Mt. Vernon

 We spent a day at Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home/farm.  It's beautiful, the setting is gorgeous, the house not as large as one would expect but certainly enough so. And no, I didn't take photos of the house.  It was so ungodly humid and hot it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other.  When we were on the way home we could say it was the hottest and muggiest and most uncomfortable day of all.  And that counted the day the heat index in Williamsburg was 110 degrees and they pulled everyone off the streets, including the animals.

I did get this photo of Elizabeth and PH enjoying a rest and the view of the Potomac River from the chairs that are usually on GW's front porch but now sitting on the front lawn because the porch is being renovated, along with most of the house. We were able to tour two rooms under construction and the outbuildings the slaves worked in.

That's the thing I struggled with.  All of our Founding Fathers but one had slaves.  The South was built on the backs of slaves.  The homes, farms, every single thing about the South existed because of slave labor.   Look at this chart.  The green are the slaves the Washingtons owned.  The black are paid servants and their families. and the gray are the five members of the Washington family.  That's 270 people to make the Washington family comfortable.  

This is one of Martha Washington's quilts.  There seemed to be a lot about her quilts lately.  There was this one on display here, and in Gettysburg and a magazine article on her quilts.  Apparently, she wasn't unlike lots of us.  She worked the centers of the quilts and had someone else finish the borders and the quilting.  She would get just so far and either get bored or busy and pass it on. They are all this style, a medallion center and bordered.  She used scraps from her clothes.

On as aside, it's peach season here now.  Yesterday I made two peach pies, they must weigh 15 pounds, it takes two strong hands to hold the plate!  But oh, so good!!!

 

Not buying

 I know I've said many times lately that I am on a quilt fabric freeze.  No more buying. No. No.

But one afternoon while in Gettysburg we decided to take a drive into the countryside to get a feel for it.  We stopped at a farmer's stand and bought peaches!  The first of the season for us, straight from the tree.  

And then we saw this place.  Ugh.  I had to ask to stop. Just for a minute. I saw a fabric I had been thinking of for a project and bought a tiny piece of it.  It's patriotic.  I told the owner I'm not feeling very patriotic right now.  She jumped on that, we both agree politically and had quite a rousing conversation complete with expletives.  It was great!

She said she just came back from market and EVERY vendor was pushing patriotic fabric because of our 250th anniversary next year (signing of the Declaration of Independence.)  She said we won't be able to find anything BUT patriotic in the stores.  I told her that's not a problem because I'm not buying anymore.  

She said but we have to buy fabric or she will go out of business.  This is a common problem in quilt world right now.  Shops are closing because we are all getting old and dying.  Her husband called down from the loft where he was working, "don't worry, God will give us more old quilters."  I said if I don't use my stash my kids will bag it up and sell it for $1 a bag in my estate sale.  

It was the funnest non-buying trip to a quilt shop I've ever had!

She had this wall 'o antique machines.  She was told about this guy in Vermont who was going to THROW THEM ALL AWAY. So she and her husband drove out there and bought them all.  What a treasure!  It reminds me of the shop in the Upper Peninsula where I bought my cranky machine. 

Historic quilts

 We're quilters, right?  So I had to check out some of the quilts in the museum in Gettysburg.  You can look, I won't do much commentary.

Boy, this is a sure way to date a quilt!  Cut up your loved ones' letters home from a war.

This is where we differ on hexies.  I find it easier to attach the hexies to each other when the paper has been taken out first.  It's a good thing there are no quilt police to tell me that's wrong.

                             Just like us, anything was used.  These were tobacco wrappers, bags. 

Broderie perse. I couldn't see the stitches. Perfect!

I appreciate the precision in these hand pieced and quilted quilts. 

UNpacked!

We are home and UNpacked from our two week trip to Williamsburg, Virginia and a side trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and a day at Mt. Vernon.   Our purpose for the trip was to take Elizabeth to the archaeology dig she had signed up for.  We waited and did our sightseeing. 

   I knew going in that Virginia in July would be hot but I wasn't expecting the kind of hot we had. Jungle heat and humidity.  My God, that humidity.  We have humid weather in Michigan but it isn't like that!  It was brutal but when you're there you just have to power through and so we tried our best.  One redeeming thing, we agreed that we were two old people who were not lugging kids around trying to keep them happy.  We could do what we wanted, as much as we wanted and for how long we wanted.  And we had a great time.

    We arrived on Saturday, late, and after taking Elizabeth to her host home late Sunday night we stayed in the area on Monday to make sure she was ok then Tuesday we headed back north 4 hours to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of one of the worst and most decisive battles of the Civil War.  We stayed there for three days, we conquered Gettysburg.

One of the smart things we did was take a tour bus around the battlefields, it gave us a good perspective  and we had an excellent guide.
 

So much destruction, so much at stake in so small a place.  Wars are not fought hill by hill anymore

It's a sobering place when you actually stand in the spot where the generals stood directing.  Gettysburg was PH's part of the trip, the part he wanted to really absorb.  That's why we gave it three days.  One for the tour bus and then we went back on our own. 

On a lighter note, while PH and Elizabeth did all of the driving - it was 13 hours down and we did it in one day, but we took a different route to avoid Washington D.C. area at ALL costs so it was 14 hours in one day home - I stitched.  This is my car project and it's growing.  I don't know yet what I'm going to do with it.  Not sure if I should make it longer than wide or square it off or if it will ever be finished.  It's completely random, the only thing I'm trying to notice is not putting two reds or two navy blues together.  We have another long car trip coming up so there is more to do.  

Finished two of the books I took with me and am halfway through one I bought.  That's pretty good but it was also because we never once turned on the television and the internet wouldn't play well with my iPad so I didn't even get to read blogs or waste time scrolling.  When day was done we read.

As I said, I didn't do any blog reading so I'm really behind on yours, as I get going back to normal here I'll show a few more pics of the trip.  

Packing - Ugh

 I hate packing.  I am a "just in case" packer because I've been kicked by the Unprepared Mule a few times.  Not packing for cold or hot or wet and being sorry.  And I seem to have to think of it all:

my clothes, books, shoes-which ones?, phone and iPad chargers, dop kit, snacks in a kit for the car that includes paper towels, cups, knife, zip storage bags, pills, hand wipes and sanitizer, water - lots of water, etc., etc., etc.  Believe me, I've learned over time what we need.  This time we will have Elizabeth with us so must make room for her and her bag(s) and snack preferences, Gatorade, etc. 

 PH?  About an hour before we leave he will take his suitcase out, toss in a few pairs of undies, a couple of shirts and his bathing suit.  Done.  I will swear to the truth that one day 30 minutes before leaving for the airport he got his suitcase out of the closet.  

Now, to give him due credit, because we are going to be gone for berrying he has been walking the shoulders of the roads with a container picking what ripe black raspberries there are now for freezing because we love a black raspberry pie in January and he remembered pea season, got the tires rotated.  He is ever ready to run to the store for whatever I forgot.  So he does do what I don't.

My preferred mode of travel is by car.  You can jam a lot of stuff in a car that you can't in a carry-on if flying.  For a 'just in case' packer cars are the way to go. I don't have to decide on one pair of shoes, I can take 3.

The bag gets put on the rocking chair in the bedroom a couple of weeks before departure and as I think of something it gets tossed in before I forget. Believe me, it's under there somewhere.   At some point I start folding and counting days vs. shirts.

Usually I think "no one here is ever going to see me again so won't know if I wore this shirt 2-3 days in a row."  But we are going to go hot and steamy and the last time we made this trip the kids changed their clothes three times a day because they were soaked through.  We are 'enjoying' that kind of weather here at home now so can't even fathom what we are driving toward. 

Unpacking is so much easier. It's all dirty, just dump it in the laundry room.

Books I'm taking?  They are all very different from each other:  To Kill a Mockingbird - I read it every year in summer.  Absolution by Alice McDermott,  Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh.  Three books for two weeks?  Well, you know...just in case.

Peas

 It's pea season.  When we arrived at 10 a.m. this morning the grower was already on his second 200 gallon trough.  He said when he opened the farm this morning there were 14 cars lined up on the road.  The peas go fast. Sometimes his FB site announces at 9 a.m. they are out for the day but usually it's a little after noon that he runs out.  The farthest in Michigan that someone comes is five hours away.  There is a woman who comes from Missouri.   Apparently, there are just two pea growers in Michigan but like he said he didn't like them cooked but will eat them raw and " I wouldn't drive five hours for peas! "  I said it's too bad I don't like peas.  Fresh, though, they are quite good, so people tell me.  He said people eat them raw with peanuts. "I'd rather have a handful of M & M's," he said. I come from the era where peas came in a can and when forced to eat them, well, it wasn't pretty. But that also meant I didn't have to have them force fed to me after that.  Probably it's a mental thing. 

200 gallons in here! Second one of the day by 10 a.m.

Bagged and ready to sell, the line of cars is constant. We bought three bags weighing 3.15 pounds each. One for son-in-law ( he's the only one in their house who eats them, and he eats them fresh like popcorn) and two for PH.  Washed and bagged in individual scant one cup bags for immediate and winter eating.  

 No quilting being done. None.  Lost my mojo.  Haven't been feeling up to par lately so even the Thinking Bed has been cleaned off.  Maybe later.

Retreat finale

Home from retreat.  When I drive through these gates my heartrate slows.   The three women who own this inn have created something very special and I know I gush about it every time I come home. I don't even care if I sew, just to be here.  

We are in true summer here. A 5 day hot spell is coming starting tomorrow and it's going to be brutal.

 I'll start with some photos of what the others were working on.

Joyce used this book to choose 25 stars and foundation pieced them. 

She laid them out on the floor and we all offered suggestions on what should go where.  

She and I spent the most of Wednesday tearing off the paper from the backs, she took it outside to shake off the bits and you can see the color better.  She is a batik girl and definitely teal, turquoise, wine, purple for colors. It is a beauty.

Lisa was working on a big foot quilt for a member of her family

Jan was helping a grand daughter make a puffy quilt by doing half of it.

Barb worked her fingers to nubs to applique her vine quilt.  There are 13 rows, thousands of leaves, miles of vine, and it's stunning.  

Everyone was busy (except me) but I want to focus on Sally's project because it astounded me.  The patience of that girl. I can't understand why she doesn't go blind.  Sally works in itsy bitsy piecing. 

This is a pattern for courthouse steps that will FINISH at four inches. Each step measures 1/4 inch. It's absolutely tiny.  It took her a whole day to do this block because she was figuring it out and ripping out.

Now, being a new thing and being that she was in a room with other people she was distracted a lot so had a lot of angst as she ripped out tiny seams.  This piece above was going into the waste basket before I took it and said it would come home with me.  There are two mistakes in it.  One is very obvious and I'll fiddle with it but the other is almost impossible to spot and I know where to look.  But Sally is persnickety and so if it isn't perfect it isn't perfect.

These three were finished, declared good and went home with her. 

So. Every year we take a photo of our group and this time we wanted the innkeepers/friends to be in the photo.  From your right, Innkeeper Marcia, behind her, innkeeper/chef Sharon, Barb, Jan, Sally, Joyce hiding in the back, Lisa, Innkeeper Pat and me. What a great photo.  

When we go back they won't be there but they are moving to Grand Rapids so I can and will see them anytime. 

The torch is being passed to nephew Ryan, his sister and her husband. We know we will be in good hands but it will be very strange not hearing Marcia's laugh. 

Strawberry

                                               It's that most wonderful time of the year!

 There must be a fresh strawberry pie, made with strawberries we picked with our own little ol' hands for Father's Day.  We picked just this bowl full.  It's an exercise in self control to stop when we have enough but we go just about every other day to pick just what we need.

I don't make jam, I don't freeze them so we pick what we need for immediate pleasure eating. And pies.  I make a lot of strawberry pies and we indulge.  The season is short.

She Loved It!

 We celebrated Elizabeth's birthday

We went out for sushi and let me tell you, the owner of the restaurant pulled out ALL of the stops!  In addition to what we ordered, he brought out a huge piece of salmon, special sushi that were not on the menu, soups, drinks, and finally green tea ice cream.  It just kept coming.  What a meal!! And she loved and ate everything.  Even the sea urchin.  And eel.

After the cake, which none of us could eat because our tummies were absolutely stuffed it was time for her quilt.

She loved it!  We looked at each block and it's significance to her life

Here's a better photo in daylight.  Each square is about her and the year I spent working on this meant a year of really thinking about her.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  

She brought home a piece of this fabric from Williamsburg and asked if I could fit a piece of it into the quilt.  I did use it as the background on her initial square and fussy cut a few flowers but still had a good piece of it.  I decided a pillowcase.  But in the measuring there was really only enough for half of a pillowcase. I decided to try something I've never done with pillowcases before.

I made it reversible.  This fabric, too, came from Williamsburg but was one I purchased.  It worked great to make a two-sided pillowcase and it solves a problem for future ones!

So, after months of waiting to see it, it's done and gifted and it worked!

Grand Party

 Elizabeth is officially not a high schooler anymore.  Her graduation party was Sunday and oh, what a crowd and good time!  

I can't even believe I didn't get a photo of her and her parents and sister at the party but to be honest we were all flitting around like busy bees touching down for only a minute or two between the guests.  PH and I and our son and his family were all helping: reloading food, emptying trash, refilling drink dispensers, talking and laughing with the guests, I don't think any of us finished a sentence, certainly not two. 

So many of the cousins said it was so nice to be together at a time that didn't involve a casket.  I know distances are relative but we had people driving from 2-5 hours away and truly, around here, that's a miracle.  But we are at the age when we have one eye on the hour glass and are taking advantage of seeing each other in happy times if we can. 

These are photos our daughter took because, sorry to say, I took hardly none.

Centerpieces were all about Elizabeth.  She is a lover of old.  Books, bones, games.  The boxes held sand, mini shovels and scattered in the sand, archaeological finds.  She is going into archaeology, has said that since she was three years old and stuck to it, so mini digs on the tables was just her.  Also there were assorted growing up photos on the tables.

You all probably do this, too, but here because of weather possibilities tents are mandatory at grad parties.  You can plan till you turn blue but you can't control the weather.  The party we were at on Saturday had a sunny day but it was COLD and windy.  Sunday's event was absolutely perfect weather. But it could just as easily have not.  You just never know.

One thing I have to say about this family is that their dad has instilled in them the value of play.  They play.  And the girls and their friends are in the theater at school and play and pretend is an essential component of theater.  There was a table of props, with plenty of moustaches, hats, swords, goofy glasses, and play they did.

In the quiet after everyone left, Elizabeth's two most long and faithful friends since little girlhood still played. Quiet laughter, bubbles, smiles.  They will all be in different places come fall.  And I will miss these girls.  

 Did I say we laughed?  What is it called when you laugh so hard your eyes are closed?  Friends Sue and Marge and I have been friends for 60 years....maybe more if I do the math.

Grandson Mike (in navy blue) was just itching to play euchre with Grandpa.  He heard about Ceci playing with the old guys the day before and he was just itching.  When things started to quiet down and a table became available, PH, cousin Barney and four of the littles had a game.  I loved seeing this, it means there will always be a game going as the kids take up the torch. They are learning from the best.

Elizabeth gets her quilt tomorrow so there will finally be pictures.