Sunflowers and a Mini Vacation

This past week was not very productive in the sewing room but I did spend several hours working on my sunflower cross stitch picture.  I would really like to finish this picture in the next month or so as I would like to start a Christmas cross stitch project and maybe finish it in time for Christmas...

When we went to Newfoundland in June, we happened upon a little knitting store called "Skivvers Fibre Studio and Wool Craft" in Cow Head  where I purchased a pattern book and wool to make myself a hat, mittens and a scarf. I have decided to start by making the hat.  The pattern is on the left in the picture below and the wool I will use is on the right. The wool is made by the "Fleece Artist" in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  The colours are inspired by Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland.  They produce different colour schemes for each National Park in Canada.  We spent quite a bit of time in Gros Morne, so I decided this would be a good reminder of our trip. I am not the fastest knitter so making all three items will be a long term project. 

I cut up a stick and made a stem for the pumpkin I made last week. I think it looks finished now and I probably won't add a leaf. 

My husband and I, along with my friend Christine and her husband went on a mini vacation to Buffalo, New York this week. We stayed at a bed and breakfast and did a historic boat tour along the Buffalo River to Silo City where we did a walking tour of the abandoned silos for a malting company. 

We did in-depth tours of the Darwin Martin House and Graycliff, both designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  My husband and I had toured these homes 10 years ago and noticed many improvements had been made in the intervening years. 

This window is the Tree of Life pattern, prominent in the Darwin Martin House. Several years ago, I did a cross stitch picture of this window. 

This is Graycliff, the summer home of the Martin Family. We had excellent tours of both homes and highly recommend a visit to both homes if you are in the Buffalo area. 

Finn had a spa day this week and had a haircut.  We can see his eyes again!

Finn tells me there is a hole in the backing of a quilt I made for my daughter when she started University.  They will bring the quilt home with them when they come here in October so that I can repair the hole. 

I think I still have a few scraps of that flannel backing left so it will be easy to patch. I think it just wore through with use ...Finn is not at fault!

I will link up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching group in the morning. 
 

Home from Our Getaway!

We got home Saturday night at 1am from a 6 day trip to Illinois and Indiana.  It was our first time crossing the border to the US since before the pandemic.  My quilting friend, Christine, and her husband came with us. The original inspiration for the trip was an advertisement I saw online for a display of Ken Burns' antique quilts at the Peoria Riverfront Museum in Illinois...I told my husband that it would be interesting to see this exhibit and the vacation grew out of this small seed that I planted! We spent a few hours at the museum, amazed by the variety and stunning beauty of Ken Burns' antique quilt collection. The quilt exhibit will be there until June 5th and if you live within driving distance, I highly recommend a trip to see them!  

Our favourite quilt in the show.  

String Star.  Maker unknown.  1880-1900. Machine pieced and hand quilted. 

Amazing how such an old quilt looks so modern!

My husband is an excellent trip planner and was soon googling other things to see and do in the general area.  If you are a long time reader  of my blog, you will know that I am a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture and that we have toured several of the buildings that he designed. Our first stop was in Kankakee, Illinois where we toured the Bradley House. The stained glass windows are a particular highlight for me. The tour guide was excellent and her enthusiasm for the house and its designer were very evident on our tour. 

This one was above the dining room table. 

 We then drove to Springfield, Illinois, home of the Dana Thomas House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  One of the cross stitch pictures I did was a window from this house and it was thrilling to see the original window.  We were not allowed to take any pictures inside the home which was disappointing as I would have loved to get a picture of that window!  

While in Springfield, we also visited Abraham Lincoln's home and law office as well as 

the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.  

In Columbus, Indiana, we toured the Miller House, a mid century modern home designed by Eero Saarinen and completed in 1957.  It was raining while we were there so we did not get any long views of the house.  Here are a few pictures I took on the tour.  I loved the conversation pit! The pillows and carpeting in the conversation pit are changed seasonally. 

The next morning, we did an architectural tour of Columbus with another volunteer guide.  She was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about her home town.  She wore a great jacket, hand painted by her daughter, with silhouettes of many of the iconic buildings and sculptures in Columbus. If you are ever near Columbus, Indiana, we highly recommend these two tours!

This used to be drive through banking and now its a lovely place to eat your lunch outside. 

Our reflection in the Irwin Conference Center (the building in the picture following this one). 

A sculpture, Large Arch, by Henry Moore, framing the First Christian Church, designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1942. 

Inside the church.  This picture also shows off our guide's jacket. 

These colourful tubes are the vents for the HVAC system of this building. 

Inside the North Christian Church. This church was designed by Eero Saaranin, 1964. 

5th Street, near the library, lined with Japanese Zelkova Trees. 

Even the washrooms at Mill Race Park were iconic!  This is the Women's side and the men's side had an "M" roof. 

We could have spent hours at the library, looking at the building and the books!

If you want to see more of the buildings of Columbus, you can watch the movie, "Columbus", which was filmed there. 

Since this is a quilting blog, I should probably share some blocks I made recently for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  June's colours are navy and medium blue.  I had lots of blue squares so I divided them into three piles, navy, medium blue and light blue and made these blocks. 

I made a backing and pieced some batting scraps for the red, blue and white baby quilt I am making for the church bazaar and will be working on getting it quilted and bound over the next few days. It is pin basted and ready to go. 

I did some knitting in the car when we were away, finishing the yellow bird baby facecloth and starting a blue whale facecloth.  Funny how my knitting matched my outfit...

The keys are out on my Japanese Maple tree. 

The Clematis are in bloom.  

Finn has been a bit under the weather over the last week but is back to his usual self today, finally.  He will be going for a haircut soon! He likes to keep one paw touching my daughter at all times, in case she tries to escape...

I will link up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and the Slow Sunday Stitchers on Sunday. 

PS. I have been having trouble commenting on a number of blogs recently--the comments are often blocked or I have to comment anonymously.  I'm not sure why this has happened but if I don't comment on your blog and I usually do, it is not for lack of trying!  Thanks for visiting!