I’m back from my travels for a little while. Sheila and I actually covered more than 1600 miles in seven days which is nearly as far as driving to California over the Rockies from here! We went through 5 states and had a lot of laughs…
On Wednesday we left Paducah and drove to Nashville. We went through a torrential rainstorm which called for encouraging words from the navigator for the driver… Half an hour of following the tail lights of the car in front is not my idea of fun but we did it and we survived!
After a successful wedding planning session and a bison burger for lunch it was time for a trip to the Opryland Hotel, and if we visit the hotel we have to take the boat ride…
Here are Jonathan and Lauren enjoying the voyage.
I still think the experience would be enhanced by some music.
Gloxinia seemed to be the flower of the moment at the hotel. Here’s a particularly striking pink one.
We stayed in Franklin, Kentucky overnight. Dinner was a fun outing. I can’t remember ever visiting a restaurant that ran out of spoons before. Fortunately we had our own… A quilter is always prepared?
We started the next day’s journey with a trip to A Quilter’s Fabric Garden, sadly in the middle of a retirement and closing sale.
Everything in the store was 25% off and we both found things we needed.
Here’s the sign over the register.
And it was indeed a very nice store!
While I was driving North, Sheila consulted her phone and discovered that we would pass close by Lincoln’s birthplace. So we took a detour.
Fifty six steps represent the number of years Lincoln lived…
The monument was built over the log cabin where the happy event took place,
Only forty years after the memorial was finished it was discovered this wasn’t the actual cabin, but at least it was in the right spot!
Duly educated we set off again, headed for a quilt store in Greenwood, Indiana. There was a five minute downpour just South of Louisville ( a breeze after the last one) and lots of traffic. We realized that we were on Eastern time and it would be a close thing to get to our destination before five o’clock…
We thought we had made it with a minute to spare but were greeted by the staff leaving and suggesting we return the next day. I was not a happy camper…
But, while we were looking for the phone charger (Sheila’s phone was exhausted by all that rural travel) the day was saved by Susan’s arrival…She had come to collect something from the store and invited us to come in and look around. So we went in The Back Door.
Of course we made a few purchases and set off on the last leg of our trip quite cheerfully.
On Saturday we went to Wisconsin to visit Joanne on the farm. (Steve drove and I slept)
It’s a good job there are other buildings on their land! This one is in better shape.
It still needs a new roof to make it watertight but Joanne and John have made great progress in the last few weeks. I love the optimism of the young. I remember buying a rather run down house in Burnt Oak many years ago…
Just one picture of the Queen Anne’s Lace and an interesting bug.
All good things come to an end and Sheila went home on Sunday. We have another road trip in November. That one will actually be for the wedding. I have lots to do before then!
Yesterday I made a rather handsome African Folklore rhino into a finished piece with the addition of a quilted background and a frame from Big Lots.
I also covered lots of clothes line ready for use…
This morning I started the day with coffee in my new mug from the Quilt Museum,
and then set to work on a couple of bowls.
This one took 20 feet of clothes line and a nice batik.
It’s about 5″ across the base.
I had 16 feet of clothes line for this one and two shades of shot cotton.
There is a reason for all this stitching. It’s School House time at Riverwalk Quilters Guild tonight and I will be demoing my Wrapped in Scraps bowls, five times, twenty minutes each time… Off to the copy shop to print out the handouts next!
