A Quilting Road Trip

A road trip can be fun, but when it is a "quilting" road trip, "fun" doesn't adequately describe it. Last Friday, Teri and I (Kara) set out for Williamsburg, Virginia, with two primary destinations: the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival and The Academy of Appliqué. For this week's post, we decided to take you, our readers, along for the ride. 

The Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, Virginia

No road trip would be complete without a few stops along the way, and our first stop on the trip was a lunch of pancakes at this famous restaurant. Can you guess which one? We may or may not have left with a few purchases from their gift shop.

Can you guess the restaurant?

After a fortifying lunch, we continued our journey south, checked into our accommodations, and made a beeline to the Quilt Festival for a Baltimore Appliqué Society (BAS) Show and Tell. This is an annual event for members, and is a good opportunity for members who live outside of Baltimore to connect with one another. We saw some amazing antique quilts, as well as this beautiful reproduction Margaret Potts Quilt shared by a BAS member. (You can purchase these patterns and others through the Baltimore Appliqué Society store for 50% off.)

Some of the Potts blocks in this quilt were appliquéd, and some were hand-quilted.

The next day, we went back to the quilt festival for a day of shopping, gazing at beautiful quilts, shopping, telling people about BAS, and did I mention shopping? One of our first stops was this lovely booth filled with vintage quilts, trims, and linens. We had our eye on a vintage quilt, but decided to wait and go back for it. BIG mistake! We saw it walking by us not 10 minutes later in the arms of someone else. Alas, it was not meant to be ours.

Some beautiful antique quilts

Vintage trims galore!

We meandered through the booths, stopping as various items caught our eyes. We had a class on Monday and still needed some background fabric, and I needed some leaf fabric, so that was our quest. However, there were a few purchases like beads, ribbon, and hand-dyed South African perle cotton that made it into our bags.

 I was magnetically drawn to this display of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

After we had finished shopping through half of the vendors, we decided to give our wallets a rest and look at some of the quilts on exhibit.  There were so many beautiful and inspiring quilts, but we were so inspired that we forgot to take more pictures! Here are a few that we loved.

Treasure Chest, by Ramona Houle, from Scottsville, Virginia

Woolly Alphabet, by Debora Konchinsky

The BAS had quite a few quilts on exhibit, as well as a booth to help promote the benefits of membership. Teri and I were honored to be able to share our experiences with others about the BAS, and we made a new friend, Ellen, who was going to be in our class on Monday and Tuesday. She was a lovely example of the kindness and graciousness that you find in fellow quilters.

Sharing the fun of the BAS

A gorgeous Baltimore Album quilt made by Polly Mello, members of the Baltimore Appliqué Society, and Bellwether Dry Goods

This stunning wall hanging by Delia Kane of New Jersey drew many into the BAS booth.

We perused the rest of the quilts and vendors during the afternoon, but soon our wallets were empty, and our bags were full, so we called it a day.  It's amazing how tired one can get from shopping and looking, but we got a good night's sleep and prepared for the next day of shopping at the local antique mall and the Williamsburg Winery.

The weather was bright, clear, and warm, and we were even able to wear sandals—a welcome treat after leaving the cold temperatures of home. The Williamsburg Antique Mall is quite vast and full of all sorts of treasures. We even enjoyed a fabulous cup of tea, dessert, and a conversation with the charming owner of the tea shop housed within the antique mall.

A unique Mola gone crazy that Teri took home

A collage of the vintage beauties we saw

We ended our day with a late lunch and wine tasting at the Williamsburg Winery. Although we have both been on quite a few wine tastings, this one was by far the best, and we highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

What a gorgeous day for a tasting

Lunch outside in February is a treat

A delightful red

We hope you have enjoyed coming along with us on the first half or our quilting road trip. Please join us next week as we share about our amazing experience at the Academy of Appliqué and the rest of our road trip.