night Time Edition! Free Kindle Book!

I’m back in my lovely room at the B&B!

After a very energized guild meeting, it takes a while for me to unwind and be ready for bed --- so I’ve been tackling emails, editing photos, checking out facebook and catching up on reading and browsing.

I’m just NOT TIRED!

And I found this goodie that some of you might like….if we are similar in our reading tastes!

I love anything historical. And this one sounds SO interesting:

Just Deceits: A Historical Courtroom Mystery by Michael Schein is free tonight in the Amazon Kindle Store.

Genre: Historical Drama.

Book Description:

In 1793, Virginia’s most powerful family found itself embroiled in scandal: Richard Randolph and his sister-in-law, the beautiful Nancy Randolph, were charged with adultery and infanticide.

Richard Randolph demanded a public trial. Richard’s stepfather, Judge Henry St. George Tucker, hired John Marshall, a young lawyer who was connected to their family through marriage. John Marshall would go on to become the greatest Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, a man whose theories of law are now taught to every first year law student, though at the time of the Randolph trial he was relatively unknown.

Author Michael Schein, a former professor of American legal history, drew on John Marshall’s actual trial notes in writing this novel that centers on the trial of the 18th century. Just Deceitsshows how the remarkable defense team of wily Patrick Henry and ambitious John Marshall battled each other, their clients, the prosecution, and the truth itself, in an effort to save their clients from the gallows.

Review:

Just Deceits is an exceptionally well-written novel that combines a gripping legal who-done-it with a rich and clever historical tale. Because the line between truth and belief is not neatly drawn, the book is also a significant contribution to the genre of the novel of ideas. The reader looking for thoughtful fun will not be disappointed. --Julian Riepe, former Book Acquisition Manager, Amazon.com

I just downloaded it and it was free for me ---but not sure how long it will be, so please double check before clicking that it still is for you.

This is a pic I took of the back of the room as chairs were filling and we were in danger of running out of chairs and having to bring more out!

Goodnight from Wellsboro, PA – I’m off to go read for a while!

Oh, The Cookies!

I’ve arrived in Wellsboro – what a beautiful part of Pennsylvania!

I’ve got some time before going to set up for my lecture tonight --- so I plugged in my phone to charge it while checking mail and I came across some photos that didn’t get downloaded from Friday night’s lecture in Bedford….

Oh those crazy “Mary’s Quilt Shop” girls!

While in Oregon I got an email from Mary asking if I could send her the photos of my vintage machines and the names of each. How curious this made me! I was in the middle of the fiasco with a broken computer and a broken sewing machine, so I simply sent her the link to my Vintage Machines found in the tab bar above and hoped it would suffice --- but I have to be honest with you, I was SO CURIOUS what she wanted all that for!

I found out as soon as I arrived at the shop!

Mary found a cookie cutter in the shape of a sewing machine and she was off and running ----Theresa and the girls made the sewing machine cookies and iced each one and named them to match the names of my machine collection!

Do you see these blue THELMAS? They are after the Blue toy machine that Lucy gave me when she came from the Netherlands that very first time!

And Bea? That of course is Bea, the white featherweight that is with me on this trip.

Ugly Betty!

She is my beat up “needs a new paint job” Singer 301 that was gifted to me by the Altoona girls a few years back!! LOL!

*HINT* You really don’t want to EAT the black icing before speaking – it will turn your tongue and teeth gray!

Willie is the oldest machine in my collection --- he’s just a poor treadle-less Wilcox & Gibbs machine head ---found all forlorn and non working, but I adopted him anyway.

Hello Kitty is the little Janome I bought for a “someday” granddaughter ---

And you all know who Barbie is! She’s pink just like the cookies!

My thanks again to Mary Koval and the girls at Mary’s Quilt Shop for making my stay with them such a treat!

The last of the cookies WERE a treat! I had them in my car with me on the way to Wellsboro.

Tonight’s lecture will soon be underway. Tomorrow we have a My Blue Heaven workshop ----and the fun continues!

iPhone-o-Gram! Things I Love....

Things that can only be found in Pennsylvania!!

I so love this brand of birch beer---which tastes the same as rootbeer to me, but somehow the name change makes it that much better!

Even better when purchased from a quaint Mennonite market on a picturesque country road on my way to Wellsboro!

I'm about half way there----next stop? The Falling Stars B & B on Horse Thief Run Rd! Doesn't that sound memorable?!

Spa Day at Bedford Springs!

Several Years ago when I made my first pilgrimage out to Altoona, PA---it was either September or October because Bedford’s Fall Foliage festival was in full swing ---we drove past Bedford Springs in a very “sight seeing” manner.

The place AMAZED me! I love historic buildings, and to realize that this place has been a destination for people traveling for the “benefits of the waters” for over 200 years is incredible!

Yet, that was just a DRIVE BY – yesterday I actually got to go inside and my jaw just dropped. They’ve done such a good job at preserving the original feel of the place. This wasn’t just an appointment for a massage that was going to last 50 minutes and be over ---when you go, you get the whole benefit of the facilities. The indoor pool, the outdoor pool, the mineral showers, the herb infused mineral water sauna, and the bedford baths ---and the quiet lounge and verandas. It’s a full day experience!

This was my first view--I had to pull over and get a pic! The main lobby is way at the far end of the pic where you can see the columns.

A valet will take and park your car for you as is custom. Hint: When you leave your car with the valet, remember to leave him your key fob if your car has a push button ignition! LOL! I got half way through the lobby before remembering my fob was still in my purse. Sometimes I think it is easier to have a key that goes IN an ignition! This is not the first time I’ve done this ----but this is the view when you enter the lobby-- Imagine very soft music playing….the relaxation is already starting!

Another view in the lobby – this is where those stair cases lead to --- up to guest rooms and other amenities.

This is where you whisper "Holy Moly!" with near reverence --- This place is beautiful…all that is missing is someone to play that baby grand piano in the back corner ---

To get to the spa, go through the library – stop to rearrange some puzzle pieces on the table – and keep going!

An attendant will take you to the locker area. You will be given a robe and slippers and a locker to call your own while you are here. Change into your bathing attire.

Get giddy over the hexagon tiles on the floor!

_{Towels are provided as are any toiletries you might need.}

Hang your robe and towel on the hook and step into the warm and drenching mineral shower. Use the special body scrub to leave your world behind and down the drain! From here you can relax in the steam sauna if you wish, or slide right into the healing waters of the Bedford mineral bath whirlpool:

Soak yourself blissfully until your fingers and toes reach mandatory pruney-ness!

Gawk at the gorgeous tile on the walls!

There should be a sign on the wall that says "Quilters -- do not DROOL in the WHIRLPOOL!"

This is not a place for magic markers --- but those hexagons on the wall were calling me! And how pretty is this border?

Sssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Dry off after your whirlpool extravaganza and enter the quiet lounge. Comfy chaise lounges with blankets for napping, reading or just day dreaming beckon you to leave it all behind and stay.

Treat yourself to a plate of fresh fruit, fix a cup of tea to sip while you read. And my new favorite – they had tall glasses of water adorned with a slice of cucumber, a wedge of orange, and a slice of lime in each glass over ice. So simple, so elegant, so necessary!

Exit the french doors off of the quiet lounge to find yourself in a secluded garden with burbling fountains.

Walk along the paths – still wrapped in your robe and wearing your slippers. The double veranda is also furnished with comfy lounges for outdoor resting. This was my favorite place of all and I could have stayed out here and enjoyed the quiet and peaceful surroundings until the sun went down.

But that isn’t all that there is to do here!

There is a gorgeous INDOOR pool!

More yummy floor tiles! And my slippers and robe :c)

There is a lot of history behind this pool. It was one of the first indoor pools ever built in the United States. The pool was added in 1905 and fed with mineral water from the springs. It’s just beautiful!

But if you really want a bit of sunshine – you can wander to the outdoor pool:

Pick a lounge chair, read a book, catch a cat nap in the late afternoon sunshine!

Rent a private cabana or soak in the outdoor Jacuzzi!

Play golf if you want ---or let the DH do it while you indulge yourself in the spa!

We had a great day ---and literally, you may have a 4pm massage appointment, but you can get there early in the day, spend the whole day enjoying the facilities, have your massage, shower, dress and change and have a wonderful dinner right there at the hotel. It was the perfect end to my time here in Bedford and I’m so glad that Mary and I had the chance to do it!

Poolside Bliss!