Home from the MId-Atlantic

Well we arrived home yesterday after 16 days on the road.  Was the trip a success?  I think so. 

This trip out we did a retreat and the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival at Hampton.  Hampton was an interesting show.  There seemed to be a lot of people there, the number of sales were not down, but the total sales were off the mark a bit from last year’s average.  Many of the folks who live there are in one way or another connected to a pay check dependent on the Federal Government.  Sequestration has scared many of them to the point they were willing to come to the show and look around but not really ready to spend a lot of money.  Oh well, next year is another year.  And sequestration starts tomorrow and the news cycle will start reporting the world did not end.

We left Hampton and went to Lancaster to check on a few details for our show there this year and of course of the next several years now that AQS has signed on for three more years.  The dates they choose happen to coincide with the week that many Pennsylvania school children are in Lancaster and soak up a huge number of rooms in the hotels.   Should make finding lodging an interesting problem, for example the Host is full for next year already. 

Leaving Lancaster, we started to hit rain in western Pennsylvania and the wet snow started in earnest in Mid-Ohio.   We were just inside the Indiana line when we pulled in to a rest stop and realized just how much ice had fallen.  We slipped back onto the Toll Way and then exited at the next exit to sit the rest of the storm out.  Well it was still snowing the next morning but the salt was working and the roads were in much better shape, plus everyone has slowed down a bit.  So we were home by 1:30 PM. 

Saturday it is off to Iowa for a wedding.

Hampton, VA

Just put the finishing touches on the booth in Hampton, VA.  For many of our friends this is their first show.  Not sure what it make me feel like since this is our fourth since the New Year.  It was a little cool this morning, but now it is sunny, windy and about 50 degrees.  In about three hours we will need to be back over for the preview. 

We are looking forward to a good show.  There was TV advertising on this morning.  So maybe!

Our Quilts of Valor Challenge is hanging at the front of the 400 row so go by and take a look.  I will try to post some pictures later on this evening.  Stand by!  Don’t miss out check out www.quiltersrule.com for the rules for this year. 

Raliegh, NC

Saturday Patricia and I finished a Quilt Retreat with Memory Lane Quilting at Greenbo Lake State Park, KY.  I was not expecting too much and was pleasantly surprised by the response to our products.  Just 16 participants and three teachers, but everyone got personalized attention and they had all their questions answered.  That made everyone happy.

Sunday we drove over the West Virginia mountains and down and east to Raleigh, NC.  We had it all, rain, snow and wind, then sunshine.   About 100 miles from finishing we found a Girl Scout Troop selling cookies.  Add milk and we had a late lunch. Really healthy and all that!  But it did bring out the sunshine even if it was a bit cool.  Not cold by our standards, but cool enough to need a jacket, which I forgot to bring on this trip.  But I brought two on the last trip and never put them on so go figure.

Today we are in downtown Raleigh sitting in Starbucks hoping it will warm up enough for a stroll around the city center.  Since there are trees blooming this cold snap has to be unusual.  At least there is no snow on the ground, just some ice in the shady side of buildings.

This afternoon we will head for Hampton, VA for the MidAtlantic Quilt Festival.  Then home for a week before the Lancaster Spring Quilt Show.

Raliegh, NC

Saturday Patricia and I finished a Quilt Retreat with Memory Lane Quilting at Greenbo Lake State Park, KY.  I was not expecting too much and was pleasantly surprised by the response to our products.  Just 16 participants and three teachers, but everyone got personalized attention and they had all their questions answered.  That made everyone happy.

Sunday we drove over the West Virginia mountains and down and east to Raleigh, NC.  We had it all, rain, snow and wind, then sunshine.   About 100 miles from finishing we found a Girl Scout Troop selling cookies.  Add milk and we had a late lunch. Really healthy and all that!  But it did bring out the sunshine even if it was a bit cool.  Not cold by our standards, but cool enough to need a jacket, which I forgot to bring on this trip.  But I brought two on the last trip and never put them on so go figure.

Today we are in downtown Raleigh sitting in Starbucks hoping it will warm up enough for a stroll around the city center.  Since there are trees blooming this cold snap has to be unusual.  At least there is no snow on the ground, just some ice in the shady side of buildings.

This afternoon we will head for Hampton, VA for the MidAtlantic Quilt Festival.  Then home for a week before the Lancaster Spring Quilt Show.

Between Shows

 

This blog has been hard to write this year.  Yea, I know you have heard this from me already this year.  But I think I am getting over it.  I want to show you why.  These flowers were waiting for me when I arrived home. 

The first two shows this year, Road to California and the Rusty Barn Phoenix Show were much better  than last year.  That of course makes me feel better.  But the 1700 mile drive from Phoenix to the plant was a bore.  On the other hand, nothing on the vehicle broke!

We are home this week but next week we leave for Greenbo Lake, KY for a longarm retreat at the resort at Greenbo State Forest.  We will be helping the Nolting dealer for a few days putting on the retreat.  If you want to have some fun and get a good close look at a Nolting, without a lot of people watching over your shoulder or you just want to come and attend a class or two.  We will be having a great time.  Of course our products will be there for sale along with the Noltings. 

After Greenbo we are off to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, VA.  We hope to make three in a row that are better than last year.

Come visit us at Greenbo or at Hampton.

In the Desert

Phoenix, AZ

 

We finished up Road to California and headed for Phoenix.  We stopped at Palm Springs and visited Indian Canyons.  I had seen a segment on TV about the canyons and thought it would be nice to visit and see it for myself.  If you are interested in how primitive peoples existed in the desert you will find the trip interesting.  The canyon is remarkable.  Water was flowing quite rapidly but a half mile away there was no evidence of it in the river bed. The date trees ended and the water simply sank into the sand.   The Indians that lived there were restricted to the local area to find food and shelter.  But they had water.  Water is so critical in that area.  Looking down from the canyon to Palm Springs makes me wonder what would happen to all the people if the power grid failed and water became scares.

We have finished up the first day in Phoenix.  We have a new location near the front door.  Sales the first day were on the high end of normal.  The difference between our first two shows is pretty significant.  But we have two more days and then we head for home for a week.   It is about the coolest Phoenix show we have had.  But I will not complain since at home the weather is in the single digits and my home driveway is a block of ice.

Last night we had dinner at our favorite dive in Phoenix.  It is a small Mexican Restrauant on Mc Dowell just west of 27th.  It is called Sinanola?  I can drive there just keep forgetting to get the address. If you are here you should try it.  Just don't expect the waitress to speak English.  Spanish is the language of the day.

Knock on wood the truck has operated flawlessly so far on this trip.  I am so looking forward to getting home.