Quilting Around Chautauqua 2012

Surprise trip from my hubby for our 6^th wedding anniversary

My Hubby, Sean, gave me a great surprise recently for our 6th wedding anniversary - a trip to The Chautauqua Institution for the annual Quilting Around Chautauqua 2012 sponsored by Millcreek Sewing and Fabric. 

We started out by going to Mayfield Heights to check on a Christmas gift and our next stop was to head to the Geneva Grape Jamboree. We took the back roads and what a treat the day turned out to be. Beautiful fall colors decorated the trees along the way, along with blue sky and white, puffy clouds.

When we got to I-90, the line of traffic to get into Geneva was so long that we decided to forgo the Jamboree and head to Erie to spend the night at his mom’s.

We did some shopping and decided to eat out. I made a joke about the size of my sweet potato and the three of us starting giggling, causing the patrons around us to wonder what the joke was. We headed back to my mother-in-law’s, house to settle in for the night before we got up early for the trip.

Rain was in the forecast for the day, but I kept telling myself that it was not going to rain. We had blue skies and the dark rain clouds were out over the lake. We were treated to beautiful fall colors along the way to get my mother-in-law and I in the “Quilting mood.”

We got there at 10 a.m. and started out at the Welcome Center checking out the Northeast Quilters exhibit, where Lynne, my mother-in-law, knew just about everyone. I thought to myself, “Great, this is like going to a quilt show with my buddy Bonnie, who knows everyone, so this is gonna take forever”, but it didn’t.

Sean saw a small Christmas tree wall hanging that we wanted me to get, he’s the Christmas guy in our house. Good thing Lynne knew the lady to ask, so now it’s been ordered and will be here soon.

We decided to walk to Bestor Plaza to check out more quilt guild exhibits at the Hultquist Center. Then some hot coffee and to the Athenaeum Hotel for the vendors, which is my favorite thing to do. Finding fabric and patterns that I have not seen around here is my favorite part of the trip. I was not disappointed. I found a Christmas gift for Lynne, found a few patterns and got some great ideas for some wall hangings. Lynne bought a sewing chair. It was quite comfortable because the back of the chair hit right in the lower part of your back to support it. We had to come back around 3 p.m. to get it so the vendor could sell more of them, she opted to bring it home instead of having it shipped. A few of my local shops were there and I ended up getting a pattern for a Mondo bag. I've already made one using my Halloween fabric scraps. I then found a pattern for a coat for my mom, the base of which is made from a sweatshirt.

On to Smith Wilkes Hall for some more vendors and a few more familiar faces and a few more items to make. We then caught a bus to the other side of the institute for more vendors. The bus rides thru the institute are kinda like taxi rides thru New York City, small, one-way streets, people walking in the streets and alley ways so tight that you think you are gonna take the siding off of a house.

We headed back to the Athenaeum Hotel to pick up Lynne’s chair and then headed home. All in all we had a wonderful trip. A big thank you to my hubby.