Tag: Travel

Asheville Quilt Show

August 18, 2025

This time last year, Sadie and I were excited about our upcoming trip to Asheville. It would mark my first overnight quilting trip with Big Girl in tow. I had reservations at a pet-friendly hotel. A local kennel had even agreed to a day of drop-in doggie day care so I could attend the show. Hurricane Helene changed all that.

On Thursday, I made the trek to Asheville, North Carolina while Sadie stayed home. I’d originally penciled the event in my calendar as a long day trip, but hubs suggested I make it an overnight trip instead. He’d been to the area back in the spring and noted there were still some areas where the roads hadn’t been fully repaired.

It was the right call. The trip to Asheville and then back to Atlanta was definitely longer than the average “3 hr 10 min” each way quoted in the GPS app. I spent five hours at the show, so that would’ve easily been a 15 hour day with quilt show attendance, time for meals, breaks and commuting round-trip between Atlanta and Asheville.

As for the show, it was definitely worth the drive. I saw many gorgeous quilts, attended informative lectures and had my 1936 Featherweight looked over by a well-respected Featherweight service technician (the main reason the show was on my radar last year). There was excellent shopportunity, with several familiar faces who’d also vended at Mountain QuiltFest back in June. I purchased very few souvenirs to take home with me – a copy of the tech’s FW service/repair manual, a Bev McCullough pattern on my list and pink & blue bobbin weight thread for FMQ.

There were a couple of exhibits devoted to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. This quilt was a thank-you to all of the volunteer organizations who helped out after the devastating hurricane hit the area. My husband spent several weeks up there clearing debris with Team Rubicon. I sent him this picture along with a photo of the artist’s statement. Very moving.

After the show, I explored the area a bit before heading to my hotel. I had dinner at a local restaurant and spent the evening back in my hotel room stitching the Week 2 Mystery 5-0 units on Jane. The next morning, I explored downtown Hendersonville before heading back home.

I can definitely see bringing Sadie with me to a future quilt show in Asheville. It’s a very dog-friendly town and there are options for doggie day care while you attend the show.

Make time to travel

July 22, 2025
Picture of Mount Hood taken at Panorama Point, Oregon

Once Quilt Camp was over, we packed and headed out west to explore places long on my travel bucket list – the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood, Astoria and the Pacific Coast Highway. It was an incredible seven days. We flew into Portland (PDX), but didn’t spent much time in the city. What little I did see of downtown Portland was typical of any other large city – meaning I’d avoid the downtown area and shop/stay in the suburbs.

Our journey was basically one large loop – Hood River, The Dalles and back over to Astoria, following the Pacific Coast Highway as far as Newport, then over to Corvallis with a stop in Salem before heading back to Portland. Things we liked best: National Neon Sign Museum in The Dalles, Western Vintage Auto & Air Museum in Hood River, Columbia Gorge Maritime Museum in Astoria, Latimer Quilt & Textile Museum in Tillamook (just up the road from the Tillamook Creamery), Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville and the Deepwoods House & Gardens in Salem.

Photos from Latimer Quilt & Textile Museum in Tillamook, Oregon
Vacation souvenir from Fiddlesticks Quilt Shop in Vancouver, WA.

Oregon has no state sales tax, plus had great end of season sales, so we did some much needed shopping at the only full-fledged Eddie Bauer retail store in the state. At Montavilla Sewing Center, I also found the left bi-level 9mm foot for my Janome 8900 that none of the 3 Janome dealers near me had. While there, I also asked for a price quote on the Janome 9480 with the ASR. Extremely competitive, but as this model’s now been available for over two years, I expect prices will drop again soon.

Our last day/night was spent in Vancouver, Washington – just across the bridge from the Portland airport. This also the home to Connecting Threads, in case you receive their quilting catalog in the mail. We thoroughly enjoyed dining out on the patio at the The Cove and walking the along the river trail. I also visited the lone quilt shop of our trip – Fiddlesticks Quilt Shop where I purchased all the fabric needed for the upcoming Giant Dahlia class with Michelle Yeo.

Are you familiar with The Country Register? It’s a national publication focusing on individual states or regions. A number of quilt shops, textile museums and craft events have printed copies available. I always like to pick up a copy whenever I travel. When browsing through the Oregon, Washington, Idaho edition, I noticed that Michelle Yeo is also teaching at a shop in Oregon the week after she’s with my guild in Atlanta. I didn’t fully appreciate how much my guild subsidizes the cost to bring teachers to us until I saw the fees to attend the same class in Oregon.

Make time to travel – it forces you outside your comfort zone and allows you to experience new sights, sounds and tastes that you probably won’t experience at home. Dining al fresco on the waterfront of the Columbia River and enjoying huckleberry jam on my toast are two things that come to mind. Well, a jar of huckleberry jam did make the trip home with me.

Officially in summer mode

May 18, 2025

Cue the Pomp & Circumstance music.

This past week was a whirlwind of activities culminating with my youngest niece’s high school graduation on Friday night. Making it possible for my 80+ year old parents to see her graduate in person was totally worth all the four hours of driving I had to do in ATL traffic. Congrats to my niece and best of luck as she moves on to the next adventure – college.

Thank you to a kind neighbor who let me borrow a stadium seat. I highly recommend investing in one if you’ll be sitting in the bleachers during this busy graduation season and the venue doesn’t offer stadium seat rentals.

Summer mode is now officially engaged!

Time for quilting, travel, reading and a little cross-stitching.

And a pedicure.