Grab a cuppa, this is a long one and very overdue!
In May I had my first overseas adventure, I was able to tag along with Helen to Quilt Market in Pittsburgh with a wee bit of a holiday before and after.
We first visited New York and met up with Anni (Hatched and Patched) and Yazzi for 4 days of non stop mayhem.
We squeezed in 2 broadway shows "Cinderella" and "Mama Mia" plus scored tickets to Dave Letterman's The Late Show where we saw the gorgeous Harry Conick Jnr, Jessie Eisenberg and The Black Keys.
Walked around Central Park and got excited seeing my first squirrel!
We wandered around Times Square
and did bus tours, a cruise on the Hudson,
rode on the subway, visited Ground Zero,
took in the fashion district plus a visit to Red Roosters Office, we saw NY at night from Radio City,
We walked lots, did a little shopping and ate lots of 99c pizza including Kosher Pizza.
From there Helen drove Anni and I to Amish Country in Pennsylvani (Yazzi chose to fly to Pittsburgh), at one point we asked a Sherriff what the speed limit was as everyone was passing us at the signposted 55mph, he said we could do what we like as long as we didn't weave in and out of traffic and draw attention to ourselves. Anni and I were busy chatting and we missed a turnoff so we ended up on a back road and found ouselves at a Garage Sale, the shed was full of stuff and we had a blast climbing over everything finding treasures to dress up the booths for quilt market. We were Australian Pickers!
So onto Amish Country where we had a terrific buggy ride and a chap who was willing to answer 10 million questions. We ate at Katies Kitchen, nice homely meal after eating lots of pizza. They don't really do vegetarian meals, poor Anni had carrots, peas and baked beans which had bacon all through it!
There's lots of Quilt Shops in this part of the US, we all bought lovely things. I picked up some fabulous ornaments.
Then it was onto Quilt Market. It was full on, lots of fun! I got to meet Terri Dekenholb from Whimsicals, Kath Schmidt, plus a few others. There was a strong Australian presence including Gail Pan, Anni Downs, Lynette Anderson, Rosalie Quinlan and of course my lovely friend Helen Stubbings.
After market we farewelled Anni and travelled with Lisa from The Quilt Foundry. Lisa took us to Berlin and a lovely B&B for two nights. We toured Amish country in Ohio, visited an Amish Homestead, sampled more Amish food, visited quite a few Antique Malls where I picked up a vintage german toy sewing machine.
We then headed to Lisa and her husband Rich's home in Maumee, Ohio. This part of the world is beautiful, I fell in love with all the old homes.
We did a bit of shopping at an Outdoor Mall, visited Checkers and what's visiting the US without a trip to Walmart!
Helen did a trunk show at The Quilt Foundry and two days of teaching while Rich took me on a tour of Toledo and we visited two of the biggest sporting goods shops I have ever seen.
Our last day was spent at Lake Eerie, it was a glorious day, we went on a lovely walk followed by a delicious meal.
Lisa drove us to Detroit Airport where we started our long journey back home. Thanks to Helen for being a great travel buddy and to Lisa and Rich for being the most fabulous hosts and to their daughter Mindy for her gorgeous smile and friendship.
