December 30: Our Latest Adventure

25+ years ago, we were stationed in Brunswick, ME, while Kevin's ship was in dry dock at the Bath shipyard.  We loved the time we had in Maine and decided we were close enough to go check out our old stomping grounds.  Bath and Brunswick have both changes so much that there was very little for us to recognize.  We did find our old house which used to be part of military housing, and the shipyard was just the same.  However, there was a lot more traffic and a lot more everything.  Somehow it did not match up with our memories, but we are glad that the places are looking like there has been some positive steady growth.

Now for the rest of the story..... We left home at 10:00 on Wednesday.  It was snowing but not any huge thing, just in the air.  There were lots of small frozen "waterfalls" on the rock walls by the road.



 We planned to stop at several quilt stores, Woodcraft, and then head for Freeport, ME.  As we drove across Vermont, we had flurries, but then we found clear skies and green.  Traveling the interstate was smooth and uneventful.  Listening to a book on CD also helped to pass the time.

It was a drive-by so blurry happens!





In White River Junction, VT, we when to the Hen House Fabrics quilt shop.  The woman who helped us was delightful and chatty.  The store was not large, but it had some wonderful fabrics, books, and supplies.  I purchased my fat quarter and a pattern for making a table runner.

The scenery changed when we entered New Hampshire.  The mountain chain became the White Mountains and the snow was not anywhere near the interstate although we could see plenty on the mountains.

From there we went to Woodcraft where I purchased two more carving tools, some carving bits, another piece of basswood, and a video.  Kevin was much more conservative and only purchased a book on wood finishes.  He will use the tools, but they are probably going to be used by me more often.

 Once we arrived in Freeport, Maine, it was dark so we found the hotel, ate a great pizza, walked around a bit and had some chocolate.  We saved the real touristy parts until Thursday.  Our first stop was L.L. Bean where we explored several different buildings full of all kinds of amazing "stuff'.  We made two purchases:  A fruit bowl with drainage holes and a sign that says exactly what this whole year is about.

We ate lunch at Linda Bean's Restaurant and Tavern.  Kevin had a lobster roll and corn chowder.  These are both "very Maine" in our memories.  I had a delicious chicken BLT.  Guess you probably figured out that we also had to stop for another piece of chocolate as well.  Then we went to the local quilt store.

The Cotton Weeds Quilt Shop in Freeport, ME, was surprisingly bigger than expected.  There were two floors and lots of HandiQuilter supplies.  There were also lots of punch needle designs and books.  So I splurged on one design that I will eventually do and have Kevin create a box to mount it on for a "cool" thread box. 

As I wrote earlier, we went exploring our old stomping grounds of Brunswick and Bath, ME.  We found one quilt shop in Bath, the Mariner's Compass Quilt Shop.  This shop had a great quantity of batiks and lots of other fabrics.   It also had an "escape" cat who tried very hard to get out the door with every customer.

After finding our old house and kind of checking out how much Brunswick had changed, we head back to Fairfax, taking the shorter more scenic route through the White Mountains and up by Mt. Washington.  There were lots of resorts along the way, but the evening was setting in so no photos of all the mountains.  Just memories for our minds.

Just before the light changed, we did discover another quilt shop.  The Calico Basket Quilt Shop is located in Windham, ME.  The woman that waited on us told us she was fond of South Dakota and the Black Hills.  The shop was located in a residential area, but it was easy access and fun to explore.

I have decided that because I really do like to make HSTs, I am going to make my travel quilt a scrappy light/dark pattern of HSTs.  The blocks will be 4 inches finished.  There will need to be lots of them and it is going to be scrappy, so I can sew as I go from here on out.  I plan to make the binding scrappy too, so I will cut two strips from each fat quarter to make it all belong together.  The fabric I purchased came from 4 shops this week, but I was having such a delightful time chatting with the woman at the Hen House Fabrics quilt store that I forgot to get one of her cards.  I also bought 2 fabrics at the Mariner's Compass simply because my mind was telling me I needed more light colors for my HSTs.  (My quilt....my rules!  -  See sign above!)