After that most annoying flight to New York, chasing my bags down Westchester, and finally arriving at my nephew's late Thursday night, I finally got to New Milford, CT. I was really sad that I had to fore-go my trip to Boston Friday....still had to get my rental car and so I told Julie to just go ahead without me. I missed the Pilgrim Roy quilt exhibit, but did make up for it with another show in Manhattan later that week. Julie had a friend Garen along and as it turned out, she was in my class at the City Quilter. What a great surprise that was...but I still have not met Julie, the wonder woman of red and white quilts. They had a great time in Boston, anyway!
I caught up with some friends in New Milford, Mary Eddy, Pat Murphy our town mayor, and also took a quick trip out to the Silo....a great place for gourmet food and kitchen goodies. I was once Skitch Henderson's farm which he gave to the town of New Milford in trust. New Milford as changed a lot with new businesses sprouting up everywhere, especially along route 7, and more new restaurants in town. It must be the best fed town in the whole state. Lots of weekenders there from New York, so they need food! The town green is still the prettiest ever, and so typical for a New England town. I do miss that....but not the snowy winters which they say was horrible this last season.
I was able to see Susan and Linda at the Northern Star quilt show which was great. Beautiful quilts as always, vendors for shopping, and a great program with Mark Lepinski as the speaker. Lots of laughs there! Then we had a great dinner in Ridgefield....yummy scallops and risotto. I may get to see Susan again as her son now lives in Seattle. Quilting friends are the BEST.
Monday night I taught my friends the Sherman Tanks...a great group of gals I teach every time I go back to CT....some used to be in my old Calico Cats Guild years ago. They are lots of fun and great quilters. We did an old fashioned spiderweb block.
Tuesday I returned my car and my dear friend Marilyn picked me up. I usually stay with Marilyn but she had been in CA for her granddaughter's first communion.....what a treat...she took me to the new Red Robin Yummmmmmm....for lunch, my favorite place for a hamburger!
She also surprised me this week with a shopping spree in her stash....she is thinning her fabric, and did I ever get some neat things. She also gave me some wool, and I decided I need to try to make a wool project so I can have some handwork for when I am sitting around airports...2 more trips coming up! No one believes I am going to do handwork. Time will tell.
Wednesday was fun....we had dinner at the Cookhouse with about 10 of my quilting buddies, and also my Carmen Hill neighbor, Ginny. She is moving to South Carolina soon...so I was glad we got to visit a bit.
On Friday Marilyn's husband drove us to New York. He works at CBS and drove in that day instead his usual train commute. We ate breakfast at the diner as usual, and then Marilyn and I took a cab uptown to the New York Historical Society. There was a great exhibit of Civil War quilts there, and tho not big, it was packed with great examples of all kinds of quilting, and moving stories of that period of our American history where quilts and war merged.
Sunday I went to church with Sheri on the green, the old Congregational church which will be 300 years old in the next decade. The church has beautiful stained glass window, typical old straight box pews and white walls and wood trim....the steps leading up to the church have seen the footprints of many souls, including founding fathers such as Roger Sherman. One thing about those old New England towns....you cannot escape the awesome sense of history at every turn.
Well, after coal fired pizza with Earl and Sheri, dinner out with the gals again: Rigmor, Judy, Marilyn, Marie, and Denise, and ice cones at the dairy farm....I think I was about at the end of the line for foodies! We did make one trip to the Whitehorse Inn and pub....the old Marbledale Pub when we lived there.
A book-signing with Marie Bostwick was fun....turns out her sister is in my Camano Island, WA quilt guild, and her novels about a town in CT.....reading her novels is like walking around New Milford and surrounding areas. The Cobbled Court series is a great set of books, and well worth reading. Marie was at the City Quilter Saturday when I was teaching there. Small world!!
I can't forget to share my teaching adventure at the City Quilter in NYC....how fun is that. The fabric there is just my type...funky, colorful, and fun.....and the class of gals was inspiring. What fun we had, and I met Garen, who was on the Boston trip I missed. If ever you get to New York, you MUST stop by the City Quilter, or check them out on-line if you can't get there in person.
I was able to Priscilla, we worked together at Connecticut Memories, and of course, Madeleine, who owned the store.....what memories that brings back. We always called it the Stuff Store...it was filled with so much stuff...and one of the most popular shops in town. We also did our share of counseling with our customers....it was the place to go if you were feeling down in the dumps...all that stuff would cheer you up for sure. There were lots of old estate treasures there from all the estates Madeleine did.....soooo many goodies....books galore, glassware, dishes and household goods...jewelry, and other odds and ends. I still have many things in my house I bought there!
The best part of any trip back to CT is seeing all my friends....the blessings of sweet friends is one of the best things in life. Treasured memories are sweet remembrances of happy times shared around happy times and sad. We should all be blessed with friends who cheer us on and love us no matter what.
So, now it comes...the end of the trip, and packing and saying goodbyes and hoping to see dear ones again.....in CT or WA. It is always sad to leave my "family" in CT, but I was getting homesick for my hubby and my Sparkie cat. I will leave the gory details of my trip home to WA for the next post....I hope you will check in for that adventure....hmmmmm.....I wonder whatever happened to that pirate!
Sparkie sends her love and will write next time. She is taking a nap for now! Love from us all.
Judy, Ken and Sparkie
Looking down the Green with our landmark Bandstand in New Milford, CT.
First Congregatonal church in New Milford, CT
Judy Mayer, Mary Waterman, Judy Irish, Pat Jennings, and Pat Pineau.....buddies at the quilt show.
Mark Lepniski and Judy Irish at the Northern Star Show
A beautiful quilt by Claire Victor at the Northern Star Quilt Show
Breakfast at the diner....NYC
That sounds like a fun trip. Makes up for the flight/luggage sanfu. Yay for meeting Mark & Marie.I so want to meet those two!!! I love Marie's books.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing at your handwork comment. I'll hold you to it.