EXPATS!!

What a great group of friends these are!! We survived many interesting events during our tenure while living in foreign countries. Once a year we gather to celebrate our friendship. This meeting takes place during the International Quilt Festival. Some of us might see each other during the year as we live in the same general area but there are those who still live in far flung places. We enjoy a potluck dinner one evening where we show off our latest creations.
Here is Linda proudly displaying her Christmas creation--quilted by one of our master long arm quilters. We are fortunate to have not just one but TWO gals in our group.
This is Linda's wall hanging using batik strips.
Karen also did one with the same pattern. Both of these have the 'WOW' factor!
Close-up of Karen's work.
Judy shows off one of several Binky Patrol quilts that were completed during the year.
Another of the Binkies--we Rock!!
This was Judy's fall table runner she made--one for her, one of each of her daughters.
Ruth Ann is into handwork--crazy quilting!
Lovely work!
Display of Lucy's quilt, quilted by Judy.
Close-up of quilting--we all love this quilt!

Debby has made the move from that distant state of Louisiana (!) back to our welcoming arms and she has been whipping out these dandy quilts.

Another one of Debby's masterpieces and the close-up of the quilting below.

And here is our other long arm quilter, who is not an expat (but we welcome her with open arms) showing off her Halloween hanging. Usually, Sandy is quilting for us and doesn't have time to quilt her pieces--thanks Sandy!!

Look at this wonderful design! Sandy's husband is design creator for some of her work--super stuff!
Sandy! Sandy! Sandy! another one of her pieces!
Quilting--yes, great work!
Here is Chris' One Block Wonder. Chris is still a far flung expat--living in Australia--but we still hear from her and see her work.
All cut from the same fabric design! Can you believe??
yes, we have a great group of expats! and every year we look forward to seeing each other and receiving big hugs. And sharing that common bond.

Philadelphia Journey Continues with This......

There is much to write about our last journey so here is more of the tale. Of course, it wouldn't be a complete trip till we stopped at a quilt shop. No photos were allowed inside the shop, so this one was snapped outside. All the quilts were for sale--not elaborate quilts or quilting but this one was appropriate for fall.
Of course, there is no way you can go to Pennsylvania unless you go through Hersey and yes, it is true, you can smell the chocolate as soon as you hit the city limits.
This is just one portion of the chocolate shop--you can purchase any Hersey candy here. We didn't buy much just enough to satisfy our sweet tooth for the rest of the trip.
Chocolate World is one big amusement park--pick what you want to do, pay and you are off on a chocolate adventure. We only took the short 15 minute free ride through the simulated factory tour. At the end of the tour, you are given a Hersey chocolate. This day they handed us cookie and creams piece--not what we were looking for but guess they need to promote their new flavors somehow.
Oh, pleasure--a chocolate manicure! Well, we thought we would have our hands dipped in chocolate and be able to lick it off--NOT! They use a chocolate/sugar scrub and now our hands are resting in paraffin. But, sure would have been nice to have the paraffin at least be chocolate scented!
Nail color--death by chocolate!
We found one winery in our area--only open on certain evenings--$6 to taste 6 wines. None to our taste so no purchase. The girls are still trying to find a winery where we can beat the free 13 pours we got in Washington state--so far, no success.
A driving tour through Valley Forge gives you an overview of how George Washington commanded his troops to win. Few replicas of log cabins stand today to give you a sense of how the troops survived that brutal winter.
A tour of Independence Hall was next and this favorite symbol of our freedom--the liberty bell!
Hillsides were covered with milkweed pods--all bursting forward with their little fibers--soaring on the winds.
"Today, nature lovers treasure the common milkweed because it offers crucial habitat to the monarch butterfly. But back in 1944, military planners treasured the plant as a raw material in the war against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
Milkweed seeds have white, wispy hairs referred to as "floss." When the seed pod cracks open, the seeds are distributed by the winds, an ingenious evolutionary adaptation employed by the dandelion, cottonwood tree and many other species.
In an era before the pervasive use of synthetic fibers, the value of milkweed floss lay in its buoyancy. The armed forces used it in the manufacture of life preservers needed for its airmen and sailors. Life preservers were critical to Allied success, since so much of the war was fought on or over the seas.

Milkweed, though, was not the first choice for life preserver stuffing. During World War II, the Japanese gained control of the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia), cutting off the main U.S. supply of floss, which came from the tropical kapok tree. Like the common milkweed, kapok seeds are carried aloft by delicate strands of cotton-like fiber.
Luckily, milkweed proved an acceptable substitute. One problem, though, was that it would take upward of three years to produce a commercial crop. Thus the government had no choice but to make the unusual call for the collection of seed pods wherever the plant grew wild. "
This information came from Pantagraph

Annual Mother-Daughter Journey

Late October brings our annual mother-daughter trip. This was our 7th trip and it was brown headed daughter's turn to pick the location. She chose Pennsylvania. Our center lodging would be Amish country and we found this house on Vacation Rental By Owner--perfect!
This was the side view of the house coming up the drive. We arrived late evening (thanks to air traffic control problems--somewhere!) so were unable to actually have a clear view of the house and surrounding area till morning.
Here is some of the history....
The Bellaire Farm was granted to the Hoffman Family (then spelled “Hoofman”) as part of the original William Penn Land Grant in 1681. There was a portrait of William Penn on the wall. The Schoolhouse is the last remaining corner of the farm still in the family. It served as a one room schoolhouse for most of the 19th century and was then quarried for rock during the first half of the 20th century. The original schoolmaster’s desk was against the wall to the left just before you walk out into the sun room.
Sometime in the 1940s, Francis Hoffman replanted the property and used it as a weekend retreat for him and his friends to smoke cigars and play poker. It has been used as a private residence ever since his death in 1970.
If you are adventurous, you can walk up into the woods to the right as you come in the main gate to find the original “dynamite house” – a small stone house used to contain the dynamite charges during the quarry era. The original “Blasting Machine” is on the floor in the sun room.
The house burned down in 2001 and the remaining stone structure was rebuilt in the
residence you see today. The house contains many artifacts gather from Hoffman Sr.’s travels around the world.
Needless to say, we weren't very adventuresome so we did not explore the surrounding grounds. We let our eyes do the walking.
The bell graced the front entrance.
The fall colors were in their finest.

These were some of the artifacts in the main bedroom. This old quilt laid across the quilt rack.
Leather baby shoes rested on the dresser.
And this tree of life quilt was the back drop for the headboard of the bed. Our first day we toured Intercourse--so commercial now--so many tour buses in the area. The shops boasted these towels and quilts.......
Rugs........
All Chinese made! We did find a section of the store where we found hand dipped candles made
locally! Our drive through the countryside yielded interesting sights; like these corn barns.
We found the barn structures interesting and unique.
And then we saw the sign for this.......but alas, it wasn't open. As with so many Amish businesses, the hours vary. But, now, we had our mouth set for chicken pie and against our better judgement, we decided to enter a restaurant that advertised smorgasbord. We could order off the menu, which we did. There are the menu was 'small portion of chicken pot pie'--yes, sounds perfect! When the dish arrived, it wasn't chicken pie in our regard--it was we call chicken and dumplings! Our server saw we didn't eat much and ask if anything was wrong, we said it wasn't what we expected. "oh, you were expecting closed" well, yes! Then she said "a little old Amish woman comes in on Wednesday to make this chicken pie, called 'pot' because it is made in a pot!" Later, in the local market, we found a vendor who had frozen Zook Chicken Pie and it was exactly what we wanted! We purchased one for our evening meal.
The weather was rainy, then dry, then rainy.
In our stop at the Intercourse Canning Company we saw the operation in progress.
A sample of their wares.
The buildings in Intercourse were painted with murals.
In our stop in Lititz,we made the 'last call' at John Sturgis Pretzel shop, where we purchased two for one fresh made pretzils. Across the street from this store front, we found the oldest boarding girls school: Linden Hall
This was the roof landscape of the church.
Onto Strasburg, PA for Eldreth Pottery which is famous for their salt glazed and red pottery.
Our day rounded out with a driving tour through the countryside to view Hex Barn Art Tour
We saw one covered bridge with Hex sign and many barns that hosted these brightly painted signs.
More later......