Oh, I didn't report about the quilt show! It was great. It was full of beautiful quilts, a bewildering array of fabrics, threads, and accessories, full to bursting with women fondling fabric and chattering animatedly about sewing and other interesting things. I've been doing more and more quilting and I read the current quilting blogs, so I know what quilting looks like now. It's very different from the traditional look, which can, now, look dark and plain. So on the drive up to Essex Junction, Mary had been telling me about a historical American quilt exhibit that had come to somewhere near her in England; many of them had been quite antique.

Anyway, as we walked into the vendor floor, the first quilts on display were antiques - all of them plain dark red, creams, dark greens, browns. We looked at them, interested, and Mary said that these were exactly like what she'd been expecting to see. They were just like the ones in the exhibit.

Then we turned the corner.

The rest of the floor was covered in brilliantly colored, fantastically shaped and sewn quilts, all of them glowing. The look of sudden surprise and wonder on her face was a great joy.

We took pictures of so many different quilts! She really liked the pictoral ones - she wants to make one that shows her trip here. She'll make one square that's the plane, then one square for each big event. One for Mt Washington, say, and one for eating lobster, and another for seeing the tides at Hopewell Rocks and so on. I loved seeing her light up like that.

We bought, of course, some fabrics (although we were quite restrained, really), and she bought a bag kit that she'd seen in the quilting shop in Portsmouth and which they hadn't had any kits available. They very nearly made us walk away from their booth without the damned kit, but I insisted that they look harder when the first woman said (without looking), "Oh, I don't see that. We must have sold out." Sure enough, they had bunches of kits, stored in plastic bins under the tables. Ugh.

Anyway, Merrie and Geordie stayed outside. While we were inside, prowling through fabricy art, they were prowling through Burlington, finding interesting dams, a salmon LIFT (I know what they've described to me, but all I can picture is an elevator with a button for the salmon to push with their little fishy fins.) and a practically abandoned bit of freeway.

Just as we got home, we heard from Amy that we should meet them, Jack and one of Jack's friends down at a local restaurant for dinner. Dinner was quite good (Merrie and I split a biggish filet and some shrimps, with steamed asparagus and a salad), and Jack's friend was very friendly. The food was good and Mary and Edward's last dinner here was good, so that's what counts.

Today was Mary and Edward's last day - they left at about 4. We went out for breakfast, then came home and they finished packing. She seemed sad about going back home, but it's always hard to leave a vacation. At least Edward has Monday off, so he won't have to go to work immediately upon landing!

We had leftovers (and pizza for the guys) for dinner, which was sort of a welcome relief. I'm not used to, or really happy with, going out for so many meals for such a long time. I really like cooking and eating at home; I'm sort of making mental lists of foods I want to make again as soon as we get home. Bread, and leeky rice (with the crust that Geordie can put onto it, yum), and chicken with more garlic than anything else, and Merrie has requested a nice, fresh bright stir fry and Geordie wants some green olives stuffed with bleu cheese ...

The four of us (Merrie sat in the other room) watched the first four episodes of Band of Brothers this evening. It's very good - realistic in many of the portrayals of things, with interesting story lines and depth of character.

Anyway, it's nearly bed time.

I finished my two-socks-in-one and I didn't quite do it right. I crossed over my yarn a couple of times, which sucks, but I cut them apart and tied the strands and they work just fine as little socks. I'll have to try again and pay closer attention. And not do it in a rush.

I think I'll spend some time doing embroidery. I've been doing an awful lot of knitting the past few weeks. I do have a couple of lace shawls to work on, though, and my cabled sweater.

*hugs you all*

G'night.

SongBird