Ossipee and Kennybunk Beach

Tuesday 4 October – Adams-Ossipee #2

I woke early this morning which was a pity because I did not need to. We slowly packed and left again for Lake Ossipee by about 10 am.

This time we drove north into Vermont then followed Route 9 east to see all the damage done by hurricane Irene. The lovely fabric shop and country store that Surrey and I had visited had been completely under water and were quite damaged. There were lots of parts of the road washed away but now open and fixed but there is still a lot of work to be done.

We stopped for lunch at the Chelsea Royal Diner at Brattleboro again and then for an over-the-top ice cream at Johnson's at New Durham. We followed a slightly different route in New Hampshire this time as well.

We arrived at the lake at about 5 pm, unloaded and settled in for the evening. The heavy rain we had for most of the drive has stopped and is supposed to be clearing tomorrow.

As the light faded two woodpeckers came to the tree outside the verandah window right at my eye level. Unfortunately, because of the light, I was unable to take a good photo but it was fascinating to watch them.

Gordon came over to chat and then Barre and I walked down the stairs to the lake. There had been so much rain that the level was noticeably higher than when we were here last week.

After a light dinner Merilee came to join us in a game of “Ticket to Ride”. It is quite a good game.

We watched the last half of NCIS then I went to bed and read for a while. I didn't want to go to bed too early so I don't wake too early in the morning.

I miss Elaine and with no internet don't even know how her trip to Vancouver went.

Wednesday 5 October – Lake Ossipee

We woke this morning to sunshine and 10 C. The air was fresh and reminded me of autumn at the block. It is so nice.

Merilee came over to join Marion and I on our trip to Keepsake Quilting. I was able to buy the remaining things I need for the coming weekend. Merilee bought fabrics for a quilt she wants to make and Marion bought a few fat quarters. Then I searched through their scrap basket and found some lovely yellow gold pieces, probably about half a metre in 5 pieces.

Again our parcels were tied with fabric strips. I swapped a piece of my scrap purchase for Merilee's fabric strip.

Home for lunch and I had my slice of pie that Merilee had brought over last night. It was delicious and I really liked the pastry.

After lunch Merilee came over with another fabric scrap for me then said she was going back to bake an apple pie. As I had loved her pastry so much I said I'd love to come over for a demo. So half an hour later we were at Merilee's having a pastry lesson.

All the normal rules applied (keep it cold, work cold, use iced water) but some things were different (use lard instead of butter, crumb with a pastry cutter, crumbs should be pea sized not smaller as I usually do, roll on a floured cloth and a cloth-covered rolling pin). The size needed for the rolled circle was even drawn on the rolling cloth. Merilee rolls to 1/8 inch or even finer. The lard and iced water seems to make it more elastic than “Crisco” (whatever that is).

Then there was the apple filling spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice (not mixed spice).

Cooking is about 10 minutes in a very hot oven then about 45 minutes at moderate. Merilee freezes uncooked pies as well but then does the very hot oven for about 15 minutes.

I am going to try Merilee's method for the pumpkin pie I want to make Elaine when I get home.

Back again to watch a video about “Gross Morne” national park in Newfoundland, a favourite place of Barre's.

Merilee came over again at about 5 pm inviting us for a walk which I accepted with enthusiasm. It was only a short walk but we went down the road to where the lake flows out downstream. The water was running very swiftly after all the rain and I certainly would not like to own a house down on the river flat area. It looks as though it will flood very easily.

Thursday 6 October – Quilting #1

After some 'justing' this morning we left Ossipee at about 10:15 and let the GPS lady guide us to our destination for the quilting weekend. She took us down roads that Barre and Marion had not travelled before. It was quite an interesting trip with some huge houses along the way.

When we arrived in Kennybunk Port we found parking and had lunch at Hurricane Restaurant. There were unexpected crowds of people for a Thursday but it turned out that the QE2 was in at Portland and was bussing people to various towns for an outing. We saw 5 buses at lunch time and there were queues everywhere.

Once we'd had lunch we let the GPS lady 'recalculate' and lead us to our final destination – The Franciscan Guest House at Kennybunk Beach.

We soon settled into our room and set up our sewing stations in the gymnasium. Linda K (Michelle's mum) had sent along here spare sewing machine for me to use. Marion had also put in spare tools for me. I had the fabric and thread I had bought along the way, a cutter and small ruler so I was set.

By the end of the afternoon I had done a few prototypes of the blocks I had to make and introduced myself to the other ladies on our table.

Dinner was simple food Lithuanian style. It was really good and serve yourself which meant the servings were not humungous.

Even after dinner people continued sewing and others arrived. Linda K arrived after dinner with Anne Marie making 7 in our corner – Marion, Linda K, Lori, Cheryl, Sandy, Anne Marie and myself.

Eventually I quit and went up to bed exhausted. Marion followed soon after. We turned the lights off at about 10:30 – very late for me.

Friday 7 October – Quilting #2

Up at abut 7 am and down to breakfast shortly after. I enjoyed some porridge without all the added flavours that seem to abound over here. Then back to the sweat shop after sorting a few emails.

About mid-morning Lori invited us to take a drive to some fabric shops so I accepted and she, Sandy, Cheryl, Anne Marie and I headed north, stopping at a few places along the way. We got as far north as Portland then had a 'sandwich' (about 3” of meat slices with a lettuce leaf) and headed back, arriving at about 2pm.

Linda T arrived just after we returned so we are now 8 mad quilters. There are probably over 30 in all in a gymnasium with 4 huge workstations, coffee and food corner, seats for audience type things and a wall of ironing boards and irons.

I worked very hard to finish my quilt except for the final border by dinner time. Again dinner was great. The young Lithuanian cook is great and very friendly.

More sewing on a few experiments after dinner before crashing at about 9pm.

Saturday 8 October – Quilting #3

Up a bit earlier this morning and once I was dressed I went down to the dining room for coffee (none in the bedrooms). Got onto the internet there and answered a few emails.

After breakfast it was back to sewing. I finished my quilt top then made 7 little patchwork keyrings for each of the ladies on my table and for the leader of the group, Nancy.

My 'Fall' quilt

Marion and I had our biscuits and cheese for lunch with an apple sitting in the dining room (lunch is not included). Soon after some of the ladies from my table invited me for a walk to the beach. What a different beach! Wide sand with the tide out and the sea as flat as a tack. The huge houses are built right on the beach and there is very little in the way of dunes. There were lots of people sunbathing, cycling, walking dogs, playing bocce and other games. There were even some swimming. I went in up to my ankles but it was really very cold. I declined to walk further and returned to finish off my keyrings.

Kennybunk Beach

Lori, Betty, Anne Marie, Cheryl

I gave a few mini lessons to some of the ladies – stack and slash, mini squares blocks and mitering binding corners. Then I ran out of work to do so am now finishing a quilt for Marion. She often does mine when she visits Sydney so I thought that was fair.

After dinner we had a 'Yankee Swap'. This was really fun. Everyone brought a wrapped gift with them to a value of $15. We all sat in a circle with our gift while Nancy read a story with lots of the words 'right' and 'left' in it. When you heard 'right' you passed the gift in your hand to the person on your right an so on. Eventually the gifts were passed a number of places around the circle. Everyone opened their new gift and described it to the gathering. Such a laugh and there quite a mix of gifts.

A bit more sewing and chatting then I had skypes with both Geoff and Ellen and even got to talk to Alex and Luke. Went up to bed around 9 pm and even had enough energy to read for a bit.

Sunday 9 October – Quilting #4

Down early for breakfast and email again today. I even had a bit of time to write up diary.

The morning was spent finishing the border of Marion's quilt. We also had a show-and-tell when everyone had a chance to hold up the projects they had worked on over the weekend. There was certainly a huge amount done!

Barre came around noon and we drove home (a 6 hour journey including short stops). Arriving home exhausted Barre went out for pizza and Marion got a phone call to say she had left all her personal bags behind including her Cpap machine. Arrangements have now been made to do a 3 hour drive on Wednesday to collect them from Linda T. At least it is not all the way back!