Travel Tuesday

We had a busy and fun day today. First we went down to Massachusetts to Walden Pond of Henry David Thoreau fame. It was so hot the kids jumped in clothes and all!

Next we went to Minuteman National Park where the Revolutionary War started. They have a fantastic multi-media presentation that even my 3 wriggly kids sat through transfixed!

North bridge was next on the agenda - it is this exact spot where British soldiers and colonials were killed.

It's amazing to see places where history took place. Finally we rounded out the American history portion of the day by visiting Sleepy Hollow cemetery. Buried here are the famous authors, Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Hawthorne and Emmerson.

The most interesting part of this was seeing what was left on their graves. For example, have a look at Thoreau's grave...

Isn't it neat that people leave notes and pencils? How appropriate!

I'm sorry I haven't posted much in the way of quilting lately - we've been out and about so much with our family visiting that it doesn't leave much time to sew! Back to regularly scheduled programming soon :)

Big Lemons, Small Lemons

Finally, today, I had some time to get my new lemon block cut out.

It feels good to have some applique on hand to stitch again. You can see in the next photo the difference in sizes, and the fabric switch-ups I made.

The overwhelming majority of you liked the black and white bowl so that's what I went with and I love it! So thank you:)

Seen-It-Sunday

1st, something quilty, 2nd, something crafty, and 3rd, something colorful!

I saw a tutorial this week at Venus de Hilo on how to make Kaleidoscope blocks lay flat. Her advice is just so darn good I have to share it!
If you want to make blocks like these...

But they aren't meeting in the middle such as this...

or they don't meet at the outside edges like this...

then you need to read her amazing tips, found HERE. Really good sound advice. I learned a lot!

Secondly, how cute is this drawer???

You could use any old drawer from an old dresser, or find one in a thrift store. I love turning old things into beautiful things and this would be just perfect for some old drawers I have in the basement. Imagine using them in your quilt/sewing room - you could store threads in them, or patterns, or scraps...oh the possibilities!

And thirdly, how amazing are all these frames...

I have a love affair with spray paint, and am always on the lookout for old ornate frames to make pretty like these. If you check out the rest of her Etsy store, Mandolin Goose, you'll see that it's not just frames that get the spray treatment - little nik naks are also make into wonderful new objects of art.

My mind is reeling with ideas. Once again, thrift shops! I've had an idea lately of spray painting my copper jello molds different colors. I think I need to act on that!

I hope you had a wonderful week, and that you have fun things planned for the week ahead. We still have our visitors here and I just know more fun things are in store for this week!

Hair Today, Gone Today

Today I had the best gift anyone could give to me - time alone! Hubby was at work and the in-laws took the kids to Boston for the day. That meant I could do anything I wanted - all by myself! I showered and wasn't interrupted by kids. Then I went to dry my hair and thought uh uh not happening, I'm DONE! My hair was down to my butt, and at the point where even when I took the time to blow dry it and try to make it look nice, it was just scraggly and dried out. You know it's time for a haircut when even your husband, who loves long hair, tells you that you need a haircut!

I called a Salon, and within half an hour I was sitting in one of their chairs being pampered. They cut at least 10 inches off and I'm still getting used to not having the mop dragging behind me, but it's SO much lighter and far less hot! Not to mention shinier and healthier. Summer can now officially start!

Keepsake Quilting

Today we had another day trip with our guests. This time we went north in New Hampshire to the White Mountains area. We drove past the famous Keepsake Quilting and my SIL said, "Anyone who wants to go here better say so right now..." So of course I started yelling at her YES YES YES!!

I have mixed feelings about Keepsake Quilting. On one hand I love it because it's so famous in the quilting world, and it's just huge and beautiful inside. Even the bathrooms are pretty! On the other hand, they just don't have 'my' type of fabric. They carry more traditional and what I would call pretty fabrics. Not much modern stuff at all. You see a bolt of it here and there mixed in with other bolts. Still, it's good for the senses to be around all that fabric, and I did manage to find some things to buy! You can see me here with my bag of purchases outside the store...

Did I say you could see me? I meant you can see my eyes. That's what happens when you ask your kid to take your photo! Let's try that again...

At the end of the store they have a large room of clearance items and I found two older Heather Bailey fabrics for just $3.99/yard.

I bought two yards of each as they will be good for backings or clothes for my 10 year old girl. They have two large wire bins filled with scraps so I picked up a bunch of them which were 25 cents each.

As I do a lot of applique, scraps are fantastic for me.

I also bought 2 reusable totes with Kaffe Fassett prints. You can see them standing against the wall here...

There wasn't a single Kaffe print in the store, but they had his totes! I spent forever deciding which one to get, then I realized that for the sake of just a few dollars I could have them both!

If you're ever in the NH area, it's worth a drive to see it. Plus it's right next to a beautiful lake so the location is lovely.

Beach, Boat, Clams

I love it when family comes to visit because it's the best excuse ever to get out and do fun things! The last couple of days have been packed full of fun things. You saw photos yesterday, Wordless Wednesday, of a quilt and the beach. Yes, out of the thousands of people on the beach, I do believe I was the only one sewing binding on a quilt!

The quilt I was binding is going to a cousin in Washington State. I think it's kind of cool that the quilt is going from sea to shining sea - Maine to Washington! The beach we went to is called Ogunquit beach up in Maine. One of the reasons is that one of our visitors, Chris, is in a wheelchair, and Ogunquit is one of the few beaches that has special beach wheelchairs you can borrow. A normal wheelchair would never make it through the sand, but these make it possible to get right up to the water!

We then went to the town of Portsmouth NH, one of the oldest towns in the nation! We went on a boat cruise along the river and out into the Atlantic Ocean. Love these views...

Next up was a stop at a quilt shop, but I'll save my purchases to show you in another post!

One place my SIL wanted to go was Bob's Clam Hut in Kittery Maine which was featured on the Food Network show, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" with Guy Fiere. You can watch it featured HERE. We got a big basket of fried clams to share...yum!

Of course we had to get a photo of his signature on the wall!

Then tonight my hubby was home so we all went to a baseball game. A highlight for the kids was being able to run the bases after the game. That red blur is our youngest!

Wordless Wednesday