The bus trip to Baltimore was a great adventure. I hope that everyone who went on the trip had as much fun as I did. We left promptly at 10:00 in a beautiful new coach, our driver was most courteous and competent. We arrived at the museum at 12:00 and had more than enough time to see all of the 40 quilts that were on display. There were four Album quilts and all of us spent most of our time scrutinizing every stitch. This was a small, non-professional show and we were able to really get up close to the quilts and study them up close. Patricia Presky thinks she found a relative in one of the signature quilts. The sanctuary of the church was also quite breath taking. We left Baltimore at 2:00 and were back at the shop by 4:00. Our driver Ken did a superb job.

The girls at the shop had done an outstanding job setting everything up for Market Review and the house was really full at 5:30 when we were ready to begin our semi-annual review. As I told everyone, I had decided not to actually go to Market this fall and, instead we ordered everything in advance. We were so pleased with all of the goodies that we had and, judging from the way everyone shopped, so did everyone else. We still have everything set out for those who could not come on Friday night. We look forward to seeing you and giving you a personal tour. There were a couple of things that we sold out of on Friday and we will reorder. Some of the new gadgets are outstanding. A great number of new punch needle patterns--and yes, that still is the hottest thing on the market. New books from Need'l Love and Blackbird Designs were the most popular along with Terry Atkinson's new book, My Red Sofa. In addition to all the new Market stuff we had also received the new Moda panels from those crazy girls Ora and Opal. You really do want to make sure you have this in your collection. Those gals are really something. We have a number of coordinating pieces from this line as well.

I am off this week to teach the Underground Railroad Elder Hostel quilt. Stop by and say hi to everyone at the shop and I will see everyone on Saturday for Saturday Sampler. We will have two red and green quilts ready for your preview with finishing ideas. We will also be giving you a few hints about what we will be doing next week.

See you soon, Barbara