After reading the last post, did you guess correctly that I picked both options and crammed all the fun I could into one day? Yes...a sliver of both please! :)
I decided to go on an adventure over the mountains and spent a half-day at the Highland Maple Festival over in Monterey. It definitely wasn't as crowded as most years because of the rainy weather, but I met up with some friends (planned and unexpected!) which made it all worthwhile!
Here are some pictures to document my day. First, here's the local Monterey Courthouse lawn where several vendors set up their wares:
Some of the crafts for sale included knitted goods, birdhouses, primitive wooden carvings, and mushroom logs:
I stood for quite awhile and watched the guy carving wooden baby rattles...very interesting since he carves the little rings right on the spindle:
I struck up a conversation with the man selling trees since Jonathan recently planted some apple trees for his bees, so this booth was very interesting to me:
Two local shops in town, Morning Glories and Moonflowers and Wool Becomes Ewe, were delightful to browse. The garden shop is always on my list of musts when I visit Monterey, but it was my first stop at the yarn and fabric shop:
The quaint yarn shop looked old-timey and very interesting--especially when I spotted the barn quilt on the side of the building. Barn quilt = must be good!
This shop was small but fun, and being around beautiful fabric definitely qualified as celebrating National Quilt Day!
After I finished my shopping, I headed back to where I was parked and ran into old friends we knew back in Williamsburg. In fact, Mary taught our kids to read music and play recorders many years ago. They live in the Monterey area now and were helping with the Maple BBQ Chicken:
And...here are my friends from my hometown of South Boston and the ones I made the trip over to the Festival to see:
We tried and tried to phone each other throughout the morning so we could meet up, having no clue that in such a small country town the lone cell tower would be overloaded and calls couldn't go through!
I finally gave up all hopes of running into them and was headed back home when I decided to try to call one final time...lo, and behold, the call connected! They were on one street corner, and I was on the opposite! What fun to get to talk at least for awhile!
Here's a partial view of the main street in Monterey looking back east, the direction I headed home:
Back home again, I settled in for a cozy afternoon of sewing and worked on the first red block in my Block of the Month class in honor of National Quilting Day! It turned out better than I expected.
If I had a design wall...this would go on it!
What a very full day! I hope you enjoyed going with me to the Maple Festival!
~Deb
Your "Adventure" sure looks and sounds like such a fun time...rain and all. PTL you did end up getting to see your friends too, planned and unplanned! :) That block is GORGEOUS!!!!! You can come put it up on my wall anytime you want! ;) I just LOVE those fabrics and the red is so vibrant, makes me wish I could quilt along with you! :)
Posted by: Chris | Monday, March 18, 2013 at 03:56 PM
Deb, It looks like you had a very fun time!!!
Love, Heather
Posted by: Heather Pickle | Monday, March 18, 2013 at 06:43 PM
What a lovely day, even in the rain. I loved the barn quilt. We traveled from MI to WV and then to SC a while back and saw 7 of them. I thought of you. :o)
Posted by: Carrie | Monday, March 18, 2013 at 07:20 PM
Deb trying to reach you your a WINNER
Posted by: sandra pipitone | Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 12:02 AM
I love that block! I keep saying we are going to the maple festival, but something with the children always comes up!
Posted by: Cindi | Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 07:02 PM
Oh what a day, rain and all, it sounded full and fun! Nice that you were able to take in the festival, friends, and a bit of quilting. I hope better weather is on it's way to your area, and that it brings spring along when it comes;)
Blessings
Posted by: Laura | Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 09:44 PM
Lovely to read of your trip!
Posted by: Sherrin | Friday, March 22, 2013 at 02:04 AM
What a fun day!
Love the block too
Posted by: Nic | Friday, March 22, 2013 at 04:47 AM
Deb, it looks like you really got to see more of Monterey than we did. I am so sorry I was not walking along with you while looking at all the interesting vendors on the street of Monterey. We really didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked at each vendor, because of the rain. Oh, well. I thank the Lord we did get to see each other though. I loved the little town and thank the Lord for the things we did get to see. Thanks for the post!
Posted by: Carolyn | Friday, March 22, 2013 at 10:08 PM