Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig!

It's great to go away, and just as great to come home! There is nothing like your own bed in a quiet house! My buddy Sue and I had a wonderful trip to Maine; we managed to shop for two days and then had two days at "Maine Quilts 2009". We had lots of fun and many laughs- laughter is good for the soul, indeed!

We stopped in Bangor and Waterville on our way to Augusta. Nothing like a few hours of "power-shopping" to break up the monotony of the long drive! We came across some wonderful sales - seeing 50% and 75% off sure makes you feel like spending some money! JoAnn's had a great button sale so I picked out a few to add to my "button stash"......We stopped at a few fabric shops and quilt shops and did our bit to help out the Maine economy! I also found a few sweet things for Laura's dorm room...

Someone told us The Red Barn was THE place to eat in Augusta if you like seafood, so we checked it out... not fancy but excellent seafood chowder- milky, not thick- just the way I like it.. and chock full of haddock, shrimp, scallops and lobster- or as they say in Maine- lobstah! No potatoes - only seafood! When the place is full of "locals" you know it must be good, because the locals always know where to go...

On Thursday we hit all our fav spots in Freeport, including LL Beans of course, and then continued on to Portland. We were thrilled to find out that the best ice-cream in the world is now available in South Portland - yes the Cold Stone Creamery is now partnered with Tim Hortons on Maine Mall Road, so of course we HAD to indulge... CSC is also opening soon in Bangor, Brewer, Waterville, Freeport and Presque Isle. Wahoooo! If you've never experienced Cold Stone Creamery- you don't know what you're missing! Check them out here before your next trip and see if there's a CSC where you are going...it's well worth finding. I love the name of their three sizes- "Like It", "Love It" and "Gotta Have It" (For the record- Gotta Have It is just too big!!)

Thursday evening was our chance to get a preview of the Show and Merchant's Mall as we attended the Champagne Preview and Show Opening. We were not disappointed. As usual there were many beautiful quilts to admire and the merchants had many things to tempt one to open their wallet. Beautiful fabrics, threads, books, patterns, embellishments - anything a quilter's little heart might desire was there for the taking! I tried to be good, I really did! But there were a few things I just had to bring home!!

Friday and Saturday we spent in class; I took 2 days of Crazy Quilting with Valerie Bothell who owns The Pink Bunny in Wichita Kansas. Val was filling in for Carole Samples who could not make it. Sue took classes with Carol Taylor and Karen Stone. Excellent lunchtime lectures were by Karen Stone and Ami Simms. Karen's quilts were amazing, and Ami kept us in stitches (sorry- no pun intended!) the whole 75 minutes. We both enjoyed our classes and came home with new skills, ideas and inspirations... And thats what it's all about! Most importantly I think I've finally got the "stitchin' bug" again. Stay tuned to see some CQing soon! Tomorrow I'll share some more pics from the Show with you.

Piece,

Linda

Quilting is like love - enter it with abandon or not at all.