Not My Finish However . . .

Friday snuck up on me and I haven't taken any pictures yet.  Except this one of my daughter's quilt. Jenny chose red thread and Curley design.  The backing is black with little white stars.  You really can't see the quilting on the front or the back. Bummer 

She was going to quilt it. She came down, but guess who quilted it?  Her job interfered so she worked and I quilted.  Not a bad day for me as I really like this quilt and Ruthie performed like the champ she is. 

Does it remind you of this: 

She works at Univ. of Maryland and she's giving it to a colleague so she figured the Maryland colors were a good choice.  (Flag photo from https://sos.maryland.gov/pages/services/mdflag.aspx)

I was done quilting it by about 4:30 and she finished up her work a little after that. She decided to stay for dinner and drive home later.  Luckily none of the trucker protests that were suppose to happen in the DC area  were any where to be found.

Jen surprised me by bringing 4 red fat quarters!  And, some pieces from her stash that will also go to my red and white Spider Web quilt.  I'm looking forward to adding some more blocks to it. But no time so far this week! I am hoping to finish at least one more quilt this month. 

On Thursday we went to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.  It is at Hampton Roads Convention Center thru Sunday Feb. 27.  Pat agreed to drive my friend Beth and I. It's about a 2 hours drive so we left in time to get there when it was opening. The price has gone up $2 per head to $17.00.  The first thing we noticed was there weren't as many people taking money from the attendees. It wasn't a horrible wait but there were lines. I imagine if we hadn't gotten there right as the doors were opening we might have been able to walk right up to pay. 

We had decided to wear our masks but were very happy to see that the show was requiring masks also.  Most of the attendees were wearing their masks but some were not.  I didn't pay close attention but I think most of the vendors were masked also. 

There were wonderful quilts, displays, and vendors as usual. But what wasn't usual is there were fewer quilts and fewer vendors. It looked like between an eighth and a quarter of the floor space was blocked off with curtains.  It appeared to us that some of the quilts were spaced out more than normal. 

The vendors who were there were very appreciative that we were there. There were less attendees but folks seemed happy to see quilts and be able to spend some money. As we started roaming up and down the rows a lot of the vendors were swamped.  It appeared to me that some of the vendors didn't have as many workers as they might have at one time so there were long lines of people trying to check out. 

I bought a roll of Pellon batting that I was thrilled to get.  It was great having Pat with us as he carried it out to the car right away. I found the exhibit of quilts from Country Piecemakers.  I was so impressed with their challenge quilts. I had chosen not to participate this year but maybe I will next year.  I also found two quilts from a friend in Faithful Circle Quilters in Maryland.  Fun to see my friend's work in person. 

I'll share my mammoth selection of fabric next week.  I came with a list of tops I had and I spent my shopping time looking for backing fabric -- either wide back or regular fabric.  Let's just say my bag was full and Pat was carrying some things too. Although I was in a buying frenzy I only bought fabric, batting and one cone of long arm thread. (Evidently Superior Threads is raising prices soon.)   

By 12:30 we were getting hungry and tired.  Although I might have spent more time with the vendors and the quilts we had no problem calling it quits at that time. We chose a rural route to go home and skipped the freeways. We found a great seafood restaurant on the way home and everyone really enjoyed our late lunch and had enough leftovers for dinner too.  

What I can't report on is food at the center.  The folks I usually go with generally have the hot buffet that is served.  It's a bit more expensive but you can sit for an hour and regain your strength to hit the vendors and quilts again.  We never even looked if it was offered or at the other food available. 

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the whole trip. I was happy I didn't have to drive and Pat was happy to get out of the house.  He didn't even mind carrying my batting roll and fabric. We found out later that we would've hit a lot of rain if we were on the freeway.  We had some light mist and rain but nothing that bad going the slower way home.  

I just checked the online info about the classes.  It seemed to me there were quite a few teachers who were presenting classes but most appeared younger and not as well known by me. This might be me not knowing and keeping up with trends or it might be that some of the most experienced teachers are of the age and inclination to not travel during the pandemic. 

Mancuso Show Management has four more shows this year. Three are on the east coast (South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania) and one in California.  If there are no more Covid surprises I think more and more people will be attending the shows as the year continues.

OOPs -- sorry, I got a little involved in my discussion.  So, I'll end here by listing the link parties I join.  You should take a look at all the wonderful bloggers sharing their quilting journey. 

Needle and Thread Thursday 

Finished or Not Friday

Beauties Pageant 

I'm looking forward to a little surfing time over the next few days.

Happy Quilting All! Bonnie