All the Way to Hershey!

I headed out yesterday morning – a van full of boxes and quilts – ready for a road trip up from North Carolina, up through Virginia, across a tiny corner of West Virginia and barely part of Maryland – and finally – Pennsylvania!

It’s a drive I know well – but it’s been a few years sine I’ve taught in Hershey and I was looking forward to reconnecting with those I haven’t seen in a few years.

And – of course, I had further motives – I-81 takes me right past Verona, and my favorite antique mall of all time.

Passing through beautiful downtown Roanoke, Virginia.

And there it is!  You can’t miss that cheddar!

Just look at the colors in this photo – doesn’t that inspire you to make a quilt?  That blue blue sky – one puffy cloud.  Gorgeous!

I am always on the lookout for anything of a quilty nature of note – be it quilts, blocks, sewing items, machines – and there were many.  I probably spent FAR too long at the mall, but I was afraid I’d leave and miss the best part!  I needed to comb through it ALL.

Beautiful Marth Washington cabinet --

I love how the doors swing out!

And while there were some beautiful mid-century machines --

(this one is a FORD! LOL!)

There were a couple that really blew me away:

What’s this??

Oh my word – it’s an EARLY Howe!

Many people think that Singer invented the sewing machine, but he really borrowed technology from Elias Howe…and this is an AMAZING machine! 

Where is the handwheel?  to the back of the cabinet and below!  I had to reach under there to see if I could get the workings to move….

Oh will wonders never cease --

The shuttle is in place!

Front badge.

This is a remarkable machine in excellent condition – but I am really OUT of room for more machines in cabinets, and I don’t know where I’d put it at this point.  Believe me, I was torn!

But I was thrilled to come across this baby and spend just a bit of time with it.

This one also caught my eye.

Look at those drawer handles!

And a decal pattern I'd not seen before.

It was iridescent!

Oh honey, you are a beauty!

Check out this face plate!

And the serial number:

This sweet baby is from 1874.

Oh, if only I had MORE room! LOL!

But the van was full – and I have furniture I am bringing home from this trip and I just had to love her and leave her – and yes, her shuttle is there and everything turns well, though the chrome has rusted off of her handwheel.  Still – I home someone goes to get these!

The weird thing of the day!

I came face to face with a childhood memory – My Captain Kangaroo doll!  This is so very creepy, it’s a wonder it didn’t give me nightmares of a Chuckie variety.  But I had one….It has a pull string on the side and he used to say things.  I don’t remember what now, but it gave me a laugh as I moved on to the quilts.

The quilts were many and since I am gearing up to go teach a Moth in the Window class to 40 in just a few minutes, I’ve put them all in a video format.  Click to play:

It was a great quilt discovery day!

I arrived at the Hershey Lodge with enough time to check into my room, grab a bite of dinner and meet up with the other teaching staff before setting up my classroom.

I’m ready to run with this day!

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Nine-patch quilt found in Verona, Virginia.

This one made me chuckle! In actuality, the only person responsible for ruining our day is ourselves and how we choose to react to any given situation.

Turn it around!

Have an awesome Thursday, friends!