I had a wonderful time there. What a fun group of ladies! This was the Falls Church branch of Quilter's Unlimited that encompasses the whole DC area.
I arrived friday afternoon, and enjoyed lunch at a wonderful vietnamese place for "Pho" which is a noodle soup that you can add all kinds of good things to. One of the fun things about travelling is trying different foods in different places. I'd had pho before and really enjoyed it, but it had been a while (like a YEAR!) so it was time to have it again. These two pics were taken with my phone. And yes, I got plenty of funny looks while taking them, but what the heck..they'll never see me again anyway so let them look!
The appetizer was veggie egg rolls...yummmmm....and you can see the plate that has all the goodies that you add to the pho noodle soup. And a pic of the soup itself!
I stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Falls Church. What a great place! I've never stayed with them before and it was really homey and comfortable. It had a kitchenette which was handy. A little sitting room with sofa and chair and TV, a desk (to set up featherweight on!) and a little kitchen table. It had a cozy bedroom with a comfy bed and the usual bathroom, but this was really nice!
I went to work right away setting up my featherweight and commencing to sew since I didn't have to meet up with anyone until dinner time. I brought the "rocky road to kansas" blocks with me that I had been piecing with the shirt crumbs..you know the smallest parts when taking apart shirts? collars, cuffs, pockets, plackets, etc? I used the evenings and free time to finish piecing ALL the blocks that I needed for this quilt! They are DONE! Now I just need to set them together and figure out what to do with the borders. I love how big these blocks are. 15" (the quarters finish at 7.5") so it goes really fast. 20 blocks does a queen quilt. This is what I had done laid on the bed before I commenced to making more blocks...
Later friday afternoon I met up with Amy and her daughter and we made a run to G street fabrics, and Joanns for some notions. I bought 4 FQ's at G street.. (such control!) and nothing at Joanns. Amy and I got a long great! From there we went on to Sweet Water Tavern for a yummy dinner with another quilting friend, so there were four of us enjoying dinner.
From there it was straight to the guild meeting. I was so thrilled with the turn out. It was a full house with several people coming from outside the area. My friend Aby came! It was so good to see her in person, it had been a couple of years I believe. Tracy also came. That meant a lot because she is in the middle of packing up and moving. Here is a pic we took together. And yes, I am soaking wet! It decided to down pour (more like hosing down rain!) while we were loading my car. What a mess! There was no telling if it would stop or not, but of course, shortly after everything was loaded, it DID stop!
I came back to the hotel after the meeting, just energized from talking to so many people about scraps and quilting. I sewed some more on the string blocks while watching Law & Order on TV! Before I knew it, it was midnight, and I crawled off to bed because the next morning was the workshop.
The workshop went GREAT! One of the things I love about teaching is seeing the different fabrics and color combinations that people are using to make their quilts. Each one had a story on who the quilt was for, or why they were using the fabrics they chose. Machines were humming, voices were happily chattering to each other. What a great day! Of course, we had the requisite M&M bowls...one with peanuts, one without!
4pm rolled around rather quickly and it was time to pack up. I went straight back to my hotel room thinking I was going to lie down for just a little bit, and before I knew it I had slept 2 hours! I guess I needed it. I got up, went and got something to eat, and then came back and worked on the rocky road blocks again. I'm going to have to name this something else! Maybe I'll call it "Frolicking to Falls Church" or Rocky Road to Richmond (Stopped and saw a friend on the way!) but we will have to see!
This post is rather long with the pics, so I'm going to end it here and catch you up with the rest in my next post!
8 comments:
Bonnie, I love seeing all the class block demos, each one is so differnet from the other and so pretty!! THanks for the updates from the road - and next time someone looks at you funny for taking a photo of your food turn the camera towards them and that will make them turn away and stop looking :P LOL ~Bonnie
Oh my gosh! I do love seeing everyones colors and blocks! And I am just so in love with your rocky road quilt! Glad you had a good time. Only thing that stinks is that I couldn't be there!
What great photos! I LOVE the diamond string quilt and the fact that you pieced it in your hotel room LOL.
It looks like you're having fun teaching these classes and visiting the guilds. You made good use of your down time in the hotel too. I love staying at Residence Inns and they take pets too so when we're traveling with Chesty we try to stay at one.
Love your Falls Church report. The ladies were making beautiful quilts. I'm scrutinizing each picture to see if I recognize anyone, and remembering the noodle shops and the SweetWater.wahhh! I'm homesick.
Linda H
2600 miles away from home.
Well, for heaven's sake, I was just in GStreet Fabrics and D.C. last week. I should have stayed a couple more days and gone to your workshop! Next time give Capital Quilts a try. It was a great little shop not too far away from GStreet.
I speak for my guild chapter: Bonnie, WE LOVE YOU!!! The lecture was awesome, the class was excellent, and we had almost too much fun! We can't wait until you come back! Many thanks, Amy
(and I'm following your lead, and taking my Featherweight to Ohio Amish country for our vacation next week! I'll finish that baby quilt or bust!)
I have to say I'm sorry I missed that meeting. I was vice president there until 2007. That is a great group of ladies. I miss them a lot. Nothing as welcoming here in Texas. Well, Stitchin' Heaven in Mineola. Have a Merry Christmas.
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