New York

Finally getting my act together and getting my New York photos uploaded....these are just a tiny selection.

Fifth Avenue; home of awesome shopping, including Tiffanys.

FAO Schwarz, awesome toy shop. Love the guy on the door too.

My favourite part of Central Park; Fountain of Bethesda.

Strawberry Fields, Central Park.

Times Square at night, just as busy as during the day.

One of the reflection pools at the 9/11 memorial.

Washington Square.

The best caramel sunday ever! From Serendipity (apparently made famous by the movie of the same name, but I haven't seen it). And yes, I ate the whole thing myself (minus the cream)...yummy butter pecan ice-cream. In the background is my friend's frozen hot chocolate.

The Empire State Building just after the sun has gone down, taken from the Top of the Rock observation deck. We went up before sunset and watched the city lights come on.

Pizza at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn; this is their "small" six-slice pizza. Hate to see what the large looks like!

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan.

The Flatiron Building; one of my favourites along with the Chrysler Building.

I have heaps more photos, but there is no way I could possibly load them all up, especially as Blogger only lets me do 3 at a time... hope you enjoyed!

New York Fabric Stash

While I was in New York City I popped into The City Quilter; the only quilt shop I managed to get to during my 5 week trip. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but found a few fabrics that I thought would fit nicely in my stash, so grabbed a half yard of each. It's a bad habit of mine; one day I'll actually need to start using things from my stash!

The print at the back is a Sandi Henderson (Meadowsweet), I'm not sure about the other two as I don't have that bit of the selvedge. I also picked up a couple of fat quarters from It's a Hoot and Sherbet Pips.

Hopefully next week I'll get back to the sewing machine; my Sugar Twist quilt needs quilting! I'd also like to have a go at Swoon using Central Park....eventually!

Home

After four weeks travelling across 22 states of the USA from Los Angeles to New York City, I'm finally home.

So many amazing places, it's just not possible to share everything. I loved seeing how the country, and the people, changed as we headed east, then into the deep south. And I loved trying all the different food!

I loved meeting the 50 or so new people whom I travelled with.

I loved the nightlife of Vegas.

I love seeing the Grand Canyon again.

I loved the majesty of Monument Valley (this is the view seen in Forest Gump).

I loved that everything was bigger in Texas! (and I bought awesome cowboy boots).

I loved seeing Memphis (and Graceland) and New Orleans.

Harry Potter World!

I loved the glitz of Miami.

I loved visiting the Kennedy Space Centre.

I loved the old buildings in Savannah; I want to live there. Charleston was amazing too...Aussie McMansions have nothing on their houses.

I loved all the monuments in Washington DC, and being there for 9/11 was an honour, as was visiting Arlington Cemetary for the changing of the guard. I also loved being there for my birthday.

And of course I loved New York, but I haven't sorted out those photos yet...

Afternoon Tea

I love a good excuse to get in the kitchen and bake up a storm, so I invited a few friends and family around yesterday for afternoon tea; the perfect opportunity to see everyone before I head overseas (tomorrow!).

I went for the classics:

Lemon tart

Pavlova

and Rocky road!

There was almost nothing left by the end of the afternoon, and plenty of tea and champers were drunk along the way.

I'm not sure if I'll get the chance to blog while I'm away, so if I don't, see you in 5 weeks!

Hometown by Sweetwater

The latest arrival at Bella's Patchwork is Hometown by Sweetwater for Moda. It's a cute range with some great "boy prints".

Due to staggered shipping I've got Charm Packs and a cute spot print in stock at the moment, with Jelly Rolls and a few other prints due to arrive by the end of the month.

My overseas trip has almost arrived; I leave next Tuesday! I've left a very reliable family member in charge of packing and shipping orders, and I'll still be checking and answering emails while I'm gone. I can't wait to escape this gloomy weather for a little bit of summer sun.

Preparation

My teaching placement is coming along really well, but it certainly is keeping me busy. I have no idea where other teachers find the time to do any serious crafting. At this point, the preparation for each class takes up quite a bit of time...

But, I have managed to get a bit of stuff ready for next weekends Mulgrave Maker's Market. I've stuffed and stitched those bunnies I started over a month ago...

And made a few wheat bags to test out...with the weather being the way it is, I'm hoping these will be a popular product.

There has also been a bit of preparation going on for my trip to the US in August; my friend and I are excitedly planning what we want to do and see, and have booked tickets to see Cirque de Soleil's O when we are in Las Vegas.

Finally Friday

I've survived the first four weeks of uni; the early starts, the late finishes, long classes and assignments. We are all meant to be spending the next four weeks in secondary schools, but unfortunately they haven't found a place for me yet...

In the midst of a very busy day, I finally got around to assembling the blocks of A La Mode. Bella provided a few unwanted distractions by scattering the blocks when I wasn't looking, but now the centre is safely stitched up.

I also finished up another pin cushion, using left over pinwheel squares from the quilt. I'm loving how these are turning out.

And...I booked another trip to the USA today! I've been thinking about it ever since I got home in December, so in August next year I'll be heading across for 4 1/2 weeks.

Lastly, just to show how much Bella is my own personal detructo-cat; this is what's left of our tea-bag chook that lived next to the kettle....

The Haul

So it's about time I showed you all my USA shopping! I did pretty well, but maybe not as well as I would have liked given the strict weight limit for flights; I was already over their weight allowance!

While I was in Las Vegas I hired myself a car (a bright blue PT Cruiser) and headed over to Quiltique. Absolutely loved this shop! It was huge, well set out, and had a massive assortment of fabric. And the staff, recognising that I looked a bit overwhelmed, were lovely. There I bought some Rouenerries red for Red Velvet, some more red for the backing, and some Glace for the backing of the FQS Mystery BOM.

From there I drove over to The Christmas Goose. I found this store a bit smaller and not as bright, though they still had a very good range (but not a huge as Quiltique). There I picked up some white muslin, the Last Minute Patchwork book that I've been coveting for quite a while, a few Miss Rosie patterns and some Gypsy Rose charm packs.

Recognising that my suitcase was a little full, I sent the two lots of backing fabric home. Then when I got to New York, I went to The City Quilter. This was a good find in NYC, a city that you don't usually associate with quilting. The shop is tucked in down the lower end of the city, but despite being a small shop had a pretty good assortment of fabrics, patterns and notions. I managed to get the final fabric for Red Velvet; the border fabric that the other two shops had sold out of. I also got some Sweet fabric to be the border of Mini Jelly Filled, a Mill House Inn jelly roll, and some cute fat quarters (some of which went to my friend, the mum of little Noah).

I was also lucky enough before I left for the US to make the most of the free shipping offered by Hancocks of Paducah, and ordered an Aster Manor fat 1/4 bundle which arrived while I was away. Lucky I didn't have to carry that around!

Keep in mind this is just my fabric haul; no one told me everything in the US is so cheap! I got jeans, t-shirts, jumpers, purses, a new bag, three pairs of sunnies and lots of other goodies for less than half what it'd cost here in Australia. I went over with one not-quite-full suitcase, and came home with two that were full to the brim!

Homecoming Part 2

Hopefully this post will be a bit shorter than the last; it covers only two cities!

After my tour ended I flew to New York. I was pleasantly surprised to run into two girls from my tour also waiting for the flight, so it was nice to know I’d have someone to have meals with and so forth. Having found the 14 hour flight to LA really uncomfortable, I was happy to find that the 5 hour flight across the US was survivable. The only disaster was that it took 2 hours to get from the airport to my hotel, and it turned out my two friends were meant to be on my shuttle but had been left behind by the driver.

In my five days in NYC I saw all the usual sights; the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building (it’s always been my favourite), the Statue of Liberty, Central Park and the WTC site. I utilised the very touristy hop on-hop off buses but they were very convenient.

I was amazed by the gorgeous architecture of all the buildings in the city, and loved the abundance of Christmas decorations. I was also lucky enough to see snow!

I had dinner with the girls; we found a restaurant at Times Square but were told it was a 90 min wait. When we turned to leave, they told us to hang on and we were seated straight away. And it would seem that our waiter took a liking to us, as after we finished the bottle of wine we ordered, we were topped up from a further two bottles which we didn’t have to pay for. After dinner we did the proper New York thing and had Cosmos.

I also went to places such as the Natural History Museum (which was selling Platypus toys which is a bit odd), and saw The Lion King on Broadway. I also managed to catch a glimpse of the lovely Hugh Jackman, as well as Daniel Craig.

After New York I flew back to LA for a few days, mostly to break the trip up a little. I stayed in Hollywood at the flash Roosevelt Hotel. I certainly felt a little out of place there as everyone looked very glam, and one night there was even some red-carpet event and hoards of paparazzi out the front!


Again I did the usual tourist things; saw the walk of fame, and all the hand and footprints out front of the Chinese theatre. I also met another lovely Aussie on their hop on-hop off bus and we spent the day travelling around to Santa Monica, as well as Beverly Hills and the flashy Rodeo Drive. I also managed to go to a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live, which apparently isnt actually live!

Then finally it was time to come home; 24 hours in transit with a short stop in Auckland, New Zealand. A minor hiccup when I came through customs with a tad more alcohol than I should have (they let me get away with it). About 40 hours awake, minus the short powernap I had on the plane. And no major jetlag…just get a tad snoozy around 8.30pm but hopefully that’ll sort itself out. Doesn’t help that I've come from 5C to 39C in a matter of days! Still one holiday post to go; have to show you all the lovely fabrics I picked up (among other shopping!)