The Haul

You can't go to a quilt show with vendors and not buy at least SOME stuff. I am no exception.

So here's my haul:
3 Show pins (one for me, one for Julie, one for Chris)
1 2017 Engagement calendar
1 AQS Quilt Week 2016 T-shirt
10 rotary cutter blades
3 1 yard cuts of fabric - can you see the red and white? Yup, those are for the new quilt, which I hope to start this weekend.
1 book, and wouldn't you know, it's a book I already have. Sigh.
1 MOK mug (see yesterday's post)
1 MOK sticker (already on the car)
2 jars of New York produced pickled relish & wax beans with garlic
a tank and a half of gas,
1 night in a hotel
2 dinners out at good restaurants (1060 in Syracuse and MOK in Hoosick NY)
11 hours of driving

I'm not usually a T-shirt kind of gal, but it was what was printed on the BACK that made me buy it:

I've had a quilt in each of them. Yay me.

AQS will NOT be in Syracuse next year, which is kind of a bummer. It was the closest one I could get to without flying, and that means I may not get to another for a long time. The folks in Syracuse are a bit disappointed. According to one local, the AQS show brought over a million dollars into Syracuse. That's not chump change, but the vendors said they didn't do the usual business in Syracuse that they did in other AQS locations.

I had a grand time visiting and met a lot of good people.  More on that (and a pink barn spotted on the drive to Syracuse) later, because I'm still really tired.

Man Of Kent

It's a five and a half hour drive to Syracuse NY from my house in New Hampshire. It ends up being longer because you have to stop a couple of times along the way, to eat and to.. you know.

We were driving along through Hoosick Falls NY when an interesting sign caught my attention. I tried to read it, and finally came up with Man Of Kent.

It was a tavern and cafe.

And the parking lot was full.  The place was on a curve, and as we drove around, the parking lot just kept getting bigger, and even the "overflow" parking lots were full. "Is that still for Man of Kent?" my Mom asked.

"Yeah," I replied, looking over quickly. "We're going to have to check that out for the ride home tomorrow. Any place that's THAT busy has got to be good."

This morning, over breakfast in the hotel, I did an internet search for Man of Kent and found their website, then I checked over on Yelp! for reviews. MOK consistently got five stars and some of the reviews were very recent (like last week recent). Next I checked out their menu. (Here's the page for Main dishes.)We decided we'd check it out on the way home. We figured we'd get there about mid-afternoon. We hoped the place would be empty (because the reviews said they were always busy.)

To say the place was eclectic is an understatement of epic proportions. But everybody was friendly and all the food is cooked to order. Mom and I shared an appetizer (Dynabites, which were truly dynamite), and then ordered dinner. Everything was delicious, and we'd actually drive almost three hours to eat there again. 

So, exactly HOW MUCH did I love this place?

Yeah. That's an MOK sticker on my car.

To AQS Syracuse

I'll be at the AQS Syracuse show today sometime after 3:00 PM. If you see me, come on over and introduce yourself. I'll give you postcards of my quilts.

This quilt of mine, Black & White Crayons, will be on exhibit there. Check it out, and take a selfie with it and send it to me at: patcherymenagerie AT gmail DOT com.

My quilt Too Much Chicken, will also be on exhibit. To "get it" you should start at the top and read down. It's in the "Whimsy" category, which is a perfect place for it.

I'll be staying overnight, and will be at the show on Thursday morning as well.  Hope to see you there!

Favorites From AQS Syracuse

Since I drove for six hours yesterday and got home at 8 PM tired and hungry, I'm going to limit this post to some of my favorite quilts (in no particular order) on display at AQS Syracuse.

My friend Julie Sefton's quilt, See Rock City. This is probably my all-time favorite, but then, I'm spectacularly biased!

"Almost Amish" by Tamara Watts-McPhail"

"Robber's Roost" by Joanne Baeth

"Weighed in the Balance" by Marilyn Smith

"Cross Purposes and Loose Ends" by Susan Mogan

"Nine Patch Show and Tell"  by Molly Allen

"The Falling" by Chen Tsui-Hua

I'll fill in the names I can't remember later, but for now it's bedtime. :-)

AQS Syracuse - Getting There

There's nothing like deciding on Wednesday that you are going to drive six hours to see a quilt show on Friday. It's called planning ahead. (NOT!) I was talking to my Mother, one of those "what are you going to do this weekend, anything interesting?" conversations. I said I was trying to decide if I wanted to drive six hours to see my Black Box quilt in the AQS show in Syracuse.

"That's a national show, isn't it? That's a big deal. You're going, aren't you? You're not thinking of going alone are you?" she asked.

"Why, do you want to come with me?"

"Ly-ynne!" (you know how your parents stretch out your name to many syllables when they think you're being a bit obtuse?)

So OK, she says she's going to ask her husband. I look on the AQS website to find a hotel. I call a hotel, I make a reservation. Done. Mom calls back, says she can go.  Good thing, I tell her, I already booked a hotel and you should have heard the desk clerk laugh when I told her I wanted a room with TWO double beds because "I love my mother a lot, but not that much..."

Before I went to bed that night, I packed a suitcase. I kid you not.

So we leave Friday morning about 9:30ish or so, after I gassed up the car.

Millie is all about the I-was-here-photos.

We drive rather languidly through western NH, stop off in Keene at a grocery store and build a couple of salads at the salad bar, pick up some fruit and nuts, etc.

Just after noon, we drove through Hoosick New York where we saw this quilt block painted on the side of a house.

A few hours later, Millie was wondering why she was wearing a button that said "I am AQS" when her name is Millie.  We found my quilt, and Julies, and bought some show pins, then (because we got to the show late) left to go have dinner. We'll check out the show on Saturday, then we'll head home.

But that wasn't the high point of the day. We got a ride to the show on the hotel's shuttle...

(my Mother: How did you pick the hotel? Me: I made a reservation with the second hotel on the list. When I called the first one, the line was busy. See, a lot of thinking went into this trip. NOT!)

Anyway we're on the shuttle and we get to talking with a couple of other ladies who are also going to the show (they took a break for lunch). They asked where I was from and I tell them I've just driven six hours and that I have a quilt in the show. "YOU DO!!!" they exclaim. "Um yeah," and I reach into my bag and pull out the postcards I brought with me that show The Black Box quilt on them.

"The one in the middle," I say, "I made that one. I mean, I made all three of them, but the one in the middle is the one in the show."

"We LOVED that one," they said. "We spent a long time looking at it."



oh.

wow.

I hadn't even walked into the show, but these two ladies had already made my day.

Blue Boy in Progress

While watching Father Brown last night on the local PBS station, I pinned three more blocks together, and cut the last set of strips into squares.

But the sewing will have to wait because I am on my way to AQS Syracuse to see my quilt, The Black Box, and Julie's See Rock City on display.

If you go to the show, take a picture of yourself with my quilt (and Julie's too) and send them to me! And if you are there on Saturday when I am looking around, and you see me, please come over and say hello!



Suzanne, I'm glad you loved it, thanks for writing!

The Black Box is Going to AQS Syracuse!

Woo Hoo! My quilt, The Black Box, is going to the AQS show in Syracuse NY, which will be from July 29 to August 1, 2015.