Shop Hop Day 2

Yesterday was the second day of our two-day Shop Hop. Kay let us sleep in an extra 15 minutes, so we started later in the morning. Okay, I'm kidding--it's just that our first shop was closer to home. The shop owner even opened up a half hour early just for us. Wasn't that nice of her?

Quilt Essentials in Auburn was the first place we visited. I've been there before, but not before I started knitting. They have a great knitting shop in the other half of the store, and I'll go there again. I didn't buy any more yarn, but I did get a nice retractable Clover tape measure.

We visited two other shops as well yesterday morning, and I picked up a few other things--some yardage of a couple of browns for some different projects, a jelly roll, a pack of charm squares, couple more patterns, and some foundation paper for all those miniature quilts I want to make.

At the last shop, a few of us finished shopping early and stepped outside to wait for the others. We are just coming into black fly season in Maine, and they were terrible yesterday. They're not biting yet--they just keep buzzing around your face and head--but they will be soon. I was out gardening the first summer we lived here in Maine; and when I came in, my son said I had blood running all down the back of my neck. After I washed the blood off, I discovered I had huge bumps and welts all over, which itched like mad and took days to disappear. Woe be to the unsuspecting person who goes out without bug repellant during black fly season! Thankfully it's short lived.

The last stop of the day was Moody's Diner in Waldoboro. Moody's, a plain and simple little diner, opened its doors in 1927 and has survived for 80 years because of "good food, reasonable prices, and quick, pleasant service". They're famous for their walnut cream pie, a recipe requested by Gourmet magazine. Margo likes the walnut pie so much that she ordered it at the same time she ordered her sandwich. Guess she was afraid they'd run out before she got some!

I had fish chowder for lunch, and it was about the best I've had anywhere. Not knowing if I'd ever have an opportunity to eat there, I bought their cookbook a while back; and the recipes for both the fish chowder and the walnut pie are in the book.

Margo at Heart in His Hand Quilting has a nice write-up and photos of our Shop Hop on her blog too.