Finally...My Purchases

I finally managed to take some photos of the things I bought along the way to, in and on the way home from NYC.  Grab a cuppa and let's take a look see shall we?

First up on the way to NYC.  I managed to snag some of the orange Sebastian (of Ghastly fame) and a JR of Sweet!!  WOO HOO

Next up was the visit to The City Quilter and some more Ghastlies.

I also found some Wee Wonderfuls patterns packed up with some dish towels. I also got a little of this odd plant print. Can't remember who makes it but I loved it!

I put all my Liberty purchases together here and I found some Jansdotter fabric too.

At B & J Fabrics I found some FFA and another beautiful Liberty print, don't you think?

Next trip was down to the Garment District to look for silk and other stuff. I found leather scraps to make thimbles with.

Then I did find some silk. See that one on the right, that was the one we ended up going back for b/c I couldn't live without it!! The fabric on the left is the linen I spoke of.

I know you are dying to see my pearls right? Well here they are and doesn't that turquoise silk show them off well?

Well, time for the ride home and the spoils from that ride. I loved this roof fabric and DH thought the calendar was GREAT!

It's a little difficult to see the fabric on the left well but it is striped with aqua and green.

I was so excited to find some Swell at one of the shops too!!

The shop in Montourville had a lot of Civil War and reproduction fabrics but this one reminded me of Christmas peppermints.

I needed to find some fall fabric for a project with one of the groups I belong to, but at the same time I was intriqued with the nave and orange combo fabrics I found too! What do you think of these?

So there you have it, my haul from the trip!! Now I have to find somewhere to put it all, lol. I am anxious to do some sewing but am still digging out from the trip. I did go back to Zumba today and that felt good. I did a lot of cleaning and laundry and I still need to get to the grocery store. I hope you are having a good weekend too. Did any of you have a chance to make the block I designed? I would love your feed back. Have a great weekend! ~XOP~

The Rest of The Trip

We got on the road around noon and so headed out from NY to MI.  We went a little way before stopping at our first quilt shop, The Quilted Crow, in Lehighton, PA.  This was a very nice shop with some very nice ladies!

I bought a little something there and as I was checking out my DH put a calendar up on the counter (he gets me one every Christmas, so I guess he figured this would work!)

Back on the road we went. Next stop was Rose of Sharin in Danville, PA. I thought this was a nice little shop too.

Then we decided we needed to do some driving and get to our hotel. We drove to Watsontown PA to the Watson Inn.  We just looked the Inn up online and thought it looked nice.  We arrived at night time so please excuse the dark photos.

It is right along the Susquehanna river, so we walked from main street down to the river I took some night time photos but it was even more beautiful during the day.

We walked along the park and stopped to swing on porch type swing that faced the river. All we needed was a quilt to snuggle under and it would have been even more perfect!

We got up in the morning at ate at the local diner (the D &D Diner) and the food was fantastic! Of course I forgot to take a photo of the food, so sorry! We got on the road and headed out to our next quilt shop. Problem was we would arrive there before they were open. Luckily there was a model train shop nearby that was open! So we went there first and then to Our Gathering Place next. It is located in Montoursville,PA. What a nice shop! Loads of Civil War and reproduction fabrics.

Next stop Jersey Shore PA at Inspirations quilt shop. I didn't end up buying anything in the shop but it was a nice little shop with very friendly people in it! Loved this blue and yellow quilt!

OK so the very last stop before flat out driving for home was Bellefonte, PA. This was a beautiful historic old town with a road so steep I have never seen the like of it! I didn't get a photo but we were going almost straight up!! It was crazy. I have no idea how anyone would do that in the winter! There was a great little antique mall there and we managed to pick up a few things there too. I still need to get pictures for you though, darned daylight savings time and those short days here in MI!!

So the rest of the trip was uneventful but we got home and it is always good to be home! I hope you have all enjoyed my little trip. Thanks for coming along. I hope we can do it again next year and visit some new and different shops along the way.

I told DH I should be on my own show for the Travel Channel, Quilt Shops along the back roads! Sadly, he told me no one would watch it! Oh well a girl can dream eh?

Have a wonderful day and we will talk soon! ~XOP~

NYC With My Sweetie!

Yep today was the big day.  I waited, and I waited and I waited some more for him to finish his training so we could go into the city together!  FINALLY he got back to the hotel and we could go.  We took the bus from our hotel in NJ into the city.  I did that every morning, so I knew how to do that!  It takes about 30 minutes to get there.  The first thing we did was go to Times Square.  I had kind of avoided going there knowing he would want to go there.  Actually we just breezed through on our way up to Central Park but I managed to shoot this video from the (I call them) viewing stairs.  It's a 360 video of Times Square so if you have never been here you go!

Now we were off again. Past Fox News, sigh I miss Glenn!

Past Christies where there was this GIANT spider statue hey look, it's me about to be eaten by that spider!!

Run Mama Spark, run!! OK I'm outta there and on my way again this time passing Rockefeller Plaza. It was fun to watch the ice skaters for a few minutes.

On toward St. Patrick's cathedral, so breathtaking! I would have loved to have gone in but there was a wedding just coming out!

Last time we were here there was another wedding at a different church! There are some beautiful old churches in NYC. And we're walking past Trump Tower and this fountain.

There was this beautiful statue as we were entering Central Park

Ah into the park. Should be a few less folks in here I think. Oh lookie, a Zoo! There is a zoo inside the park

We didn't go into the zoo but walked past a few things we could view like the sea lion area and the Children's zoo.

Then I saw one of the strangest things I have ever seen. A man walking his cat! You heard me right WALKING HIS CAT!!! And the cat seemed to like being walked!!

Central Park is beautiful. We got a nice photo of the two of us on my iPhone but I didn't bring my cord to download it to the computer! Here are some of the park though.

We were getting a little peckish and wandered by the Soupman. Sound familiar? Watch Seinfeld? YESSS this is where the Soup Nazi is from! "No soup for you!" But there was soup for us! You even get a little peek at DH in his Spartan hat!

DH told me that we could go back to the garment district and get some more thread for Liz (and that he would even carry it for me!) so that was our next stop. (hmmm do you think I could convince him to go back to the shop with the other silk in it that I didn't buy the first time but regretted?)

This is how you know you have arrived in the garment/fashion district

We found the shop with the thread and I bought 15 more spools!! (6000yards each!!) and guess what? You got it, that second bit of silk made it's way into the bag from the other shop too!! My DH is the BEST!!

One more trip into Times Square and a few cool shots to share with all of you and we are off, back to our hotel. I saw these and didn't have my camera ready so we waiied for them to scroll back so I could get the shots for you guys to see.

You can see the ball that drops on NY eve on top of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State building!! Cool huh? There were 2 more scenes and they are on my flickr as well as many photos of the entire trip not posted here on my blog if you are interested.

Sunday we are not going into the city just hanging out around the hotel and we leave on Monday to head for home. We are driving part way and spending the night with a couple of quilt shop stops in between! I promise I will take some pictures of my loot so you can see everything I have talked about on this trip! Thanks for coming along, just a little while longer and we will be home! ~XOP

American Folk Art Museum

Here is the second installment on my day trip to the American Folk Art Museum.  First of all they moved.  Downsized considerably!  It is now just one small floor.  But the nice thing is they were having a quilt display!  The quilt that greeted me was one commemorating 9/11. 

The National Tribute Quilt.

This quilt was done in 5 quilt sections:

I couldn't stand back far enough to get the whole thing in but you get the idea. VERY moving!

This was the exhibit that was there along with the National Tribute Quilt

all the quilts were star themed! There were some beauties there too! They ranged from the more traditional to the more creative.

Does this one remind anyone else of Swoon?

Very patriotic

Beautiful Seven Sisters and an awesome crazy quilt

There were 2 in particular that caught my interest this one because of how different it was compared to the rest (love the dolphins). Almost a Hawaiian feel to it.

And I have to say I could not for the life of me figure out the "star" theme in this one until I read the plackard. Can you figure it out? It is all tied and the stars are tied in a slightly different color thread! Very interesting!!

The hand work on this one was lovely!

I loved the circular triangles in this one.

Here are a few more

That last one reminded me of something Sarah Fielke might do! I love it!!

The colors in this one were typical Amish colors but it was almost impossible to get any kind of good picture of it b/c it was behind glass with lights beaming directly on to it!

So that concludes the tour of the museum oh, but wait, there is one more thing I saw in the gift shop that I thought I would share with you too. It is soooo true!

LOL. I hope you have enjoyed the tour of the museum with me! There were some beautiful quilts. When I finally left the museum I was very close to the south west corner of Central Park so I decided to detour that way and get a glimpse into at least part of that gigantic place so off I went. They are gearing up for a super huge marathon in the part on Sunday so there were a lot of race type things there. It was a beautiful sunny day so I decided to chance it. B/c let's face it, I needed to carry all that thread and fabric to just a few more places and walk a few more miles while holding it right? (Did I tell you that I am in a challenge at the gym where I have the final weigh in the Monday after I get home? Yeah, so there is that and I am eating so lugging that stuff was helping me right?? right??) LOL.

On to Central Park! I had to walk past this beautiful church on the way, I have no idea which church it was but it was pretty!

This was part of the race concourse

The buildings through the trees in the sun were pretty too

I really liked the pillars on this bridge and look what I found when I looked down to the end of the bridge railing.

Surprise!

As I exited the park I came upon this fountain

And statue

Whew! I needed to get back to the hotel and rest!! Tomorrow is the trip into the city with my DH!! (I think I am going to make him go back to get some more thread, giggle, so I won't have to carry it!!) Stay tuned for more of my adventures. We are leaving on Monday after lunch but spending the night somewhere on the way so I am writing my posts ahead and scheduling them to post so I can keep up with the NaBloPoMo and post every day.

Just a side note, I want to thank everyone that takes the time to comment. I know everyone is busy and all but it really makes me feel good when you take a minute to let me know you are there!! I try to respond to all my comments but sometimes my life gets in the way too, just know that I read each and everyone of them and I really, really appreciate them! I write for myself, to keep track of my life and much like my quilting, because I *have to*. It's nice to know that someone else reads and relates to my life too!! Thanks guys!! ~XOP~