Home after Hampton

We have returned home from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.  I did not write anything while we were on the road for several reasons.  First of all I caught a bug, or perhaps better said a bug caught me.  Food did not taste good for several days.  Second, I am not ready to write what I would like to say it will just make people mad because they will have to stop, think and make a decision.

But the show went well we were up slightly from last year.  For many of us that is the new normal.  Happy that sales were not down, flat is good.  I am just not ready to accept that as the new normal.  I think the fabric dealers did very well as every one of them around us said they did very well and at least one did not have much left after the show was over and was going home to restock for the New Jersey Quilt Fest.

Of course we had to have snow, ice or rain somewhere during this show.  This time it was scheduled to start about midnight on load out night.   Almost everyone who was going north or west hurried to get out of town ahead of the storm.  We waited because we were going south to Rock Hill, SC.  Typically the storm had not hit Hampton by the time we got up.  So we took off and drove into the storm by midmorning just before we crossed into North Carolina.  By Wisconsin standards it was not a terrible storm, not even a bad storm, but people need to slow down.  We saw three accidents in about 30 miles before people caught on.

By late afternoon we were in Rock Hill, SC and visited with Jim Miller at YLI.  It was a very interesting visit.  Seeing all the winders and braiders; equipment that is really old and probably not replaceable at a reasonable price.  Many of you know I was in the military and I got to see the equipment that in all likelihood made the gold stripes for my dress uniforms.  That was really cool.  It is a slow process, now I know why it was so expensive even 44 years ago.  We had dinner with Jim, Kay and son James before we checked into our hotel.  Next morning we caught a flight home.

I know this is sort of a ho hum blog this time.  Winter has the best of me.  I am tired of going to a show and coming home to below zero temperatures.  This morning it was -4 degrees when I went out to feed the animals.  I have over 24 inches of snow in the back yard and the normal day time temperature is supposed to be 39 degrees.  This week end time springs forward.  I think I will spring with it.