Lancaster/Harrisburg, PA
Sept 7th through the 10th, 2006
The weekend of Sept 7th through the 10th has been decided for the date of this year's Swarm. The location for the lodging is in the details below.
We are arranging this year's swarm around the Fort Washington Quilt Show which is now called the Pennsylvania National Quilt Show.
The current, and flexible, schedule is below. Everyone is welcome to make their own plans, of course. We will have tourist information, maps, etc. available.
- Wed, Sep 6—Early arrivals. Karen and Bill are arriving in the afternoon. General meet and greet.
- Thu, Sep 7—Check in sometime during the day. Bill and Karen will be there already, so anytime during the day is great. We'll scout out some places to explore, and somewhere for dinner. (You'll never starve in the middle of Penn Dutch country!)
- Fri, Sep 8—For those who wish, we figure this is a good day to go to the quilt show in Harrisburg. Looks like it's about an hour from where we're staying. We've been to the show when it was in another spot, and it's a good one! We'll also try to put together a map and directions to quilt shops for those who want to stay in the Lancaster area.
- Sat, Sep 9—Shopping — a trip to the People's Quilt Museum and Fabric Shop, Burkholders, Zooks, Sauder's and anyplace else we think is cool. Prices are fabulous — you'll all go home spoiled by them.
- Sun, Sep 10—Breakfast, goodbyes, more shopping? See you next year!
That's the general idea. There is no hard and fast schedule, however. And evenings will be get-togethers where we chat and sew and get to know each other.
Preview trip, June 2006
Karen and I took a short preview trip to check out the Lodge and the local establishments. We had a good time even if it was just a couple of days.
We found the lodge and "cabins" to be very nice and ate a few of the local restaurants. I've made a small slide show from some of the pictures we took:
Lodging
The all-important "Where are we all staying?" question!
Spruce Lane Lodge and Cottages, Lancaster, PA (717.393.1991 or 800.446.4901)
We have reserved 11 rooms at the Lodge itself. Six of them have 2 double beds, and five of them have one queen bed. Rooms in the Lodge are $61 for Thursday night, and $66 for Friday and Saturday nights. We also reserved 3 Cottage rooms, with 2 queen-size beds. Cottages are $88 for Thursday, and $93 for Friday and Saturday. There is a common room in the lodge we can use to get together. (There is one room in the Lodge already reserved by an outsider; she is going to let me know if they cancel so we can have the entire lodge ourselves.) You will need to make reservations at Spruce Lane yourself. Their phone numbers are: 717.393.1991 or 800.446.4901. I spoke to Jody, and she asks that you mention Our Quilting Beehive when you call to reserve a room. The rooms will be held for us until early August, but please call as soon as possible. Check out the accommodations at www.sprucelanelodge.com.
There are refrigerators and coffee pots in the Cottage rooms, but not in the Lodge. We will bring our 12-cup coffee pot, and my electric kettle for coffee and tea. The restaurant next to the Lodge property serves lunch and dinner, but not breakfast. I was thinking of picking up bagels, rolls, etc. in the evening for the next days breakfast. Or there may be somewhere fabulous down the street....
Travelling
Directions to the lodge from Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and Harrisburg are on the Lodge web site.
For those coming in by air, there are several regional airports nearby and, of course, Philadelphia.
- The Lehigh Valley International Airport (Allentown) airport is quite good and is probably the best choice.
- The Lancaster Airport is served by US Airways Express and has a few flights daily.
- The Harrisburg Airport is also served by several major carriers.
If you plan on flying in please post your schedule on the list! Use the list to arrange for ride-sharing, etc. if you wish.
*It seems that there are special airfares on Continental to Harrisburg Airport. Discounts of 2-15% . Call 800 468 7022 for reservations. Refer to Z Code ZKCX and agreement code V90074. You can save an additional 3% by booking at www.continental.com on-line, use Offer Code ZKCXV90074. The details are posted on www.quiltfest.com [Thanks, Peggy!]
Raffles
More information and contact information is available on the
Beehive Buzz
Groups.
You must be a member of the Google group to read the archives and participate
in the discussion but it's FREE and FUN too!
Block Raffle
With great thanks to Peggy! We have a block raffle planned for this year's Swarm! Here's the information she has posted:Attention Swarmers and Not-Swarmers!
We will be having a block raffle at the September Swarm. In tribute to our Lancaster Amish location, we'll be making Shoo Fly Blocks with black background. But because we're such modern wildwomen, we'll use a batik instead of an Amish color.Swarm Block Raffle
Not-So-Amish Shoo Fly
9” Finished Size
CUT:
Black Four 3.5 X 3.5 squares
Two 4 X4 squares
Batik One 3.5 X 3.5 square
Two 4 x 4 squares
Using the 4 x 4 squares, place one batik and one black, right sides together. Draw a diagonal line. Stitch 1/4” from both sides of the diagonal line. Cut on the line. Press open to make 4 half squares
Trim to 3.5”
In this diagram the black is where you put the batik. The batik is the shoo fly and black is the background!
Arrange your pieces in nine patch lay out. Sew rows, pressing toward the whole squares in row 1 and 3. Press to sides in row 2.
Sew rows together and press well. Check to be sure you have a 9.5 inch unfinished block.
Your block will look like this, except the background will be black instead of white.
Mail your block to Peggi Yacovissi , 13 Queen St. Wellsboro, PA 16901. Include your name and address on a piece of paper for each block you send. Each block is a chance to win a set of blocks. If there are lots of blocks, we’ll split the set among 2 or more winners.
Challenge: If you feel adventurous, make a 6 inch finished size shoo fly. Then add 3 inches (+ seam allowance) of background black to two sides to make a 9 inch (9.5 unfinished) block with an off center shoo fly!
Quilt Top Raffle
With great thanks to Moira! We also have a quilt top raffle planned for this year's Swarm. Here's the information she has posted:We will be having a raffle quilt at the September Swarm. We will be doing a little something different this year.Our great thanks to Peggy and Moira for hosting these raffles!
I have bought a focus fabric with bees on it (you expected something different?) that everyone will use for the focus fabric in their block(s). Those that want to participate in the quilt raffle will need to send $1 to me along with a SASE. In return I will send you a fat 1/8th of the focus fabric. You will need to make one or more 9" finished blocks, pattern of your choice, from the fabric and return the block(s) to me.
You do not have to be present to win the raffle quilt. So anyone that wants to play can (at least until I run out of fabric <s>). I will assemble the quilt top and bring it with me to the swarm in September.
Note — Please send me an email and let me know you are sending off your $1 to me if you want to participate so I know to be on the look out for it.
Address to mail your $1 and SASE to is:
Moira McSpadden
44 Montvale Ave, #304
Woburn, MA 01801
I will be picking up the fabric (from my stash) this weekend when I'm back in Phoenix.
Let me know if there are any questions.
Moira
***********************************
Block Due Date - In the mail by August 10th,
Block size - 9" finished
Focus Fabric - Bee fabric
Background fabric — Use black for the background of your block(s). A good quality solid like Kona or a good quality black tone on tone is what would be prefered.
Coordinates - Choose any of the colors in the focus fabric for your coordinating colors for your block(s)
Block Pattern - any pattern of your choice
Each block made and returned to me will get one entry into the drawing for the finished quilt top.
Address to mail your completed blocks to is:
Moira McSpadden
44 Montvale Ave, #304
Woburn, MA 01801
Shopping
The Lancaster area has a lot of shopping opportunities. The fabric shops are probably the most interesting to this group but there are many other types of shopping available. Notably, the Amish furniture in the area is very affordable and generally of top quality.
We will have directions from the lodge to these popular fabric shops:
- Burkholders Fabric Shop
- Zook's
- The People’s Place Quilt Museum and Old Country Store
- Sauder's — Bulk food too!
There are, of course, many other great places. These are four that we have visited in the past and found to be great shops. Sauder's is a bit unique in that you can also buy bulk dry goods at excellent prices. We usually get our snacks (chips, etc.) there but they have other staples also.
Food!
The second most popular activity during these swarms is eating. We will be scoping out the opportunities while we visit the end of June and will have more information available after that trip. In the mean time, there is one place that we will seriously consider:
Other fun and games
There are many, many more things to do in the area of course. A couple of ideas are shown below:
- Geocaching—This is my latest hobby. The idea is to use your Global Position Receiver (GPS) to locate hidden caches which were placed by other cachers. The hunt is fun in and of itself and often the caches have fun goodies in them for trade. Plus, it gets me out of the house and doing some exercise. For those that are interested, I will be doing some demo caching to show how it's done.
- Strasburg Rail Road—Ride the antique rails behind real steam engines in restored coaches. Take a tour of the workshops where the engines and coaches are restored and refurbished. There are exhibits showing a signal tower, some static car displays, and plenty for kids to do too!
- Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania—Right across the street from the Strasburg Rail Road, this is a large museum with a wide variety of railroad rolling stock and equipment. One unique item is the ability to drive a train using their full-sized train simulator.
